The Long Island History Project The Truth Behind the Spies: Decoding AMC’s Turn
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Historian Bev Tyler of the Three Village Historical Society
Bev Tyler, historian with the Three Village Historical Society, walks us through the true story of the Culper Spy Ring that operated out of Setauket and Manhattan during the Revolutionary War. Made up of a small tight-knit group of friends and relatives, the Ring provided valuable information on British activities that helped George Washington outmaneuver and out-spy a much more powerful enemy. All of this was conducted in occupied territory, a Long Island beset by British troops with no love for the population they were meant to protect and raiders from the Sound who preyed on Loyalist and Patriot alike. We also discuss the AMC series Turn which depicts a fictionalized version of the Ring. Find out where the story strays from the history and which facts and characters stay true to the historical record. From Abraham Woodhull to Robert Townsend, Anna Strong, and Caleb Brewster, find out what they were really like and their fate after the war. Turn starts its second season in the spring of 2015.
North Shore of Long Island, 1780. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
Further Research:
- The Three Village Historical Society
- Turn: Washington’s Spies on AMC
- It Happened in Setauket…(from the Emma S. Clark Library)
- Raynham Hall Museum
- George Washington Letters at Stony Brook University Special Collections.
- George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress
- Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose
- Upon Secrecy by Selene Castrovilla, Jeff Crosby, and Shelley Jackson
- Fairfield Historical Society
- Page 288 of Benjamin F. Thompson’s History of Long Island (1839)
- Morton Pennypacker Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Public Library