Women as Spies in the Civil War - Essay Example

Introduction “The story of the Civil War will never be fully written if the achievements of women are left untold.” - Elizabeth Cady Stanton Although the role of espionage has been admitted to be a very important factor through the entire course of the American civil War in most historical records, it has been denied the deserving respect in terms of detailed narratives elaborating upon the actual significance of the roles played by spies. This holds true even more in case of women who served as undercover agents. This unavailability of detailed mention in records results primarily from the nature of the job itself. Often, records would be destroyed to protect the identities of the agents by themselves or by other officials. So, the historian addressing this issue would have to seek out often intentionally obscured and carefully camouflaged tracks by the agents themselves, officials of both the governments and last but not the least, time (Miller, 1995). Proper chronicling of Civil War intelligence activities is thus a strenuous challenge due to the absence of records, the absence of access to records, and also the dubiousness of the available records. The confederacy’s state secretary, Judah P. Benjamin burned all records related to intelligence activities that he could find when the news of the Federal troops entering Richmond came. On the other hand, till 1953, Intelligence records belonging to the Union were kept sealed in the National archives. While certain individuals involved directly in espionage in the period under question chose to forever erase their own tracks by destroying all related papers and documentation, others chose to publish their memoirs, often exaggerating their own roles and as a result the degree of veracity of these could never be ascertained. The lack of other sources that conferred with the events stated in these also contributed in these not being taken to be the most trustworthy of sources. The names of a lot of spies are secrets even now. For instance, until Historian James O. Hall published an article about Henry Thomas Harrison in 1986, neither his first name nor any details about his career in intelligence were known in spite of him being him being the confederate spy whose activities in gathering information led to the course of events that finally led to the famous battle of Gettysburg (United States official CIA publication, 2005). In what follows, we shall discuss the apparent roles that Women played in gathering intelligence for both the North and South as they appear in the records, journals, diaries and other published accounts of the events of the period bearing in mind the pre-mentioned restrictions that do place some constraints on to the veracity of some of primary narratives that we take as sources. Women and the War The social context of the Civil War era did not hold its views on women as do most modern societies in present day America. The Woman was in essence there to manage households, bear children, rear them and teach them. The bulk of the duty of running farms and managing plantations would also fall upon women in the rural communities. Etiquette demanded her to be escorted by a Gentleman anywhere outside the house (Moore, 1866). One should take note of the fact that these were times when women were denied the right to vote or sign contracts. But the outbreak of the war brought about a radical change in the everyday life of the Woman. With the Men all going off to do their parts in the battlefields, adaptation became crucial in the new hostile climate. The Women began to contribute in their own ways to the cause, in ways only they could. Women thus chose to enlist as nurses, laundresses, vivandieres, Sanitary and Christian Commission workers, writers for newspapers and spies (Moore, 1866). As spies, women had at least one particular advantage over men in that although It was decreed1 that the law of war would make no distinction based on the difference of sexes concerning the Spy, none of the sides has been recorded to have hanged a single female spy. The War and the Scope for Intelligence activities The American Civil War was an occasion that created the scope for and saw the application of widespread human intelligence operations. Primarily, this was due to the fact that an identical language was used through both camps thereby making surveillance and deciphering relatively easier and the shared cultural backgrounds of the two sides also contributed in the same direction. So, concealment of allegiances and passing undetected through well-known countryside was relatively an easy matter (Finley, 1995). However neither camp felt the need to operate under any centralized intelligence organization and both approached the process of gathering intelligence in different ways. The Confederacy’s Signal Corps primarily focused upon gathering information on communications and intercepts and maintained a covert agency called the Secret Service Bureau which was devoted to intelligence and counter-intelligence activities in the North. This Bureau even set up headquarters in Canada late into the war to facilitate covert missions in the Northern States. The Union’s Bureau of Military information on the other hand acted under specific Generals and not the Union army as a whole (CIA publication, 2005). Women spies for the Confederacy Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Belle Boyd are the most celebrated female confederate spies. In what follows we briefly go through their respective careers in espionage to highlight exactly how they helped the confederate cause. Rose O’Neal Greenhow (1817 – 1864): The most famous and probably one of the earliest espionage recruits for the South was the 44 year old widow, Maria Rosatta O'Neal, better known as Rose O’Neal Greenhow who lived in Washington, maintained an open pro-south stance, and had always belonged in very influential circles during the Buchanon Presidency often dining and partying with Washington’s elite (CIA publication, 2005). So, she was a lucrative potential recruit for Governor Letcher who was building up his spy network at that time and predictably he got Greenhow recruited. She had important friends in the political circles of Washington and through her life had cultivated ties with Generals, Senators and presidents and did not hesitate to use these connections for gathering intelligence (Ross, 1954). She successfully