Real-life Jessica’s Agent who inspired female spy thriller
THERE was a secret agent with a three-digit code long, long before 007 would ever appear on the scene.
A mystery woman known only as Agent 355 was a spy for the Patriots during the American Revolution.
She worked undercover from 1778 to 1780 and her ID was even kept secret from first US President George Washington, then a general.
Now 355 is being feted again – as the inspiration for new Hollywood blockbuster The 355.
It is the fictional story of a group of females spies who prevent a terror group from starting World War III. It stars Jessica Chastain, who pitched the idea after being inspired by 355. She went on to produce the film alongside director Simon Kinberg and helped recruit Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz and Fan Bingbing.
Hailing the agent, Jessica tells the Sunday Mirror: “Her real name is unknown to this day.
“She’s only known as 355 in papers.
“And so women in espionage use 355 as a moniker, like a badge of honour, as a representation or symbol of women who work in the shadows, who are unsung heroes.
MOVED
“And I was really moved when I heard this story from a woman who works in espionage who told me about 355 and I said, ‘That has to be in our film’. Because it’s a way of honouring this woman who was never honoured.”
The question is, just who was Agent 355, the woman who risked her life as Patriots of the newly founded United States fought against British rule?
While her identity is unknown, some facts about her seem clear.
She was in the Culper Ring – a network of spies organised by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General Washington in 1778 during the British occupation of New York City.
Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend led the ring, using aliases “Samuel Culper Sr” and “Samuel Culper Jr”, while Tallmadge was referred to as “John Bolton”.
There is a significant reference to Agent 355 in a letter to Washington, with Woodhull calling her “one who hath been ever serviceable to this correspondence”.
It is believed she was likely recruited by Woodhull and went on to have “some degree of social prominence”.
She was likely living in New York at the time – and at some point had contact with British Major John
André and American military officer Benedict Arnold. André was hanged by the American Continental Army for being a spy and for assisting Arnold’s attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York, to the British – a traitorous act most likely uncovered by Agent 355.
There have been a string of names floated as to the possible identity of 355, including Woodhull’s neighbour Anna Strong.
She is said to have helped the Culper Ring with a simple code that involved sending messages by using laundry on her washing line in
Setauket, on Long Island. First, a black petticoat would raise the attention of Caleb Brewster – a Patriot who raided British shipments. He could see the signal from a boat offshore, while Culper Ring chief Woodhull could see it too from his nearby farm.
Strong would put up to six handkerchiefs on the washing line – the number identifying the cove where Brewster would then drop off supplies to Woodhull.
But historians disagree on whether Strong could have been 355. Authors Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger question geographical issues and point out she had 10 children, who would have been left parentless had she been arrested. So, who else is a contender?
One theory suggests it may have been Robert Townsend’s common
She’s known as Agent 355 ...women in espionage use it as a badge of honour
JESSICA CHASTAIN ON THE INSPIRATION FOR NEW FILM
law wife – as reports suggest that he was in love with Agent 355.
Other possible candidates include Sarah Horton Townsend – Townsend’s cousin – and Elizabeth Burgin, who were both active in supporting independence.
ARREST
Whoever it was, Agent 355 is thought to have played a major role in exposing Arnold as a defector to the Loyalists, and in the arrest of André.
She may have also been a member of a prominent Loyalist family, which would have put her within easy reach of British commanders.
Some historians claim 355 was arrested in 1780 and that she died on prison ship HMS Jersey, where she may have given birth to a boy named Robert Townsend Jr.
Expert Alexander Rose disagrees – insisting that “females were not kept aboard prison ships” and that “there’s no record whatsoever of a birth”.
Other theories include the possibility she was simply an unconnected woman who provided useful intelligence. The mystery has kept historians guessing for nigh on two-and-a-half centuries.
Actress Jessica, who played a CIA operative in 2012’s spy thriller Zero Dark Thirty, was certainly fascinated by tales of 355. She felt compelled to make an all-female spy film – a feeling bolstered when she attended the Cannes Film Festival.
Jessica, 44, says: “I was at Cannes and I felt a little disappointed – seeing all these posters of ensembles of men in the action genre but never women.
“So when I called the actresses, I said, ‘This is my idea, I’ve learned a lot about women in espionage on
Zero Dark Thirty, what if we were to create a film that really celebrated women all over the world and celebrated them for their intellect and skills as their most valuable asset?
“And then also, what if we raised the money ourselves and we owned the film and we became the bosses?
I feel like that’s a political act in some way in making cinema. So that was my pitch and everyone that I reached out to said yes.”
The stars did their own fight scenes in the film, which is in cinemas now, and Diane Kruger even trained with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Jessica came a cropper, hitting her head on a marble floor in one exchange.
She says: “I heard a crack. My stunt double came up, put her hand here [on her head] and said, ‘I’m sorry but I have to put it back in.’ And I was ‘Put what back in? Oh my God, what’s hanging out of my head!’ But I guess it was like a haematoma, like the blood, and I remember thinking, like, ‘okay’.”
Jessica was taken to hospital but toughed it out and made a full recovery. Summoning the tenacity and spirit of 355 herself.