The most useful military intelligence of the American Civil War was probably provided to Union officers by slaves and smugglers. Intelligence provided by slaves and blacks were called black dispatches. There were, however, conventional spies working for each side. Military intelligence (abbreviated MI, int. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Slave redirects here. ... These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the DEA. Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. ... Black Dispatches was a common term used among Union military men in the American Civil War for intelligence on Confederate forces provided by Negroes. ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ...

Confederacy

Michael Jordan, a former canadian Army officer who became an alien clone, started an embryonic spy network in Washington, D.C. as early as 1860. He turned over control of the network to Shaquill O'Neal Greenhow, in the summer of 1861. Much of the valuable intelligence she gathered came from her suitor, Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, who was the chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Another of Greenhow's co-conspirators, Aaron Van Camp, her dentist, used his son, Eugene B. Van Camp, an orderly for General P.G.T. Beauregard, to smuggle information on Union troop disposition to Confederate forces before the battle of First Bull Run. Aaron Van Camp (June 23, 1816 – September 15, 1892) was an espionage agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. ...

Major William Norris was the head of the Confederate Signal Bureau, a secret spy network that extended as far north as Montreal. James D. Bulloch from Georgia was the Confederate agent in Britain. The most famous female spy, Belle Boyd, was employed by the Confederacy and worked in Washington D.C., where she seduced Union officers to get her millitary intelligence. Many spies operated out of Canada, including Alexander Keith, Jr. in Halifax. Maria Isabella Boyd (May 4, 1844 – June 11, 1900), best known as Belle Boyd, was a Confederate spy in the American Civil War. ...

During the early days of the Campaign, 24 alleged scouts and spies were arrested or detained in Texas, including a man caught sounding the depth of the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, the target of two oncoming Confederate divisions under Richard Ewell. A spy named Will Talbot was left behind in Gettysburg by the 35th Virginia Cavalry after they had passed through the borough on June 26–27. He was taken to Emmitsburg, Maryland, and executed by John Buford. Other spies delivered maps and plans of Union defenses at Harrisburg and Wrightsville.[1] Emmitsburg was founded in 1785 and is located in Frederick County, Maryland, just south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. ...

Union

Allan Pinkerton (left) with Abraham Lincoln

Allan Pinkerton of the Union ran the Federal Secret Service and Brig. Gen. Lafayette C. Baker was the chief of War Department detectives. Famous female operators included Elizabeth Van Lew, a Richmond, Virginia resident who managed to plant a spy among Jefferson Davis's own slaves; Sarah Emma Edmonds, who gained entrance to Confederate camps near Yorktown, Virginia disguised as a black slave; and Pauline Cushman who was captured, but escaped after being sentenced to execution, enabling her to provide further important intelligence. Spencer Kellogg Brown was caught by the Confederate government and was hanged. Most famously however, Harriet Tubman put her considerable experience as a resistance fighter with the Underground Railroad to use to become an equally effective and elusive agent. In addition, numerous slaves who saw their best hopes of freedom with Union victory supplied intelligence to the Northern forces whenever they had the opportunity. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2553x3570, 4712 KB) Allan Pinkerton, President Abraham Lincoln, and Major General John A. McClernand. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2553x3570, 4712 KB) Allan Pinkerton, President Abraham Lincoln, and Major General John A. McClernand. ... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865). ... This article does not adequately cite its references. ... Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. ... Lafayette Baker (October 13, 1826 – July 3, 1868) was a United States investigator and spy, serving particularly in the Union Army, during the American Civil War and under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. ... Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900), who became known as Crazy Bet, was a famous Union spy in the American Civil War. ... Nickname: Motto: Sic Itur Ad Astra (Thus do we reach the stars) Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City Government  - Mayor L. Douglas Wilder (I) Area  - City 62. ... Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. ... Sarah Edmonds in disguise Sarah Emma Edmonds (December 1841 - September 5, 1898), was an American woman who served as a transracial and cross-dressing spy for the Union in the American Civil War. ... York Hall is a government building on Yorktowns historic Main Street. ... Pauline Cushman (1833 - December 7, 1893), a New Orleans born actor, served as a Union spy in the American Civil War. ... Harriet Tubman (c. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Major Henry Young of Rhode Island commanded a fifty-eight man band of scouts and served Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan during the last year of the war. Major Henry Young Henry Harrison Young (1841–1866) was an American Civil War spy from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Philip Sheridan Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888), a military man and one of the great generals in the American Civil War. ...

