In order to combat an intimidating and larger British force, General George Washington needed to do something to even the playing field. The odds were against the fledgling American army as they were understaffed, under trained, and had little to no budget. The answer to this problem was espionage. 

The Americans needed to know about their adversary's actions in order for them to win the Revolutionary War. Washington needed patriots who were close to the British at all levels of society. So he employed ordinary people, such as farmers, tailors, housemaids, and other patriots to build spy rings. Additionally, he turned British spies into double agents. The Americans had established multiple networks of agents passing information between the lines, informing Washington of the whereabouts of the British and what their next plans were. As mail was intercepted, General Washington proposed to, "...contrive a means of opening them without breaking the seals, take copies of the contents, and then let them go on. By these means we should become masters of the whole plot." The intelligence that was gathered was used to conduct a massive man-in-the-middle / deception operation, actively changing the narrative, causing confusion, and disrupting communications for the British.