The Triple Agent

 Game of Secrets

Paris, December 1776. The air was crisp with winter’s chill, and the Tuileries Gardens lay shadowed, their neat paths empty except for a single figure moving purposefully. Edward Bancroft, a doctor, scientist, and man of letters, slipped through the darkness, his breath fogging in the cold. In his coat pocket, a rolled letter to “Mr. Richards” rested, its ink written in a special code only the right eyes could decipher. To the world, Bancroft seemed to be a loyal American, a trusted aide to Benjamin Franklin. Still, tonight, as he approached a twisted box tree and slipped his message into a hollow, he played a different role: a spy for King George III.

Tuileries Gardens

New England Student

Born in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1744, Edward Bancroft moved to Connecticut with his widowed mother after she remarried David Bull. There he was tutored by none other than Silas Deane, the schoolteacher who would become our Deane of Spires—America’s agent in Paris.

Home in 18th-century Massachusetts

Fake Physician

Young Bancroft was a quick study, but he was restless. At sixteen, he gave up an apprenticeship with a doctor in Killingworth to seek adventure in Dutch Guiana or Suriname. There, he assumed the mantle of a physician, treating plantation workers while pursuing his study of the natural world. A fateful acquaintance was made when Paul Wentworth, a wealthy plantation owner, hired Bancroft to survey his land. While there, Bancroft penned a semi-biographical novel as a homage to his employer, detailing the life of a planter.

Surinam: Dutch Guiana 

Celebrated Scientist

He made his way to London, where in 1769, his Essay on the Natural History of Guiana earned him recognition. He began calling himself “Doctor,” despite having no formal degree. He made the rounds in coffeehouses and intellectual salons, where he met Doctor Benjamin Franklin, the American colonial representative in London. Franklin recognized potential in Bancroft’s wit and worldly charm, and they soon became close friends. As the colonies moved down the road to rebellion, Bancroft’s pro-American writings—like his 1769 Remarks on the Review of the Controversy between Great Britain and Her Colonies—enhanced his patriot bona fides. 

Ben Franklin: Mentor and Mark?

Family Man

In 1771, Cupid’s arrow struck, and Bancroft married young Penelope Fellows, daughter of a prominent Catholic family. Ironic as Bancroft was, at best, a Deist. A son, Edward, was born in 1772, and the couple went on to have six more children.

Loyal Secretary

In 1776, Silas Deane arrived in Paris to seek French aid, as Congress’s representative (using a cover), he tapped his former student to help. Franklin, now an American commissioner, soon arrived, appointing his London acquaintance as secretary to the American delegation. To Deane and Franklin, Bancroft was a trusted employee, copying letters, translating dispatches, and organizing supplies for American ships. But beneath this front, a darker loyalty simmered—Bancroft was, in actuality, now a mole.

Silas Deane

What Went Wrong?

Before Bancroft left London for France, Paul Wentworth, now a recently recruited agent of the British Secret Service who ran a spy ring, approached him. Wentworth was an American-born loyalist who ran a British spy ring and had employed Bancroft when they were both living in Dutch Guiana. A meeting was arranged with William Eden, the head of the Secret Service, and a deal was struck. For $ 200 a year—later increased to $500, then $1,000—Bancroft agreed to betray his fellow Americans. 

William Eden

His motives were a mix of loyalty to the British Empire, financial ambition, and doubt about the chances of American independence. Believing that the colonies’ best future was within the Empire, he began a life in the shadows, engaging in a risky game—secretly passing information to the British while working for Franklin and Deane. In the spy parlance, he had perfect placement and access.

Dead Drops in the Dead of Night

On Tuesday nights, Bancroft carried out his secret routine. Using the alias “Edward Edwards,” he penned reports to a “Mr. Richards,” using invisible ink while cleverly disguising his intelligence reports within stories of romantic escapades. Details about American negotiations with France, troop movements, and Franklin’s personal thoughts would be slipped into a bottle, tied with a string, and hidden in a hollow in a Tuileries tree after 9:30 p.m. When Bancroft cleared the area (departed), a British agent from the embassy would make the pickup, leaving new orders, which Bancroft would gather later that night. America’s secrets were in the hands of William Eden and King George III just two days later.

