Talk:Agent 355

Relevant resources

• National Women’s History MuseumS Philbrick(Talk) 17:11, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Information Literacy and Scholarly Discourse-2002

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 March 2024 and 30 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Njblasick (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Bdcallow, Vgreen22, Ughhwhatevertay.

— Assignment last updated by Bdcallow (talk) 15:37, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Contradictions in last paragraph of Biography

The last para. of Biography states that she was sent to a prison ship, where she may have had a baby.

However ... the para. then continues to state that another historian has stated that women were never sent to prison ships, and that there's no record of a baby.

If the first is correct, then the second account should be discarded or, alternatively, evidence should be provided to disprove it.

If the second is correct, similarly, evidence should be provided.

If NEITHER can be confirmed, then the paragraph needs to make plain that there are contradictory accounts. For example:

"According to some accounts, the then pregnant 355 was arrested in 1780 when Benedict Arnold defected to the Loyalists. She was imprisoned on HMS Jersey, a prison ship, where she may have given birth to a boy named Robert Townsend Jr. She later died on the prison ship.

However, Alexander Rose disagrees with this narrative, stating that "females were not kept aboard prison ships," and that "there's no record whatsoever of a birth."

Strengthening the idea that Agent 355 may have been Anna Strong is the fact that Anna's husband, Selah Strong, was imprisoned on Jersey and she was supposedly allowed to bring him food. Her presence on the ship may have led to the legend that Agent 355 was herself imprisoned there." Dferstat (talk) 03:17, 1 January 2026 (UTC)