Yankee Pedigree
Church was a blue-blooded scion of Yankee forbearers who would be the envy of the Colonial Dames. Born 24 August 1734 in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of Benjamin Church, a Boston merchant and deacon of the Hollis Street Church, Church hailed from a family of New England military, civil and religious leaders that stretch back to the Mayflower through his great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Warren Church – daughter of Richard Warren, who arrived on the Mayflower.
Raised for Prominence
Young Benjamin studied at the Boston Latin School – the typical springboard to Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1754. He then studied medicine under one Dr. Joseph Pynchon. Following this, like so many American surgeons, he finished his studies in London. There he married Hannah Hill. When he returned home it did not take long for him to build a reputation as one of the city’s best young physicians and surgeons, even treating the lawyer and future founder John Adams’s eye problems.
Political Turmoil
In the decade-long run-up to the break with Britain, Massachusetts, particularly Boston, was at the center of growing discontent and turmoil. Benjamin Church seemed to be right in the middle of things. Following the Boston Massacre on 5 March 1770, it was he who examined Crispus Attucks’s body. He also treated some of the wounded. This seemed to place him an ardent Whig and in 1773, he was called upon to give the annual “Massacre Day” oration, an annual commemoration used to stir up anti-British sentiment. He proved a gifted orator.
Dr. Church became one of the leaders of Boston’s Sons of Liberty, working among the likes of Joseph Warren, Sam Adams, John Adams, and Paul Revere. By 1774, the prominent surgeon was a delegate to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress – later joining its Committee of Safety, the colonial entity responsible for preparing for armed defense.
Our Surgeon Goes to War
April 1775 marked the formal outbreak of hostilities between the American colonists, particularly the New England colonists and the Royal authorities. Although impendence was not yet the stated goal, the fight for the rights of the Americans had all the trappings of war. And our favorite surgeon was caught up in the middle of it. In May 1775, Church traveled to Philadelphia where he consulted with Congress about the military situation in Massachusetts. As head of the Committee of Safety, he signed the order mandating the building of defense works at Breed's Hill and Prospect Hill.
In July 1775, he was named Director General and Chief Physician of the newly established Medical Department of the Army making him head of both the hospital department of the first army hospital and of the first headquarters of regimental surgeons. This was a prestigious appointment, essentially putting him at the pinnacle of his profession.
Doctor Gloom?
Interestingly, Church proved an indifferent medical administrator and had a barrage of complaints lodged against his medical system management by the army’s regimental surgeons. He pushed back – citing jealousy as the real motivation of his accusers and soon requested to be relieved of his duties. Why would a renowned and highly trained surgeon (18th-century term for a physician) have a hint of failure at what should be a core competency? Perhaps our doctor had other things on his mind.
Other Things
And other clouds were swirling about the upstanding Whig leader. In the espionage world, these were called anomalies and indicators. And although they were there – it would take an overt event to begin to bring things together. There were suspicions of his allegiance to the cause, especially the cause of independence. At this time there still may prominent Whigs who were ambivalent to a complete break with Britain. But was he one of them?
Yes, Church had an English wife and his brother-in-law a prominent Tory printer, John Fleming. But so many had ties to Britain and the Tories that he could not be considered completely abnormal. In the run-up to rebellion, Church developed a reputation as a prominent patriot writer and poet. But as it turns out, he sometimes responded to his own patriotic open letters in the press with “op-ed” pieces taking the Tory side!
As it would later turn out, he also had at least one meeting with General Thomas Gage, which was reported, probably by the Mechanics, a spy network run by Paul Revere (see the Yankee Doodle Spies post on them). Church explained it away – as many suspected spies all too easily do. What was then unknown, was Church was in debt, some of which was caused by his keeping a mistress. And she was not his first, as it turned out.
