Characters / Turn

This is the character sheet for Turn, in all its glory. Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Culper Ring

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Abraham Woodhull

Played by: Jamie Bell

Abe is the true face of the Revolutionary war — a man who is at war with himself, torn between his ideals and his desires. A young farmer with a wife he was arranged to marry and a one-year-old son he will sacrifice anything for, Abe is the everyman who wanted to keep his head down and plow his field. Instead, he gets pulled deeper into the conflict against his will. Caught between loyalty to his Tory judge father and respect for childhood friends who fight for the Patriot cause, Abe will risk everything to fight for what he believes in and to protect what he loves.

• Arranged Marriage: To Mary, who was originally intended for his older brother Thomas before he died.
• Babies Ever After: Abe's last scene with Mary shows her pregnant with their second child.
• Beneath Suspicion: Perhaps one of his greatest advantages, and he exploits it relentlessly. He uses it to butter up British officers who think he's just a regular cabbage farmer as well as the son of one of their favorite businessmen, to wheedling information out of a pair of Hessian mercenaries that they're going to be stationed in Trenton. That last one ring any bells?
• Byronic Hero: He's becoming this as the series goes on. From lying to his family to carrying on an affair to straight-up murdering a man who caught him as a spy, the Abraham Woodhull of the pilot would not even recognize what he's turned into.
• Consummate Liar: For a spy, a very positive trait. Abe is exceptional at convincing people of things he wants them to believe.
• The Everyman: His trade as a cabbage farmer makes him the perfect spy in the eyes of the rebels; there's no need to make up a back story when he's already living one.
• Good Parents: Most everything he does is for the sake of his son.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: The real Abraham Woodhull was very hesitant to get into the spy business, and his skittishness (as well as his frequent pleas for more money, much to the annoyance of George Washington and his war cabinet) was a source of much frustration for the Patriot army. Here, he goes from that to a fiercely determined patriot sympathizer.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: He also meddles in Anna and Hewlett's relationship largely because of his own personal feelings for Anna and their past relationship, the existence of which has not been proven in real life.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Really, Abe? Kissing a woman who is not your wife under the same roof where you house a Redcoat officer?
• My Greatest Failure: As a young man, Abraham placed a hat representing the ancient Roman symbol for freedom on a pole in the middle of a city that caused a massive riot. During the riots, his older brother was killed trying to keep the peace. Abe still clearly hasn't forgiven himself for this.
• Naïve Newcomer: Abe's first attempts at espionage are a little clumsy.
• Sex with the Ex: He cheats on his wife with Anna, a married woman whom he was previously engaged to.
• Shirtless Scene: When his barn is set on fire he runs outside wearing only his trousers.
• This Is Unforgivable!: While he was leaning towards the patriot side already, the sight of his father unearthing his brother's headstone to help defend the artillery in Setauket (after having told Abraham the night before that he would seek another solution) firmly pushed Abraham into spying for the Continentals. See My Greatest Failure as to why Abe would be so touchy about his brother's grave being defiled.
• Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: Manages to save a bunch of locals at a public trial (while standing in for his injured father) who were suspected of Patriot sympathies from execution by relying on unconventional methods and Obfuscating Stupidity. It's clear that the Reverend Tallmadge, one of the accused, appreciates this while Captain Simcoe does not.

Major Benjamin Tallmadge

Played by: Seth Numrich

A childhood friend of Abe’s, Ben is a Continental Dragoon in Washington’s army. A fearless soldier and man of action, Ben is a natural born leader and the rock that keeps Abe and his friends together. Freshly appointed to a new intelligence detail, he’s the direct line from General Washington to the nascent spy ring he oversees. He is a Yale-educated cavalryman who is a passionate believer in the Patriot cause — but even Ben’s unshakable resolve will be tested by the spy game.