George III 

Suspicious Colleague

Yet Bancroft’s game was filled with danger: Arthur Lee, an American diplomat, suspected betrayal. Of course, the prickly Virginian suspected everyone! Lee saw Bancroft’s stock speculations and rumored mistress as a red flag.  He warned Franklin and Congress in 1778, claiming there was evidence of Bancroft’s treachery. “I consider Dr. Bancroft a Criminal concerning the United States,” Lee wrote. But he had no proof. Franklin remained loyal to his friend and dismissed them. 

Arthur Lee

Sly Deception

Bancroft caught wind of these accusations and warned his friends. To avoid suspicion, the British staged a fake arrest of Bancroft, accusing him of aiding the rebels—a ruse that kept his cover intact. Lee’s warnings diminished, and Bancroft’s deception remained hidden.

Astounding Success

Bancroft’s actions were remarkable. He translated the commission’s correspondence, repaired American ships, and even advised John Paul Jones, all while passing secrets to London. In 1781, he stole Deane’s private letters, which revealed despair over America’s prospects and called for peace with Britain. Published in New York after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, the stolen letters damaged Deane’s reputation, calling him a traitor. 

John Paul Jones

Post War Laurels

After the war ended, Bancroft’s reputation continued to grow. In 1783, he moved to England to secure his British pension, while continuing to correspond with Franklin. Bancroft’s scientific work thrived; his 1794 book, Experimental Researches Concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colors. This earned him a fellowship at the Royal Society, and his patents for quercitron dye made him a wealthy man. Our secretary, double and triple agent, mole and scientist, died on 7 September 1821, at Addington Place in Margate.

Edward Bancroft

A Riddle

Was Bancroft a traitor to America or a patriot to Britain? The question hangs like fog over the Tuileries. Some historians suggest he was a British loyalist who truly believed in the Empire’s unity. Bancroft’s betrayal, though daring, did not destroy the American cause. Ironically, his intelligence, though detailed, often went unused by the British, who did not utilize his reports effectively. Why not? Did they suspect him of being a triple agent? Some speculate Franklin knew of his duplicity but let him operate under the adage of keeping friends close and enemies closer. 

A Spy at Work?

And an Enigma

Whatever the truth, his espionage activities remained hidden until 1891, when British archives revealed his treachery, shocking historians and damaging his legacy. Regardless of who he betrayed, Bancroft’s spying, though daring, did not destroy the American cause. That might just provide our answer—or not. Such is the dilemma of traversing the wilderness of mirrors.

The French Fox

Although action and intrigue are the hallmarks of the Yankee Doodle Spies series, the war was, in fact, mainly won through the latter. Intrigue, fortified by no small dose of guile, enabled the rebel American colonies to throw off the yoke of the British Empire. They also received a little help from their friends, particularly a Frenchman who played the great game of international diplomacy through a mix of statesmanship, espionage, and deception. 

Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes

 Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, was a shrewd statesman who orchestrated a complex diplomatic strategy against France’s despised enemy, Great Britain. He maintained a calm and accommodating demeanor with his opponents and even kept his friends and allies on their toes.

Burgundian Roots

It is almost ironic that this relentless foe of Britain originated from an ancient ally of the English and an adversary of France, the Grand Duchy of Burgundy. However, when Charles Gravier was born in Dijon on a chilly December day in 1719, the region was merely a province of France. Gravier’s father was a local magistrate, respectable but not particularly high in the French social hierarchy.

Dijon, Capital of Burgundy

Following in his father’s footsteps, young Charles studied law. Eschewing the military or clergy that ensnared so many sons of the elites, he entered the French diplomatic service at the age of twenty. Soon, his patience, intellect, and knack for intrigue set him on a lifetime trajectory that would change the world.

A Diplomat’s Rise

 Vergennes’ early posts provided the training of a diplomat and a spy. His apprenticeship began in Lisbon in 1740 during the heated years of the War of the Austrian Succession. He learned to read a room, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of couriers and diplomats—and their true intentions.  Postings in Bavaria and the Palatinate followed. More challenging was the 1755 plum posting as ambassador to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), where the Ottomans and diplomats of the Russian Empire tested his wiles.