A House of Cards
In July 1775, Doctor Benjamin Church’s house of cards collapsed when a secret letter was intercepted and decoded. A cipher letter was sent to a British officer in Boston, named Major Cane, through a former mistress. But Eros intervenes in strange ways – the letter was intercepted by another of the woman's ex-lovers, and be sent to the new Continental Army commander-in-chief, General Washington in September. It took some effort to decode it but they were rewarded for their efforts as it contained information about the American forces gathered around Boston. Although little of the information was critical, the missive showed clearly Church’s allegiance to the King and sought instructions for further secret correspondence. A bombshell striking Washington’s headquarters could not have been more explosive than this news!
A General Court Martial
At the court-martial in Cambridge, which immediately followed, Church admitted penning the letter (typical ploy) but declared he intended to impress the British with the Continental Army’s strength to prevent an attack while it was still short of ammunition. And he thought it might help bring about an end to hostilities. Although impressing the British probably helped Washington’s situation, the latter was an indicator of Church’s ambivalence. Because there was no “espionage statute” and America was not yet an independent nation and thus could not be “betrayed,” the court, with Washington presiding, determined Church engaged in a “criminal correspondence with the British.”
Report to Congress
On Oct. 5, 1775, General George Washington wrote the President of the Continental Congress, John Jay, to inform him that a letter from Dr. Benjamin Church, surgeon general of the Continental Army, to Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage, the British commander in chief for North America, had been intercepted. His case was then referred to the Continental Congress for punishment with this report from Washington to the President of Congress:
I have now a painful though necessary duty to perform, respecting Doctor Church, the Director of the Hospital. About a week ago, Mr. Secretary Ward, of Providence, sent up one Wainwood, an inhabitant of Newport, to me with a letter directed to Major Cane in Boston, in occult letters, which he said had been left with Wainwood some time ago by a woman who was kept by Doctor Church. She had before pressed Wainwood to take her to Captain Wallace, Mr. Dudley, the Collector, or George Rowe, which he declined. She gave him the letter with strict injunctions to deliver it to either of these gentlemen. He, suspecting some improper correspondence, kept the letter and after some time opened it, but not being able to read it, laid it up, where it remained until he received an obscure letter from the woman, expressing an anxiety as to the original letter. He then communicated the whole matter to Mr. Ward, who sent him up with the papers to me. I immediately secured the woman, but for a long time she was proof against every threat and persuasion to discover the author. However she was at length brought to a confession and named Doctor Church. I then immediately secured him and all his papers. Upon the first examination he readily acknowledged the letter and said that it was designed for his brother, etc. The army and country are exceedingly irritated.
Crime and Punishment
Because of the lack of actual laws – and the lack of a death sentence, Church was sentenced to prison an indeterminate prison term. and held in solitary confinement at Norwich, Connecticut. When he got sick in January 1776, he was released from jail and was allowed to move around under guard. In May of that year, he was sent back to Massachusetts under bond and remained imprisoned until 1778, when the Massachusetts Banishment Act of that year ordered him exiled to Martinique in the West Indies. Shortly thereafter he sailed from but the schooner carrying him was never heard from again. It was assumed it went down in a storm on the high seas.
A Spy Exposed
Doctor Benjamin Church’s case was one of those enigmas of the American Revolution. Many believed he was misjudged. He certainly thought so. After all, his credentials, services and pedigree were impeccable. And although he admitted to certain acts – he adamantly insisted he was simply keeping channels open and trying to feed the British useless information. Torn between two allegiances, he may have actually believed his own story.
Yet he was in debt, had mistresses, and clearly had the ego to take bold action. Was his visit to British held Boston to meet the Royal Governor and commander in chief General Gage an act of perfidy or misguided statesmanship?
Years later – the truth did come out. When scholars were able to open General Gage's files. In the early 20th century, the papers of General Gage were made available to historians. These contained letters with chock full of information on the rebel army – correspondence carried by Church. that could only have come from Church. The good doctor was indeed providing the British army with intelligence from at least early 1775, possibly earlier.
A Spy’s Motive
Why did the esteemed doctor Benjamin Church play the espionage game? Was overburdening debt? Disputes and scores against rivals in the American leadership? Ambivalence towards actually breaking with Britain. Family connections? Loyalty to the crown? Or perhaps it was for the most frustrating reason of all – simply because he could.
