Dr. Benjamin Church, spy : a case of espionage on the eve of the American Revolution John A. Nagy

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nagy, John A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church, Benjamin.

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Secret service.

United States.

Espionage--United States--History--18th century.

Espionage.

Espionage--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Physical Description:

xii, 211 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Yardley, PA : Westholme Publishing, 2013

Summary:

"Dr. Benjamin Church, Jr. (1734-1778) was a respected medical man and civic leader in colonial Boston who was accused of being an agent for the British in the 1770s, providing compromising intelligence about the plans of the provincial leadership in Massachusetts as well as important information from the meetings of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. ... In Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution, noted authority John A. Nagy has scoured original documents to establish the best case against Church, identifying previously unacknowledged correspondence and reports as containing references to the doctor and his activities, and noting an incriminating letter in the possession of the Library of Congress that is a coded communication composed by Church to his British contact. Nagy shows that at the cusp of the revolution, when the possibility--let alone the outcome--of an American colonial rebellion was far from assured, Church sought to align himself with the side he thought would emerge victorious--the British crown--and thus line his pockets with money that he desperately needed. A fascinating investigation into a centuries-old intrigue, this well-researched volume is an important contribution to American Revolution scholarship." -- Publisher website.

Contents:

Introduction

Ancestry and early years

Boston massacre

A good drunk for only the cost of a copper

The spy game

The ciphered letter

Black treachery

Transformed vice into virtue

Paying the piper

Conclusion

Appendices

A. Doctor Benjamin Church Jr.'s autopsy of Crispus Attucks

B. Letter from John Fleeming to Dr. Benjamin Church

C. Doctor Benjamin Church's intercepted letter

D. The mysterious woman with the ciphered letter

E. Council of war

F. Account of the examination of Dr. Benjamin Church written while he was in prison at Cambridge

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1594161844

9781594161841

OCLC:

847837394