Word of the Week – Oxymoron

by Roseanna | Feb 6, 2023 | Word of the Week

Did you know that the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron?

The word means “a figure conjoining words or terms apparently contradictory so as to give point to the statement or expression,” such as “a little big”, “pretty ugly,” “deafening silence,” and so on. As a writer, I love a good oxymoron–fresh ones can add an unexpected twist to the narrative and hence paint the picture with color.

But we may not all realize that the word, in Latin, is oxy, “sharp” + moron, “stupid.” Literally “smart/stupid.” Funny, huh?

Oxymoron appeared in English around 1650 with that meaning and hasn’t changed over time. Still fun to say, fun to use, and fun to realize is an example of itself. 😉

Intelligence Methods Used by the Culper Ring – Part 1: Invisible Inks

by Roseanna | Feb 4, 2023 | 17th-19th Centuries

America’s first spy organization, the Culper Ring, couldn’t have been as successful as they were during the American Revolution without some cutting-edge (for the time) tricks of the trade. They used ciphers and codes, invisible inks, signals, and drop locations for getting key information to General Washington. In the next few articles, let’s take a look at each of these devices and how the Culpers put them to use.

Invisible Inks

Invisible inks have long been used by intelligencers as a way to keep correspondence secretive, and the Culper Ring was no exception. As long as people have had secrets, they’ve come up with ways to conceal them, and invisible ink has been around as long as paper. In fact, you could create a few rudimentary invisible inks right now, with items in your own kitchen! See my article on the experiment I did while writing Ring of Secrets here for a little kitchen-ink fun.

As fun as these household invisible inks are to play with, they weren’t actually very useful to real intelligence, for one simple reason: they are all developed with heat, which means anyone with a candle can unveil the secret message. No exactly secure.

What the Culpers needed was a formula for ink specific to them, with exactly one counter-agent to develop it. And that’s exactly what they ended up with.

The Sympathetic Stain

The ink was called “the sympathetic stain.” Historians still don’t know exactly what it was, though they have a good idea of what some of the ingredients were based on notes found about the difficulties in procuring them. John Jay and his brother came up with the formula for this stain–and the first time it was used was when said brother wrote a letter of warning from England when that nation was gearing up for war.

A sample of the agent and counteragent were sent to General Washington, who quickly saw how useful it would be. This stain could be developed only by a very particular reagent, which meant that only the people to whom they’d given the chemicals could ever, ever develop a message. You couldn’t just stumble upon it or make it visible with heat. And because of that, letters written in the stain were very secure.

The downside was that the stain was difficult to make, the ingredients hard to come by. That made it precious. So precious, in fact, that some of the Culpers were afraid of running out and so did not use it on some key correspondence–and got wrist-slapped by Washington for their efforts at conservation.

How to Use Invisible Ink

A key for using any invisible ink was placement. First one had to write a regular letter in traditional ink, so that it wouldn’t look suspicious. But one must, to put it in modern terms, make it double-spaced. There had to be enough room between lines to write one’s hidden message as well. The sympathetic stain, prior to its developing, was a pale yellow, the color of straw, and it dried to be completely invisible. But even when wet, it was difficult to see when writing with it. One must be very careful, too, to keep any of the stain from crossing over the irongall ink of the decoy letter—it would cause telltale runs in the traditional ink, which was a flashing sign to anyone on the hunt for invisible messages that one was contained in there.

A traditional quill pen was used to write with the stain. You needed the highest quality paper for it to work well on, and it must be new. Otherwise the paper began to yellow, and the ink—which was a light brown when developed—wouldn’t show up. To make it even trickier, intelligencers must use just the right amount of reagent to develop it. Too much would wash away the ink, too little just wouldn’t make it reveal. The tool of choice for this application was a paint brush; a traditional quill pen could be used for the initial writing.

Code Name

The code name for this stain was “medicine,” and the Jays shipped it to Washington in a medical supply box. Had anyone intercepted it, it would have looked like any other vial of liquid medication.

But it wasn’t. It was the agent that allowed key information to pass to the Patriot army. Information that helped the Patriots win their freedom in the Revolution.

He Called Me by Name

by Roseanna | Feb 2, 2023 | Thoughtful Thursdays

God knows us. He calls us by name.

We know this. We can point to Scriptures that say it, we can recite it to each other. For that matter, I even sign each copy of The Nature of a Lady with “He knows your name.” I’ve printed it on tote bags. I’ve put it in a pretty font and positioned it within a lovely floral frame.

It’s true.

But that doesn’t mean we remember it. That we embrace it. That we live it.

We know that not only does God the Father know us and call us by name–our true names, the ones that reveal our true selves even more than whatever name our parents gave us could possibly do–but Jesus died for each one of us. We know that He loved each one of us enough to suffer on that cross. We know that He laid down His life for us. For you. For me.

