The Politics Of Spelling Reform

Even before the Revolutionary War, a movement arose to “De-Brit-ify” American English. In fact, in 1768, Benjamin Franklin himself proposed an entirely new alphabet that removed what he called “useless letters” like C, J, Q, W, X and Y. Obviously, that didn’t catch on.

But the movement re-gained steam in 1828 when Noah Webster introduced his American Dictionary Of The English Language. He replaced British spellings like “colour” with the more simplified “color”. And, he shifted “re” to “er” in words like “theater”. We still live with these Webster reforms.

And the spelling reform movement was really energized by the U.S. President who personified American energy—Theodore Roosevelt. He actually issued an Executive Order that mandated simplified spellings of over 300 words. For example, T.R. decreed that “dropped” be changed to “dropt’“ and “kissed” be morphed into “kist” (which of course, the StarKist tuna people picked up on). Oddly, the President (known as “The Trust-Buster”) had made strange political bedfellows with mega-industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who originally floated many of these spelling reform ideas. By the way, Congress quickly nixed Teddy’s ideas.

Fast forward to the development of modern American baseball. New team owners wanted to cement their team images in the minds of fans—something simple they could remember and that would easily fit in newspaper headlines. So, the “Boston Red Stockings” and the “Chicago White Stockings” both simplified their monikers to just “Sox”. Ditto the “Cincinnati Red Stockings”, who became the “Cincinnati Reds”.

All of these baseball-related changes—and many others we use every day—had their roots in the uniquely American political movement for spelling reform. Go Red Sox!

Agent 355: Female Spies In The Revolution

When we think of intelligence networks during the Revolutionary War, what usually comes to mind (especially for those of us who live in Massachusetts) is Paul Revere’s midnight ride alerting the Minutemen to the advance of British troops. But as the war progressed, General George Washington needed to expand his use of espionage—often using more non-traditional tactics.

One of these was the use of women to gather intelligence on British movements in and around New York. A network of spies around the city was dubbed the Culper Ring—likely named after Culpeper County, Virginia, where Washington once worked as a land surveyor. One member of the ring—using the codename Agent 355—was thought to be one Anna Strong. Strong was a resident of Setauket, Long Island, and a woman with ties to the patriot movement. She passed along her messages in unique ways. When she hung a black petticoat on her clothesline, it meant that a member of the spy ring was ready to submit intelligence. And, by hanging out a certain number of white handkerchiefs, it would signal the specific hiding place of the spy. 

Strong, along with many other women, proved highly useful in gathering intelligence on things like troop movements and supply routes. When British troops were quartered in private homes, women often transmitted key information from their “loose-lipped” lodgers. In fact, some historians believe Strong was instrumental in uncovering Benedict Arnold as a defector to the British—as well as the related arrest and execution of Major John André.

So, while women were technically barred from military service during the Revolutionary War, their involvement in espionage rings delivered indispensable information—allowing Washington and his commanders to make informed decisions that ultimately led to victory.