Espionage in the American Civil War
Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs, NC
Term Paper
INTELLIGENCE IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND THE EFFECTS OF THE ESPIONAGE SYSTEM ON THE WAR
Lauren E. Caulder
HIS 318-C
Fall 2011
Espionage at the commencement of the American Civil War was not an organized system; however the war necessitated the development of more structured intelligence systems for both the Union and the Confederacy. By the middle of the war the dimensions of the espionage system had augmented significantly. Thus espionage came to play a critically important role that affected general’s decisions in both the North and the South, ultimately affecting the outcome of the Civil War as a whole. Throughout this research the development of intelligence organizations, the role of individual spies, Union espionage successes and failures and Confederate espionage successes and failures will be examined. It is important to understand that there is not enough recorded evidence to prove that intelligence in the American Civil War had an extreme impact on the outcome of the war. Nevertheless, as studied in the latter part of this research, the work of espionage operatives certainly did prove to be imperative to the decisions of generals in individual battles. The course that these battles took, often due to intelligence information, was what would eventually impact the course of the war. Until 1884, the United States differed from most civilized nations in that it had no organized espionage agency. Any attempts at espionage development until this point can be described as “unorganized, event-driven, and sporadic at best.” Spying activities were implemented, in a limited extent, in the Revolutionary and Mexican Wars, but were virtually nonexistent from the end of the Mexican War until the Civil War began.
Initially, both the Yankees and the Rebels approached the task of acquiring intelligence in their own way. During this
Boiling Springs, NC
Term Paper
INTELLIGENCE IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND THE EFFECTS OF THE ESPIONAGE SYSTEM ON THE WAR
Lauren E. Caulder
HIS 318-C
Fall 2011
Espionage at the commencement of the American Civil War was not an organized system; however the war necessitated the development of more structured intelligence systems for both the Union and the Confederacy. By the middle of the war the dimensions of the espionage system had augmented significantly. Thus espionage came to play a critically important role that affected general’s decisions in both the North and the South, ultimately affecting the outcome of the Civil War as a whole. Throughout this research the development of intelligence organizations, the role of individual spies, Union espionage successes and failures and Confederate espionage successes and failures will be examined. It is important to understand that there is not enough recorded evidence to prove that intelligence in the American Civil War had an extreme impact on the outcome of the war. Nevertheless, as studied in the latter part of this research, the work of espionage operatives certainly did prove to be imperative to the decisions of generals in individual battles. The course that these battles took, often due to intelligence information, was what would eventually impact the course of the war. Until 1884, the United States differed from most civilized nations in that it had no organized espionage agency. Any attempts at espionage development until this point can be described as “unorganized, event-driven, and sporadic at best.” Spying activities were implemented, in a limited extent, in the Revolutionary and Mexican Wars, but were virtually nonexistent from the end of the Mexican War until the Civil War began.
Initially, both the Yankees and the Rebels approached the task of acquiring intelligence in their own way. During this
Bibliography: Primary Sources: Belle Boyd, “In Camp and Prison: 1865, Volume I” “www.docsouth.unc.edu/fmpn/boyd1/boyd1.html” (accessed October 26, 2011). Blackman, Ann. Wild Rose: Rose O’Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy. New York: Random House, Inc., 2005. Feis, William C. Grant’s Secret Service: The Intelligence War from Belmont to Appomattox. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. Fishel, Edwin C Jones, Terry L. The American Civil War. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2010. Markle, Donald E. Spies & Spymasters of the Civil War. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2004. Signal Corps Association, “Grant 's Intelligence Chiefs in West and East” “http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/spy/pages/grantintel.html” (accessed September 19, 2011). Signal Corps Association. “Espionage in the Civil War” “http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/spy/spy.html” (accessed September 19, 2011). Wagner, Heather. Spies in the Civil War. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Mark C. Hageman, Espionage in the Civil War, Signal Corps Association, http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/spy/spy.html (accessed September 11, 2011). [ 2 ]. Grenville M. Dodge and George H. Sharpe, Grant 's Intelligence Chiefs in West and East, Signal Corps Association, http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/spy/pages/grantintel.html (accessed October 25, 2011). [ 3 ]. Donald E. Markle, Spies & Spymasters of the Civil War (New York: Hippocrene Books, 2004), xv. [ 6 ]. Thomas Allen, Intelligence in the American Civil War (New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc., 2010), 1. [ 10 ]. Terry L. Jones, The American Civil War (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2010), 490. [ 12 ]. Ibid., 21; Edwin C. Fishel, The Secret War for the Union (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996), 3. [ 13 ]. Heather Wagner, Spies in the Civil War (New York: Chelsea House, 2009), 40. [ 23 ]. William C. Feis, Grant’s Secret Service: The Intelligence War from Belmont to Appomattox (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002), 268.