intelligence in New York City by using the alias "Samuel Culper Jr." Townsend was involved in business there, and his presence would arouse less suspicion than Woodhull's visits. He had access to British officers through several channels, including his own tailoring business. He also wrote a society column in a Loyalist newspaper and owned an interest in a coffeehouse with the newspaper's owner, James Rivington, who also was a secret member of the Culper Ring. Once Townsend began his intelligence activities in New York City, Woodhull operated almost exclusively from Setauket and revised the communications network. Townsend would pass intelligence to a courier (initially Hawkins, later Hawkins and Roe, and exclusively Roe after September 1779), who would take it to Setauket and pass it to Woodhull, usually by dead drop in a box hidden in a field that Roe rented from Woodhull. Woodhull would evaluate and comment on it and pass it to Brewster, who would occasionally add an intelligence note of his own, take it across Long Island Sound, and pass it to Tallmadge. Tallmadge would usually add a cover letter with comments and sent and received messages by a relay of dragoons acting as couriers. Hawkins was bold at first but later became increasingly anxious about British patrols. His role was reduced between April and July, when Tallmadge assigned a code number in his code directory to Roe but not to Hawkins. Woodhull wrote in a coded message on August 15 that Hawkins had had to destroy a letter from Culper Jr. or be captured. He also wrote that Hawkins insisted his next meeting with Townsend be in an out-of-the-way location. Townsend did not like taking the additional risk and was beginning to doubt Hawkins' reliability and to regret the destroyed messages. Hawkins finally stopped his courier services for the spy ring in September 1779, as Townsend refused to deal with him any longer. Woodhull acted as courier on September 11 so that he could explain to Townsend the loss of the earlier letters, and Roe became the sole permanent courier for the ring. Secrecy Secrecy was so strict that Washington did not know the identity of all of the operatives. Townsend was recruited by Woodhull, who was especially insistent that his identity not be revealed, although Austin Roe and Jonas Hawkins needed to know him. Among the techniques that the Culper Ring used to relay information were