• Fatal Flaw: His unshakable resolve in his gut feeling has gotten him in trouble more than a couple of times. While that has caused friction with his superiors several times (General Scott finds his methods unseemly, General Benedict Arnold doesn't see how he can be both a spy and a soldier, and even Washington finds his idealism somewhat naive), there are times where it works out in his favor.
• Honor Before Reason: A rather tragic example. In the second season, Tallmadge uncovers a plot to assassinate George Washington. However, when presented with a defecting Redcoat officer and a civilian, Washington dismisses Tallmadge's council that the civilian is telling the truth, and the Redcoat is lying because the "civilian" is in fact a deserting Continental soldier: Ben had argued that the deserter was not coming back out of vengeance, but of penance, but Washington could not see it in that way (Also, Washington was still sore about a prior incident that Ben had misinterpreted). This came back to bite them all hard: the Redcoat was actually a spy, who stole critical documents that revealed the existence of a spy ring in the American ranks and then killed Nathaniel Sackett.
  Tallmadge: (to Washington) If you had just let me do my job!
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He has a number of romantic ideas that are a serious hindrance in the high-stake game of spycraft and politics he is engaged it. He sees George Washington as a honorable man and father figure who needs someone like Ben to protect him from enemies inside and outside the Continental Army. Ben believes that if he can expose the traitors, everyone would rally around Washington and the Revolution would be triumphant. What Ben completely misses is that Washington is actually a very shrewd politician who knows all about the threats to him. In the real world Ben's suggested course of action would create a massive schism in the revolutionary leadership which would doom their cause to failure. As Washington points out in an uncharacteristic outburst, he knows that his leadership is fractured and politicking but "the French ''cannot know it!''"
  • However, the romantic nature of what he needs to do seems to have been ground out of him, if the death of Nathaniel Sackett and his reaction is any indication.

Anna Strong

Played by: Heather Lind

Anna is a smart, headstrong woman who has been friends with Abe, Ben and Caleb since they were children. Three years ago, Anna was engaged to marry Abe until the engagement was broken off by their respective fathers: her father was a liberal Whig and Abe's a staunch Tory. As the British marched into town and drove her family out, Anna married Selah Strong, a known Whig, in the wake of her broken engagement. Since then, whispers have implicated Anna as a Patriot sympathizer. Despite being married to others, the connection between Abe and Anna remains strong and perilous circumstances of the war draw them closer together.

• Babies Ever After: With Selah. The real Anna and Selah had seven children, five of which lived to adulthood.
• Becoming the Mask: Anna befriends Hewlett in season two to make sure nobody suspects the Culper Ring's activities. She winds up falling in love with him and, when Abe reveals his plan to kill Hewlett, gives up almost everything she has in order to save his life.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: When Abe reveals that he's still planning on murdering Hewlett even after Hewlett promises to allow Abe and his family to safely cross over to American lines, Anna uses Richard's objection at their wedding that her divorce papers were forged to humiliate Hewlett and force him to resign his commission and return to Scotland. She breaks his heart again in Rivington's when she tells him that she's a spy for the Americans.
• Cannot Spit It Out: When Hewlett asks Anna if she ever loved him, all she can do is look on in silence. She later reveals to Abigail that she did genuinely develop feelings for Hewlett.
• Deadpan Snarker
  Caleb: I did screw a well-read woman in New Haven.
  Anna: So a woman's place appears to be suffering under your bulk when they’re not improving your English?
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Anna is upset when the British officers seize her tavern and free her slaves, arguing with Major Hewlett that many of them wouldn't know how to "survive on their own." While the writers could have easily made her more "progressive", this attitude is fairly realistic for the time-period.
• Femme Fatale Spy: Anna successfully uses her feminine wiles to aid in her spying.
• Love Across Battle Lines: With Hewlett.
• Team Mom: Has no qualms about telling off any of the boys in the group.
• Stalker with a Crush: Simcoe is this for her, to a really uncomfortable degree.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Once she leaves Setauket and joins Washington's forces, she's intensely frustrated at not being able to take part in any more spying missions and instead being delegated to the status of 'camp follower', since the Continental army of course doesn't enlist women. Ben's efforts to appease her just make things worse, as he makes it abundantly clear he doesn't believe women can do the work of men.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: A lot of this between her and Abe, as they were once betrothed. They eventually act on it towards the end of season one.

