“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.
Very interesting. I’m going to watch the Netflix series on this spy ring. Maybe my ancestor was a spy, sure sounds like it. The British were full of drink and food and were playing cards when the messenger arrived.