The Spy Who Never Was The Strange Case of John Honeyman and Revolutionary War Espionage Alexander Rose sion so gravely threaten the John Honeyman is famed as Revolution’s survival. the secret agent who saved George Washington and the The problem is, John Honey- Continental Army during the man was no spy—or at least, dismal winter of 1776/77. At a not one of Washington’s. In this time when Washington had suf- essay I will establish that the fered an agonizing succession of key parts of the story were defeats at the hands of the Brit- The problem is, John invented or plagiarized long “ ish, it was Honeyman who after the Revolution and, Honeyman was no brought the beleaguered com- through repetition, have spy.…Key parts of his mander precise details of the become accepted truth. I exam- story were invented…and Hessian enemy’s dispositions at ine our knowledge of the tale, through repetition have Trenton, New Jersey. assess the veracity of its compo- become accepted truth. nents, and trace its DNA to the Soon afterwards, acting his single story—a piece of family part as double agent, Honey- history published nearly 100 man informed the gullible Col. years after the battle. 1 These Johann Rall, the Hessian com- historical explorations addition- ” ally will remind modern intelli- mander, that the colonials were in no shape to attack. Washing- gence officers and analysts that ton’s men, he said, were suffer- the undeclared motives of ing dreadfully from the cold and human sources may be as many were unshod. That bit- important as their declared ingly cold Christmas, neverthe- ones—particularly when, as less, Washington enterprisingly readers will see here, a single source is the only witness. crossed the Delaware and smashed the unprepared (and allegedly drunk) Hessians. Origins and Evolution Three days into the new year, he struck again, at Princeton, The Honeyman story has a inflicting a stunning defeat substantial pedigree in pub- upon the redcoats. Though lished histories. First publicly Washington would in the future appearing in 1873 in a New face terrible challenges, never Jersey journal, the tale has again would the Continental since 1898 been a mainstay in Army come so close to dissolu- Revolutionary War histories. In tion and neither would dissen- that year, William Stryker, All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed in this article are those of the author. Nothing in the article should be construed as asserting or implying US gov- ernment endorsement of an article’s factual statements and interpretations. Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 27 History or Family Fable? In 1898 William Stryker announced that the Honeyman story was a “well-established tradition.” began shooting up British patrols, and the rest of the country, in the words of a Briton in Virginia, ‘went lib- president of the New Jersey Telegram & Sun, published “A erty mad again.’” 10 The Wikipe- Historical Society, published Spy for Washington” in the pop- dia entry on Honeyman reflects the authoritative Battles of ular history magazine Ameri- this view. Trenton and Princeton, in can Heritage. 6 The piece which he announced that it was brought widespread attention already “a well-established tra- to Honeyman’s exploits and More recently, however, the dition that the most reliable cemented his reputation as Honeyman story has dimin- account of Colonel Rall’s post at Washington’s ace of spies in ished in importance, at least Trenton was given by Washing- Americans’ minds. Two years among general historians. Per- ton’s spy, John Honeyman.”2 later, John Bakeless, a former haps owing to its broad canvas, Soon afterwards, Sir George intelligence officer and author David McCullough’s 1776 omits Otto Trevelyan’s The American of Turncoats, Traitors and him, while Washington’s Cross- Revolution chimed in that the Heroes: Espionage in the Ameri- ing, David Hackett Fischer’s “conversation on a winter night can Revolution, portrayed Hon- exhaustive examination of between Washington and John eyman in the most glowing those remarkable nine days Honeyman settled the fate of terms. 7 between 25 December 1776 and Colonel Rall and the brigade 3 January 1777, hedged on the which he commanded.”3 A gen- In March 1961, as part of question of authenticity. “[The eration later, in the 1920s, NBC’s Sunday Showcase drama story] might possibly be true, Rupert Hughes’s inspirational series, Honeyman’s adventure but in the judgement of this biography George Washington was celebrated before a historian, the legend of Honey- declared that “a splendid monu- national audience. Titled “The man is unsupported by evi- ment glorifies Nathan Hale and Secret Rebel,” the special tanta- dence. No use of it is made his name is a household word in lized viewers with the advertis- here.” 11 America, though he failed in his ing line, “It was tar and short mission; but for John feathers for the ‘traitor’ who Intelligence historians, per- Honeyman, who made the first claimed to know George haps paradoxically, tend to great victory possible, there is Washington!” 