Nathaniel Sackett (1737-1805) was a spymaster for General George Washington and the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Sackett was the head of the Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies, a proto-CIA, and he was one of the masterminds behind the Culper Ring.
Biography[]
Nathaniel Sackett was born in 1737 in Westchester County, New York, and he was educated in several languages, while he was also a scholar of encryption, with Dumas' style being his favorite. In 1776, George Washington recruited him into the Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies, and he was employed by Washington as a spymaster for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. William Duer recommended him, and Captain Benjamin Tallmadge was promoted to Major and replaced Charles Scott as the head of the intelligence unit of the Continental Army, with Tallmadge also serving as Sackett's contact with the army. Sackett recruited several agents for Washington, but he did not provide enough correct information and was later dismissed. Ironically, his information on William Howe's plans to attack Philadelphia proved correct, and Washington would be defeated at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777. He died in 1805.