Caleb Brewster

Played by: Daniel Henshall

In modern times, Caleb would be a member of Seal Team Six: the best of the best. Constantly at risk as a courier, he’s a man who relishes action and close scrapes. Bored with his childhood farm life in Setauket, Caleb jumped at the chance to see the world. At nineteen, he signed on to a whaleboat crew headed for Greenland where he braved icy waters and treacherous conditions in the hunt for sperm whales. Always the thrill-seeker, he’s faced down Mother Nature in all her glory and fury. As a result, the British do not intimidate him. Little does.

• The Big Guy: The American equivalent of the Queen's Rangers. If you need something to get done, he will get it done, no matter how dangerous it is.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first we see of him is when he springs out of hiding to ambush Abe as he's smuggling goods. He's adept at concealing himself, friendly and pleasant as soon as he's figured out it's just his friend, and he gets Abe to think that he's just a run-of-the-mill smuggler, instead of a 1700s equivalent of a black ops agent.
  • There's also a particularly great moment as he escapes a harbor after Abe has passed him crucial information: while British officers are firing out onto the lake and just missing his little boat, Caleb uncorks a rum bottle and starts singing "Ladies of Spain."
• She Cleans Up Nicely: At one point he has to infiltrate New York to try and rescue Abe, so he dresses up as a British officer and shaves his beard. The result is rather dashing.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Caleb has a bit of a Heroic BSoD after his capture and torture by Simcoe at the start of season 4. Fortunately, he gets better.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Physically fairly small, but is possibly the most Badass fighter on the Americans' side.

Robert Townshend

Played by: Nick Westrate

Townsend, who runs a boarding house in York City which Abe stays at while spying, is initially extremely reluctant to join the Culper Ring, after being pestered by Abe and encouraged by his father. Once the terrible actions of the Queen's Rangers hit a little too close to home; however, he is spurred into action, quietly spying on the redcoats and Loyalists who frequent his boarding house, and eventually buys into an establishment much more popular with the British officers. By placing advertisements in the paper, he is able to alert the ring to new information, and is established as Culper Jr.

• Badass Pacifist: His Quaker background helps him in a number of ways, as even though his faith forbids the use of violence, he's not above tricking other people into thinking he'll disregard it. Case in point, he fools Rogers into emptying his own pistol while having him at (unloaded) gunpoint. Later on in the same episode, Townsend and his father are able to easily fend off a home invasion from Simcoe on account of Simcoe thinking they're not a threat.
• Beneath Suspicion: The British officers who frequent Rivington's Corner never even dream that the bland, unremarkable Quaker serving them food and drink is either listening in on their conversations, or sneaking peeks at the pre-prepared headlines upstairs.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Doesn't say much or draw much attention to himself, but is one of the best spies in the Ring.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: After the revelation of Abe and Caleb's manipulation comes out, Townsend refuses to have anything more to do with the Ring - but, come the season 3 finale and a Heel Realization after talking with a bitter turn-coat Arnold, he goes to Rivington and once more asks to buy an advertisement, willing to continue in espionage after all.
• It's Personal: He wanted nothing to do with the spy ring and planned to keep his head down during the war - but then the Queen's Rangers or actually Caleb and some mates, on Abe's advice beat up his father and burned down his stable...
• Not So Above It All: As a Quaker, he's opposed to violence - but when faced with Caleb, who roughed up his father as a part of Abe's plan to get him committed to the Culper Ring, he freely takes Caleb's offer to return the favour and punches him square in the nose.
• The Quiet One: His careful choice of words and calm, reserved attitude is what makes Andre trust him and Rivington believe he's just an unassuming, unexciting Quaker. In Real Life nobody knew who Samuel Culper, Jr. was until 1930, nearly 100 years after the real Robert's death.

Nathaniel Sackett

Played by: Stephen Root

A civilian member of the Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies (a proto-CIA), Sackett works alongside Ben Tallmadge in devising novel ways to obtain intelligence. He is as offbeat as his ideas, several of which are far ahead of their time, while others are completely harebrained. His intellect and creativity are prized by Washington, who secretly funds a workshop where Sackett contrives new gadgets for spycraft, a sort of 18th century version of Q’s laboratory from the James Bond movies.