We know it. But that doesn’t we remember it. That we embrace it. That we live it.

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I attended a daily mass on Wednesday night, like we always do. We listened to the beautiful Scriptures. We heard a beautiful homily on the importance and sanctity of life. And then we went up for communion. Father John was there that night, an older gent with white hair and a face that testifies to many years of smiles, of care. He’s relatively new to our parish, just joining the team of three in October. He’s still learning everyone’s names, but he knows ours because of some classes we’re taking–and he gets excited when he sees someone whose name he knows. His eyes light up, and he shakes our hands with a bright smile, saying, “Roseanna, right? And David!”

He’s been making a point of learning all the names he can. I can imagine him repeating them to himself, trying to pair names and faces of any of the 2,000+ families of parishioners in our area that he sees regularly. It’s a job! But the importance of it is clear. And became even clearer that quiet Wednesday night during the Christmas season.

Because that quiet Wednesday night during the Christmas season, when he was talking to us about the children murdered for Christ in Bethlehem upon Herod’s decree, when he was musing about the value of each and every life, what each individual can bring to his family, community, and world, when he reminded us all to mourn the tragedy of each young life ended not only then but today through abortion or neglect–that quiet Wednesday night, Father John held out the communion bread, looked me in the eye.

And he said, “Roseanna. The body of Christ.”

Roseanna. The Body of Christ. Broken for you.

Tears stung my eyes as I accepted that humble little wafer, said, “Amen!” and put it on my tongue. Because even though I’d known this truth for decades, it was the first time in my memory that anyone had said my name while giving me the body of Christ. And it made something quiver within me.

He calls us by name. He sacrificed His body, that same body we take in communion, that same body He invites us into as the Church, for us. For ME. As He was hanging on that cross, Jesus looked out over the centuries, into the eyes of each one of us, and says, “Beloved, this is for you.”

“Roseanna, I’m doing this for you.”

“Karen, I’m doing this for you.”

“Jennifer, I’m doing this for you.”

“Stephanie, Lynn, Elizabeth, Mary, Naomi, Karlene, Kimberly, Danielle, Kerry, Hannah, Pam, Shaleen, Arwen, Barbara, Jessica, Sandy, Rebecca, Caroline, Latisha, Melanie, Bethany, Candice, Cindy, Tina, Terri, Justine, Julie, Alyssa, Rachel, Halee, Bonnie, Nicole, Laura, Margaret, Betty, Deanna, Emily…I’m doing this for YOU.”

It’s a truth we know. But have we heard those syllables echo in our hearts? Down to our souls?

Do we live like it? Do we let it change us, not just once but every single day? Do we strive, in every hour, to become more and more like our Savior?

That quiet Wednesday evening during the Christmas season, Father John made it crystal clear that each life, each person, each name, each one of us is so beloved by our Father and His Son that He would make the ultimate sacrifice for us…and he also reminded me that we are called to be a sacrifice too. A living sacrifice, as Paul calls us–living, but willing to follow Him wherever He leads us.

Today, I pray that you savor that sweet truth on your tongue and in your heart. And I pray, too, that you accept His invitation to share that sweet truth with others.

Because He knows their name too. And He loves them. He loves them so much, that He stretched out His arms on that cross, looked across the centuries, and straight into their eyes too. He calls them by name. And He died for them. Just like He did for you.

Word of the Week – Colonel

by Roseanna | Jan 30, 2023 | Word of the Week

I will never forget writing the Culper Ring Series, in which I had a prominent character named Fairchild, and growling incessantly over trying to remember how to spell his rank: lieutenant colonel. My critique partner and I joked about it and started typing it (in chat only, not in the manuscript!) as lootenant kernel instead. (Makes you want popcorn, doesn’t it?)

And yet I’d never actually paused to ask WHY we have such strange spelling/pronunciation of colonel. I’d just chalked it up to military weirdness, I guess, and left it at that.

The actual history, though, is quite interesting.

The word began seeing use in English in the 1540s, but it was taken from the French variation, which is coronel. The Italian spelling, however, is colonnella. They all come from the Latin columna, which of course means “a column or pillar.” A colonel/coronel, then, is someone in charge of a column or regiment.

By the late 1500s, English military folk decided they preferred the Italian spelling–maybe it was more fashionable to imitate the Italians than the French at that time in history? England and France had a rather, er, tense history, after all… Regardless, we began spelling it colonel instead of coronel. Until around 1650, either pronunciation–the “l” or the “r” were deemed acceptable. But then the earlier French pronunciation won out…even though the Italian spelling became standard.

