HISTORY

Spy Master

The British often got data on US troop movements and strengths from American newspapers, But the Americans preferred and old fashioned method from the Revolutionary War . . . local spies.

Peter Sailly was a Customs Collector, but in his spare time he was the spy master for Maj. Gen. George Izard. With official traffic between the US and Canada non-existent; Peter had a large number of idle hands that had contacts in Canada that could be put to good use.

Ezra Thurber was a customs collector at Champlain. He and Sailly were able to get accurate data for all the ships being built on the great lakes. They were also able to give Izard fair warning about the build-up of British troops in Quebec. Ezra described the scene in the port as having so many ships it looked more like a pine forest than an estuary.

Neither one was ever caught.