• Death by Adaptation: In real life, Sackett lived until 1806, while here he is killed by a British spy in the second season.

Citizens of Setauket

Richard Woodhull

Played by: Kevin McNally

The local magistrate of Setauket, Richard is Abe’s father and protector and the moral center of their town. A long-time widower who lost his oldest son in the war, he is devoted to the only son he has left. Richard appears to be a die-hard Tory Loyalist, but in truth he believes it impossible for the rebellion to succeed against the might of the British Army. Like any good judge, he’s weighed the facts and wants to be on the right side when the war is over.

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: There are glimpses of this between the Judge and his son Abraham. Some of them might not be genuine, however, considering Abe is doing things to throw his father off his scent of being a Patriot spy (ie. re-entering law school)
  • The Season Three finale casts off any doubt that the judge really does care for his son
• Lawful Neutral: Strictly Type 1. Judge Woodhull believes wholly in the cause of the Crown…though that's probably because he has little reason to believe that the rebels are anything more than a leaderless mob. And to a man as obsessed with order as he is, this is anathema.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: It is heavily implied that, in the past, he was this for Abe. In fact, it is also heavily implied that Abe's reasons for becoming a Patriot spy is because of his frustration over never truly being able to please the man, as well as the fact that the two of them butt heads frequently.

Mary Woodhull

Played by: Meegan Warner

Young in features but middle-aged in temperament, Mary comes from a Tory family based out of Suffolk County. Originally, she was betrothed to marry Abe’s brother Thomas, but he died soon after their first and only meeting. A new arrangement was proposed by Richard Woodhull and after some careful coaxing, Abe married her in his brother’s stead. Her life revolves around Abe and their son, Thomas. She counts on Abe to provide for and protect them.

• Babies Ever After: Mary's final scene shows her pregnant with her and Abe's second child.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Abe confides in her that his father is planning to let the Brits use the tombstones of their dead as barriers, and asks her not to tell anyone. She almost immediately spills the beans to the town gossips in the very next scene.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's very wary whenever Anna's around, with good reason.
• Settle for Sibling: Was originally meant to marry Abe's brother Thomas.
• Took a Level in Badass: Season Three. "Well I do believe that's a head shot, Mrs. Woodhull". Even if it was only Simcoe's ear

Jordan/Akinbode

Played by: Aldis Hodge

He begins the series as a slave in Setauket, but seizes his chance at freedom and is recruited by Rogers into the Queen's Rangers.

• The Dragon: Becomes a rather neutral version of this for Simcoe when the latter takes over the Queen's Rangers.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Inverted. After he receives his freedom papers, he insists on being called Akinbode and not Jordan, his "slave name".
• Parental Substitute: He's very fatherly towards Cicero.
• Rule of Cool: Of all the African tribal and ethnic groups whose members ended up enslaved in the Americas, the warrior Maasai were among the least likely. However, there are few groups as recognizable to modern American audiences. And you can't argue with the lion-killing cool.
• Scary Black Man: Being tough, resourceful, and a good fighter got him noticed by Rogers

Abigail

Played by: Idara Victor

A single mother in service to Anna Strong, Abigail struggles to chart her own path between the opposing forces of the Spy Ring and the British military.

• Babies Ever After: Word of God says that Abigail safely made it to Nova Scotia, settled down with Akinbode and Cicero, and had a daughter with Akinbode.
• Bittersweet Ending: Abigail is captured by the Americans and sold into slavery in the finale. It's implied in Abe's letter that she eventually escaped and made it to freedom in Canada, and Word of God confirms this.
• Sassy Black Woman: Averted. Abigail is polite and quietly manipulative rather than sarcastic and snippy. Even when out of sight of whites, she remains dignified and controlled.
• Mama Bear: Will do anything to protect her son.
• Room Disservice: Her role in Major Andre's household.

British Armed Forces and Pro-British mercenaries

Major Edmund Hewlett

Played by: Burn Gorman

Commander of the garrison in Setauket, Hewlett is a proud man who believes in the superiority his social position affords him. While stationed in Long Island, he’s become friends with Judge Richard Woodhull and acts as a constant figure of law, order and authority in town. Stoked by pride and tweaked by paranoia, Hewlett is a man of flawed vision: often unable to see things happening right under his nose.

