James Moody: Behind Patriot Lines

James Moody was a New Jersey farmer who joined the British cause in 1777 and spent the next five years conducting operations behind American lines that the Continental Army found difficult to counter and impossible to ignore. He gathered intelligence, intercepted dispatches, recruited Loyalists, and twice broke out of Patriot custody. His operations were significant enough that Washington mentioned him by name in his correspondence. Moody published his memoir in London in 1782. It is at the Internet Archive.

Moody left his farm in Sussex County, New Jersey, in April 1777 and made his way to the British forces in New York. He conducted intelligence missions back into New Jersey, recruited Loyalists, and gathered information on American troop dispositions. He was captured in 1780 while attempting to seize a dispatch rider, escaped from a guarded room at Tappan by forcing the lock, was recaptured near the Jersey shore, broke into the jail armory, armed himself, and walked out in the morning confusion.

Moody published his memoir in London in 1782 while the war was still ongoing: Lieut. James Moody's Narrative of His Exertions and Sufferings in the Cause of Government since the Year 1776. A second edition appeared in 1783 with testimonials from British officers confirming its accuracy. The memoir covers his recruitment activities, intelligence missions, escapes, and the fate of his brother, who was captured during one of their joint operations and executed as a spy. The 1783 second edition is at the Internet Archive.