Morton Pennypacker

Born in 1872, Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker was an American historian, writer, and collector of Long Island historical material. He devoted much of his work to the people, documents, and local traditions of Long Island and New York, building a reputation as a careful researcher with a strong interest in the region’s past.

He is most closely associated with General Washington’s Spies, a book about the Revolutionary War intelligence network now known as the Culper Ring. That study helped keep the story alive for later generations and remains the work he is best known for today.

Pennypacker also wrote other books on Long Island history and related subjects. He died in 1956, leaving behind a body of work shaped by archival digging, local knowledge, and a clear enthusiasm for the hidden corners of early American history.