• Adorkable: Especially when he's showing off his new telescope.
• The Cynic: When he comes back in season four he's seemingly cast off all of his ideals of the order and nature of the universe and embraces greed, using his position as Head of Intelligence to run a money laundering operation for his own benefit. This is subverted when he refuses to murder Simcoe in cold blood in the penultimate episode.
• Happily Married: As revealed in the finale he marries Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel, the astronomer he admires most.
• Hidden Depths: When Hewlett's imprisoned and suffering from frostbite in some of his toes, he cuts them off. And when Simcoe tries to kill him under the guise of 'rescuing' him, he makes a very good attempt at gutting him like a fish, and manages to grab some clothes, evade the Rangers and escape altogether. Simcoe understandably believes Hewlett won't survive in the barren wilderness in the dead of winter, but he severely underestimates Hewlett's determination and resourcefulness in getting back to civilization.
• Horrible Judge of Character: It is established very early on that Major Hewlett is really not that good at determining peoples' true intentions. Case in point: He allows Captain Simcoe to poison his beloved horse right under his nose, he continually trusts Abraham Woodhull despite the latter being an adamant spy, and he is easily led to believe that there is a rebel conspiracy afoot in Setauket: in reality, it's just Captain Simcoe manipulating events to get rid of rebels without waiting for any excuse.
• Love Across Battle Lines: With Anna, though Hewlett doesn't know this until Anna tells him when they meet in Rivington's after their failed wedding.
• Put on a Bus: He leaves Setauket after his failed wedding to Anna in 3x04, and leaves the United States at the end of 3x08.
  • The Bus Came Back: Hewlett returns to the United States as the British Head of Intelligence in 4x05. Though he's doing it for his own selfish reasons.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Especially compared to Simcoe.
• Was It All a Lie?: How he views his failed relationship with Anna.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He seems to think that warfare is a gentleman's game, and is something that can be handled with courtesy and grace.

John Graves Simcoe

Played by: Samuel Roukin

John Graves Simcoe is a recently promoted soldier in His Majesty’s Army and serves under Major Hewlett’s command in Setauket. A born attack dog, he harbors an intense dislike for most colonists, especially Abe, and holds a deep, menacing infatuation with Anna. A skilled fighter and true believer in the British cause, Simcoe is as crafty as he is dangerous.

