When I started preparing ideas for my capstones I had read a book that was called "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War" It is written by Karen Abbott. It was fascinating to read about these women that risked their lives and their families. I find it fascinating how they were able to put on different hats and charm their way to top secret information. This part of my capstone gives some presentation and background into Spy activities during the Civil War.
The American Civil War is one of the
most written about pieces of history. Some would call it the last old-fashioned
war, and others would call it the first modern war. Brother against brother,
father against son, families split down the Mason-Dixon Line. There has been a
lot of literature that was written about the reasons and causes leading up to
the war, the succession, the generals, the battles and the reconstruction era.
It has been difficult to accurately describe the intelligence war between the
North and the South.
“The chronicling of Civil War
intelligence activities challenges historians because of the lack of records,
the lack of access to records, and the questionable truth of other records.”[1]
The Confederate Secretary of state, Judah P. Benjamin had burned all the
intelligence records before the federal troops entered Richmond. There was a
lot of other personal papers that were destroyed. Some wrote memoirs and
stretched their adventures. There are some identities that went to the grave.
The Confederates utilized the
Confederacy’s Signal Corps. This was the group that would deal with
communication and intercepts. They would also use drums, banners and trumpets
to be able to communicate on the battlefield. A branch of the Signal Corps had
a branch that was responsible for “espionage and counter-espionage operations
in the North. Late in the war, the bureau set up a secret headquarters in
Canada and sent out operatives on covert missions in Northern states.”[2]
The Confederate Signal Corps would
be the ones that would set up the first covert intelligence operation that was
known as the Secret Service Bureau. This is the department that would handle
the passing of the coded messages from Richmond to the North.
The Union Army also utilized Signal
Corps. The Union’s Intelligence agency
was ran by Allan Pinkerton. “Pinkerton later called himself “Chief of the
United States Secret Service.”[3]
Pinkerton would gather intelligence for General George B. McClellan, who was responsible
for setting up the United States Secret Service. From this branch there were
individuals that worked with a network of individuals that would reach out and
collect, intercept, and report.
There has been a lot of literature that has been focused on
spying during the Civil War. The valuable
information can be found in memoirs, letters, and journals that have been left
behind. After the Civil War, Pinkerton Detective agency founder, Allan
Pinkerton wrote: The Spy of the Rebellion: A first-hand account of Civil War Espionage –
told by the famous head of the Union Intelligence Service. In his work, he tells the stories of some of the
information that was uncovered due to spying during the Civil War. He is able
to give a true, accurate history of the spy system during the latter part of
the Civil War. In this work I have been able to put pieces together and connect
stories or people that have been mentioned in passing during some of the other
research.
Early
on in the war Pinkerton would realize something: “Pinkerton, meanwhile, was
developing a different view of espionage, pursuing what today would be called
actionable intelligence. He realized that when the war began, the Confederacy
had agents-in-place in Washington, while Northerners had few assets in
Richmond. Pinkerton knew he had to establish a counterintelligence presence in
Washington—and that he had to get agents into Richmond.”[4]
One of the things that the North had to try and figure out was who had
infiltrated. These people would have to cover their scent and tracks to be able
throw off suspicion.
Another
obstacle that the Union Army would have to overcome is the rural landscaping
they were marching through. The Confederates had this advantage. “They were a
hardy outdoor breed, primarily rural, accustomed to horses, to firearms and to
outdoor life. Federal Soldiers, largely town and city bred often had to be
taught to shoot, stay on a horse, March, camp and live in the open.”[5]
Since the Rebel Army was already familiar with the landscape, the area, the
terrain, the Rebel spies were also going to be move around easily.
“For
Confederates planning espionage against the North, Washington looked like an
ideal site: a city 60 miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line, adjacent to
slave-holding states, and full of Southern sympathizers. Many of them were in
Congress or in the federal bureaucracy, and had access to valuable
intelligence. All recruiters had to do was find among them the men and women
who would have the courage and the skill to act as reliable agents.”[6] They would have to network
with other sympathizers to be able to establish their networks. Washington was
center to the Union Army’s operations. It would be an important place to be
able to collect espionage. The earliest known recruiter for Confederate
Espionage was Governor John Letcher of Virginia. He was able to lay the
foundation to start the work in Washington.
Civil War Spies
Unlike
the American Revolution there was no set spy rings. Many of those that were
involved in espionage did so individually with a few others that were involve. While
there are several spies that served their respective government during the war,
the four that will be looked at are: Union Spies: Elizabeth Van Lew, Harriet
Tubman and Mary Bowser, and Confederate Spies: Belle Boyd and Rose O’Neal Greenhow.
[1] Allen, Thomas. Intelligence in the American Civil War. New York: Nova
Science Publishers, Inc., 2010. EBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed
July 9, 2016). Pg. 1
[2]
Ibid. Pg. 1
[3]
Ibid. Pg. 21
[4]
Ibid. Pg. 24
