Thomas Knowlton 1740-1776
At the age of 15, Thomas Knowlton participated in the French and Indian War along with his brother. In 1762, he served in Cuba fighting against the Spanish. Captain Knowlton was elected the commander of the Ashford, CT militia. His unit was the first from another state to come to the assistance of the patriots at Lexington and Concord. The Ashford Volunteers under Captain Knowlton participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill under the command of General Putnam who had led him in the French and Indian War twenty years earlier. Because of his stellar performance, he was promoted to Major and was considered the “first officer of his grade in the army.” In the Spring of 1776, General George Washington, as he prepared for the defense of New York, needed more intelligence, so he put Thomas Knowlton in charge of a new group of patriots, the Knowlton Raiders. Nathan Hale volunteered to join Knowlton in intelligence gathering along with 150 others from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. LTC Knowlton was killed in action in the Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776. He is considered the first intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.
Benjamin Tallmadge 1754-1835
Benjamin was well educated by his father, Reverend Benjamin Tallmadge. The President of Yale questioned him at twelve and said that he was ready for entrance though he didn’t go until 1769. While at Yale, he became a close friend of Nathan Hale. After the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, he was offered a commission in the Connecticut’s six-month regiment. He first saw battle at Battle of Long Island. Later, he was at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. In 1778, he was appointed by George Washington as the director of intelligence. He began the Culper Spy Ring with old friends including Abraham Woodhull, Caleb Brewster, Anna Strong and Austin Roe. Benjamin went by the pseudonym, John Bolton, to which the spy ring sent their information. Tallmadge instituted ingenious tactics and created a system in which numbers were substituted for names, places and common words. The Commander in Chief provided the invisible ink used by Tallmadge’s Culper Ring. Benjamin was instrumental in the apprehension of Captain Andre, the British spy involved in Benedict Arnold’s treason, preventing him getting to West Point. After the war, Talmadge became postmaster of Litchfield, CT and later he was elected to Congress, representing his constituents for 17 years.
Sidney Weinstein USMA 1956 1934-2007
Following his graduation from West Point in 1956, Sidney Weinstein served in the 101stAirborne Division, the Second U.S. Army Research Group, the 109th Intelligence Group. He used his fluent Spanish when he served in Panama and as a advisor in Ecuador. As the Corps G2 (Intelligence), XVIII Airborne Corps, he was instrumental in creating the fundamentals that became the Army’s Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence (CEWI) structure. While commanding the Intelligence Center and School, he institutionalized into doctrine, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield. He improved support in special operations and created the Army Intelligence Master Plan. He is considered the father of the modern Intelligence Corps.