Confederate Confederate Tactics

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Confederates

Who

Rose O'Neal Greenhow sent coded reports about the Federal invasion from the Potomac to Jordan in July 1861. Dressed as a farm girl, Bettie Duvall, passed the Union sentinels at the Chain Bridge near Washington. Then she rode Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia to pass a message to Confederate officers. Major Myer completed the The Confederate Signal Corps in August 1862. The Confederate Signal Corps made an intelligence operation named the Secret Service Bureau. It was directed by William Norris, A former former Baltimore lawyer. Also He was a chief signal officer for the Confederacy. The Confederacy also used cavalrymen as spies. Famous ones were John Singleton Mosby, aka the “Gray Ghost,” he led guerrilla warfare in western …show more content…

Chicago detective Allan Pinkerton made the first Union espionage organization in 1861. John Letcher made a spy network in Washington in late April 1861. Baker, a spy, directed the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth later, the person who shot and killed Lincoln in April 1865.

Why

The generals gathered information on Confederate armies to know where to attack, where the Confederate armies were, where the Confederate armies would attack, and Confederate plans.

How

Generals hired spies to go undercover to find information. Generals also hired groups of spies to infiltrate and report on enemy activity. Baker rounded up Washingtonians suspected of helping the south. Cavalrymen went on their horses to find Confederate armies.

How did it help

Pinkerton’s intelligence reports miscalculated Confederate numbers as smaller than their actual strength, causing McClellan to make repeated calls for reinforcements, and causing him not to retreat. In that case it did not help. In another case one of Pinkerton’s men went undercover and figured out what a Confederate army was doing and helped the Union. Works Cited
"Civil War Spies." Civil War Academy.com, www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-spies.
"Civil War Spies." History Net,

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