During his term as the appointed Royal Governor of New York, English-born William Tryon lorded over his charges with a callous viciousness. His method of rule, often at the tip of a bayonet, was condemned by Patriot leaders in the New York capital as “the wicked arts and insidious and corrupt practices of William Tryon, Esq.”

An investigation by the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies, formed by the New York state legislature, determined Tryon was also actively recruiting spies.

As John Jay, the famed statesman who led the Committee, wrote, “Governor Tryon has been very mischievous: and we find our hands full in counteracting and suppressing the conspiracies formed by him and his adherents.”