Capítulo 1
The Plot That Nearly Changed America's Destiny
In the summer of 1776, as America teetered on the edge of declaring independence, a shadowy conspiracy threatened to destroy everything before it began. Hidden in footnotes of history lies an extraordinary tale of treachery that targeted George Washington himself-America's first great conspiracy. This plot, discovered just days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, would have dramatically altered the course of American history had it succeeded. Brad Meltzer's "The First Conspiracy" uncovers this forgotten chapter where members of Washington's own inner circle plotted against him, culminating in the largest public execution in North American history and birthing American counterintelligence. The book has captivated readers and historians alike, with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis praising it as "a textbook example of how to write a gripping historical narrative." As we explore this remarkable story, we'll discover how close America came to losing everything before it even began.
Capítulo 2
The Making of a Revolutionary Leader
Before he became the revered father of a nation, George Washington was a young man shaped by profound loss. At age twenty, Washington's world collapsed when his beloved half-brother Lawrence died of tuberculosis in the summer of 1752. Having already lost his father at eleven, George had relied on Lawrence as mentor, role model, and surrogate father. Lawrence had transformed the rural, poorly educated young man, teaching him social graces and expanding his worldview. His death left an unfillable void in Washington's life.
Inspired by Lawrence's military service, Washington abandoned his successful career as a land surveyor to apply for his brother's former militia position. Despite having no military experience, his earnest application secured him the position-setting him on a path toward an unimaginable destiny.
Twenty-three years later, this same man would arrive in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress wearing his full military uniform. His imposing six-foot frame and perfect posture immediately distinguished him from the other delegates. Unlike the verbose, college-educated men competing to speak, Washington possessed what Benjamin Rush called "the gift of silence," listening more than talking. When he did speak, his words carried profound conviction.
What made Washington exceptional wasn't brilliance or eloquence but his unimpeachable character. Though lacking wealth or noble birth, he had cultivated integrity as his most valuable possession. "I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man," he once wrote to Alexander Hamilton. This commitment began in his youth when he carefully transcribed 110 "rules of civility" from a popular etiquette book, internalizing principles that would guide his life.
When John Adams proposed Washington as commander of the Continental army, Washington himself disappeared from the room-unwilling to appear ambitious for the position. This profound sense of honor would later help him resist the temptations of power that have corrupted so many revolutionary leaders throughout history. He learned of his unanimous selection only when congressmen on the street addressed him as "General."
His acceptance speech revealed extraordinary humility: "Lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation... I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with." In private correspondence to his wife, he called the position "a trust too great for my capacity." Patrick Henry later recalled finding Washington with tears in his eyes, confiding: "From the day I enter upon the command of the American armies, I date my fall, and the ruin of my reputation."
The weight of potentially failing his countrymen seemed almost unbearable to him. Yet this sense of duty would sustain him through the darkest days ahead-including a conspiracy that would target his very life.
Capítulo 3
The Gathering Storm in New York
By June 1776, one year into Washington's command, New York City had become the epicenter of revolutionary tension. The city occupied only Manhattan's southern tip, with about 25,000 residents making it the colonies' second-largest city and a vital commercial hub. Unlike Washington's Virginia, New York was a chaotic melting pot of shifting allegiances-nearly as many Loyalists as Patriots populated its streets.
The city's division became starkly evident when William Tryon, New York's Loyalist Governor, returned from England the same day as Washington's arrival. City officials, caught in an awkward position, delayed Tryon's reception until after Washington's parade. When Tryon finally disembarked that evening, he was noticeably displeased at having to wait, appearing "grave" and saying little as revolutionary supporters heckled his procession.
Tryon, born in 1729 to an aristocratic Surrey family, had already demonstrated his ruthlessness against colonial dissent as North Carolina's Governor. When poor farmers known as the Regulators protested oppressive taxes, he responded with brutal force. Rather than addressing their grievances, Tryon hired mercenaries and confronted the farmers at what became the Battle of Alamance. After defeating the poorly armed protesters, he had their leaders tried and sentenced to horrific deaths. Six were hanged, effectively crushing the movement.
In 1771, Tryon transferred to govern New York, where he cultivated relationships with influential families and wealthy merchants. Upon returning from England in 1775, he was determined to reassert royal authority against the revolutionaries. Washington, uneasy about Tryon's presence, wrote to General Philip Schuyler, instructing him to "keep a watchful eye upon Governor Tryon" and use "every means in your power to frustrate his designs."