• Ax-Crazy: He massacres an entire camp of Revolutionary soldiers, and kills their leader by stabbing a bayonet into the man's throat.
• Black Comedy: Depends on your sense of humor, but why did he cut out the rebel leader's tongue and stab it onto an incriminating letter implicating Major Hewlett for the attack with a bayonet? "To put a finer point on it."
• Blood Knight: Simcoe really likes killing and hurting things. When he kills Caleb Brewster's uncle he roars like a deranged lion.
• Combat Pragmatist: In his duel with Abe for Anna's honor, he winks right before Abe fires. Underhanded? Absolutely. But Abe missed the shot, so what difference does it make?
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Has a high-pitched piping voice, to go along with being very tall and having a cold stare. The overall effect is unsettling.
• Dissonant Serenity: Captain Simcoe really should not be as calm about some of the horrible things that he witnesses or does during this show. See Trigger-Happy below: Simcoe did the deed the way one might swat a fly off of one's arm.
• The Dreaded: He serves as this to Abe, Anna, and now Major Hewlett over the course of the first two seasons. Abe had only agreed to give Caleb and Ben information in the pilot if they promised to kill Simcoe.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He remembers to thank his hosts for dinner even in the middle of a firefight. He's not a monster.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: See the Black Comedy example above.
• Evil Is Petty: If there is something that he can do to screw someone over (especially if they're in between him and his "beloved" Anna Strong), then rest assured he will take that opportunity.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Played straight in the pilot episode, but is completely inverted after that. Simcoe almost always speaks in an eerily high register, although he occasionally drops his voice down when he's being especially serious.
• Expy: His size, mannerisms, and good looks make him out to be one of these for the infamous British officer "Bloody" Banastre Tarleton. Amusingly, Simcoe and Tarleton both served together under General Cornwallis, though there is little evidence to suggest that the real Simcoe was anything like Tarleton.
• A Father to His Men: When Simcoe comes across a redcoat flogging one of his rangers, he knocks him to the ground and starts beating his face in with a pistol butt.
  • In the penultimate episode the doctor tells him to gather his loved ones and to make his last wishes known to them. He summons his men and tells them to head to the American lines and lie that they were forced to serve in the Queen's Rangers as captives so they won't be taken as prisoners of war.
• Flanderization: One could argue that his increasingly despicable nature as the show goes on is an example of this. We're approaching cartoonish levels of super villainy here.
• He's Back!: A rather villainous example. After being saved from paperwork monotony by Major John Andre to become the new leader of the Queen's Rangers, Simcoe rides back into Setauket to the visible displeasure of Major Hewlett and Anna.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: The real John Graves Simcoe was the opposite of his fictionalized counterpart.
• Might Makes Right: "Mercy is weakness. Power is strength."
• Pet the Dog: He presents freedom papers to Akinbode, so that the latter can choose of his own free will whether he wishes to be Simcoe's second-in-command of the Queen's Rangers. Probably a nod to the real life Simcoe, who was a fervent abolitionist.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: When he's not screaming in anger, Simcoe's voice is surprisingly high and mild.
• Start of Darkness: The fictional Simcoe's father was a kind (British) doctor in Calcutta, India, who was packed with sixty people in a small cell in the Black Hole of Calcutta. This persuaded Simcoe to reject kindness and goodness in favor of power and cruelty. (The real Simcoe was born in England, not India.)
• Took a Level in Kindness: After his near-death experiences at the hands of Caleb, Abe, and Hewlett, Simcoe changes his ways and eventually abolishes slavery in Canada.
• Trigger-Happy: Stabs a man in the neck the moment he gives himself away as a spy.
• Virtue Is Weakness: "Mercy is weakness. Power is strength."
• Villainous Crush: He really fancies Anna, and specifically requests to remain in Setauket (a post he otherwise despises) just because she's there.

Ensign Baker

Played by: Thomas Keegan

A young British officer quartered in the Woodhall home. Unfailingly polite and loyal to the Crown and his oath as an officer, he also idealizes the home life of the colonial civilians he finds himself among.

• Becoming the Mask: Averted. Bonds deeply with the Woodhalls, but never abandons his own loyalties.
• Hero of Another Story: Given his backstory and honorable nature. Too bad that isn't the story being told.
• Honor Before Reason: In the end, his loyalty to the king and Britain is absolute. It gets him killed when he refuses to let Abraham walk away when the latter promises to do so after being outed as a spy.
• No First Name: Always referred to as "Mr Baker" by civilians or by his rank by his fellow British militants.
• Running Gag: A rare dramatic example; Baker has a habit of walking in on conversations and situations in which he's unwanted.
  • It ends up getting him killed, when he walks in on Abe admitting to Mary that he is a Patriot spy.

John Andre

Played by: JJ Feild

André is the head of British Intelligence and bases his operations out of New York. Far more versed in counter espionage tactics than his counterpart, Ben Tallmadge, he is experienced and cunning in his ability to take down targets. Known for his keen eye for human weakness, André employs a variety of methods to turn sources and isn’t above using sex, money and the promise of power to get his man.

