The Spy (Cooper novel)

The Spy: a Tale of the Neutral Ground was James Fenimore Cooper's second novel, published in 1821 by Wiley & Halsted. This was the earliest American novel to win wide and permanent fame and may be said to have begun the type of romance which dominated U.S. fiction for 30 years.

Plot

The action takes place during the American Revolution, at "The Locusts", which is believed to have been the real family home of John Jay in Rye, Westchester County, New York (known today as the Jay Estate). The plot ranges back and forth over the neutral ground between the British and Continental armies.

Harvey Birch, a peddler, has a meeting with a Mr. Harper at The Locusts, the country home of a British sympathizer located between the lines. The peddler comes under suspicion for being a British spy in consequence, but he is really a patriot, as Mr. Harper is George Washington in disguise, with whom Birch has other meetings in the course of the book. Birch's role is revealed only after falling in battle.[1]

Characters

Wharton Family:

Captain Henry Wharton – British officer, Wharton’s son

Sarah Wharton – Daughter of Wharton, lover and wife of Colonel Wellmere

Frances Wharton – Daughter of Wharton, and sister of Sarah and Henry Wharton, lover of Major Peyton Dunwoodie

Mr.Wharton – Father of Henry, Sarah, and Frances

Miss Jeanette Peyton – Virginia-born aunt and governess to the girls, since the death of their mother

Ceasar Thomson – Negro slave from Wharton household

Other characters:

George Washington – Clad in mufti and using the name Mr. Harper

Harvey Birch – The Yankee pack peddler, in reality he is a spy and counter spy in the service of George Washington

Katy Haynes – Faithful housekeeper to Harvey Birch, and would-be wife; she is greedy.

Johnny Birch – Father of Harvey Birch

Captain John Lawton – Tall and bewhiskered man

Major Peyton Dunwoodie – Commanding officer of the Virginia Dragoons

Colonel Wellmere – He too leads Virginia Dragoons and is the lover of Frances Wharton

John Lawton – Friend of Henry Wharton

Isabella Singleton – Sister of George Singleton, in illegal love affair with Colonel Wellmore

George Singleton – Brother of Isabella Singleton

Dr. Archibald Sitgreaves – The comic and grotesque miltary surgeon

Anna Sitgreaves – Sister of Dr. Archibald Sitgreaves

Captain Wharton Dunwoodie – Son of Peyton and Frances Wharton

Tom Manson Jr – Lieutenant, Captain Wharton Dunwoodie’s friend

Historical accuracy

Harvey Birch, peddler and patriot, is a character remotely founded upon that of a real spy who helped John Jay. H. L. Barnum's The Spy Unmasked; or Memoirs of Enoch Crosby, alias Harvey Birch (1828; 5th ed., 1864) claimed to identify the historical spy.

References
  1. Magill, Frank N., ed. (1952). Masterpieces of World Literature in Digest Form. New York: Harper & Brothers. LCCN 51-12454.


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