- John Henry (spy)
John Henry (c. 1776 – 1853), was a spy and adventurer of mysterious origins. It is reputed that he was born in
Dublin ,Ireland , probably between 1750 and 1775, although 1776 is the more accepted year.Henry came to Philadelphia about 1793, edited "
Brown's Philadelphia Gazette ", and afterward was commissioned a captain in theUnited States Army , in 1798, during theQuasi-War withFrance . Henry commanded anartillery company under GeneralEbenezer Stevens , and was for over a year superior officer atFort Jay , onGovernor's Island .Henry was the first commander of
Fort Adams inNewport, Rhode Island when the fort was opened onJuly 4 ,1799 . He later served atFort Sumner inPortland, Maine and resigned from the army at the end of 1802. He settled on a farm in northernVermont , and also studied law. Here he remained five years, occasionally writing articles for the press against therepublic an form ofgovernment .These attracted the attention of Sir
James Craig , then Governor-General ofCanada , who employed him in 1809 to find out the extent of the reported disaffection to the national government inNew England . Henry spent three months in Boston in this employment, reporting constantly to Craig by letter, and at one time thought that in the event of war betweenGreat Britain and the United States,Massachusetts would take the lead in establishing a northern confederacy, which might, in the end, ally itself with Great Britain. Craig promised Henry office in Canada, but died soon afterward, and the spy's efforts to obtain his reward in London meeting with no success, he returned to the United States and, onFebruary 2 ,1812 , divulged the whole matter to PresidentJames Madison , who paid him $50,000 for his information. Henry left forFrance immediately after payment was made to him.His disclosures were made the subject of a special message to Congress, and created much excitement throughout the country, especially among the opponents of the administration. Some of those opponents alleged that it was all a political trick that had been devised by the President to cause war with Great Britain, and the
Henry letters did indeed help create the outrage which led to the declaration of theWar of 1812 onJune 12 .Henry used all of his reward but $1,000 to purchase an estate in
Languedoc from a "Count de Crillon", and sailed fromNew York City for France on 9 March, 1812. Crillon proved to be an impostor, and it is probable that Henry lost his money.The last report of Henry was that he was employed in 1820 by King George IV to spy on his wife,
Caroline of Brunswick , while she was living in Rome. Details of Henry's later life are few, but he is believed to have died inParis in 1853.ee also
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Henry letters External links
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=3965 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
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