George Washington's letter to his Long Island spymaster set for auction at Christie's

With the expected arrival of 4,000 French troops in Rhode Island, Gen. George Washington sent a letter in 1780 to his spymaster, Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, seeking to reactivate his Long Island-based Culper Spy Ring.

That nearly 250-year-old letter, passed through generations and last belonging to the late owner of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, will be on display this month at Christie’s in Manhattan and go up for auction on July 1. It is expected to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000, according to Christie’s.

Irsay purchased the letter from Sotheby’s in 2002. The letter had been in private collections passed down through generations, said Peter Klarnet, Christie’s senior specialist of Americana, books and manuscripts.

"It’s not like a piece of fine art. These were utilitarian objects before they ever became collectibles," Klarnet said. "Washington has a very unique hand. There are few people with handwriting like him; it’s very distinct."

The letter was part of a trove of historical artifacts Irsay owned in his Americana collection, and will be on free display at Christie's from June 25 to July 1 ahead of the "Icons of History" auction.

That collection, valued at $6 million, also includes a letter from Washington to Thomas Jefferson, who was in France, regarding the first draft of the U.S. Constitution. Its value is put at $1 million to $2.5 million. It also features tickets to an April 14, 1865, production of "Our American Cousin," at Ford’s Theater, the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

The July 11, 1780, Washington letter is a consequential piece of Long Island’s history and correspondence from Washington at his New Jersey headquarters to Tallmadge in Connecticut. The spymaster then delivered the messages to his spies in Setauket on the North Shore . A draft of the letter is also included in Washington’s papers at the National Archives. 

Washington had been frustrated with how long it took for information to flow through to the spy ring, Klarnet said. 

Messages could take weeks to reach Washington as they traveled between New Jersey and Long Island. And the line of information went cold for about nine months when Benedict Arnold, the infamous Revolutionary traitor, began hunting for spies in Manhattan. One of Washington's spies, Robert Townsend, retreated to Long Island.

But Long Island’s geography, which allowed spies to pass messages along the North Shore, proved invaluable for concealing vital information, sometimes in invisible ink or coded messages, said Kristen Nyitray, director of special collections and archives at Stony Brook University.

"The Culper Spy Ring's significance lay in its reliability and secrecy. The network leveraged the ordinary patterns of daily life, and its success was due in part to its members' familiarity with Long Island's natural geographic features," Nyitray said. 

Washington sought intelligence about the British ahead of the French arrival in Newport, Rhode Island. He wrote in a May 1780 letter that he had become less reliant on his Culper spies — code names for Townsend and Abraham Woodhull on Long Island.

Less than two months later, in July 1780, Washington wanted to secure the arrival of the French army by monitoring British intelligence. The French fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War.

"As we may every moment expect the arrival of the French Fleet, a revival of the correspondence with the Culpers will be of very great importance," Washington wrote in the July 11 letter. "You will endeavor to prevail upon the older [Samuel Culper Sr., the alias used by Abraham Woodhull] to give you information of the movements and position of the enemy upon Long Island — as whether they are all confined to the port at Brooklyn or whether they have any detached posts and where, and what is their strength at those posts — in short desire him to inform you of whatever comes under his notice and what seems worthy of communication."

The body of the letter was dictated to Washington’s secretary, Tench Tilghman, which he closed "your most obedient servant," and which the general then signed, "Go. Washington." It also includes a postscript, in Washington’s handwriting, requesting information on British supplies. The French arrived in Rhode Island the same day Washington sent his letter.

The Culpers reported back to Tallmadge and Washington that the British were aware of the French Royal Army's impending arrival and were preparing Redcoats to ferry across Long Island Sound, Klarnet said, but were thwarted by winds on the East River.

Washington reacted with a feigned crossing of the Hudson, spreading word of a planned attack on the British in New York, even though Washington lacked the troops, Klarnet said. The diversion eventually helped Washington work with the French to win the war one year later.

Stony Brook University previously purchased two Washington letters, from 1779 and 1780, in which he exchanged information about the spy ring. Those sold at auction for between $60,000 and $96,000. The university purchased the letters at auction through Christie’s in 2006 and 2009.

The letters can be viewed by appointment through the university, Nyitray said.

"It’s very important these documents become publicly accessible," Nyitray said. "It’s a whole different experience to see an original letter in person and experience history in person. We want these documents available for future generations."