The Red Spy

About this issue

This serialized novel by P. Hamilton Myers, published by Beadle and Adams (1871), dramatizes the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley. Charles Dudley, a patriot, encounters Enoch Walden, a treacherous neighbor joining Colonel St. Leger's loyalist forces. When Walden attempts to recruit Dudley and claims betrothal to Ellen Welles, Dudley disarms him and departs. Dudley then escorts the orphaned Ellen to the fortified house of patriot Lee, where neighbors gather weapons and barricade against expected Indian and loyalist attacks. As Dudley recruits additional defenders, the party witnesses a nearby farm burning and must evade hostile forces approaching Lee's position, ultimately concealing themselves with rifles ready as enemies approach.