George Washington Spymaster

Washington’s brilliance at espionage was crucial to winning the revolution. One of the cases that exhibited this was when he had Honeyman, a former British soldier, help him. Honeyman came to the camp and Washington locked him up, handing him the key out. Honeyman “escaped” and told Colonel Rall false reports that the Americans were falling apart, which caused him not to worry and enjoy Christmas. Honneyman also went back to Washington and gave him a detailed report of the Trenton garrison. The Battle of Trenton might have not been favorable for the Americans without this help and the revolution could have failed. Another example of Washington’s skill of espionage is when he wrote out false reports of the continental army, making it five times its actual size. This helped the Americans by scaring the British to not attack Washington’s troops. Another example that could be used is when Washington continually sent false reports to tie the British army to New York as long as possible. Without this attempt in espionage the battle of Yorktown may have never happened and prolonged the revolution with a different outcome possibly.