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…