As revolutionary activity intensified, Tryon was eventually forced to flee his residence, establishing a floating headquarters aboard the merchant ship Duchess of Gordon in New York Harbor. Though exiled from Manhattan, he remained determined to strike back against the Patriots who had forced him from his residence. From this ship, he would orchestrate a clandestine plot involving communication with British ships, recruitment of traitors, and a scheme that would reach into Washington's inner circle.
The coincidental arrival of these opposing figures-Washington and Tryon-in New York foreshadowed a darker confrontation to come, one that would test the fragile revolutionary cause at its most vulnerable moment.
Capítulo 4
Building an Army from Chaos
Order from chaos-this was Washington's guiding principle as he tackled the monumental task of transforming an unruly mob into a proper army. Drawing on lessons learned from personal losses, Washington approached the challenge with discipline and control.
When Washington arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts in July 1775 to take command, he faced a sobering reality. He was told the troops had 308 barrels of gunpowder, but Brigadier General John Sullivan soon informed him this was a grave error-the actual number was just thirty-eight barrels. Washington was so shocked he "did not utter a word for half an hour." With British forces barely a mile away across Boston's Back Bay, his army had barely enough ammunition for training, let alone battle.
Washington's high-minded plea for unity among troops from different colonies initially failed completely. Regional militias devolved into bitter rivalries, expressed through insults, fists, and even knives. The situation reached a boiling point when newly arrived Virginia riflemen in "white linen frocks, ruffled and fringed" were mocked by Massachusetts troops at Harvard Yard. The conflict escalated into a massive brawl involving over a thousand soldiers.
Washington himself galloped into the chaos and, "with the spring of a deer," leaped from his saddle and physically seized two brawny riflemen by the throat, alternately shaking and reprimanding them. The rest of the fighters scattered immediately at the sight of their commander.
Despite his commanding presence, Washington privately despaired at the endless problems. He confided to Richard Henry Lee that his life had been "nothing else but one continued round of annoyance and fatigue," and told his aide Joseph Reed that had he foreseen what awaited him, "no consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept this command."
As winter deepened, the Continental army faced dwindling numbers through illness, desertion, and expiring enlistments. Washington confronted a critical decision: whether to allow freed blacks to enlist. Despite his background as a Virginia slaveholder who owned dozens of slaves through his marriage to Martha Custis, Washington's exposure to northern antislavery sentiment and desperate need for soldiers forced a reconsideration of his prejudices.
Initially, Washington's November 12 general orders explicitly barred "negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men" from enlisting. But as a fierce December snowstorm further weakened his already diminished forces, pragmatism overtook prejudice. By year's end, Washington adapted, writing to Congress that free blacks who served previously were "very much dissatisfied at being discarded" and requesting "license for their being enlisted." Congress immediately approved, creating America's first integrated army.
Black soldiers eventually comprised 6-12% of Continental forces, fighting in every major battle and creating the most integrated American fighting force until Vietnam. Though Washington returned to slaveholding after the war, this experience transformed his thinking. He later wrote that "there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it" and ultimately freed his slaves in his will.
Through these struggles, Washington gradually forged a fighting force that would challenge the world's greatest military power-but an even greater threat was brewing from within.
Capítulo 5
The Shadow War of Spies and Counterfeiters
Beyond the physical battlefield, England and the colonies waged a relentless "mail war." Both sides devoted significant resources to intercepting enemy communications while protecting their own. The Patriots initially gained advantage by intercepting British mail in 1774-75, but the practice quickly became mutual.
This intelligence war extended to economic sabotage. The British had begun flooding colonial markets with fake money to create inflation, devaluing Continental currency and crippling war funding efforts. As Benjamin Franklin later explained, the British had "resolved to deprive us of its use by depreciating it."
Against this backdrop, a small-time counterfeiting operation in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island would unexpectedly intersect with the epic political events unfolding around it. The scheme began when Henry Dawkins, a once-respected London-born silversmith and engraver who had fallen on hard times, joined Israel Young and his brother Isaac in their small wooden house with a secret attic accessible only through a door hidden behind a movable bed.
