Allan Pinkerton's Black Dispatches

Because black dispatches were able to gather valuable intelligence from their owners, the Union had a near constant source of information. During the civil war, African American’s who gathered information on the Confederates were called Black Dispatches. Black Dispatches varied from a free African American to a enslaved servant working in the house of wealthy planter. Since slavery was so common in the South, Black Dispatches were able to fulfill their duties unnoticed. The tasks of a Black Dispatch was to be placed into a desired location and gather significant information without being caught. Once the desired information was acquired, the dispatch would have to share the information with the north using several different techniques. Although
Allan Pinkerton was a well known detective who owned his very own Secret Service Bureau in Ohio. Once the Civil War had started, Allan had moved his bureau to the Washington to help the Union government and generals. One of the first tasks that the Agency took was intelligence gathering for General Mcclellan, the man responsible for the attack on Richmond. While gathering the intelligence requested by Mcclellan, the agency used several different methods which led to inaccurate information. One of the reason why the information was inaccurate is that Pinkerton relied on civilian accounts. The civilians often had inaccurate estimates of troops, locations, and cannon placement. In addition to this, Pinkerton’s Agency did not have experienced scouts to confirm this information. Because the information was never analyzed and double checked before given to the General, the information could not be trusted. As a result, the attack on Richmond conducted by General Mcclellan failed miserably. Although The Agency was not successful in espionage, the secret service was highly skilled in counterespionage which resulted in the capture of many spies. The Agency’s most famous case was the capture and arrest of Rose Greenhow and her spy ring. While Greenhow was on house arrest, Pinkerton had constant surveillance on the house which led to many
After being arrested for spying on the enemy, the spy would be placed in a secure area or jail until the trial has taken place. Because espionage was not a civilian crime for both the Union and the Confederacy, all cases involving espionage would require a military tribunal. Since the US Army’s Court-Martials were given the power to sentence a spy to death, the enemy did the same. However, some spies were executed without trial due to the international military customs stating that Spies can be executed without trial. Once at the trail, the spy would be proven guilty or innocent. If the spy was found Guilty, he would be charged with Conspiracy to commit treason and sentenced to death by hanging. However, If you were proven innocent, you were charged as a prisoner of war and help in custody for exchange or release once the war was over. When exchanging prisoners, each side wanted one man for another causing many prisoners to be exchanged. One famous spies who got captured and punished was Timothy Webster. After John Scully revealed information about Webster, he was arrested and sentenced to death by a Virginia Court-Martial. Four days later, he was hanged in Camp Lee and was known as the first spy executed during the civil war. Many spies in the civil war tried several tactics to not get charged for espionage. One such tactic was to wear an outfit of a soldier. If you were arrested,