Yankee Pedigree
Church was a blue-blooded descendant of Yankee ancestors and the envy of the Colonial Dames. Born on August 24, 1734, in Newport, Rhode Island, he was 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 traces 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 Dr. Joseph Pynchon. Afterward, like many American surgeons, he completed his studies in London, where he married Hannah Hill. Upon returning home, he quickly built a reputation as one of the city’s best young physicians and surgeons, even treating the eye problems of the lawyer and future founder John Adams.
Political Turmoil
In the decade leading up to the break with Britain, Massachusetts, especially Boston, was at the center of increasing discontent and unrest. Benjamin Church appeared to be actively involved in these events. After the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, he was the one who examined Crispus Attucks’s body and treated some of the wounded. This involvement positioned him as a staunch Whig, and in 1773, he was chosen to deliver the annual “Massacre Day” oration, a yearly event designed to ignite anti-British feelings. He demonstrated a talent for oratory.
Dr. Church became a leader of Boston’s Sons of Liberty, working with key figures like Joseph Warren, Sam Adams, John Adams, and Paul Revere. By 1774, the well-known surgeon was a delegate to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and later joined its Committee of Safety, the colonial group responsible for preparing for armed defense.
Our Surgeon Goes to War
April 1775 marked the official start of hostilities between the American colonists, especially those in New England, and the Royal authorities. Although independence was not yet a declared goal, the fight for American rights resembled a war. Our favorite surgeon found himself caught in the middle of it. In May 1775, Church traveled to Philadelphia, where he discussed the military situation in Massachusetts with Congress. As head of the Committee of Safety, he signed the order for the construction of defenses at Breed's Hill and Prospect Hill.
In July 1775, he was appointed Director General and Chief Physician of the newly established Medical Department of the Army, making him head of both the hospital department at the first army hospital and the first headquarters of regimental surgeons. This prestigious appointment placed him at the peak of his career.
Doctor Gloom?
Interestingly, Church proved to be an indifferent medical administrator and faced a barrage of complaints from the army’s regimental surgeons about his management of the medical system. He pushed back, claiming jealousy was the real motivation behind his critics, and soon asked to be relieved of his duties. Why would a renowned and highly trained surgeon (18th-century term for a physician) show any sign of failure in what should be a core skill? Perhaps our doctor had other priorities occupying his mind.
Other Things
Other clouds swirled around the standing Whig leader. In the world of espionage, these were labeled anomalies and indicators. Although they were present, it would take an overt event to start bringing things together. There were suspicions about his allegiance to the cause, particularly the cause of independence.
At that time, there still might have been prominent Whigs who were unsure about breaking completely with Britain. But was he one of them? Yes, Church had an English wife, and his brother-in-law was a well-known Tory printer, John Fleming. However, many had connections to Britain and the Tories, so he couldn’t be seen as entirely unusual. As rebellion approached, Church gained a reputation as a notable patriot writer and poet. Still, it turns out that he sometimes responded to his own patriotic open letters in the press with “op-ed” pieces that took the Tory side!
As it would later be revealed, 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 dismissed it—like many suspected spies do too easily. What was then unknown was that Church was in debt, some of which was caused by keeping a mistress. And she was not his first, as it turned out.
A House of Cards
In July 1775, Doctor Benjamin Church’s scheme unraveled when a secret letter was intercepted and decoded. A cipher message 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 sent to the new Continental Army commander-in-chief, General Washington, in September.
It took some effort to decode, but they were rewarded because it contained information about the American forces gathered around Boston. Although little of the information was critical, the message clearly showed Church’s loyalty to the King and sought instructions for further secret correspondence. A bombshell striking Washington’s headquarters couldn’t have been more explosive than this news!
A General Court Martial
During the court-martial in Cambridge that immediately followed, Church admitted to writing the letter (a typical ploy) but insisted he aimed to display the Continental Army’s strength to deter an attack while it was still low on ammunition. He believed it might also help bring about an end to hostilities. While impressing the British probably benefited Washington’s position, this belief showed Church’s ambivalence. Because there was no “espionage statute” and America wasn’t yet an independent nation and therefore could not be “betrayed,” the court, presided over by Washington, concluded that Church engaged in a “criminal correspondence with the British.”
Report to Congress
On October 5, 1775, General George Washington wrote to John Jay, the President of the Continental Congress, to notify him that a letter from Dr. Benjamin Church, the 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 forwarded to the Continental Congress for punishment, along 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 there were no actual laws or a death sentence, Church was sentenced to an indefinite prison term and kept in solitary confinement in Norwich, Connecticut. When he became ill in January 1776, he was released from jail and allowed to move around under guard. In May of that year, he was sent back to Massachusetts on bail and remained in prison until 1778, when the Massachusetts Banishment Act ordered him to be exiled to Martinique in the West Indies. Soon after, he set sail, but the schooner carrying him was never heard from again. It was believed to have gone down in a storm on the open sea.
A Spy Exposed
Doctor Benjamin Church’s case was one of the mysteries of the American Revolution. Many believed he was wrongly judged, and he certainly thought so himself. After all, his credentials, services, and pedigree were spotless. Although he admitted to certain acts, he insisted strongly that he was just keeping channels open and trying to feed the British bogus information. Torn between two sides, he may have genuinely 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 was revealed when scholars gained access to General Gage's files. In the early 20th century, these papers became available to historians. They contained letters with information about the rebel army—correspondence carried by Church that could only have come from him. The good doctor was definitely providing the British army with intelligence from at least early 1775, possibly even earlier.
A Spy’s Motive
Why did the esteemed Dr. Benjamin Church engage in espionage? Was it because of overwhelming debt? Disputes and grudges against rivals in American leadership? Was there ambivalence about truly breaking ties with Britain? Family connections? Loyalty to the crown? Or perhaps it was for the most frustrating reason of all – simply because he could.