With a rolling printing press purchased for twelve pounds and four shillings, they planned to counterfeit colonial currency. The timing seemed perfect-each colony printed its own distinct paper money (often poorly made) and authorities were distracted by war preparations. Israel Young acquired official Connecticut forty-shilling notes as their template, and Dawkins set up shop in the secret attic.
Meanwhile, Governor William Tryon was establishing himself as a formidable adversary to Washington's army from his floating headquarters on the Duchess of Gordon. His fundamental strategy was turning Continental soldiers against their own cause by exploiting their terrible conditions and meager pay. Tryon firmly believed most colonists remained loyal to England at heart and could be persuaded back to their original allegiance.
His recruitment efforts began with small operations-sending men like Thomas Vernon with money to bribe susceptible soldiers in counties surrounding New York City. These recruits served various functions: some boarded British ships in the harbor, others gathered on Long Island with growing bands of Loyalists, while others remained embedded as undercover agents within the Continental forces, providing intelligence and awaiting instructions.
By spring 1776, Tryon's network stretched from Long Island to New Jersey and upstate New York, forming the foundation of a vast operation designed to activate at the perfect moment-when British forces arrived in summer. His agents would then rise up simultaneously: some turning their guns on fellow soldiers, others sabotaging bridges, stealing weapons, or destroying supplies.
Still not satisfied, Tryon sought to penetrate Washington's inner circle in Manhattan itself. From his ship, he could practically see Washington's headquarters, and now he needed someone on the inside to do even greater damage.
Capítulo 6
The Infiltration of Washington's Inner Circle
Gilbert Forbes, a short, thick gunsmith with a shop on Broadway, became an unexpected key player in the plot against Washington's army. Previously unremarkable, Forbes's life transformed dramatically in May 1776 after successfully selling weapons to Governor Tryon aboard the Duchess of Gordon. He became flush with cash and newly connected to the underground Loyalist network, frequenting taverns like Houlding's and Lowry's.
Forbes soon met "Sergeant Graham," a former British officer organizing Loyalist activities for Tryon. Through Graham, Forbes learned of plans to recruit Continental soldiers to the British cause. Mayor David Mathews provided Forbes with approximately 115 pounds to both pay for guns and bribe rebel soldiers. While Tryon's agents had already turned hundreds of soldiers in outlying areas, Forbes faced the riskier task of recruiting soldiers near Washington's Manhattan headquarters. Graham sweetened the deal by promising Forbes his own officer's commission in the British army if he successfully recruited enough men.
As Washington struggled to control his soldiers' drinking and debauchery in New York City, this more insidious threat emerged. Reports flooded in from surrounding areas of clandestine Loyalist schemes. From Fairfield County, Connecticut came news of armed Loyalists being ferried to Long Island for a potential uprising. More alarmingly, accusations surfaced that one of Washington's own generals, Philip Schuyler, was recruiting a Loyalist army in Albany to secure the Hudson River for the British.
Washington, remembering the treachery of Dr. Benjamin Church in Cambridge, took these threats seriously but trusted his instinct about Schuyler's character. An investigation confirmed Schuyler's innocence, revealing the accusations as part of a disinformation campaign to sow distrust among Patriots. These incidents exposed a critical weakness-Washington's army desperately needed better counterintelligence to detect and prevent the numerous plots forming against them.
On May 17, 1776, Washington requested from Nathaniel Woodhull, president of the New York Provincial Congress, the creation of a secret committee to investigate "intestine enemies." The Provincial Congress approved this request by a vote of 17-8, establishing a five-member committee authorized to work directly with Washington against internal threats without requiring full congressional approval for every action. This proto-intelligence agency-initially called simply "the Secret Committee" or awkwardly "the Committee for the Hearing and Trying of Disaffected Persons and Those of Equivocal Character"-set the stage for confrontation with Tryon's developing plot.
Meanwhile, Forbes had set his sights on an even more valuable target-Washington's Life Guards, the elite unit specifically tasked with protecting the Commander-in-Chief. In June 1776, William Green, one of these trusted bodyguards, began frequenting New York taverns where he met Forbes. After several meetings focused on "the impossibility of this country standing against the power of Great Britain," Forbes invited Green to dinner at Corbie's tavern, where the two men made a deal-the first step in a treasonous arrangement that would soon ensnare more of Washington's trusted bodyguards.
