Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island

By Christian M. McBurney

Espionage played a vital role during the American Revolution in Rhode Island. The British and Americans each employed spies to discover the secrets, plans and positions of their enemy. Continental navy lieutenant John Trevett dressed as an ordinary sailor, grew out his beard and went from tavern to tavern in Newport gathering intelligence. Metcalf Bowler became a traitor on the order of Benedict Arnold, as he spied for the British while serving as a Patriot leader in Providence. Disguised as a peddler, Ann Bates spied for the British during the Rhode Island Campaign. When caught, one spy paid with his life, while others suffered in jail. Author Christian M. McBurney, for the first time, unravels the world of spies and covert operations in Rhode Island during the Revolutionary War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Nov 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781625852557

Christian M. McBurney

After growing up in Kingston, Rhode Island, and attending Brown University, Christian became an attorney in Washington, D.C., and raised a family in Kensington, Maryland. He is the author of four books on Rhode Island and the American Revolution, most recently Dark Voyage: An American Privateer's War on Britain's African Slave Trade (Westholme, 2022). To learn more about his books, visit www.christianmcburney.com. Christian is also the founder, publisher and chief editor of a leading Rhode Island history blog at www.smallstatebighistory.com.

Reviews for Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rather wider ranging than the title suggests, McBurney begins with the British occupation of Newport, Rhode Island and takes one through all events until the campaign of 1778. The meat of the story is the effort of Gen. John Sullivan and Admiral Comte d'Estaing create a working joint operation to retake Newport, only to see their plans undone by bad weather and the cranky communications of the time. Apart from some weird phrases ("plumb cake"?) that I suspect are the result of too much dependence on automated proofing, I really have no complaints about this book.