The Culper Spy Ring, Woodhull and Strong Family

Note: for the Strong Family lineage, see Blog Post: Descendants of John Strong b. 1610
http://historicalandmisc.blogspot.com/2016/08/descendants-of-john-strong-b-1610.html

Capt. Selah Strong [nephew of husband of 1st cousin 8x removed] b. 12/25/1737, New York d. 7/4/1815, St George Manor, Setauket, NY m: Anna Smith b. 4/14/1740  d. 8/12/1812, Setauket, NY [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=70275032 Find A Grave] Capt. Selah Strong b. 12/25/1737 d. 7/4/1815, married Anna Smithhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Strong_(spy) He was Capt. New York militia 1776; taken prisoner, 1/3/1778… after the war, he was a state senator in NY between 1792 and 1800 and a member of Council of Appointment in 1794. He was the first judge of Suffolk County between 1783 and 1793 and county treasurer between 1786 and 1802. He was a supervisor between 1784 and 1794 and President of Board of Trustees of Brookhaven, 1780-1797.

https://books.google.com/books?id=fId2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1007&lpg=PA1007&dq=Captain+Selah+Strong&source=bl&ots=WZy65Btx-i&sig=zhkUJKqbBMt_rkvTczw2WG0pwmM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNpdKI1sbMAhUQxWMKHXd3A4kQ6AEISTAL#v=onepage&q=Captain%20Selah%20Strong&f=false The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut. Pub. 1913. Capt. Selah Strong’s [7th Co.] List; includes Selah Strong 1st Sgt. and 1st Major Nathan Woodhull of Brookhaven

http://www.threevillagehistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Hi_2014-131415-ACaseForAnnaSmithStrong.pdf  A Case for Anna Smith Strong.

Capt. Selah Strong m: Ann Smith -Selah, son of Selah Strong m: Hannah Woodhull, daughter of Nathaniel, son of Richard Woodhull II [8th great-grandfather]

https://spycurious.wordpress.com/tag/selah-strong/ TURN to a Historian -"TURN to a Historian" is an independent blog for people searching for historically-accurate information and analysis about "TURN: Washington's Spies", AMC's fictionalized television drama about Revolutionary War spies.

http://www.amc.com/shows/turn TURN: Washingto’s Spys - 3rd Season; on AMC Channel

Some characters in the TV Series: Selah and Anna Strong, Abraham Woodhull *Culper Spy Ring… Selah related through his mother Sarah Smith b. 1701 to General Nathaniel Woodhull b. 1693 and Abraham Woodhull, The “Samuel Culper Sr.” of the Culper Ring…

Lieutenant Colonel Hewlett -British Army

Although liable for service anywhere in America, Lieutenant Colonel Hewlett never left Long Island during the war, nor did the majority of his battalion. As we have discussed in previous posts, Hewlett and his men were stationed at Setauket during Parsons’ August 1777 raid, a.k.a. the Battle of Setauket. [Parsons’ a British Officer]

    I have this Instant while writing the following authentic Information lodged against a Justice Selah Strong by a Gentleman from Connecticut – that he [Strong] wrote to Genl. Parsons there were a Number of Vessels collecting Forage at Southold – Guarded by a fourteen Gun Schooner and fifty Men on Shore under the Command of Captn. Raymond – who might easily be surprised. That he secreted a Deserter three Weeks who went by the Name of Boyd – that he has repeatedly sent Intelligence to the Rebels in Connecticut of the Situation of the Troops in this Place by John and Cornelius Clark. This very Mr. Strong has pretended to be our Friend – and several Times given Information of the last named Persons being over – but not until they were gone. What Security can Government receive – while there are such Villains ready to stab her in secret?

       That Success may attend your Excellency’s Arms and all Traitors be discover’d is the sincere Wish of Your most obliged humble Servt.

       Richard Hewlett

.        Lieutenant Colonel.”

The above letter deliciously gives a real look at what was going on in Setauket at the time. It also foreshadows the arrest of Selah Strong, who was detained for “treasonable correspondence with His Majesty’s enemies” and then sentenced to imprisonment on one of the infamous British Prison Ships in New York harbor. (Selah’s arrest and imprisonment is depicted over the course of several episodes in Season 1 of TURN – although, like most real events in the show, it didn’t happen until years later in the war.)

Hewlett’s last official command was the dubious honor of commanding all the Provincial regiments heading to the River Saint John, Nova Scotia in September 1783. The end of the war left thousands of Loyalists seeking asylum in what remained of British North America. For many, that translated to what is now modern Canada. Hewlett’s instructions, which must have been extremely painful, were to take charge of the remainder of the Provincial Forces in what would become the Province of New Brunswick and disband them. The war was over, their side had lost, and their services to the king were no longer needed. The lieutenant colonel would retire on half-pay and settle on a free grant of land in the small hamlet called Gagetown on the Saint John River. Here the former resident of Queens County and defender of Setauket would die in 1789, six years after the official end of the war. Judge Thomas Jones, the contemporary Loyalist historian remembered him as “a bold, spirited, resolute, intrepid man.” Another British officer, in sizing up the various Provincial field officers at the end of the war, summed up our Loyalist character simply and succinctly as a “good, useful man.”

Todd W. Braisted is an author and researcher of Loyalist military studies. His primary focus is on Loyalist military personnel, infrastructure and campaigns throughout North America. Since 1979, Braisted has amassed and transcribed over 40,000 pages of Loyalist and related material from archives and private collections around the world. He has authored numerous journal articles and books, as well as appearing as a guest historian on episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? (CBC) and History Detectives (PBS). He is the creator of the Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies (royalprovincial.com), the largest website dedicated to the subject.  Braisted is a Fellow in the Company of Military Historians, Honorary Vice President of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada, and a past-president of the Bergen County Historical Society. His newest book, Grand Forage 1778: The Revolutionary War’s Forgotten Campaign, will be published in 2016.

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