Homeschooling: The Unknown Heroes of the American Revolution - Spies

Traditionally, American History is taught in 11th grade.  Now that my Youngest is in the same grade, we didn't want to do the standard textbook rundown of American History.  Instead, he wanted to spend time on different wars. I thought it would be fun to learn more about unknown people and stories from history that are usually not told or expounded on in public school American History classes.

At the beginning of the school year, we jumped right to the Revolutionary War.  Instead of spending time on the key figures of the war, we chose something more interesting: Spies.

Some espionage in the Revolutionary War wasn't necessarily successful. Then came the Culper Spy Ring. This is a fascinating story of ordinary, yet daring and patriotic people behind-the-scenes using creative and successful tools to pass important messages for General Washington.

Want a complete syllabus with questions and activities for your teen?  
Read through to the end of this post!  

Book to Read: 

George Washington and the Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager. 

• Learn more about this book by listening to the author give a 25-minute talk at the Heritage Foundation (2013)  Skip directly to 5:35 to bypass introductions.  In his speech, he mentions a video that shows a couple of the original sites he visited. That short video is still available on the Fox News website.  
• To read the book by Morton Pennybacker that inspired Kilmeade, "George Washington's Spies on Long Island and in New York” (1939), can be read for free online through the University of Michigan and the HathiTrust Digital Library

• For a quiz on this book, use these questions from Quizlet.  

More Background Reading:  

• Setauket Spy Ring Story by historian Beverly Tyler – This 18-page book in PDF, gives more background with excellent photos for reference. 
• Who were spies of the Revolutionary War? This page also has a link to other recommended books about Revolutionary Spies. 
• Famous Spies and Women as Spies - Click on the embedded links to learn more. 
• There were African American spies?  Yes! Read biographies on other spies too. 
• Five Patriot Spies of the Revolution – from the History Channel

Exhibits:

• Spy techniques – Learn about ciphers, invisible ink and more. 
• See some of the original documents of the Culper Spy Ring
• See the Code used by the Culper Spy Ring
• Original documents and other primary sources, from Washington and other Culper Ring agents

Videos: 

• Spies of the Revolutionary War on YouTube (40 min) gives an overall history of espionage during the war, on both the American and British sides. 

• The Culper Spy Ring: Path Through History on YouTube. An introduction to The Culper Ring.

• Watch these TV episodes and give a synopsis of each.  Do you agree with their research?  Why or why not?  What questions do you have after watching these episodes?

• Brad Meltzer's Decoded - The President's Inner Circle (Season 1, Episode 8) Sign in to view for free with a TV provider or watch for a small fee at Amazon

• America Unearthed with Scott Wolper - The Spy Who Saved America (Season 4, Episode 6) Sign in to view for free with a TV provider.
  

More Websites for Research: 

• https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/culper-spy-ring
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Culper-Spy-Ring
• https://thehistoryjunkie.com/culper-spy-ring-facts/
• https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/07/spying-for-george-washington-the-culper-ring/
• http://www.spyring.emmaclark.org/

For a complete syllabus with more teaching resources plus questions and activities for your teen,
click HERE for a free download! 

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through that link, but it would certainly be appreciated if you do!  Thank you!