8 A decade later, oblivion.” 4 Richard Ketchum’s bestselling give more credence to Honey- history of the Trenton and Prin- man’s achievements. George In 1948, Alfred Bill’s The ceton campaign, The Winter O’Toole’s Honorable Treach- Campaign of Princeton helped Soldiers (1972), again paid lav- ery: A History of U.S. Intelli- rescue Honeyman from that ish tribute to Honeyman.9 gence, Espionage, and Covert awful fate by declaring him Action from the American Rev- “one of the ablest of Washing- As recently as 2000, Thomas olution to the CIA repeats the ton’s spies.”5 Even so, Hale Fleming, a Fellow of the Soci- traditional story. 12 The CIA’s retained his crown, while Hon- ety of American Historians and own useful history, The eyman’s fame remained con- an extraordinarily prolific nar- Founding Fathers of American fined to Revolutionary War rative historian, reasserted Intelligence, notes that Honey- buffs. Honeyman’s essential contribu- man’s intelligence work “came tion to Washington’s Trenton at a critical time for the Amer- That changed in 1957, when victory. Until that battle, “New ican side” and permitted “a Leonard Falkner, a features Jersey had been on the brink of strategic victory in political editor at the New York World- surrender; now local patriots and morale terms.” 13 28 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable? Deconstructing Honeyman The Honeyman story may be partitioned into the five funda- mental components that repeat- edly appear in accounts of his heroics. Linked together in a narrative, they may be defined as the “Ur-version” of Honey- man’s espionage career. Claim: John Honeyman, of Scottish ancestry, was born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1729 and was a soldier in General James Wolfe’s bodyguard at the battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, where the British victory eventually led to the creation of Canada. He helped bear the fatally wounded Wolfe from the field. Honeyman, however, was never a willing recruit and dis- liked being dragooned as a red- coat. Soon after Wolfe’s death, Private Honeyman was honor- ably discharged and made his way south. He reappears in Philadelphia in 1775. In the interim, he became a weaver, butcher, cattle-dealer, and the husband of Mary Henry. In early 1776, they and their young children move to The Honeyman story was retold in October 1941 in True Comics Number 5 Griggstown, New Jersey. (pages 49-54). The full issue can be found in the digital collection of the Michigan State University library. Evaluation: At the time of Honeyman’s birth, there was no sometime before 1746 and in Armagh and to have sailed record of a family of that name embarked on a small expedi- with Wolfe to Canada in 1758.14 living in the Armagh area, tion against Quebec that year. making the circumstances of Honeyman the future spy was There is no evidence, how- his birth difficult to certify. indubitably a Protestant, and ever, that he was reluctant to Alternatively, he may have almost definitely a Presbyte- join the army and, if nothing been born in Fife, Scotland, rian. Despite the uncertainty of else, the faith Wolfe reposed in though one genealogist has his birthplace, he appears to speculated that he was the son have taken the king’s shilling him indicates that he per- of a Captain John Honeyman, formed his duties with alacrity who had arrived in New York and enthusiasm. If his father Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 29 History or Family Fable? The two men decided that Honeyman “was to act the part of a spy for the American cause.” headquarters in White Plains, New York, between 1 and 10 November and thence Peek- skill between 11 and 13 Novem- were Captain Honeyman, the arranged a private meeting ber, ruling out Honeyman’s colors would have been a natu- with the general at Fort Lee, recruitment in that period; ral avenue for the young man. New Jersey. He had gained upriver from Manhattan, White The unsubstantiated belief that access by brandishing a lauda- Plains and Peekskill were quite Honeyman was suborned into tory letter of introduction from a trek from Griggstown. How- donning a uniform is almost Wolfe and declaiming his ever, Washington was at Fort certainly a later embellishment attachment to the cause of inde- Lee, only 50 miles away) from intended to demonstrate that pendence. The meeting was a 14 November to the 17th or this Scotch-Irish “outsider” was necessarily hurried one, but (in 18th. 18 The chronology there- secretly disaffected from his the words of the chief 19th cen- fore fits the story.