Man of Mystery.

One of the most intriguing printers to come out of the Revolutionary era is James (Jemmy) Rivington. While Isaiah Thomas of the Massachusetts Spy stated that "few men, perhaps, were better qualified . . . to publish a newspaper," Ashbel Green described Rivington as "the greatest sycophant imaginable; very little under the influence of any principle but self-interest, yet of the most courteous manner to all." Moreover, his newspaper circulated some of the most vicious anti-Patriot propaganda of the war, yet there is reason to believe that Rivington was a spy in the pay of George Washington.

Origins.

The son of prominent London publisher and book dealer Charles Rivington, James was born around 1724. After his father's death in 1742 Rivington and his brother John operated the family business. In 1752 Rivington married his first wife, Elizabeth Minshull, and four years later became the partner of James...