Capítulo 7
The Unraveling Conspiracy
The plot might have succeeded if not for an unlikely hero-Isaac Ketcham, one of the Long Island counterfeiters arrested in May 1776. After spending nearly four weeks in the underground jail beneath City Hall with his fellow counterfeiters, Ketcham was desperate to return to his six motherless children. His opportunity came when two new prisoners joined his cell-Continental soldiers who, surprisingly, cursed the colonies and praised the King.
On Monday, June 17, 1776, the New York Provincial Congress considered a petition from Ketcham. His first letter pleaded for mercy based on his remorse and his children's needs. But it was his second, cryptic note that captured their attention: "I have something to observe to the honourable House if I could be admitted. It is nothing concerning my own affair, but entirely on another subject."
Intrigued, the congress ordered the guards to bring Ketcham before them immediately. He revealed shocking intelligence: two Continental soldiers in his cell-who turned out to be Washington's Life Guards-had discussed a secret plot involving communication with British ships in the harbor. The soldiers mentioned a blacksmith named Gilbert "Horbush" (actually Forbes) as a key conspirator and plans to destroy King's Bridge to block Continental army supplies. Most alarmingly, these soldiers claimed other Life Guards were involved too.
The congressmen, realizing Washington's life might be in danger, immediately imposed secrecy and formed a special three-person committee of Philip Livingston, John Jay, and Gouverneur Morris to investigate. They sent Ketcham back to his cell as a spy, instructing him to gather more information from the imprisoned Life Guards.
The investigation accelerated rapidly. On June 20, John Jay and Gouverneur Morris conducted secret examinations of two witnesses connected to the conspiracy. William Leary, foreman of the Ringwood iron mill, testified about tracking down former employees who had fled to join British sympathizers in Manhattan. James Mason's testimony provided the most damning evidence, revealing how William Farley recruited him with promises that Governor Tryon would provide five guineas or two hundred acres of land to anyone who enlisted in "his Majesty's Service."
Mason confirmed Forbes was working with the Mayor and Governor, and most crucially, revealed that members of Washington's Life Guards were involved-specifically naming drummer William Green and Thomas Hickey, who was already in confinement. Mason's testimony confirmed at least five Life Guards were involved in the conspiracy: Green, Hickey, Lynch, Johnson the fifer, and a private named Barnes. With Green serving as a recruiter, receiving money from Forbes to enlist others.
After Mason's testimony, the investigators moved quickly against Mayor David Mathews. On June 21, the Committee on Conspiracies drafted a warrant to George Washington requesting Mathews's immediate arrest. Washington ordered General Nathanael Greene to execute the arrest "with precision & exactness" at one o'clock the following morning. Despite a thorough search finding no incriminating papers, they successfully apprehended the Mayor-a significant achievement just five days after first learning of the plot from Ketcham.
Capítulo 8
Justice and Warning: America's First Execution for Treason
On Wednesday, June 26, Thomas Hickey faced court-martial at Continental army headquarters in New York City. Thirteen officers presided over the proceedings, with Colonel Samuel Parsons reading the charges: Hickey stood accused of "exciting and joining in a mutiny and sedition, and of treacherously corresponding with, enlisting among, and receiving pay from the enemies of the United American Colonies." Notably absent was any mention of a plot to kill Washington, though suspicions existed.
Four witnesses testified against Hickey. William Green, a fellow Life Guard, described recruiting Hickey into the plot after meeting gunsmith Gilbert Forbes, who offered money to Continental soldiers willing to join the King's service. Forbes testified next, claiming Green initiated the conspiracy, though he admitted paying Hickey directly. Both implicated Mayor David Mathews as the scheme's paymaster. Isaac Ketcham testified that Hickey had revealed eight of Washington's Guards were involved in the plot to turn against the American Army when British troops arrived.
When allowed to speak in his own defense, Hickey offered only a brief statement claiming he joined the scheme to cheat the Tories of money and later continued so he might be safe if captured after a British victory. The court quickly reached its verdict: Thomas Hickey, a member of George Washington's Life Guards, was guilty as charged.
