Purportedly a member of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, Anna Strong helped pass on intelligence about British troop movements during the American Revolutionary War.
Antony Platt/AMCThough few confirmed historical depictions of Anna Strong exist, she was famously portrayed in the television show TURN: Washington’s Spies.
During the American Revolution, those who rowed across New York’s Long Island Sound might have seen the flutter of laundry on a distant hill in Strongs Neck. On some days, they may have spotted a black petticoat; on others, they may have noticed some neatly arranged white handkerchiefs. Most probably dismissed what they saw as nothing but a housewife’s work. But as the traditional story goes, the clothing had been carefully arranged by a woman named Anna Strong, a Revolutionary War spy.
Some historians believe that Strong used her laundry to send messages to members of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, a highly effective intelligence network during the war that helped spread news about British troop movements. But the spy ring operated in absolute secret, and the wider American public didn’t even know about its existence until the 20th century. It remains unclear exactly how many members there were in the network, but Strong is often thought to have been a key participant.
So who was Anna Strong? This is her story, including the theory that she was the mysterious “Agent 355” — an unknown female spy who supposedly helped change the course of the Revolutionary War.
The Revolutionary War Breaks Out — And Changes The Strong Family
Very little is known about Anna Smith Strong’s early life. She was born on April 14, 1740, in Setauket, Suffolk County, New York, and, at the age of about 20, she married a man named Selah Strong III. Her husband’s family bought land on a peninsula known as “Little Neck,” which later became known as “Strongs Neck.” The couple had a farm, and Anna gave birth to nine children.
Meanwhile, the wider world was changing rapidly. In the 1760s, the British Parliament had imposed unpopular taxes on its American colonies to help pay for debts that emerged due to the Seven Years’ War (also called the French and Indian War). Colonists were outraged by the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed items like pamphlets and playing cards, and by the Townshend Acts of 1767, which taxed items like paint, glass, paper, and tea.
Tension over taxes like these led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773 — and then, in 1775, it led to war between the American colonies and Great Britain.
Public DomainThe Boston Tea Party of 1773, one of the events that moved Great Britain and its American colonies closer to war.
On Long Island, the Strong family threw their support to the American Patriot side. Selah served as a representative to the first Provincial Congress of New York, and, according to the New York Historical, he fought in the Revolutionary War and saw action during the Battle of Long Island. But in 1778, Selah was captured and imprisoned on the HMS Jersey. He was charged with “surreptitious correspondence with the enemy,” or being a spy.
Anna, the daughter of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Colony of New York, was seemingly able to use her connections to get her husband released. For his safety, he then fled to Connecticut. But Anna Strong stayed behind, apparently to protect the family property from the British.
Before long, however, she had reportedly joined the Culper Spy Ring.
Anna Smith Strong Purportedly Becomes A Spy For George Washington
The Culper Spy Ring began on the orders of George Washington in 1778, when Washington made Major Benjamin Tallmadge his director of military intelligence. Before long, Tallmadge had recruited a network of spies, many of whom he’d known from his youth on Long Island.
Public DomainBenjamin Tallmadge, the ringleader of the Culper Spy Ring.
During the Revolutionary War, the Culper Spy Ring would pass on vital intelligence. They alerted Washington to imminent British attacks and helped reveal the treason of the infamous Benedict Arnold.
In order to operate undetected, Tallmadge developed codes and pseudonyms, and elaborate ways of sending messages between himself, his spies, and George Washington. And it’s believed that Anna Strong became a vital part of this system, using a unique type of code.
From her farm on Strongs Neck, Anna awaited word from her fellow spies. After getting intelligence from her neighbor, Abraham Woodhull, Anna would reportedly arrange her laundry to send a message to a courier named Caleb Brewster. If she hung a black petticoat, it meant that there was a message ready for Brewster to pick up from Woodhull. Sometimes, the male spies also met in coves nearby, so to indicate which of the six coves would serve as a meeting place, Anna would hang one to six handkerchiefs.
New York Public Library Digital CollectionsStrongs Neck, where Anna Strong purportedly hung her laundry — sending symbols to other Revolutionary War spies.
Then, when the Revolutionary War ended, Anna Strong’s life seemingly went back to normal. Her husband returned, and they had their 10th child: George Washington Strong. Anna died almost 30 years after the war ended, on August 12, 1812, in relative obscurity. Her service — and the service of other Culper Spy Ring members — would go unreported until the 20th century.
Since then, some have speculated that Anna Strong could be the legendary Revolutionary War female spy known only as “Agent 355.”
Was Anna Smith Strong Really “Agent 355”?
Who was Agent 355? Rumors about the mysterious female spy emerged thanks to the Culper Spy Ring’s coded messages. George Washington was “711,” for example, and “371” meant “man.” Meanwhile, “355” was used to refer to a “lady,” and in a coded message sent from Woodhull to Washington on August 15, 1779, this part stood out: “I intend to visit 727 [Culper code for New York] before long and think by the assistance of a 355 [lady in the code] of my acquaintance, shall be able to outwit them all.”
Some historians firmly believe that this lady in question was Anna Strong. Some think that she was someone else entirely, perhaps someone based in Manhattan. And it’s also possible that “355” wasn’t even a spy at all.
Public DomainA depiction of a female spy during the American Civil War, often mistakenly used as an illustration of Agent 355.
Indeed, some historians even doubt the accuracy of Anna Strong’s story and her work as a spy during the Revolutionary War. The Journal of the American Revolution reports that while her legend was passed down over generations, and some historians believe there is convincing evidence of Anna Strong’s role, others are not as convinced. However, they do think there’s a possibility that Anna played at least some role in passing on messages.
“The clothesline story is apocryphal; I treat it as folklore,” Beverly Tyler, the historian for the Three Village Historical Society in Setauket, stated. “[But Anna Strong] had to communicate with [another spy] in some way, whether it was the clothesline or some other regular method.”
In the end, Anna Strong’s story may never be fully known. As a spy, she would have operated in the shadows of the Revolutionary War. But if “local legends” are to be believed, she played a small but vital role in the conflict. By simply hanging her laundry near her home, she would be all but invisible to the British soldiers. But to her fellow American Patriots, she could be a shining beacon, passing on crucial information as the war went on.
After reading about Anna Smith Strong, discover the story of William Dawes and how he rode alongside Paul Revere. Or, learn about Nathan Hale, the 21-year-old who spied for George Washington and was hanged by the British.
