Researching the Culper Spy Ring

Alexandra Shehigian, 17, from West Babylon, doesn’t pick easy research topics.

But her 17-page paper on the Culper Spy Ring, that encompassed accessing digitalized letters from the Library of Congress, then interpreting the English language of the time to discover how the purpose of the spy ring changed, snared her a $40,000 scholarship. Shehigian was recently awarded The Honorable Peter Fox Cohalan Scholarship in American History for Suffolk High School Seniors, a program supported by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

Having this poised young woman on your staff would be a blessing. Shehigian is a more-than-resourceful history sleuth.

“I looked at 27 letters,” explained the scholarship recipient. “When the spy ring was started, it was to help George Washington recapture New York. I wanted to see what else members were communicating, like, ‘If that wasn’t working, what else can we help with?’”

A network of spies active during the American Revolutionary War, the Culper Spy Ring was organized by Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge and Gen. George Washington in 1778 during the British occupation of New York City. Tallmadge was the spies’ direct contact, but Washington often directed their operations, and the spy ring had to provide information to him on British Army operations in New York City, where British headquarters was located. It was also the ring’s headquarters, as well as in Setauket. Members mostly operated in New York City, Long Island and Connecticut during late October 1778 and 1783.

Shehigian, a St. John the Baptist High School senior, had written the paper originally for an AP course.

“I started gathering information in October, worked on it until May, and realized I had to train myself to read 18th-century letters, a kind of ‘researching the research’ to interpret them,” she said. “It was interesting to learn how many minute details are trapped.”

Like the women who were involved. The Culper Spy Ring had women who were unofficial members; some signaled messages by hanging wash outside, Shehigian said.

“There were wives who would listen to conversations at parties and convey what they heard,” she added. “Also, the ring wasn’t made up of traditional aristocrats. There were small farmers and working people who were active.”

It meant lots of focused, intense hours with Cooper, her goldendoodle, keeping her company.

“We have to tell her to sleep,” admitted mom Liz, a social worker.

The scholarship’s presentation took place in Judge Peter Cohalan’s Sayville home. Cohalan is a trustee of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and one of two judges for the scholarship.

The current Suffolk County historian, former county executive and Islip Town supervisor as well as NYS Supreme Court Justice, Cohalan’s history chops are prodigious.

As American history is his favorite topic, the presentation is never a quick handing over. Cohalan is genuinely interested in the winners, and facts, anecdotes and little quizzes whiz around the room. (He brought up Julia Gardiner, President John Tyler’s second wife. Tyler was the first commander in chief to marry while in office.) Favorite presidents were also asked about: James Knox Polk was Cohalan’s; George H.W. Bush was dad Harry’s, who is a social studies teacher.

And of course, there was a reference to Alexander Hamilton. “There were a few inaccuracies,” reported Shehigian, noting several in the “Hamilton” musical.

Oh well, poetic license abounds in the arts.

Shehigian knows her stuf,f but her family’s interest as a prompter came out.

“You’ve always had a lot of conversations with your dad,” pointed out mom, Liz. Harry Shehigian teaches American history at Hauppauge High School.

“I loved your essay and the way you put it together,” said Cohalan, turning to the young historian.

“And no English errors,” he quipped.

Shehigian has already tackled an internship at Walt Whitman’s birthplace, taking the oldest documents from the Whitman family and making them legible to the human eye. She’ll be studying American and public history at Messiah University and plans on getting a Ph.D.

Kathryn M. Curran, RDLG Foundation executive director, was on hand for the scholarship presentation and reviewed the requirements. Shehigian is required to enroll in a concentrated study of a minimum of 24 credit hours in American history or American government, write a letter of her progress every year, and volunteer with a local historical society. The scholarship money is sent directly to her university.

It’s eligible yearly to Nassau and Suffolk high school seniors, requires an academic paper of at least 10 typewritten pages based on any aspect of Long Island history and how it reflects on New York State and American history, with endnotes and bibliography.

For Shehigian, her earnest, dogged quest to unearth interesting American history details is like hitting the jackpot.

It already has with the scholarship.

“I can help people learn about history that’s lesser known,” the teen said of what she hopes to be tasked with at a historical society or museum in the future.