FOOTNOTES to “GENERAL WASHINGTON’S SPIES”:
[12] This, as related by John Jay and Robert Townsend to James Fenimore Cooper, has been woven into fiction as the basis of the tenth chapter of The Spy.
[13] James Jay, brother of John Jay, claims the credit of this invention. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson he says: “The curious experiments in Sympathetic Inks, fluids with which if one writes on the whitest paper the letters immediately become invisible, are generally known; and so is likewise the facility with which the writing with any one of them may be rendered visible. For this reason I presume the subject has been considered as a matter of mere curiosity and entertainment, and has never been applied to any use in Politics or War. When the affairs of America, previous to the commencement of hostilities, began to wear a serious aspect, and threatened to issue in civil war, it occurred to me that a fluid might possibly be discovered for invisible writing, which would elude the generally known means of detection, and yet could be rendered visible by a suitable counterpart. Sensible of the great advantages, both in a political and military line, which we might derive from such a mode of procuring and transmitting intelligence, I set about the work. After innumerable experiments, I succeeded to my wish. From England I sent to my brother John in New York, considerable quantities of these preparations. He furnished Silas Deane with them when that gentleman first went to France. When Mr. Deane was in Paris, he writ to me in London, requesting further supplies of them, which I accordingly sent him. In the course of the war, General Washington was also furnished with them, and I have letters from him acknowledging their great utility, and requesting further supplies. Gordon in his history of the Revolution relates the fact, but without mentioning the author of the contrivance.
“By means of this mode of conveying intelligence, I transmitted to America the first authentic account which Congress received, of the determination of the British Ministry to reduce the Colonies to unconditional submission; the ministry at the time concealing this design, and holding out conciliatory measures. My method of communication was this: To prevent the suspicion which might arise were I to write to my brother John only, who was a member of Congress, I writ with black ink a short letter to him, and likewise to 1 or 2 other persons of the family, none exceeding 3 or 4 lines in black ink. The residue of the blank paper I filled up, invisibly, with such intelligence and matters as I thought would be useful to the American Cause. All these letters were left open, and sent in that condition to the Director or Secretary of the General Post Office, with a letter insinuating that I thought it could not be the intentions of Government, in their restraining laws, to put a stop to family intercourse; and therefore requesting the party to read over the letters, and if nothing improper appeared in them, that he would permit them to pass in the mail to New York. They passed accordingly, and on their arrival in New York were sent into the American Lines. In this invisible writing I sent to Franklin and Deane, by the mail from London to Paris, a plan of the intended Expedition under Burgoyne from Canada.”
[14] See it on [page 218].
[15] Oakman & Townsend was the firm name, Henry Oakman being the partner at this time, supplying ships and the public with dry-goods and groceries.