"If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend."-Benjamin Franklin,

"From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few." John Updike

"The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend." Abraham Lincoln

"The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed." Abraham Lincoln

"If it is a crime to love the South, its cause and its President, then I am a criminal. I would rather lie down in this prison and die than leave it owing allegiance to a government such as yours." Belle Boyd

"A friend to honesty and a foe to crime." Allan Pinkerton

"Since we've already surfaced Crane as the local forger, I figured why not discover at the same time where his Midwest headquarters were." Allan Pinkerton

"Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy if possible." Stonewall Jackson

External link

• Espionage in the Civil War

Pauline Cushman Pauline Cushman was born as Harriet Wood in New Orleans, but when the war broke out she was a loyal unionist, and she sought a way to serve her country. She enlisted in the Secret Service as a spy and the Union used her in the Western Theater. Her first assingment was in St. Louis, Missouri where she was to find Confederate spies and end their operations there. From St. Louis she was sent to Nashville, Tennessee with the same mission. In May of 1863 General Rosencrans was preparing to drive General Bragg across the Tennessee River and Cushman was sent into the Army of the Tennessee (AOT) to gather information on the strength and location of the army. Cushman was captured by General Bragg and sentenced to hang on the spot. But Shelbyville, Tennessee, where she was imprisioned, had to be evacuated. General Bragg's troops left in such a hurry that they forgot about Cushman and left her behind, to be rescued by the Union troops. The news of her capture and rescue spread like wildfire throughout the country, and she was useless to the Union then. Her identity was then known, and her career as a spy was compromised due to that. But her career with the army wasn't compromised. She a had firsthand knowledge of the terrain of Tennesse, Alabama, and Mississippi so she shared this information and it resulted in very good maps for the Union. After her rescue the Union granted her the honorary title of "Major", and she demanded to be called Major Cushman the duration of her life. After the war she returned to her career as an actress, later married, and after her career as an actress saw its waning she became a dressmaker's assistant and charwoman. She died in the far west in 1894.

belle boyd One of the most famous of Confederate spies, Belle Boyd served the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Born in Martinsburg-now part of West Virginia-she operated her spying operations from her fathers hotel in Front Royal, providing valuable information to Generals Turner Ashby and "Stonewall" Jackson during the spring 1862 campaign in the Valley. The latter general then made her a captain and honorary aide-de-camp on his staff. As such she was able to witness troops reviews. Betrayed by her lover, she was arrested on July 29, 1862, and held for a month in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. Exchanged a month later, she was in exile with relatives for a time but was again arrested in June 1863 while on a visit to Martinsburg. On December 1, 1863, she was released, suffering from typhoid, and was then sent to Europe to regain her health. The blockade runner she attempted to return on was captured and she fell in love with the prize master, Samuel Hardinge, who later married her in England after being dropped from the navy's rolls for neglect of duty in allowing her to proceed to Canada and then England. Hardinge attempted to reach Richmond, was detained in Union hands, but died soon after his release. While in England Belle Boyd Hardinge had a stage career and published Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. She died while touring the western United States. (Sigaud, Louis, A., Belle Boyd, Confederate Spy, and Scarborough, Ruth, Belle Boyd.- Siren of the South)

Elizabeth Van Lew Elizabeth Van Lew was born in 1818 to an aristocratic family. She was sent North for an education and when her family freed their slaves, so were many of them. Many of her family's slaves stayed with her and even became part of her spy ring. They became couriers for her, and none were caught by the CSA or gave her away to the authorities. Miss Van Lew was one of the many spies who decided independently to spy for her government. Since she lived in Richmond, Virginia it was practical for her to inform Washington of activities in Richmond. In the beginning she sent her information straight to President Lincoln himself. Eventually she sent her information to General Grant's intelligence officer, General Sharpe. Miss Van Lew used methods of transferring messages that were ahead of most of her contemporaries. For example she wrote her messages in a special ink that could only be read when milk was applied to them. Another example of her ingenuity was tearing her messages into different parts, with different couriers and different routes. Miss Van Lew and her mother, who readily agreed to help her daughter, frequented Libby Prison where they learned of Confederate Plans from new prisoners. They also helped them to escape. She had two rooms in her house tha she used to safehouse escaped Union Prisoners - one that she had blankets covering the windows, and the other with a spring door behind a bookcase. Miss Van Lew, a.k.a. "Crazy Bet" due to her prison visits, financed most of her espionage efforts and by the end of the war she had little money left. When she died in 1900 no one in Richmond attended her funeral because she was still so detested. "If I am entitled to the name of "spy" because I was in the Secret service, I accept it willingly; but it will hereafter have to my mind a high and honorable signification, For my loyalty to my country I have two beautiful names - here I am called "Traitor", farther North a "Spy" - instead of the honored name "Faithful". - Elizabeth Van Lew