gathered, encoded and passed information to the confederacy. She sent critical information to Confederate General Beauregard on the 9th and 16th of July. Her messages contained crucial tactical information regarding the 1st Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) and the plans of Union General McDowell. She received invaluable help in this pursuit from certain Pro-South congressmen as well as some particular Union officers, not to mention her dentist Aaron Van Camp. General Beauregard has given her considerable credit for the triumphant outcome in the battle. On August 23, 1861, Greenhow was placed under house arrest by Allan Pinkerton and was moved to Old Capitol Prison on January 18, 1862 before finally being freed and sent to Richmond (Bakeless, 1970). She received a heroine’s welcome from Jefferson Davis and chose to enlist herself as a courier to Europe (Ross, 1954). During the period 1863 to 1864, she went on a diplomatic mission for the confederacy to France and Britain. She finally met her death in an unfortunate accident when her rowboat was capsized by a wave while she attempted to elude potential Union captors once more. Betty Duvall: One can not close a discussion on Greenhow’s role as a confederate spy without specifically mentioning Betty Duvall, her young friend who actually so very tactfully delivered the crucial message to General Beauregard. Dressed in a farm woman’s attire, she had driven a cart through unsuspecting Union sentinels on the chain bridge across the Potomac in Washington and then stopped at a Virginia safe house, mounted a horse and rode it from thereon to the outpost with the secret message from Greenhow hidden cleverly in her own hair which she had tied to be deceptively straight and simple. So, her role of delivering was as equally important as that of Greenhow’s in securing the information (CIA Publication 2005; Bakeless, 1970). Belle Boyd (1844 – 1900): Maria Isabella Boyd, better known as Belle Boyd, was the other lady who became famous as a confederate spy.(ref) Her primary base of operations was her uncle’s hotel in Front Royal in Virginia. She was primarily apt in sweet talking information out of soldiers and certain eavesdropping endeavours proved hugely fruitful as well. Although the veracity of her exploits as she herself speaks about them in her memoirs does appear to be dubious in certain instances where she strives to exaggerate her role, that she did smuggle very important intelligence to the confederacy is a verified truth (Miller, 1995). Her career as a spy began very early, when she was only 17 years of age, on the eventful evening of 4th of July, 1861 some drunken Union soldiers broke into her home and tried to hoist the Union flag on the roof of her house. When one of them insulted her mother she shot him. Another version however has it that she shot the Yankee soldier when he tried to tear down a confederacy flag she had on her bedroom wall (Miller, 1995). An enquiry followed and she was exculpated, but sentries always kept her house under watch and her activities also were kept under vigilant observation by officers. But, Boyd succeeded in sweet talking such an officer named Captain Daniel Kelly and charmed critical and confidential military information out of him. These she sent to confederacy officers through Eliza Hopewell, her trusted slave who made good use of an emptied watch case to carry these secret messages (Bakeless, 1970). Her friendships with men in uniform albeit was cause of many scandals, they also provided her with valuable information that she was able to pass on to confederate officials (Miller, 1995). Then in one certain evening of May 1862, Belle succeeded in eavesdropping upon the conversation of Union General James Shields and his deputies who had gathered in the parlour of the local hotel thereby learning that General Shields was to move eastward according to orders causing a significant decline in the Union Army's strength at Front Royal. Belle reported this to the confederate Colonel Turner Ashby that night, riding through Union lines using false papers to deceive the union guards. Belle returned to town having succeeded in her mission. When the confederates came to take Fort Royal on the 23rd of May under General Jackson, Belle braved enemy fire and ran through to inform the General about the smallness of the Yankee force and advise him to charge right through. Jackson did exactly that and later expressed his gratitude to her in a note lauding her immense service for her country. Belle received the Southern Cross of Honour as well as honorary captain and aide-de-camp positions from General Jackson (Miller, 1995). Women spies for the Union: Among the Ladies famous as spies for the Union, the most mentionable and the most unforgettable roles were played by Elizabeth Van Lew, Pauline Cushman, Kate Warne and Hattie Lawton. Elizabeth Van Lew (1818 – 1900): “Crazy bet” or Elizabeth Van Lew, renowned as one of the greatest female spies of all time (Loewen, 1999) initially carried out espionage activities form her home in Richmond for the Union. With the opening of Libby prison in her hometown, she managed to acquire permission to supply food clothes and other necessities to the union-soldier-prisoners. She also aided these prisoners in their escape attempts. She succeeded in passing on information about confederate troop density and movements that these prisoners gave her to the Union army officers (Markle, 1994). Van Lew also masterminded a 12 member spy network during the war in which she employed war and navy department clerks of the confederacy as well as a Mayoral candidate of Richmond (Markle, 1994). She had Mary Bowser, a slave she had previously freed, employed by the confederate first lady Varina Davis thereby allowing her to gather intelligence from within the confederacy white house itself. The role of Mary Bowser also has to be pointed out. Often the credit of gathering very important intelligence was her and she passed it on to Van Lew who then passed it through her spy networks to the officials. To facilitate her espionage activities, Van Lew sometimes adopted the guise of a lunatic, growing wild looking unkempt hair and conspicuously talking aloud to herself in public. The spy network she had built was so remarkably efficient and trustworthy that she could afford to send fresh flowers and a copy of the Richmond Newspaper on several occasions