James Fenimore Cooper

I'm reading  Fenimore Cooper's The Spy which is based on the Culper Ring, the first espionage group;  it was created by George Washington.

I'm familiar with Mark Twain's article, published in The Atlantic I think when William Dean Howells was the editor, entitled "The Literary Offenses of James Fenimore Coper." As I slog through The Spy, I think Twain actually gave Cooper a pass. I feel like I'm pushing a snow plow.