Meet The Real-Life Revolutionary War Spy Ring Featured on TV's 'Turn'

Wendy Mead at Biography.com offers a look at the real-life Revolutionary War spy ring dramatized on AMC TV's Turn.

The popular TV series Turn delves into the lives and missions of American spies during the Revolutionary War. Based on Alexander Rose's book Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, the series shows just how hard it is to be in the espionage game.

 

The main characters in the show form the heart of what became known as the Culper Spy Ring. Led by Revolutionary officer Benjamin Tallmadge, this group helped the Americans win the war against the British. 

 

Uncovering Benedict Arnold's plans to betray the American side was one of this spy ring's most important accomplishments. But who were these daring individuals that made up the Culper Spy Ring? Most of them knew each other from their hometown of Setauket, Long Island. Despite their strong bonds, the group members took on code names and numbers to protect themselves. To be a spy in these times meant to risk facing the ultimate punishment—execution for treason.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.biography.com/news/amc-turn-season-2-washingtons-spies-facts

 

 

One Good "Turn": AMC's Revolutionary War Spy Drama Begins Tonight

Mark Perigard at the Boston Herald offers a review of AMC's Revolutionary War spy drama Turn.

The spy business hasn’t changed much in the last 240 years.

Sure, the tools have changed, but as AMC’s new drama “Turn” demonstrates, people fall into the profession for all sorts of reasons — ideology sometimes the least important.

The series is based on “Washington’s Spies,” by Alexander Rose, the true story of the Culper Ring, childhood friends who became espionage agents against the British forces occupying New York during the Revolutionary War.

In the extended 90-minute premiere, it’s 1776, and Abraham Woodhull (Jamie Bell, “Billy Elliot,” “Nymph()maniac Volume II”) is a Long Island cabbage farmer whose dreams pretty much extend to seeing his infant son take his first steps.

Politics don’t interest him, and he looks the other way at the British forces controlling the community, even the one soldier billeted in his own home. It’s the price of living these days.

But Abraham discovers that you can’t just sit on the sidelines when revolution comes to your doorstep — or takes over your favorite watering hole.     

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/television_reviews/2014/04/jamie_bell_fine_cast_lead_amc_revolutionary

George Washington, Father Of American Intelligence: Peter Earnest On AMC's Historical Spy Drama "Turn"

Peter Earnest, former CIA officer and the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., was interviewed at amctv.com about the upcoming historical spy drama Turn.

Q: George Washington is considered to be one of the founders of American spycraft. What did he do to earn this legacy?

A: Washington is considered the father of American intelligence because he had a very keen sense of intelligence, of what it is and how to use it. He readily embraced gathering intelligence because he was commanding a very meager force. Great Britain had the most powerful military in the world, and they were here in a colony dealing with these colonials, who they looked down on. The Americans were the insurgents. The “war of the flea” is a phrase that’s used when a small force is battling an overwhelmingly large one, and that’s what Washington was up against. So he had to make the most of what he had. Interestingly, Washington recruited spies personally and questioned them personally about their operation. He didn’t just push it down for someone else to do.

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

http://blogs.amctv.com/turn/2014/03/qa-peter-earnest-international-spy-museum-executive-director/

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine interview with Peter Earnest on the myth, the mystique, and the history of espionage via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/a-look-back-at-myth-mystique-and.html

The AMC miniseries Turn is based on Alexander Rose's Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. 

AMC's 'Turn' Tells Revolutionary War's Real Spy Story

The Hollywood Reporter offers a piece on an upcoming AMC mini-series called Turn, which will cover a true spy story set during the Revolutionary War.

If The CW’s Reign takes creative license in its story of Mary, Queen of Scots, AMC's historical drama Turn is the opposite. Producers maintain that the series will uncover the real story of spies during the Revolutionary War.

"There's a seedy underbelly to the war," executive producer Craig Silverstein told reporters Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour. "The vibe you get is it was so pure then; how did it get so complicated now? What we're saying is no, no, no, it was complicated then."

Based on Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose, Turn tells the story of America's first spy group, the Culper Ring. Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell), a farmer living in British-occupied Long Island, bands together with a group of childhood friends to form the Culper Ring, who help George Washington turn the tide of the war in the Rebel's favor.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a trailer for the series via the below link:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amcs-turn-tells-revolutionary-wars-670048

Note: I'm looking forward to watching Turn. I hope the mini-series does justice to Washington's Spies, as Alexander Rose's book was outstanding.