This Week in American History: The Plot Against Washington

As part of our celebration of America at 250, we’ve started a weekly newsletter by historian Jonathan Horn. Learn what happened this week in American history, why it matters, and what else you should see and read in The Free Press and beyond. This week, Jonathan looks at an infamous plot against George Washington and his army. To get this newsletter in your inbox every week, sign up here. —The Editors

No amount of document dumps will ever put to rest the conspiracy theories surrounding what happened in places such as Dallas, Texas, in November 1963 and Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. To that list can be added New York City in June 1776.

Two hundred fifty years ago this week, New York investigators uncovered a plot against George Washington and the Continental Army. At the center of the conspiracy were members of an elite unit that served as the American Revolution’s version of the Secret Service: Washington’s “life guard.”

The guard had formed only months earlier when Washington had issued orders for each of his regimental commanders to send him four of their best soldiers. From this group, he had chosen the members of a new unit charged with protecting himself and his most prized possession: the personal papers that he believed would determine his place in history. Although “sobriety, honesty, and good behavior” would serve as the baseline for candidates, Washington explained that it would take more to make the final cut: Members had to look the part. “The commander in chief. . . wishes them to be from five feet, eight inches high to five feet, ten inches,” read his orders. “And as there is nothing in his eyes more desirable than cleanliness in a soldier, he desires that particular attention may be made in the choice of such men as are neat and spruce.”