George Washington's Spies
American History Hit
History Hit
4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
During the Revolutionary War a vital web of intelligence was established, with General Washington at its head. Operating through coded letters, hidden signals, and a chain of ordinary civilians turned spies, their secrecy and precision proved that even the quietest network could alter the course of a revolution.
Our guest today is Dr. Alexander Rose, historian and author of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, was adapted into the AMC period drama series, Turn: Washington’s Spies.
Don's new documentary on Fort Laramie is available to watch now for all History Hit subscribers. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.
All music from Epidemic Sounds.
American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want to explore even more history? Sign up to History Hit, where you will discover history from around the world. |
| 0:07.1 | From the American Revolution to prehistoric Scotland, there is plenty to discover. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries, with a brand new release every week, exploring everything from the ancient |
| 0:22.4 | world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe to bring the past alive. |
| 0:29.5 | Hello American History Hit listeners. Before we dive into today's episode, I have some exciting |
| 0:34.8 | news. A brand new history hit documentary releases today, |
| 0:39.9 | featuring Yours Truly. We filmed this on location in Wyoming at a place called Fort Laramie, |
| 0:45.8 | which you may know from our frontier series about the Western migration, played a large role |
| 0:51.6 | on the Oregon Trail. This film releases today on History Hits website for all subscribers. |
| 0:57.6 | Go to historyhit.com to watch and subscribe. |
| 1:00.7 | If you like the History of the American West, well, I think you'll like this. |
| 1:04.2 | And you can see me walking and talking and moving my arms. |
| 1:08.7 | So check it out. |
| 1:10.0 | Home with the show. |
| 1:17.1 | Music and moving my arms. So check it out. Home with the show. It's 1778, on a quiet stretch of rural Long Island here in New York State. A shirt lifts and falls |
| 1:25.1 | in the summer breeze. To the passing eye, it's nothing. |
| 1:29.5 | Laundry on a line. |
| 1:31.3 | But it happens to be a signal, a sign, something noted and registered. |
| 1:36.9 | Later, out on the water, in the fading daylight, |
| 1:40.1 | a whale boat hides among the reeds, |
| 1:42.3 | its occupants waiting for night to cover their treacherous crossing. |
| 1:46.4 | And in British-occupied New York City, a local shopkeeper, listening more than he speaks, |
| 1:52.4 | gathers fragments, rumors of troop movements, offhand remarks of British soldiers, |
... |
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