Summary

Chapter 9, Washington Demands More, begins by noting that the counterfeiting victory encouraged Washington enormously, but he also asked his spy ring to find ways to speed up the delivery of information to him because often it simply confirmed things he already knew. Townsend recruited his teenage nephew James as a courier without telling the exact nature of his business, but the boy bungled the situation badly and was dropped. A rift began to develop within the ring and Woodhull informed Tallmadge that Townsend had decided not to continue. Because of the mounting problems, Washington decided to abandon the Culper ring and try to develop a new network, perhaps with connections in Staten Island, but he also realized that part of the issue was that there simply was little information to be had at the time.

In Chapter 10, The French Connection, the authors say...