Chloe+Tinagero-+Civil+War+Spies

=Soldiers in the Shadows = = //Spies in the Civil War// = toc

**Confederate Spies**
Although the Union and Confederate sides had many spies, the confederates had more structured systems in place. Several more of the Confederate spies were wealthy, and were able to finance several signal beauraus throughout the Northern and Southern territories. One of the most famous Confederate spies was Sam Davis, a soldier and scout during the Civil War. He is known as 'The Boy Hero of the Confederacy', because he chose to die for his army. Davis was captured by the Union army in Tennessee on November 20th, 1863. He was in possession of Union papers and soldier depositions at the time. They gave him the choice of divulging who supplied him with the papers and going free, or execution. He refused to answer any questions, and a week later, was hanged. His last words before his death were: //"I would rather die a thousand deaths than betray a friend or be false to my duty. I am ready."//

Union Spies
The Union spies vastly outnumbered the Confederate spies. 170,000 of these spies were black men, accounting for more than 10% of the Union army. One female black slave was placed inside the Confederate White House as a maid and communicated messages back to Union troops from those positions. Allan Pinkerton, the head of the Northern Secret Service Unit, was a famous Northern official and is believed to be responsible for the arrest of Confederate notable Rose O'Neal Greenhow. Sarah Emma Edmonds, also a famous Union nurse, disguised herself as a male soldier in the Confederate Army to spy for the Union. Union spies had more access to technological developments, which gave them a weaponry advantage. However, their battle plans were not as well executed as the Confederacy's, and this cost them in several of the war's major battles.

**Female Spies**
Several esteemed spies were men, it is true. But women proved to be some of the most useful weapons in the Civil War. Everyone from wives of wealthy plantation owners to poor black slave women served as spies in the war. Women's stereotypically 'weak' spirits and gentle social expectations proved to be advantageous in the Civil War. Because they were //ladies//, most women did not face the consequences that would be allotted to men in their position when they were caught. After all, a proper Southern Gentleman would never dare hurt a //lady//! Some of the more famous female spies are Belle Boyd, Rose O'Neal Greenhow, and Elizabeth Van Lew.

Belle Boyd was born into a wealthy virginian family, whose father served in the war. After shooting a drunken Union soldier at age 17, Boyd became a spy for the confederacy. Her contributions to the war include riding 15 miles to alert General Stonewall Jackson of the Union plan to attack Front Royal. When hearing that the Union attack was eminent, she ran onto the battlefield, dodging bullets, to alert the general of Union troop dispositions. Boyd was arrested over six times, and imprisoned once in Washington D.C. before being banished to the South. She proceeded to pursue an acting career, married twice, and raised a family before her premature death at 56.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow was one of the most influential spies in the war, passing such valuable information to the Confederate Army that she is believed to be responsible for General P.T. Beauregards' win at the Battle of Bull Run. She was so successful in her efforts as a spy for the Confederacy that Jefferson Davis credited her for assisting the army in winning the Battle of Manassas. As she placed herself at great risk during her spying excursions, she was arrested several times, both in her own home and in prisons. A wealthy aristocrat, she used her wealth to travel the world educating nations about the Confederate cause. On her trip home, the boat she was traveling on was pursued by Union war ships. In a desperate attempt to escape, she fled in a rowboat. Unfortunately, she capsized and was dragged down by the gold she received in payment for her book.

Elizabeth Van Lew was a shrewd Northern woman who used her gender to her advantage. When she carried baskets filled with food, medicine, and books to Union prisoners at a Confederate Camp, she flirted with the guards and pretended it was only for philanthropic purposes. In reality, she communicated messages to the prisoners inside the camp, and devised a communication method in which the prisoners would underline certain words and add 'margin notes' to the book as a code. She persuaded one of her former slaves to pose as a butler and travel to the White House, infiltrating President Jefferson Davis's home.

**Communication Methods**
Over the course of the Civil War, smugglers and slaves were often appointed as spies for the armies. Slaves were useful spies because they could absorb massive quantities of information, due to the fact that several whites at the time considered them dumb and incapable of perceiving information. Several plantation owners who were spies communicated messages through their slaves, attaching codes within their shoes and clothing. In one instance, messages were conveyed to slaves via laundry lines: The spy's wife would position a piece of clothing on the line to inform him of the whereabouts of the opposing side! The several regional accents of the officers in the Civil War was used by spies also, as accent was crucial to fit in on the opposing side. Roleplay was also applied: Spies were sent as far as The White House to retain information and report back to their sides. Spies also used newspapers to communicate messages to their side by printing codes or misleading messages. These messages could be obtained by reading the other territories' papers. A method used to interpret the several messages sent in code throughout the Civil War was called cryptography. A //cryptographer// was a device used to decode information sent by spies from one side to another. Cryptographers could be interpreted in several ways, but a common method was applying key letters from words in the coded message and matching them to letter on a cryptographer. Sounds simple? Imagine trying it when the coded message was written in another language!

**Ciphers**
Ciphers were among the most valued tools used by Civil War spies. They allowed the armies to send encrypted, or protected messages to their spies, and vice versa. The opposing side wasn’t able to read the secret messages because they were written in an encoded “language”. As the war progressed, the Union and Confederate army's messages became more complex, and as a result, more valuable to their respective sides. To combat this, new messages were further encrypted by adding terms such as “NULL” - usually a “decline” or a simple “no”. Code names for operations and other special terms were also added. To further confuse the enemy, a larger and more complex route system of messages were established to ensure that they arrived at the chosen destination safely. The original Cipher used in the civil war was created by Anson Stager, first superintendent of The Western Union. His cipher was so widely used in the war that Abraham Lincoln, the president at the time, used it to learn about the state of the war. To the right is a picture of a type of Stage Cipher used by Confederate soldiers in the civil war.

The Influence Spies Left Behind
Though the Civil War only lasted for four years, the impact Civil War spies created on society since then is immeasurable. They risked their lives for the sake of their country and sides, often fighting against what they believed in. If men and women had not contributed to the Civil War by offering their services as spies, who knows what the outcome would have been. Whether delivering coded messages in the soles of their shoes, or running a newspaper that printed spy messages, spies all contributed something valuable to the war effort and should all be celebrated.

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