Three Real Superheroes from the Revolutionary War.

So, this is a hypothetical conversation between me and you, the reader.

I tell you that “I am working on writing about a new superhero team, called the “Patriots” which include a masked vigilante. A female spy who identity is so secret that we won’t know who she is centuries later, and a super-genius who locked himself in a library and came out an expert in warfare.

You would of course remember that you owe me twenty bucks and pay me what you owe me, then you complement me on how awesome my new hairdo is, then you say. “Wow, so you doing fan fiction, with Batman, Black Widow and Doc Savage.”

I would explain. “No, these are real heroes of the American Revolution.”

You immediately say, “Tell me more.” Then pull out a couple of personal pan pizza’s as I tell you about them. (Hey it’s my fantasy conversation).

So let’s explore three real life superheroes, from the American Revolution.

Joyce Jr. Little is known about masked man of the Revolution, who went by the Nome duegerr of Joyce Junior. He claimed to be the leader of an organization called Boston’s Committee of Tar and Feathering, and said that he would slink around the dark streets of Boston looking for people who supported the Tories over the rebels and strike out from the darkness to bring fear to them.

His first writings were on January 17th 1774, threating bodily harm to those who supported the British Empire. But he threatened justice not just those who were against fledgling rebellion, but also those who attacked the innocent. Though he claimed not to have part of it, he praised the tar and feathering of a man who struck a young boy with his cane.

The truth was that more than likely Joyce Jr, only threaten people with handbills and newspaper notices, not in person, but a Batman like legend of him singly handedly taking on opponents in the street of Boston wearing a mask to protect his identity, arose. He was said to have been fearless, and taking own multiple foes calmly and with dignity. In my mind’s eye I see him dead panning quips “Taste my inalienable left hook” and “Let the bells of liberty ring in your ears.”

Though Joyce Jr, may not have ever made a physical appearance, he was described as a mask man, years and years before such prototype heroes as the Scarlet Pimpernel. At least one time he was supposed to have led a militia of 500, to drive out 5 Tories, from Boston. Though stories of him taking action are just that unsubstantiated stories, future first lady Abigail Adams, was known to tell them as truth.

More than likely Joyce JR’s, name came from George Joyce, who was a Parliamentary officer who captured King Charles. Who he was is still not clear, but most people think he John Winthrop Jr, the son of a Harvard dean and grandson of one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the closest thing you can con find to Bruce Wayne in the 18th Century.

Agent 355. She was a spy in the famous Revolutionary spy organization known as the Culper Ring. Her name isn’t just a random number, because using the Culper Ring’s cypher it translated into “Lady.” To this day we are not sure of her real identity. But a message directly to George Washington praised her being a highly valuable intelligence asset. Some people have thought that 355 was not one person, but any intelligence that came from a woman was automatically attributed to 355. However, if that is not true, and she was one agent, she must have been a master of spycraft to gain so much information it could be attributed to more than one person. What is known is that 355’s information was vital to exposing the treason of Benedict Arnold.

Her identity is still unknown. There is a debate about who she might have been. Some people feel that she was the common-law wife of one the Culper Ring’s top agent Robert Townsend, and that she was arrested and taken on to a British prison ship where she died giving birth to Robert’s son. However, it is important to note there is no official records of a woman giving birth on any of their prion ships. In the TV show Turn 355 is portrayed as a female ex-slave. In the comic book Y: The Last Man, a female spy uses the codename 355. The truth is no one knows who she was really. An me thinks that is the just the way 355 would want it.

Henry Knox. Unlike the other two I talk about here, we know a lot about Henry Knox, he was the first American Sectary of War, heck the place the US keeps its gold is named after the guy. What is not as well-known is his superpower. A ravenous reader he could instantly take what he read and adapt it to practical knowledge.

Knox by the age of nine had studied Latin and Greek, when his father died, and he had to leave school and get a job to support his family. Being a book lover, he got a job a clerk in a bookstore. Where the owner took pity on him and gave him access to all the books he wanted to read. During this time, he taught himself French and joined a street gang to learn how to defend himself with his fists. He was a witness to the Boston Massacre and tried to talk the British Soldiers back to their barracks before they opened fire on civilians.

Though he had some basic military training, which included accidently shooting off two of his fingers. His true military skills came form reading books and taking to solider. The British were aware of his abilities and attempted to recruit him on to their army, which he of course refused.

Knox established America’s First Artillery and Officer Training center. This is amazing consider his traditional military training was nominal compared to what he learned in books. That’s right his superpower was the ability to read a book and turn it in practical actions. Unlike say George Washington, Knox was a true tactical genius, and like all Colonial Army members he learned a lot on the job, but what got Knox his victories and allowed him to rise in the ranks was his ability to understand what he read in ways his contemporaries couldn’t. And that my friends, is a true superpower.