At that time, a French army under the command of Jean Baptiste de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, had landed at Newport, Rhode Island. Sir Henry Clinton learned of this force and ordered all his troops placed aboard ship. He intended to sail to Newport and defeat the French, then return to New York where he would leave only a skeleton defence force. Robert Townsend witnessed the troops being marched to the New York docks, along with enormous supplies for Sir Henry Clinton's campaign against the French. He quickly warned General George Washington who, in, turn, planted false information in the hands of a known Tory spy.
General George Washington created a specious battle order, which showed that he was about to attack New York City with 12,000 men. A copy of this order was then "discovered" by one of Sir Henry Clinton's spies who took it to the British commander. So alarmed at this impending attack, Sir Henry Clinton cancelled his plans to confront the French and busied himself with adding more fortifications to the city. Meanwhile, General George Washington met with the French army to form a formidable force that eventually overcame the British. The Culper ring went on working for the American cause until the war's end. When the great American general Benedict Arnold turned traitor, he fled to New York City where he was made a general in the British Army. He busied himself for some time in attempting to identity General George Washington’s spy ring in New York City. He failed miserably to learn anything about its spy chief. So well disguised were members of the Culpher Ring that their true identities were not unearthed until the twentieth century, more than a century after they had conducted their successful espionage Operations.
Despite many victories against the Americans, an army of little experience, few trained Generals, Officers and Men, a weak central authority unable to provide finance, inter colonial rivalries and the lack of any sea power, the British army under the leadership of Sir Henry Clinton failed to capitalise on these victories by completely destroying the American army or in fact destroy the American’s will to win and to gain independence from the British rule. Finally the British were trapped at Yorktown and as a result of the French blockade were unable to be reinforced, this action effectively ended the war. Though it has been suggested that the British had lost interest in America and were setting their sights on Europe and India.
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