I love these stories of our ancestors. One of mine was entertaining the British generals at his home on the night Washington crossed the Delaware. An errand boy came to deliver a note to the British officers as to what was happening but alas, it never got delivered. My ancestor was a merchant in Trenton NJ. Don’t know why he was entertaining them that night.
Theres a large stone at the bottom end of Lake George with a plaque about the battle and it mentions my Capt McGinnis... The area is so overgrown now though that I haven’t been able to actually find it...
http://www.historiclakes.org/wm_henry/bloody.html
“My ancestor was a merchant in Trenton NJ. Don’t know why he was entertaining them that night.”
It was a fairly common practice for “undercover” patriots (spies) to entertain British officers and loosen their tongues with strong drink and praise. Depending on the information gathered it could reach General Washington’s desk in two or three days.
Slaves were often in use in the spy game.
I forget the particulars but one slave, “appropriated” by British officers, heard them going over a plan of action. He communicated the information to a local patriot who gave the information to one of his slaves who then delivered the information to General Lafayette who delivered it to Washington.
General Washington developed a spy ring any modern dictator would be proud of.