Spirit of 1776: Revolutionary Spycraft Family Workshop
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About
Revolutionary Spycraft Family Workshop
Saturday, December 5, 2026 | 11:00 AM–3:00 PM
Free with museum admission. Drop in and participate any time during the workshop window. This interactive program is for visitors of all ages.
The Spy Master will recruit and train spies, then give them hands-on exercises to practice their spycraft before they are sent into the British encampments to collect intelligence. Participants will encode and decode messages using codes and ciphers, exchange messages through a “dead drop,” and learn about famous spies who worked for George Washington and General Howe.
Founding fathers and generals relied on cryptography to change messages systematically and confuse anyone who intercepted them. Codes replace words with other words and require a codebook; ciphers use a rule to change individual letters or groups of letters. Participants will explore the difference between the two while learning about Revolutionary-era spycraft.