Istanbul

Experience in the Byzantine world of the formerly Byzantine Ottoman Empire prepared him for later challenges, like Sweden in 1768. There, he faced his Russian adversaries once more, employing a mix of charm, persuasion, espionage, and gold to keep the court’s pro-French party in power and the Swedes who favored Catherine the Great's Russia out. 

Gravier: Ambassador to the Sublime Porte

These posts schooled Vergennes in the art of high (and low) diplomacy, and foreshadowed what the mastermind could do when he reached the next level in the diplomatic corps.

Catherine the Great, Czarina of Russia

The next level emerged when Louis XVI ascended to the throne in 1774. Now a seasoned diplomat, Gravier would take on the challenge of a lifetime, guiding a France weakened by the Seven Years' War back to the center of the world stage as foreign minister. A year later, events across the ocean would provide that opportunity.

Exploiting Revolution

In the spring of 1775, the slow-burning insurrection in the American colonies erupted into a powder keg of revolutionary warfare. Even from far-off Versailles, the canny Vergennes could smell opportunity, if not the gun smoke. The catastrophic treaty ending the Seven Years’ War had torn away France’s most valued colonies—Canada was gone, India had been diminished, the West Indies islands were lost, West Africa had been lost to Britain, and Louisiana was given to Spain as compensation. France might not regain any of its lost colonies, but it sought revenge. The prickly American colonists now allowed Vergennes to bleed Britain dry.

Action at Lexington Brings War to America

Vergennes was no friend of liberty. He played a power game, using the Yankees as his baseball bat. While Britain’s army and navy were bogged down, France had a chance to regain its power and prestige. He dispatched agents to investigate the rebels. Were they tough enough to endure? Could they fight the world’s most powerful military? Vergennes wanted answers before he risked his nation.

Black Operations

When America’s first envoy, Silas Deane, turned up in Paris in 1776, with his hand out, looking for aid. Vergennes kept it low—he was not ready to connect France to the rebellion. But a covert op might buy him time. When Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, a playwright with a sideline in skullduggery, approached him with a secret scheme to help America (and harm the Anglais), Vergennes consented.  With Vergennes looking the other way, he set up a fake trading outfit called Roderigue Hortalez et Cie. This front company shipped muskets, powder, and cannons across the ocean with tobacco and other cash crops sailing to France, where they'd sell and the profits then used to replace the French munitions and ordnance.  At the same time, France had plausible deniability (it was a Spanish firm). The ports of France became smuggling hubs, with crates marked for “private merchants” ignored by French customs officials.  

Beaumarchais: Playwright and Schemer

Enter Doctor Franklin

The stakes grew higher when the most famous American in the world, Benjamin Franklin, wandered into Paris in December 1776. Franklin’s fur cap and homespun wit charmed and disarmed everyone from salon ladies to shopkeepers. Vergennes wisely let Franklin-mania work the crowd but kept the serious business behind closed doors. Despite Franklin's charm offensive, Gravier remained adamant. He would not risk an open alliance until the Americans produced a major battlefield victory.

Benjamin Franklin

 Turning Point

That happened in October 1777. A British invasion from Canada was defeated in two fierce battles, leading to the British surrender at Saratoga, New York. Paris was in chaos when news of the victory arrived. For his part, Vergennes now had proof of success and began persuading the still-antsy King Louis XVI to officially support the American cause.

Turning Point: Saratoga Surrender

On 6 February 1778, France and the United States signed two treaties. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce primarily aimed to promote trade and commercial relations between the two nations. The Treaty of Alliance established military cooperation against Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. Just like that, France was at war with Britain, and Vergennes was all in. But the ever-cautious King Louis delayed a public proclamation until Late March.

Signing the Treaty of Amity

This war would be expensive, and Vergennes secretly pursued support from Spain and the Netherlands. Despite diplomatic and secret maneuverings, Spain did not join until 1779, with the stated goal of reclaiming lands lost to the British, specifically West Florida and Gibraltar, rather than aiding the upstart Protestant rebels. Although they had been secretly lending to the Americans, the Dutch did not join until 1780. Vergennes’ diplomatic tour de force had finally paid off.