Colonel Samuel Parsons announced that the court unanimously sentenced him to "death by being hanged by the neck till he is dead." Washington convened a council of war the next morning with six senior officers who unanimously advised confirming the sentence and carrying it out the following day at 11 o'clock. Washington didn't hesitate, issuing execution orders with pointed language about Hickey's "most horrid and detestable purposes." The execution was designed as a public statement-every officer and soldier not on duty was commanded to attend.
June 28, 1776 would become one of the most dramatic days in America's early history. By morning, four brigades totaling nearly ten thousand soldiers marched to an open field north of the city limits. They were joined by almost the entire population of New York City and visitors from surrounding areas-nearly twenty thousand people gathered to witness justice. At the center stood a hastily built gallows with a single noose.
Thomas Hickey approached flanked by eighty soldiers in a solemn procession. According to army surgeon William Eustis, Hickey maintained defiance until the chaplain's farewell triggered a "torrent of tears" which he quickly wiped away. With his final breath, Hickey mysteriously warned that "unless General Greene was very cautious, the Design would as yet be executed on him"-possibly referring to William Green, his fellow Life Guard and coconspirator who had testified against him.
At exactly eleven o'clock, the Provost Marshal secured the noose around Hickey's neck, and the soldier became the first to be executed for treason in the Revolutionary War before almost twenty thousand spectators-the largest public execution in North America at that time.
Capítulo 9
Legacy of the First Conspiracy
While Washington grappled with this betrayal on June 28, 1776, he remained unaware that something of profound significance was simultaneously unfolding about two hundred miles away in Philadelphia. After receiving Jefferson's draft Declaration on June 28, the Continental Congress debated intensely before putting it to a vote on July 2, when it passed. The final wording was approved on July 4, 1776.
When Washington received his copy on July 9, 1776, he immediately ordered his troops to gather that evening. With thousands of soldiers assembled, an officer read the Declaration aloud for the first time: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." The crowd of over ten thousand erupted in cheers when the reading finished. Energized soldiers paraded down Broadway to Bowling Green, where they tore down the equestrian statue of King George III, breaking it into pieces and parading the king's head on a pike.
Despite hopes for a triumphant defense of New York following the Declaration of Independence, the battle for New York proved catastrophic for the Continental army. Throughout July and early August 1776, Washington could only watch as over 400 British ships carrying 34,000 troops assembled in the harbor. When the British attacked Long Island on August 22, Washington was caught unprepared. In the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, British and Hessian forces decimated American regiments. By August 28, Washington and 9,000 troops were trapped on Brooklyn Heights, facing certain capture or destruction.
Though Washington had been outgeneraled, he made one brilliant decision: organizing a daring nighttime evacuation across the East River during a rainstorm. Washington refused to board a boat until every soldier had been evacuated, risking his own life to save his men. Though the British would occupy New York for seven years afterward, Washington's army escaped to fight another day.
The conspiracy's greatest legacy lies not with the plotters but with those who uncovered it. This elaborate plot provided an early model for detecting and subverting clandestine operations by internal enemies. Washington learned the critical importance of intelligence gathering, sending his first spy Nathan Hale into British territory just months after Hickey's execution. Though Hale was captured and hanged, Washington expanded his espionage activities, eventually overseeing the top-secret Culper Ring by 1778, using code names, invisible ink, and complex signals.
More importantly, John Jay's Committee on Conspiracies evolved into the more sophisticated Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in October 1776. This organization conducted arrests, interrogations, and intelligence operations across New York, becoming America's first dedicated intelligence agency. The CIA now acknowledges Jay as "America's first counterintelligence chief" for pioneering these methods.
When Washington accepted command of the Continental army in June 1775, he expected to return home that fall. Instead, he wouldn't see Mount Vernon for six years, spending the entire eight-year war with his troops. Washington's greatness emerged not from tactical brilliance-he lost more battles than he won-but from his staying power, devotion to his army, and stubborn refusal to surrender. Had the conspirators succeeded in killing or capturing Washington in 1776, American history would be unimaginably different.
As Washington fled New York that fall, he noticed a brave young artillery captain whose name he remembered: Alexander Hamilton. Washington later took Hamilton under his wing, mentoring the orphaned young man who reminded him of himself. Together with officers like Knox, Jay, and Tallmadge, Washington forged not just a brotherhood but a nation, proving that in our lowest moments, we can find our greatest strengths.
