Table of Contents Acknowledgments vii Preface 1 I. The Fighting Begins (April 1775 to June 1776) 7 From Lexington and Concord to Mount Vernon 7 Was There a Plot to Kidnap King George III? 11 The Tory Plot to Kidnap Washington in New York City 14 II. The Fall of New York City and New Jersey (July 1776 to March 1778) 20 Signers of the Declaration of Independence 20 John Fell in the Provost 27 The Capture of Major General Charles Lee 33 Richard Witham Stockton, the Land Pilot 43 The Retaliatory Capture of Major General Richard Prescott 48 George Washington Supports Kidnapping Attempt Against British Headquarters in New York City 57 III. The Fall of Philadelphia (September 1777 to April 1778) 61 Delaware's Chief Executive Is Abducted from His House 61 Congress Responds to Tory Kidnappings 63 John Paul Jones Strikes Fear in Great Britain 69 IV. The War in the North (January 1778 to February 1781) 72 Multiple Attempts to Kidnap Governor William Livingston of New Jersey 72 Retaliatory Kidnappings: The Cases of Connecticut's General Silliman and Long Island's Judge Jones 80 Raid Across the Frozen Hudson River: The Attempt to Kidnap Washington at Morristown 82 Washington Attempts to Kidnap the Traitor Benedict Arnold in New York City 96 Washington's Second Attempt Against the British Commander-in-Chief in New York City 103 The Abduction and Dramatic Escape of General Peleg Wadsworth in Maine 108 V. The War in the South (January 1781 to August 1781) 112 "This greatest of all traitors": Attempts to Kidnap Arnold in Virginia 112 Banastre Tarleton Almost Bags Thomas Jefferson 117 When the Kidnapper Becomes the Hunted: The Case of Benjamin Cleveland 124 The Execution of Isaac Hayne 127 VI. British Secret Service Operations in Upstate New York and Vermont (July 1781 to June 1782) 134 The British Attempt to Capture Major General Philip Schuyler at Albany 134 The Great Kidnap Caper of 1781 Falls Apart 142 Thomas Johnson: British Agent or Double Agent? 145 VII. Yorktown and Beyond (September 1781 to September 1783) 149 David Fanning Captures North Carolina's Governor 149 Murder in North Carolina and Georgia 153 Washington Plans to Abduct a Future King of Great Britain from New York City 157 Living with the Risk of Kidnappings 166 Appendix A: Letter from Colonel James Abeel Summarizing Information Regarding the Raid Intended to Capture Washington in February 1780 169 Appendix B: Colonel Matthias Ogden's Plans for Capturing Prince William Henry in New York City in March 1782 171 Chapter Notes 173 Bibliography 203 Index 213.