Enoch Crosby The Spy

Originally Aired: February 27, 1940 In Cavalcade of America #176, "Enoch Crosby The Spy," the story unfolds through a framing narrative in 1820, where former Chief Justice John Jay tells novelist James Fenimore Cooper about an unsung hero of the Revolution. In 1776, shoemaker Enoch Crosby stumbles upon a group of Tories while traveling and successfully poses as a loyalist sympathizer to gather intelligence. Bringing this information to Jay and the Committee of Safety, Crosby volunteers for the most dangerous assignment imaginable: becoming a double agent who will pretend to spy for the British while actually serving the American cause. Crosby's perilous mission takes him into the heart of enemy territory, where he feeds information to British Colonel Harcourt while genuinely working for General Washington and the patriots. The cost of this secret service becomes painfully clear when even his beloved Katie and his own neighbors believe him to be a Tory traitor. With a price on his head and Captain Townsend vowing to hang him on sight, Crosby faces danger from both sides, unable to defend his reputation without compromising the very cause for which he risks everything.