Abraham Woodhull

Abraham Woodhull was a farmer from Setauket, Long Island, who became one of the principal members of the Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolutionary War. Recruited in 1778, he used the intelligence alias “Samuel Culper Sr.” and helped move information from British-occupied New York to George Washington’s headquarters.

Woodhull worked with figures including Robert Townsend, Caleb Brewster and Anna Strong in a network that relied on coded messages, couriers and secret signals. After the war he returned to local public life on Long Island, serving in judicial and civic offices rather than seeking national prominence.

Hourly History’s Culper Spy Ring follows Benjamin Tallmadge, Abraham Woodhull, Robert Townsend and their associates as they used couriers, coded messages, invisible ink and carefully constructed cover identities. Abraham Woodhull is treated fictionally in Lucia St. Clair Robson’s Shadow Patriots.