the names of his father, mother, sister Sally, and several people enslaved by the family all appear on the membership roles. Nevertheless, Townsend seems to have been torn between his moderate upbringing and as a result of Paine's pamphlet Common Sense. Paine had also been brought up in the Quaker tradition and advocated in Common Sense the early Quaker views of struggling against corruption and narcissism. Paine also advocated resistance as the means to achieve those goals, which put him directly at odds with the newly reformed Quaker movement. Paine argued that those espousing "pacifism at any price" were not authentic Quakers. His pamphlet inspired a small number of Quakers to join the struggle against Britain, as well as others who, like Townsend, were not Quaker but were also not political firebrands. A few months after Paine's pamphlet was published, Townsend volunteered for a logistics post in the Continental Army, which would not require him to kill. Another factor that led Townsend to join the fight against British rule was the treatment of his family by British soldiers in Oyster Bay. A number of British officers thought that anti-British sentiment had been ingrained into the colonists' spirit and believed that "it should be thrash'd out of them [because] New England has poyson'd the whole." That led to numerous incidents of violence and pillage directed at colonists. Colonel John Graves Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers and roughly 300 of his men were stationed in Oyster Bay during the winter months. Simcoe took the Townsend home as his headquarters, and he and his men used the home whenever and however they wanted. Townsend's father, Samuel, was distraught about his prized apple orchard being torn down by Simcoe's men. Adding to the insult, the Townsends were forced to either swear allegiance to the King or go to prison. A final factor was Townsend's relationship with Abraham Woodhull. They knew and trusted each other well enough by June 1779 that Townsend accepted when Woodhull asked him to join a new spy ring for Washington. Washington's intentions Here are Washington's instructions for Woodhull (Culper, Sr.) and Townsend (Culper, Jr.): Culper Junior, to remain in the City, to collect all the useful information he can-to do this he should mix as much as possible among the officers and refugees, visit the coffee houses, and all public places. He is to pay particular attention to the movements