City of Spies

Paris during the Revolution rivaled Cold War-era Berlin as a hub of intrigue. Spies lurked in every tavern and salon, the British sniffing out American plans, the French tracking British agents, and Spain’s agents gathering on behalf of His Catholic Majesty. Vergennes’s counterintelligence was everywhere: surveilling diplomats, intercepting letters, and planting false leads. One wolf in sheep’s clothing was Edward Bancroft, Franklin’s secretary, who was feeding secrets to London. Despite his agents’ best efforts, Vergennes did not uncover Bancroft’s treachery, which stayed hidden till later. Some believe Franklin was in on the treachery and exploited it.

Spy: Edward Bancroft

France at War

Versailles was replete with naysayers on the alliance (perhaps persuaded with British gold), and they yapped at the always wobbly Louis. However, the Foreign Minister was now fully aligned with the Americans, ensuring that the flow of aid never stopped. But America’s real need was French military might, especially its navy. Despite some early fits and starts, when it came, it proved decisive.

Chesapeake: The French Fleet Played a Decisive Role

Now was the time for the vengeance Vergennes struggled so long to achieve.  Troops and ships sailed to the New World to join the Americans and exact that vengeance. Franco-American efforts faltered at Newport, Rhode Island, and Savannah, Georgia. Still, the 1781 Yorktown campaign, where French troops and ships under Rochambeau and de Grasse sealed Cornwallis's troops on the York River in tidewater Virginia, was the brainchild of Vergennes.

A Separate Peace

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown convinced the British that the game was over. But what they could not win on land and sea, they would try to win at the peace table. The spy-versus-spy atmosphere in Paris intensified further when the British and American peace commissioners began sparring over the details, such as boundaries, fishing rights, trading rights, western land ownership, and Indian affairs.

French Support Made Yorktown Possible

Vergennes worked to align the interests of France, Spain (a French ally, not an American one), and the United States during peace negotiations. He pushed for a unified approach to ensure that the Americans coordinated with French interests.  However, the Americans sometimes acted independently, to Vergennes' frustration.

Peace of Paris

Vergennes spent most of his time on the broader peace process. The Treaty of Paris was part of a series of agreements collectively known as the Peace of Paris. That resolved the global conflicts among Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. He negotiated terms for France, securing minor territorial gains (like Tobago and parts of Senegal) and protecting French interests in the West Indies and India.

Celebrating the Treaty of Peace with Britain in Paris

Vergennes was leery of American commissioners skirting French guidance.  And with good reason. They signed a preliminary peace agreement with Britain in November 1782 without consulting France fully and violating the terms of the 1778 alliance. Despite this, Vergennes accepted the outcome, recognizing that American independence aligned with France’s overall goal of weakening Britain. Vergennes signed his own treaty with Britain the following year.

Cost of Empire

Vergennes' service came at a cost. In 1781, King Louis appointed him as his Chief Minister, combining the roles of Foreign Minister and Prime Minister. Long days and nights of toil and the pressure of orchestrating financial, diplomatic, intelligence, and even military affairs strained him mentally and physically to the point where, on February 13, 1787, he keeled over at 67. He passed away just as France’s war debts started fueling talk of revolution. Some say Vergennes’ great gamble on America bankrupted France, which eventually led to the French Revolution in 1789. 

But hindsight is fifty-fifty. Charles Gravier’s goal was to check British hegemony and restore French glory. To that end, he succeeded. As for the French Revolution? Even the greatest and most perceptive minds cannot see the future. Who in 1778 would have thought King Louis's support for America would ultimately result in a trip to the guillotine? But one might speculate that with him guiding the vacillating King Louis, the nation and the monarchy might have avoided the chaos of the French Revolution and the carnage that it brought to France and the world.

King Louis XVI

Americans owe a debt to Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes—the man who viewed a ragged revolution as France’s opportunity. His cunning and insight were instrumental in America’s founding alongside the Minutemen and Continentals. Lauded neither in France nor America, the diplomat from Dijon played a pivotal role in the birth of a nation and changing the world like few others have.

Alliance Rosette Worn By Continental Army Officers