28. The Master Spy Saves the American Economy
Robert Townsend wrote his reports using invisible ink on seemingly blank reams of paper, that were delivered to Culper Ring agent Abraham Woodhull in Setauket, NY. Woodhull delivered the intelligence to his handler, George Washington’s aide in charge of intelligence, Benjamin Tallmadge, who in turn delivered it to Washington. The general read the reports after developing the invisible ink with a chemical agent and often responded to Townsend with invisible ink messages of his own.
Townsend did a lot of valuable legwork gathering intelligence and fulfilling his assigned tasks. He got a gig as a columnist for a Loyalist newspaper, and visited coffeehouses to hobnob with British officers, many of whom opened to him in the hopes of seeing their name in print. That was how Townsend got wind of a British plot to wreck the American economy by flooding the country with counterfeit dollars. His warning enabled the Continental Congress to avert disaster in the nick of time by recalling all bills that were in circulation and issuing new ones.
