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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
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BIOGRAPHY CARDS
Lydia Darragh: Patriot Spy
Lydia Darragh was living in Philadelphia when the war began. Lydia was born in Dublin, Ireland
in 1729. She married her tutor, William Darragh, in 1753 and the couple emigrated to America.
Lydia and William were Quakers. William continued to work as a tutor and Lydia took up the
profession of nurse, midwife [someone who delivers babies], and mortician [someone who
prepares bodies for burial].
The British, under the command of General William Howe, took the city of Philadelphia in
September of 1777. A little more than two months later, in December, General Howe's adjutant
came to Lydia's house and told her that the officers wished to use a room in her house for
meetings. They even requested that she send her family to bed early in order to have privacy for
their meetings. The American army was encamped sixteen miles away at Whitemarsh, north of
Philadelphia.
One night in December, as the Darragh family slept, General Howe's officers again used her
home to plan a secret attack on the Americans. Little did they know that Lydia was not sleeping.
Instead, she was outside of the door with her ear to the keyhole. As the meeting ended, Lydia
crept back to bed but was unable to sleep because she knew that General Washington should be
warned.
The next day, without even telling her husband that she had secret information, she announced
that the family needed more flour and that she would walk to the mill. Lydia went to General
Howe's headquarters and got a pass to leave the city and set out on the five mile walk to Pearson's
Mill in Frankford. She went to the mill and left her flour sack there and continued on foot to find
the American lines.
As Lydia walked toward Whitemarsh, she ran into one of General Washington's patrols. She
revealed her knowledge of the British attack plan to an officer of the American army and was
taken to a nearby house. Lydia ate and rested and then returned to the mill to pick up her flour.
She walked with her sack of flour through the British lines and returned to her house.
Lydia anxiously awaited the day set for the attack. Did General Washington have her
information? Would he be ready for the British attack? She watched the British troops march out
of town. After four anxious days, they returned looking dejected. She had been successful. The
American army had been expecting the British attack.
Unfortunately for Lydia, the British officers suspected a member of her family was the cause of
their defeat. They took the terrified Lydia into a locked room and questioned her. Despite the
pressure, Lydia remained calm and the adjutant accepted her stories. Lydia continued her help
with the cause of independence by nursing the sick who were displaced by the warfare near
Philadelphia. She gained a fine reputation during the war, but later in her life she was suspended
from the monthly meeting of Friends [Quakers] for ignoring their warnings about participating in
the war. She was able to rise above these conflicts and when she died in 1789 she was buried in a
Friends' cemetery near her home.
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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
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Elizabeth Thompson: Loyalist Spy
Elizabeth Thompson was born in England. She and her husband came to Charleston in the colony
of South Carolina in 1769. Elizabeth was a mantua-maker. She made gowns for ladies. She and
her husband opened a millinery shop [sells clothing and accessories] soon after arriving in the
colony.
Their business depended on trade with England. When the conflict with England became more
severe, Elizabeth's husband was asked to support the patriots. They wanted him to take an oath of
allegiance to the new government. His love for his mother country prevented him from making
such a declaration and in 1776 he left America and returned to England. Elizabeth stayed behind
to see to what was left of the business. She was threatened by the patriots, and her slaves were
confiscated [taken away], but she remained unharmed. At the beginning of the war, patriot
General Benjamin Lincoln was stationed in Charleston with a force of men.
In 1776 the British forcibly attempted to take the city of Charleston, but they were unsuccessful.
The prisons of the city of Charleston began to be used for captured British soldiers. Elizabeth
Thompson allowed the officers of the British army who had been captured to be held at her
house. She also began assisting the soldiers who were in the city's prisons. Eventually, she began
to carry messages from the officers to men in the American army who were British spies. On one
occasion she boldly traveled through the American camp to carry letters to the redcoats. Elizabeth
disguised one of the British officers staying in her home and took him out for a ride in her
carriage. She drove him past the American lines so that he could view their works and report to
the British commander.
In May of 1779 the city of Charleston was taken after a forty-five day siege by the British army.
To English sympathizers, including Elizabeth, this was welcome relief. When the war ended,
Elizabeth joined her husband in England and made an attempt to claim a British pension [money
from the government as a reward for service]. After all, she had assisted the friends of the King in
America.
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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
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Dicey Langston: Patriot Spy
Dicey Langston was only sixteen when the revolution began. She was born in 1760 on her father's
plantation in South Carolina. Dicey's mother died when she was a little girl. She was raised by her
father and brothers and grew up a tomboy. She was skilled at riding a horse and shooting a rifle.
