To say that agent 355 was good at her job would be an understatement. Agent 355 (pronounced "three fifty-five" and sometimes referred to by the other characters as simply "three-fifty") is a secret agent with the Culper Ring, a mysterious United States government agency. History rarely covers the role of women in war, but one of America’s first spies was female. I laughed when he said that because it was so seemingly hilarious, a woman be anything but invisible? In Marie Benedict’s historical fiction account, Agent 355 does not live happily ever after, but she does manage to save her son. A page from the Culper Ring’s code book, with noteworthy people and place names listed side by side with numerical representations. Garlic: so good for your health, so bad for your social life. It is believed that 355 was a member of a prominent Loyalist family, and within easy reach of British commanders. Little is known for sure about this mysterious lady, but speculation abounds. We only know her as “355… When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it, while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move. Based on true events, Agent 355 combines adventure, romance, and espionage to bring to life this little-known story of a hero who risked her life to fight for freedom against all odds. Her real identity is unknown. Howat says keeping the woman’s identity a secret might have been both calculated and necessary to “protect her in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War.”. ©2020 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC. What is known is that she was located in New York and at some point had contact with Major John Andre and Benedict Arnold. Agent 355 has become a part of popular fiction, being cited in Y: The Last Man from Vertigo Comics as an inspiration for a modern spy also called 355, and being included in Assassins Creed 3’s in-game database of historical facts, in which her information was critical in helping the protagonist in discovering the British plot to capture West Point. Elizabeth Burgin participated by helping a large number of Patriots imprisoned by the British to escape the jails, while Agent 355 was a spy that leaked information from the British to the American Patriots. The Culper Ring was George Washington ‘s clandestine spy network that operated in the streets of British occupied New York. Many historians it seems, discount the possibility of 355 in the Culper code referring to a specific person at all. Type above and press Enter to search. Agent 355, a vital character in the DC series Y: The Last Man, claims to be a member of the clandestine (and centuries old) spy organization, the Culper Ring. Two hundred and twenty five years of research on the American Revolution has yielded little information on the enigmatic agent 355. Created by one of my favorite comics writers Brian K. Vaughan in his epic series Y: The Last Man, she was a secret agent for of the Culper Ring, a secret spy ring that grew out of the American Revolutionary War and conducts all sorts of shady covert ops. Agent 355 heroically shaped history, but will never completely be a part of that history, compared to the names we study and revere. The road to the top is paved with toe shoes. How one bizarre, obsessive toymaker changed the industry and became baseball’s bestseller, just for the hell of it. Howat says it’s even been suggested that 355 was more than one person, as according to the Culper Ring’s sophisticated encryption system, 355 was the generic code number for “lady.” Some even go so far as to suggest 355 was a random woman who gave the ring intelligence, but wasn’t formally connected to them. Then, in the 1940s, its history took a fascinating twist when documentation of a secret female spy known only as "355" surfaced. With Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz. It operated in British-controlled New York City from 1778 to 1783. The faceless but pivotal female spy known as Agent 355. Benjamin had asked one thing of me: be invisible. The American Revolution was in full swing, and this correspondence would relay vital information to Gen. George Washington through the Culper Ring. There are some pretty badass Black women in comics, and Agent 355 is at the top of my list of favorites. Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_355. There is very little information out there about agent 355, and what is out there is often in conflict with other sources. Revolutionary Reads: Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom. The Culper Ring was a consortium of spies put together in 1778 by Benjamin Tallmadge under Washington’s orders during the British occupation of New York City. They were so good at secrecy, that even today we are unsure of some of their agents. Agent 355 is one of the first spies for the United States, but her real identity is unknown. Agent 355 is an unknown woman who worked as a spy who is thought to have a major role in exposing Benedict Arnold. RevWarTalk was started with the goal of being a positive and supportive online community for discussion of topics related to the American Revolutionary War. Researchers have discovered that e-cigs could modify the same immune response genes as cigarettes do, and then some. Agent 355 was arrested and apparently died aboard one of the vile prison ships in New York harbor. It seems that Agent 355 met her untimely end in 1780, when she was finally captured by the British and died on a prison ship, the HMS Jersey, from severe maltreatment. This leads historians to believe that 355 was one of the flock of females that surrounded Major Andre. The search for that perfect cup had to start somewhere…. The ship is notorious for its foul conditions and cruel treatment of prisoners. Agent 355 was the code name of a female spy during the American Revolution, part of the Culper Ring. Like all covert government agents, her anonymity “does not diminish” her contribution, says Howat. Agent 355 was held aboard the notorious prison ship HMS Jersey in New York harbor, where conditions on those prison ships were so horrific that life expectancy was only a few months. Answer: Both Elizabeth Burgin and Agent 355 were American women that participated in the American Revolutionary War helping the Patriots. Regardless of whether or not she bore an heir, Agent 355’s legacy lives on. 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