Spies In The Civil War Essay

The Confederacy and the Union both impacted the Civil War with the use of spies for things like battles, trading information, keeping lines open for communication and supplies, and swaying important people in Washington and Richmond to be on their side. Spies in the civil war had complicated systems used to get information across state lines, not to mention often risked their lives daily to not get caught, as if they were, they would be charged with treason and put to death. They were the unknown heroes of the Civil War, mostly because it was unknown to the public just how much they accomplished until after the war was over. Overall they were important to the war and had a significant impact on large events and were crucial to the operations …show more content…
They had also set up a system called the Confederate Signal Corps. “John Letcher, a former congressman, used his knowledge of the city to set up a nascent spy network in the capital in late April 1861, after his state seceded but before it officially joined the Confederacy.” (History.com). There were two branches to the operation, The Secret Service Bureau and the Signal Bureau. The Signal Bureau allowed a large amount of information to flow to and from the Union and the Confederacy and made sure that there was an open line for communication and supplies to the south. The Secret Service Bureau monitored communication with agents that were traveling back and forth from the north and south and sending messages to Canada and Europe. These operations were vital to the success of confederate spies, because without an extensive network with thought out plans could easily spell disaster for the south. They used people like Rose O’Neal Greenhow, who was a pro-southern socialite, to make communications with people in the North and people in power. By utilizing people in higher positions, they were able to infiltrate and get information from some of the top people in Washington at the time, like Secretary of State