• The Chessmaster: In the fifth episode of the second season, without firing a gun, Andre got a spy into Washington's camp, stole critical documents that revealed the spy ring and the identity of "Samuel Culper" (Abe Woodhull), and orchestrated the death of Nathaniel Sackett.
• Evil Counterpart: the British counterpart to Benjamin Tallmadge.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In the show, Major Andre is a very sharp spymaster, and he is always portrayed as cool and cunning. In real life, John Andre was a charming fellow who wasn't very good at this spy stuff and his capture is what tipped off the Americans to the identity of their greatest turncoat: Benedict Arnold.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's handsome and he knows it, and often uses others' attraction to him as a tool. Truth in Television, as the real André was said to be quite charming, even amongst the Continentals.
• Shirtless Scene: Gets a couple.
• Tranquil Fury: He doesn't get angry very often, but when he does it's kind of terrifying. He even manages to briefly unnerve Simcoe when the latter kills a colonial pretending to be a British officer: it turns out that Andre already knew the kid was a spy, and had planned to turn him into a Double Reverse Quadruple Agent against the Colonials. But because Simcoe wasn't sharp enough to get that nuanced plan, now all of Andre's plans go to pot.
  • He's also pretty pissed at Peggy Shippen for how her father treated him like a piece of property to be appraised for her hand in marriage, which was literally the last thing he'd been going for…at first.
• Wicked Cultured: He does so love the theatre.

Robert Rogers

Played by: Angus Macfadyen

The mercenary leader of the Queen’s Rangers, Rogers fought alongside Washington in the French and Indian War when they were both soldiers in the King’s militia. After the war, Rogers returned to England where he drank and gambled his way into debtors’ prison, losing his wife and respectability in the process. The seductive lure of British pounds and a thirst for battle brought him back to America on the eve of the Revolutionary War, where he was determined to wipe out Washington’s rebellion and make back his fortune. A wild card operating outside the system, Rogers is as revered as he is feared. His only loyalty: coin.

• A Father to His Men: He takes one of his rangers getting killed by Benjamin Tallmadge personally
• Anti-Villain: He's a Lovable Rogue leading a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits...for the glory of King George.
• Back for the Finale: He tries to convince Benedict Arnold to murder George III, then dies of alcoholism.
• Berserk Button: Benjamin Tallmadge, since Tallmadge killed one of his rangers while playing dead.
• Genius Bruiser: In addition to being a tough-as-nails fighter and survivalist, he's also brilliant and tenacious as both a tactician and an investigator.
• Lovable Rogue: To the British. Not so much for the rebels
• Ranger: He is pretty much the Trope Maker. He formed the first ranger units and many modern ranger units trace their origins to Roger's Rangers. The US Army Rangers still use his ranger manual as part of their training.
• Revenge Before Reason: He will go to great lengths to get revenge on people who earned his hate no matter how destructive and counterproductive it is.
• Wild Card: He is highly competent but also a loose cannon who easily makes enemies. He is a firm believer in Revenge Before Reason and will disobey orders in his quest for vengeance. It's dangerous to be his enemy but being his ally is not much safer.

Continental Army and Overseas military personnel allied with the American cause

George Washington

Played by: Ian Kahn

Leader of the Continental Army during the years of the Revolutionary War. He has no idea the Culper Ring would by itself not just save his army but ensure that the Patriot cause carries on.

• Cultured Warrior: Shows off his dancing abilities in Season 3.
• Not So Stoic: An outburst concerning how the French cannot know of his anxieties and the general tenuousness of the Patriot cause is a culmination of his own doubts. He also shows signs of this after Arnold's defection.

Major General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Played by: Brian Wiles (Seasons 2-4)

One of so many foreign born officers who responded to assist the fledging Continental Army, having arrived within a year of the declaration of national independence and after leaving in 1779, made a historic return in 1780. His presence in the Continental Army would be proof to the American people that they were never alone in the battles for freedom. He is one of so many who helped Washington during the years of the conflict.

• Blue Blood: Comes from a very impressive, old line of French aristocracy: one of his ancestors fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War.
• Cunning Linguist: In his role as translator between the French and American forces.
• Custom Uniform: Lafayette wears the Continental blue like his fellow officers and generals, but there are subtle signs that distinguish him from the likes of Ben and Hamilton: the buttons on his coat and waistcoat are noticeably finer and he is the only one among the Continentals to wear a gorget.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton

Played by: Sean Haggerty (Seasons 3-4)

The aide-de-camp of General Washington and his personal representative, he assists in so many high level responbilities for the Continental Army.

• Officer and a Gentleman: In manner, although not actually a gentleman by birth.

General Charles Scott

Played by: Michael Gaston

• Put on a Bus: Assigned to the war front in 1x06.