Benjamin Tallmadge Benjamin Tallmadge ( February 11 , 1754 – March 7 , 1835 ) was a member of the United States House of Representatives . His birth date is alternately listed as February 25 , 1754 . Tallmadge , the son of a clergyman , was born in Setauket , New York , a hamlet in the town of Brookhaven on Long Island . Tallmadge graduated from Yale college in 1773 , and was a classmate of American Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale . From 1773 - 1776 Tallmadge was the superintendent of Wethersfield High School . American Revolutionary War . Tallmadge was a major in the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons . He was initially commissioned on June 20 , 1776 . Eventually , as the chief intelligence officer for George Washington , he was promoted to the rank of colonel . He organized the Culper Spy Ring based out of New York City and Long Island during the American Revolutionary War , using the code name John Bolton . The Culper Ring is thought by some to have revealed the betrayal of Benedict Arnold , though this is disputed . There is actually very little evidence to prove that Tallmadge had heard from a spy in New York City about the Arnold - André plot . However , it would have been easy for Tallmadge to suspect that Arnold was up to no good , since Arnold had arranged to meet Anderson ( Major John André ' s alias at the time ) and Anderson was carrying military secrets back to New York City . The only thing Tallmadge could do was to persuade Jameson to recall lieutenant Allen who was already on his way to deliver the prisoner André into Arnold ' s custody . However , Tallmadge was unable to dissuade Jameson from informing Arnold of Major André ' s arrest . Tallmadge ' s suspicion of Arnold ' s treachery may not have been strong enough as Jameson later reported in a letter to Washington that neither Tallmadge nor other officers he consulted raised any objections to sending lieutenant Allen with a message to Arnold saying André was now in Jameson ' s custody . After Benedict Arnold ' s British contact , John André , was caught , he was taken to North Castle , where the commander , Colonel Jameson , ordered his Lieutenant , Allen , to take a note and the incriminating documents found with André to their commander , Benedict Arnold , at West Point . Tallmadge , suspecting André to be a spy , and Benedict Arnold to be his accomplice , tried to have Jameson reverse his orders . He was unsuccessful , but did convince Jameson to send a rider and take Andre to Salem , eight miles east of the Hudson River , and to send the documents to George Washington . Lt . Allen was still to report to Benedict Arnold with Jameson ' s note outlining the events . Later , Jameson was chastised by Washington for warning Arnold and allowing his escape . André was placed in Tallmadge ' s custody until André ' s execution . On November 21 , 1780 , Tallmadge and his dragoons rowed across the Long Island Sound from Fairfield , Connecticut to Mt . Sinai , New York . The next day they proceeded to the south shore where they captured and burned down Manor St . George , which the British turned into a fort , and captured the soldiers within . On their march back to Mt . Sinai , Tallmadge stopped in Coram and ordered the burning of 300 tons of hay which the British had been stockpiling for the winter . George Washington , on hearing the news , sent the following letter to Tallmadge : I have received with much pleasure the report of your successful enterprise upon fort St . George , and was pleased with the destruction of the hay at Coram , which must be severely felt by the enemy at this time . I beg you to accept my thanks for your spirited execution of this business . The Tallmadge Trail is marked along the route Tallmadge and his dragoons took from Mt . Sinai to Mastic Heights . After War Years . After the war , Tallmadge married one of the daughters of William Floyd , settled in Connecticut . In 1783 Tallmadge settled in Litchfield , Connecticut . He was appointed the town ' s postmaster in 1792 . Tallmadge was the first president of the Phoenix Branch Bank . He served first as treasurer and eventually as secretary of the Society of the Cincinnati . He was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives from 1801 - 1817 . He was a member of the Federalist Party . This meant that during his entire congressional career he was part of the minority party . In 1817 , Representative Tallmadge persuaded Congress not to grant a requested pension increase to the men who had originally captured Major André , John Paulding , Isaac Van Wart , and David Williams and publicly assailing their credibility and motivations . Tallmadge was the officer to whom André was taken after his capture , and he said he believed André ' s account over that of the three captors . He said Williams and the other two were " of that class of people who passed between both armies , as often in one camp as in the other . " He said that " when Major André ' s boots were taken off by them , it was to search for plunder , and not to detect treason . " He asserted that " if André could have given to these men the amount they demanded for his release , he never would have been hung for a spy , nor in captivity . " In 1816 he declined to be run for reelection . Tallmadge died in Litchfield , Connecticut on March 7 , 1835 . He was interred in East Cemetery . Tallmadge , Ohio is named after Benjamin Tallmadge . In popular culture . Benjamin Tallmadge appears in the video game Assassin ' s Creed III as head of the Culper Ring . In the game , he is the son of a former member of the Assassin Brotherhood and comes seeking the Brotherhood ' s aid in stopping Thomas Hickey from assassinating General Washington . The game ' s protagonist Connor follows Tallmadge to New York in order to foil the plot . Interestingly though he is present in the main story , he is not present in the Playstation 3 exclusive Benedict Arnold side missions which focus on Arnold being exposed as a traitor .