When the fighting broke out, Dicey's brothers left the plantation to fight with the Continental
Army. People in the area were very loyal to King George in England. Dicey regularly visited her
loyalist relatives. Dicey's brothers camped in the forest near the plantation so that the plantation
would not suffer the consequences of their patriotism.
When Dicey visited her loyalist relatives, she listened very carefully to their conversations for
any news of enemy movements. Later she would go and report her information to her brothers.
Dicey's relatives soon became suspicious of her and they threatened her father with harm if he did
not restrain her. Mr. Langston forbade Dicey from visiting her brother's camp in the future. Dicey
reluctantly agreed. Only a few weeks passed before Dicey was again passing information. She
had heard of a ruthless group of Loyalists called the Bloody Scouts operating in the area. This
group planned to raid a village called Little Eden, which was near Dicey's brothers' camp.
Fearing for her brothers' lives, Dicey knew she had to get word to them. She decided that she
must travel by foot and at night in order to go undetected. She set off late one night when the
entire household was asleep. She avoided the roads and kept to the fields and forest. She made
steady progress until she came to a creek swollen with the spring rains. Dicey bravely waded into
the creek but, as she got to the center of the creek, the swift water carried her downstream,
turning her around and around.
When she finally regained her footing, she was not sure which side of the creek was which. She
chose to follow her instinct and stepped carefully through the creek in what she hoped was the
right direction. After a great distance, she reached her brothers' camp and delivered her message.
The men in the camp had just returned from an expedition and were hungry and exhausted. Dicey
built them a fire and made hoecakes for them to eat. Each of them took some of the bread with
them and set off to warn the settlers.
Meanwhile, Dicey made the treacherous trip through the forest and creeks again and returned
home just before dawn. When the Bloody Scouts rode into the village of Little Eden, there was
not a soul to be found. When they found the camp cleared out, the Scouts were certain that Dicey
had gotten a message to them and they were furious. They came to the Langston home with
pistols aimed at Dicey's father.
Dicey quickly jumped between her father and his attacker and the men left her home. Throughout
the war, Dicey was the sole protector of the plantation. She continued her patriotic work by
standing up to the bands of Loyalists who terrorized her home. When the war was over, Dicey
married Thomas Springfield, a local patriot leader, and they both lived to advanced age.
Teacher Gazette December 2013
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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
Lesson Materials
Graphic Organizer: Female Spies of the Revolution
Directions: Fill out the sections that apply to the individual your group examines. Fill out the
other sections when your classmates present their findings.
Female
Spy
Describe Actions
Effect of Actions
Personal Consequences of
Actions
Lydia
Darragh
Elizabeth
Thompson
Teacher Gazette December 2013
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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
Lesson Materials
Graphic Organizer: Female Spies of the Revolution – Answer Key
Female Spy
Describe Actions
Lydia
Darragh
•
Listened at the keyhole
•
Got a pass from General
Howe to leave the city
Elizabeth
Thompson
Effect of Actions
•
•
American army
expected the British
attack and the British
were defeated
•
Walked to American lines
•
Revealed her knowledge of
the British attack to an
officer of the American
army
•
Stayed calm while
questioned
•
Nursed sick
•
Ran business while husband
was in Britain
•
British spies
received messages
•
Allowed officers of
captured British soldiers to
be held at her house
•
(inferred)
Information about
American works
reported to British
commander
•
Helped soldiers in prison
•
Traveled through American
camp to carry letters to the
British
•
Disguised one of the British
soldiers and took him out
for a ride in her carriage so
that he could view the
American’s work and report
to the British
Teacher Gazette December 2013
•
Personal Consequences of
Actions
•
Good reputation during
the war
•
Later in her life she
was suspended from
the monthly meeting of
the Friends for ignoring
their warnings about
participating in the war
•
Threatened by patriots
•
Slaves confiscated
•
Had soldiers living in
her house
•
After the war ended she
joined her husband in
England and attempted
to claim a British
pension
Questioned by British
officers
Imprisoned British
soldiers were helped
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Female Spies of the Revolutionary War
Lesson Materials
Dicey
Langston
•
Listened carefully to the
conversations of her
Loyalist relatives
•
Reported the information
to her brothers who were
with the Continental Army
•
Went out at night to report
news of Bloody Scouts to
brothers
•
Cared for brothers in forest
•
Jumped between father and
attacker
•
Stood up to bands of
loyalists
Teacher Gazette December 2013
•
Saved the village of
Little Eden
•
Loyalists terrorized her
family
•
Saved father’s life
•
Loyalist relatives
threatened her and her
father
•
Got swept away in river
•
Protected her father
from an attack by
members of the Bloody
Scouts
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