Our Chapter

ANNA SMITH STRONG CHAPTER, NSDAR
Organized December 10, 1971

The Anna Smith Strong Chapter was named for a courageous member of the celebrated Setauket Spy Ring based in Setauket, Long Island, New York during the American Revolution. The chapter name proudly commemorates the role of the only female member of this historically significant spy ring.

Since all of Long Island was occupied by the British during the Revolution, the members of the Setauket Spy Ring were in constant danger. Anna’s assignment was to signal the arrival of Caleb Brewster who came periodically across the Devil’s Belt (Long Island Sound) to receive messages from members of the spy ring. Anna accomplished this task by developing and using a very simple strategy that successfully outwitted the British because of its simplicity.

When chief spy Abraham Woodhull saw Anna’s black petticoat hanging on her clothesline, he knew Brewster was in town. By counting the white handkerchiefs scattered through her wash, he knew in which cove Brewster’s boat was hidden. Woodhull then contacted Brewster in order to pass along to George Washington the secret messages he received from another spy ring member, Robert Townsend, who was based in New York City.

Townsend’s messages were brought to Woodhull by a Setauket horseman, Austin Roe, who rode weekly to New York City to retrieve them. After adding his own observations, Woodhull passed the messages to Brewster who then rowed his whale boat back across Long Island Sound to Connecticut where he passed the messages to General Washington.