Culper Ring

The Culper Ring was a spy ring organized by American Major (later Colonel) Benjamin Tallmadge under orders from General George Washington in the summer of 1778 during British occupation of New York City at the height of the American Revolutionary War. The "Culper" name was suggested by Washington who devised it from Culpeper County, Virginia. The two main members of the Ring, Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, used "Samuel Culper, Sr." and "Samuel Culper, Jr." respectively, as aliases. Tallmadge was in direct contact with and control of the Ring but Washington often directed its operations. Tallmadge was referred to by the alias of "John Bolton."

The Ring's task was to send messages to General Washington about the activities of the British Army in New York City, the British headquarters and base of operations. The members of the Ring operated mostly in New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut. The Ring's covert operations started in about late October 1778 and continued through the British evacuation of New York in 1783, but its heyday was between 1778 and 1781.

Culper Ring (comics)

The Culper Ring is a fictional covert operations agency featured in the DC Comics Vertigo imprint comic book series Y: The Last Man. The historical Culper Ring was created during the American Revolution as a secret spy ring under the direct command of George Washington. In fiction, it has existed under every subsequent U.S. President.

The Culper Ring worked to prevent crises and skirmishes between global factions and nations, prior to the events which form the basis of the series (the death of every man on earth except one). They are also alleged to have engaged in political assassinations and other extralegal 'dirty tricks' at the behest of various U.S. Presidents. While very little is currently known about the group, it is clear that agents were trained from a young age in a special school or operations camp. Once the initial training was completed, an agent then moved to field work under a senior agent.

Their activities included the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, rigging the 1968 presidential election and recovering the lost tragedies of Aeschylus and the Amulet of Helene. In 1977, Jimmy Carter restructured the group, resulting in the establishment of a hard-line splinter group, the Setauket Ring. One of the main characters in the series, known only as Agent 355, reveals (in issue 28) that her commanding agent, Agent 1033, trained her and was her mentor before they became involved in a romantic relationship. Each male agent is given a prime number to identify them.