The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground

This was the earliest American novel to win wide and permanent fame and may be said to have begun the type of romance which dominated U.S. fiction for 30 years. The action takes place during the American Revolution, at "The Locusts", which is believed to have been the real family home of John Jay in Rye, Westchester County, New York (known today as the Jay Estate). The plot ranges back and forth over the neutral ground between the British and Continental armies. Harvey Birch, a peddler, has a meeting with a Mr. Harper at The Locusts, the country home of a British sympathizer located between the lines. The peddler comes under suspicion for being a British spy in consequence, but he is really a patriot, as Mr. Harper is George Washington in disguise, with whom Birch has other meetings in the course of the book. Birch's role is revealed only after falling in battle.