Enoch Crosby

Enoch Crosby was an American soldier and spy during the Revolutionary War. His life may have been the basis for the character Harvey Birch in James Fenimore Coopers novel The Spy.

Crosby was born in Harwich, Massachusetts on January 4, 1750, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Crosby. His family moved to what is now Putnam County, New York when Crosby was only an infant. The family was poor, and by 1766, Crosby set out from home to find a career. He became an apprentice shoemaker in Kent, New York, and continued in the apprenticeship until it was completed in 1771 on his 21st birthday. When the Revolutionary War began, he was in Danbury, Connecticut, and he immediately enlisted as a soldier.

Source: Wikipedia