Richard Woodhull (1712-1788) was the local magistrate of Setauket, New York under Great Britain during the American Revolution. While he was a staunch loyalist, his son Abraham Woodhull would become the leader of the pro-patriot Culper Ring.
Biography[]
Richard Woodhull was born in 1712 in Setauket, New York. Woodhull was well-educated in the humanities and the arts, and he became a judge and the magistrate of Setauket under Great Britain. He became the moral center of the town of Setauket, and he lost his wife Elizabeth in 1757. Woodhull was a staunch loyalist when the American Revolution began, and his eldest son Thomas was killed in 1773 while serving in the British Army and putting down a riot at King's College. His other son, Abraham Woodhull, would form the Culper Ring, a spy ring that helped the patriots during the American Revolutionary War; Richard was aware of his son's activities, and he was angry at his son's views, trying to halt his activities with his influence. However, the Culper Ring would be a great asset to the revolutionary cause until the war's end. Judge Woodhull died in 1788.