Spies of the Civil War
Even though the spy tactics used in the Civil War would be considered amateur by today's standards, the espionage and intelligence were certainly the most extreme that the still relatively young United States had ever experienced. There were many factors that allowed the massive amounts of spying to take place. One of the biggest factors was the United States' physical environment. Both sides displayed the "melting pot" theme of America. People from many different regions, races, and religions fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. In addition, there was little enforcement of the borders between North and South, so spies traveled practically at will.
Neither side in the war had an official military intelligence network in the Civil War; however, spying was still critical to militaristic operations on both sides of the conflict. The Confederacy set up a network in Washington, D.C., which had many sympathizers to the Southern cause. The Confederacy also had an intelligence agency called the Secret Service Bureau. The Union, meanwhile, relied on individual generals to gather intelligence for their own operations. In 1861, the Union's first spy organization was set up by Chicago detective Allan Pinkerton after being hired by General George B. McClellan.
Mary Walker (1832-1919) was the first woman surgeon in the Union army, and maybe in any army overall. Oftentimes, she would cross into enemy territory to care for injured citizens; because of this, she was controversially arrested as a spy. She was exchanged for a Confederate officer of similar rank, the first time a woman was traded equally for a man.
Both sides used written/memorized messages to transfer information across boundaries. Also, Union and Confederacy alike encrypted messages through cipher wheels and other sequential coding methods. The main form of communication was the telegraph, which were easy to be tapped into for spies to monitor and alter messages being sent. Hot air balloons were introduced, as well, which made observing enemy troops, relaying messages, and spotting artillery fire much easier. Many spies during the Civil War went unidentified due to poorly-kept records and spies operating under multiple aliases.
This is an example of a Civil War cipher disc. These were used to encrypt secret messages through alphanumeric sequence codes and were passed relatively easily, since travel was not strictly regulated.
Rebel spies were able to gain most of their information by acquiring Union newspapers, many of which were extremely careless about the military operations they revealed. They also had scouts and commanders in the field, who went around gathering intelligence from regular people, such as farmers, hunters, and housewives. The Union, on the other hand, got most of its intelligence through behind-the-scenes operations. Northern spymasters were better at their occupation than their Southern opposition, in part because even before the war had started, the Union had covertly identified Southern sympathizers in Washington, D.C. In addition, they were able to acquire valuable information from fugitive slaves who often knew about secret enemy positions.
For more great information about Union spy tactics, click the button.
For more great information about Union spy tactics, click the button.