Spies in the Civil War

Spies In the Civil War

• Spies were vital to both sides in the Civil War.
• Reported the opposing side's strengths and their movements directly to commanders
• Most espionage seen in Civil War

By Alesandra Paluzzi

Harriet Tubman

Secret Line

• Spies were always undercover over the enemy lines.
• Spies would often present themselves to locals and military officers to obtain information from them and proceed on, blending in.
• It was easy for espionage to carry on because of the war's nature. However, it was harder for it to stop.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Confederate Spies

• Confederate Signal Corps also established the Secret Service Bureau, working with espionage and counter espionage in the North
• Off of this William Norris created the "Secret Line" used to communicate information annonomously through couriers across the Potomac and Rappahannock River
• Thomas Jordan and Rose O'Neal Greenhow's need to communicate updated reports caused the Secret Line to evolve into an actual system

• United States did not have an established security organization or a secret service
• Once spying became vital the South had many; some of them were put together by the government but not all.
• Southern espionage main focus was in Alexandria, Virginia but later on became Washington D.C., the US capital
• Spy networks were set up in Washington D.C.
• The spies for the Confederacy found and gave information to Confederate generals.
• Began winning many battles due to spying and realized it was a successful and important tactic.

The Union had many spies, more than the Confederacy had. Here are a few spies from the Union:

Pryce Lewis

Lafayette C. Baker

Charles C. Carpenter

George Curtis

Timothy Webster

Henry Young

Philip Henson

Hattie Lawton

Harriet Tubman

• Spies of both the Blue and the Gray were people of mixed occupations and backgrounds
• They ranged from shoe salesmen to young plantation owners, actresses to fuller housewives.

Blue and Grey Uniforms at Atlanta Historical Museum, Atalanta, GA

• The North did not have an official espionage before the war, but it was established during the war.
• The State Department supervised intelligence matters in the beginning, but then the War office looked over it.
• Generals took over the intelligence and it seemed the missions were being carried out for the Generals, not the Union Army as a whole
• The Union's espionage soon became better than the Confederacy.

• Women made up most of the spies in both the Union and the Confederacy. Although, there were many important men that also served as spies.
• One of the most famous spies for the Confederacy was Rose O' Neal.
• She passed a secret message to General P.G.T. Beauregard containing critical information about the military movements of the Union.
• Gave the plans of the Union General Irvin McDowell. This information helped win the First Battle of Bull Run.

Confederacy Espionage

JEB Stuart

Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow

Union Espionage

Union Spies

There were many spies for the South, some of them include.

Loretta Janeta Velasquez

Belle Boyd

James Dunwoody Bulloch

Richard Thomas

William Norris

Jean Guzman

Henry Thomas Harrison

• The punishment for getting caught as a spy during this time was set to be death.
• Punishments were lessened for women due to the fact most were mothers and gender in general
• One captured spy, Timothy Webster was hung twice because the rope broke

Civil War secret agent badges that the official government spies wore.

Inventions:

Hot Air Balloon- Union troops invented the hot air balloon tactic to spy on Confederate troops. Spied on them from 1000 feet up and could aim at the troops without being seen.

Telegraph- Used to communicate messages but the wires were often tapped into