In 1781, the new United States was nearly bankrupt. As the American and French armies under Generals Washington and Rochambeau surrounded General Cornwallis and the British at Yorktown, James Lovell, Congressman, examined a captured, soiled letter.

The numbers in General Cornwallis’s ciphered message might hold the key to the defeat of the British. Expert in encryption, James Lovell knew the answer to British loss could lie in his hands.

Illustrated with fascinating images of cipher, Congress’s Cryptographer is the compelling story of James Lovell, America's first Foreign Affairs Secretary, during the tumultuous days of the Revolutionary War. James Lovell courageously joins Congress to help the country he loves, even as he battles his own demons, born of brutal treatment in British prisons.

Corresponding with diplomats in Europe, he is keenly aware of the vital nature of secure information transmission—and the insidious dangers posed by the many combatants that seek to pirate young America’s precious communications. It is no wonder that the long-time head of the National Security Agency called James Lovell, “the Revolution’s one-man National Security Agency.

” Truly, in this world a spy, a code, or a secret could change everything. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As Tim McGrath, author of James Monroe: A Life, concluded,“Lovell is one of the ‘forgotten founders,’ but his story reads like a colonial ‘Imitation Game.

’” The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press 2021), introduces readers to the courage of James Lovell, Boston schoolteacher and spy for the Americans. .