Eventually in the summer of 1779, the anxiety and fear of being caught and punished got to Woodhull. In result to his skeptical mindset he resigned as the rings primary source in the court. The trustee to take his place was Robert Townsend, aka "Samuel Culper Jr." .
Townsend was a reporter for an American Newspaper and owned a small dry goods store in the heart of New York City. Townsend's dual careers were advantageous and beneficial to his spy activities. As a reporter he would attend social functions around the city, conversing with shippers, tavern keeper, and tory acquaintances.2 Not suspecting his true loyalties, Tories and British Officials gave Townsend information that was valuable to the Spy Ring and Washington. The dry goods store gave Townsend the opportunity to gain information regarding Tory and British supplies. It also acted as an underground transportation of service letters between the ring members. Members of the Culper Ring created elaborate schemes and arrangements in order to deliver information to Washington secretly. Townsend's occupations allowed him to be the perfect primary communication with Washington. As he gathered info, Austin Roe code name "Agent 724", acted as a courier in Setauket. He would travel to Manhattan with the excuse of purchasing supplies for his business. Every now and then Roe would visit Townsend at his dry goods store. During the visit, Roe would put in a "request" in writing from "John Bolton." Bolton was a code name for Major Tallmadge. Roe would receive his requested goods he was shopping for and then return back to his previous plans. Townsend would wait until no one was looking, creep out back, and sprint up to his small room that was close to the store. Townsend would then read and process what General Tallmadge wrote and reply. Roe would then arrive at Townsend's room in the middle of the night to pick up both of the valuable letters.