On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington convened a Council of War of all the generals serving in the siege of Boston to interrogate Dr. Benjamin Church:

The General communicated to the Board a Discovery of a Correspondence carried on with the Enemy by Dr Church by Letter in Characters which was decyphered by the Revd Mr West & laid the sd Letters before the Members of this Council.

. . .

Dr Church being sent for & shewn the Letter in Characters was asked—Whether the sd Letter was written by him—To which he answered he believed it was.

He was then shewn the Explanation of sd Letter as decyphered—& asked whether it was a true one.

To which he answered in the Affirmative.

Dr Church then explained his Intentions in writing sd Letter as calculated to impress the Enemy with a strong Idea of our Strength & Situation in order to prevent an Attack at a Time when the Continental Army was in great Want of Ammunition & in Hopes of effecting some speedy Accommodation of the present Dispute & made solemn Asseverations of his Innocence.

The General then asked the Opinion of the Council severally whether it did not appear that Dr Church had carried on a criminal Correspondence with the Enemy—to which they unanimously answered in the Affirmative.

A Question was then proposed & discuss’d what were the proper Steps to be taken with Respect to him—& after examining the Regulations of the Continental Army & particularly the Articles 28 & 51—

It was determined from the Enormity of the Crime, & the very inadequate Punishment pointed out that it should be referr’d to the General Congress for their special Direction & that in the mean Time he be closely confined, & no Person visit him but by special Direction.

Source: “Council of War, 3–4 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0083. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 82–85.]