"The Spy: a Tale of the Neutral Ground" is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper's, published in 1821. The action takes place during the American Revolution. The plot ranges back and forth over the neutral ground between the British and Continental armies. Harvey Birch, a peddler, has a meeting with a Mr. Harper at The Locusts, the country home of a British sympathizer located between the lines. The peddler comes under suspicion for being a British spy in consequence, but he is really a patriot, as Mr. Harper is George Washington in disguise, with whom Birch has other meetings in the course of the book. Birch's role is revealed only after falling in battle.