So there we have it. An Italian spelling with a French pronunciation for a Latin root, all of which share a meaning, just to confuse poor school children and writers for the rest of time. 😉

What Is the Culper Ring?

by Roseanna | Jan 28, 2023 | 17th-19th Centuries, Companion Guides, Remember When Wednesdays

Ever wonder about the origins of organized intelligence operations? In America, until the Revolutionary War, there simply was no organized intelligence. There were military scouts and there were occasionally spies, but not under a central system. Then came the Culper Ring.

The Culper Ring was American’s first spy ring. They were a group of spies working for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. General Washington saw the need for trustworthy, on-the-ground intelligence, gathered by people who were honorable and wouldn’t exaggerate. Accurate intelligence was hard to come by in those days.

Washington turned to one his aides, Benjamin Tallmadge, and commissioned him to put together a group of people who could gather information for the Continental Army from behind enemy lines, especially in New York City and Long Island. Tallmadge, in turn, called upon some old friends to get started, and then those friends brought in a few neighbors they could trust, and eventually the Ring grew to include Abraham Woodhull, Robert Townsend, and Anna Strong.

How did the Culper Ring get its name?

The “Culper” part of the ring is an abbreviated version of Culpepper County, Virginia, where Washington had held his first job.

But how they assigned individual aliases within the Ring is quite interesting! They started with the initials of the head of intelligence—Charles Scott, C.S. Then they reversed them—S.C. This would be the initials of the primary Culper officer. For the “C,” Washington chose a place he had fond memories of, Culpeper County, Virginia, where he worked as a lad. Then he shortened it to Culper. For the “S,” Tallmadge (the head officer of the ring) decided on “Samuel,” his younger brother’s name, and a good friend of the man who would be adopting the identity. So there we have it! Samuel Culper, the creation that became the bane of the British.

The Main Players:

Benjamin Tallmadge

Benjamin Tallmadge was born in 1754 in Setauket, Long Island, New York. After attending Yale, he became an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He was assigned as an aide de camp for General George Washington, who eventually tasked him with creating America’s first spy ring: the Culper Ring. This was because of many frustrations from bad intelligence. They needed dependable intelligence. In Tallmadge’s mind, the best way to do that was to recruit people you knew and trusted. So he began with a childhood friend, Abraham Woodhull.

After the war, Tallmadge eventually went on to become a Congressman; he was serving in the House of Representatives during the War of 1812. He died in 1835.

Abraham Woodhull

Abraham Woodhull was recruited by Tallmadge as the first member of the Culper Ring…a bit unwillingly. He was a farmer by trade, and the demand for produce in British-held (and blockaded) New York City was so high that most farmers, regardless of their political persuasion, regularly ran the blockade the sell their produce on the black market. Woodhull, however, got caught—by the Patriots. When Tallmadge heard of it, he intervened and struck him a deal: he’d get off the hook for his smuggling if he agreed to gather intelligence for the Continental Army. Woodhull agreed and operated as the first and only member of the ring for a while.

Woodhull received the first code name of the Ring, Samuel Culper, as a way to protect his identity.

Eventually, he brought in Robert Townsend, who was a fellow resident of the boarding house in New York City that Woodhull occasionally made use of, and Anna Strong, his neighbor’s wife. Woodhull was very hesitant about these clandestine tasks, knowing well the danger it put him in. His anxiety, combined with ill health, led to him stepping away from the Ring near the end of the war.

After the war, Woodhull returned to his farming business and served in various local government positions. He died in 1826.

Robert Townsend

Robert Townsend was in many ways the most crucial member of the Culper Ring. Dubbed “Samuel Culper, Jr” by Tallmadge, Townsend became the main operative for the Ring within the City of New York.

He was born in 1753 in Oyster Bay, New York, and he was a merchant by trade. He owned a mercantile and a coffee shop, both of which were popular with British soldiers, and also wrote regular articles for a British-sympathizing newspaper. All of these business ventures put him in the perfect position to gather information for the Patriot cause and send it along to Tallmadge; sometimes via Woodhull and Anna Strong, sometimes via a courier that went from the city back to wherever Washington and Tallmadge were encamped.

Townsend’s intelligence was critical to the Continental Army’s success in many ways. However, he also suffered from what we today would call bipolarism or manic-depression. His own writings and those about him all agree that would swing from high moods down into “black moods,” as he dubbed him, that would hinder his work both in general and for the Ring.

After the war, he led a quiet life. He never married. He died in 1838.

Anna Strong

Anna Strong is the only identified female member of the Culper Ring. She and her husband, Selah, lived on a farm neighboring Abraham Woodhull’s on Long Island. A decade older than Woodhull, she was never a love interest, despite what television may lead us to believe. But she did pose as his wife from time to time as they made runs for information—a couple was less likely to be stopped by the British at checkpoints than was a single man. She is most remembered for the system of signal flags she used to communicate with Townsend—she would hang a black petticoat on her clothesline to signal that it was safe to come to town with a message.

After the war, Strong lived the rest of her life in Setauket. She died in 1812.

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