20. The Later Lives of a Spy Ring’s Members
As to other key members of the Culper spy ring, Abraham Woodhull got married in 1781, as the war wound down. He had three children with his wife before she died in 1806. He remarried late in life, in 1824, and died two years later in Setauket. By then, he had become a man of stature in local politics and had served as magistrate of Setauket, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and first judge of Suffolk County. As to Caleb Brewster, he married a woman from Fairfield, Connecticut, after the war, and settled there with her. The couple raised a family of eight children. He worked as a blacksmith and a farmer until 1793 when he joined the United States Revenue Cutter Service – a forerunner of today’s Coast Guard. He eventually retired to a farm in Black Rock, Connecticut, and died in 1827.
Benjamin Tallmadge served in the Continental Army until it was disbanded in 1783. He then returned to civilian life, and settled down to raise a family of seven children with his wife in Connecticut. He became an entrepreneur and entered into a variety of business ventures. Among other things, he became a bank president and speculated in land in Ohio. When George Washington was elected president, he appointed Tallmadge as postmaster for Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1800, Tallmadge was elected to Congress as a Federalist, and served in the House of Representatives until 1817. He died in 1835.
