Product Description

Curiosity about the Revolutionary War letters Bernadine Fawcett inherited led her to discover intimate accounts of a Patriot Spy Ring. Now as a great grandmother, Bernadine Fawcett, B.A. G.S.S (Fordham University) Counselor, Columnist, Author, Television and Radio Personality realizes the importance of sharing her research which ties her to the family of Vice President Aaron Burr. His obscure relatives Rev. Eliot, whose wife was a direct line descendent from Alfred the Great as was Aaron Burr, and Burr's first cousin, Thaddeus Burr, exchanged firsthand secret information dealing with Gen. Washington and other troop developments which was delivered (on occasion by John Hancock) to the elder reverend of the same name in Boston.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1559712 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Missing Links to the Culper Spy Ring?
I love genealogy. I enjoy hearing about the exploits of my ancestors. I find it extremely interesting to pour through old letters. Mostly though, I find myself wondering about the real stories behind these life glimpses really.

Missing Links to the Culper Spy Ring? essentially asks the same question about the life of Reverend Andrew Elliot. The author has collected a good deal of information (hearsay, letters, and implied information) about the Reverend that suggests that he may have been more than just a man of the church. In fact, the man may also have been a spy who exchanged information with such historical figures as George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, and Colonial Jackson.

I found this book interesting on two levels. I enjoyed following the author as she pieced together historical information in order to support her theory that indeed Reverend Andrew Elliot had been a spy. However, I also enjoyed the letters for the cultural information that they possessed. I feel that anytime you read a letter from the past, you gain insight into the things that these individuals valued and felt were important to discuss as well as what they deemed appropriate to share with other individuals (often including family and community gossip).

Reviewed by Barb Radmore
Bernadine Fawcett has created an homage to our nation's history by preserving letters from her husband's family that bring the Revolutionary War from the distant history books to a living piece of our past.

Mrs. Fawcett has painstakingly printed both the typed 'translation' and photocopy of many letters from Rev. Andrew Eliot in Connecticut to his father in Boston during the time of our nation's struggle for Independence. She carefully charts out the relationships of her husband's family with its ties to the family of Aaron Burr. She has included many copies of invaluable primary sources in the letters, photos and heirlooms. To be able to read the words of participants as the War begins and explodes around them is an unparalleled experience. This is what makes this an important vehicle to preserve our country's history. It was very generous of the author to create this means of sharing her family history with us.

A unique contribution to our understanding of the Revolutionary War's inner-workings
Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? by Bernadine Fawcett is a unique contribution to our understanding of the Revolutionary War's inner-workings with respect to the use of espionage by the colonists against their British adversaries. Presenting readers with an in-depth analysis of Rev. Andrew Eliot's (a Connecticut revolutionary war spy) relationship to, and exchange of information between, George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, and Andrew Jackson, Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? leaves no detail out of its history of the lineage shared between Rev. Eliot's wife and Vice President Aaron Burr, and how letters between them led Bernadine Fawcett discover intimate accounts of a "Patriot Spy Ring" A seminal and quite original contribution to American Revolutionary War History, Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? is very highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections.