The Spy: a Tale of the Neutral Ground was James Fenimore Cooper's second novel, published in 1821. This was the earliest United States novel to win wide and permanent fame and may be said to have begun the type of romance which dominated U.S. fiction for 30 years. The action takes place during the American Revolution. Garvey Birch is a modest American who pretends to be a regular peddler, but in fact collecting military information for the Continental Army in territory controlled by British army.