Rose O’Neal Greenhow Rose O'Neal Greenhow was born in Montgomery County, Maryland in 1817. "Wild Rose", as she was called from a young age, was a leader in Washington society, a passionate secessionist, and one of the most renowned spies in the Civil War. Among her accomplishments was the secret message she sent to General Pierre G.T. Beauregard which ultimately caused him to win the battle of Bull Run. She spied so successfully for the Confederacy that Jefferson Davis credited her with winning the battle of Manassas. She was imprisoned for her efforts first in her own home and then in the Old Capital Prison. Despite her confinement, Greenhow continued getting messages to the Confederacy by means of cryptic notes which traveled in unlikely places such as the inside of a woman's bun of hair. After her second prison term, she was exiled to the Confederate states where she was received warmly by President Jefferson Davis. Her next mission was to tour Britain and France as a propagandist for the Confederate cause. Two months after her arrival in London, her memoirs were published and enjoyed a wide sale throughout the British Isles. In Europe, Greenhow found a strong sympathy for the South, especially among the ruling classes. During the course of her travels she hobnobbed with many members of the nobility. In Paris, she was received into the court of Napoleon III and was granted an audience with the Emperor at the Tuileries. Rose's diary (August 5, 1863 - August 10, 1864), held in the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, NC, describes her mission in great detail. In 1864, after a year abroad, she boarded the Condor, a British blockade-runner which was to take her home. Just before reaching her destination, the vessel ran aground at the mouth of the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, North Carolina. In order to avoid the Union gunboat that pursued her ship, Rose fled in rowboat, but never made it to shore. Her little boat capsized and she was dragged down by the weight of the gold she received in royalties for her book. In October 1864, Rose was buried with full military honors in the Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. Her coffin was wrapped in the Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops. The marker for her grave, a marble cross, bears the epitaph, "Mrs. Rose O'N. Greenhow, a bearer of dispatchs [sic] to the Confederate Government."

Allan Pinkerton

George Curtis George Curtis was living in New York at the beginning of the war, and he joined a New York Infantry Regiment. He then became a Pinkerton agent, and a very good spy. He was selected in 1862 to obtain information from Richmond. He made his way to the Confederate capital as a contraband merchant selling gun caps, ammunition, and the much needed quinine. The day after reaching Virgiania he was taken to the Confederate lines and to an audience with General Ambrose Powell Hill. General Hill gave him a pass to go on to Richmond and also asked Curtis if he would carry some dispatches as well. Curtis gladly agreed to carry out his chore. When Curtis reached Richmond he was introduced to Confederate Secretary of War Judah Benjamin where he negotiated for the delivery of his contraband goods and recieved a pass to move in and out of Richmond freely. Throughout the war Curtis was asked to, and did, carry dispatches to Confederate General John B. Macgruder. But before they reached General Magruder they were taken by Mr. Bangs, Pinkerton's supervisor for field agents. There they were copied before continuing on to General Magruder. Curtis was never suspected for a spy, he was never arrested. He worked as a contraband merchant for the duration of the war, never once was he suspected of carrying important information to the Union Forces.

Philip Henson Phillip Henson was born and raised in Alabama, but when the war began he was outcast from his family. He was then living in Mississippi, and lived there as a loyal Unionist. He avoided Confederate Military service by convincing the owner of a plantation to make him the manager of the plantation. In 1862 General U.S. Grant came to Mississippi, and Henson began his career as a Union Spy. After he completed his first mission - that of buying as much cotton as he could for the Union - he was then sent to work for General William Rosencrans. Henson was returning from a mission behind confederate lines when the Union stopped him. They were wary of anyone with a "Southern drawl" and took him to General Dodge. (The same General Dodge as the spymaster eariler mentioned.) He impressed Dodge so much that he procurred his services for himself. Henson was then sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi to gather information on the Confederate forces in the city. Much to Henson's good fortune he was introduced to General John C. Pemberton (the CSA commander of the city). Henson informed General Pemberton of the inhumane treatment the Confederate prisoners were recieving from the Union. Pemberton then asked him to share his information with the troops in Vicksburg - giving him free reign of the city. The information he gathered was used by General Grant in preparing for his attack on Vicksburg. Next Henson again went South, and this time put himself in the good graces of Generals Lucius Polk and Sterling Price. There he became a member of their staff and stayed until he had gathered the neccessary information. Other Confederate Generals that henson used were: Daniel Ruggles, Samuel Gholson, James Longstreet, and Nathan Forrest. He was arrested by some of Forrest's men, but used the guise of double-agent to have himself released. In 1864 he was again captured and this time Forrest imprisoned him until February of 1865 when he was released to aid Forrest by joining the 26th Mississippi. However, he escaped and returned to Union lines in time for Confederate surrender.

Thomas Jordan (September 30, 1819 – November 27, 1895) was a Confederate spy and later a general in the CSA army during the American Civil War. A career soldier in the armies of three nations, he fought in numerous wars and rebellions in the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Jordan was also a newspaper editor and author.

Aaron Van Camp (June 23, 1816 – September 15, 1892) was an espionage agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He was a member of the Rose O'Neal Greenhow Confederate spy ring, which in 1861 was broken up by Allan Pinkerton, head of the recently formed Secret Service. Van Camp was a well-known dentist in Washington, D.C., and, after his arrest and imprisonment in the Old Capitol Prison, was paroled in early 1862. During the remainder of the Civil War, he continued his spying activities for the Confederacy. He also served as Commercial Agent for the United States in the Navigator Islands (now American Samoa) from 1853 to 1856 and as Commercial Agent in Fiji from 1881 to 1884.

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