to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. She had been able to develop a simple yet very effective cipher system and often mad the use of hollow eggs to smuggle covert messages out of Richmond (Markle, 1994). Van Lew was certainly one of the most if not the most treasured female spy for the Union. The intelligence officer George Sharp credited Van Lew with “the greater portion of our intelligence in 1864-65.” After the war, on General Grant’s first visit to Richmond, he took tea with Van Lew and later provided her with the appointment in the post of postmaster of Richmond. Grant is said to have credited her with the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war (Markle, 1994) Pauline Cushman (1833 – 1893): The spy famous as Pauline Cushman was born as Harriet Wood in New Orleans, and later moved with her family to Michigan, before finally at the age of eighteen, she decided to go to New -York to become an actress where she changed her name to Pauline Cushman. She thereon went on to marry a musician Charles Dickinson and was to have two children with him. But in 1862 Charles joined the War for the Union and was killed shortly after. The beginning of her spy career came calling three months later when she was touring with a theatre group in Union territory and was offered money to toast Jefferson Davies after the performance (Moore, 1866). Although she was fired as a result, she made use of this by projecting a cordial stance with the rebels and befriending them all the time spying on them for the Union. She was able to appropriate and conceal certain tactical maps and other drawings but was finally caught, tried and sentenced to be hanged but was saved by the Union army who invaded the region she was being held captive and set her free. It is reported that she resumed spying in the south returning dressed as a man in uniform (Banks, 2001). She was awarded an honorary commission as major by President Lincoln himself which led to her being known as Miss Major Cushman (Christen, 2006). Harriet Tubman (1820 – 1913): Born as Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland, Harriet was the most famous African-American Woman to work as a spy for the Union She was probably the most active female that American history knows of in the Civil War (Rose, 1999). Not only did she work as a spy, she also did her part as an armed scout in the Civil war. She was born a slave and went through a very traumatic childhood having being tortured in the hands of many masters which left some deep dents in her psyche forever (Clinton, 2004). These experiences instilled in her a determination to permanently abolish the institution of slavery and most of her life was spent fighting against it. She escaped to Philadelphia in 1849 and then returned to Maryland to rescue enslaved family members. Gradually, group by group, she succeeded in guiding many slaves, some of whom were relatives to freedom. She used the underground railway and the dark of the night to her advantage. There were large rewards declared on her capture which she ignored and went on helping fugitive slaves escape and even sought them employment albeit a very strong fugitive slave law being passed (Clinton, 2004). In the Civil War she first worked as a cook for the Union army and later on was to adopt aptly into the roles of armed scouting and spying. Her knowledge of covert travel and acquired skills of subterfuge came in very handy during these years (Larson, 2004). Her group of scouts under the orders of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, successfully mapped the terrain and scouted on its dwellers. Colonel James Montgomery received crucial intelligence from her that played a critical role in the annexing of Jacksonville (Clinton, 2004).She became the first lady to assume leadership in an armed expedition (Larson, 2004). The famous Combahee river raid (2nd June, 1863) in which Tubman played a crucial guiding part saw more than seven hundred slaves being freed and many of these newly freed slaves joined the Union Army inspired due to her recruiting efforts (Clinton, 2004). Harriet Tubman was a lady famous and widely respected during her lifetime and became an icon after her death. She till date inspires African-Americans fighting for equality and social justice (Larson, 2004) Kate Warne (1833 – 1868): One of the most efficient spies of for the Union was Kate Warne, the first female detective. She started working as a detective for Allan Pinkerton in 1856 and was quite successful at it. She according to Pinkerton himself, believed women could be very useful as detectives as they would be "most useful in worming out secrets in many places which would be impossible for a male detective." (Pinkerton, 1883) Kate was one of five agents sent to Baltimore, as part of Pinkerton's investigation team on 3rd Feb, 1861 to look into the sudden surge of secessionist activity just a few months from the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. She played a key role in the foiling the infamous Baltimore assassination plot. Not only did she help to uncover details of the plot, but she also carried out most of the arrangements to smuggle Lincoln into Washington DC (Tidwell, Hall & Gaddy, 1988).Very early into the Civil War, Pinkerton wrote to Lincoln to offer services of his Detective Agency but before the reply could come Major General McClellan requested Pinkerton’s services in setting up a military intelligence service for his command (Williams, 1998). As a result, in late July, 1861 Pinkerton accompanied by Kate, and others set up a headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Through the War Kate used her social skills to penetrate into social gatherings to seek out often very important intelligence. Often she would pose as Pinkerton’s wife and both of them together would infiltrate social circles to carry out crucial intelligence gathering operations. Hattie Lawton: Another woman who deserves separate mention is Hattie Lawton. Not much detail about her life before and after the Civil War is known. Like Kate she was also a member of Pinkerton’s female detective squad. She posed as Timothy Webster’s (a member of Pinkerton Detective Agency) wife and as a couple they were sent to Richmond in 1862 to gather intelligence on confederate troop locations densities and movements. Unfortunately, Webster fell ill during this period and Lawton tended to him which led to a lapse in the flow of information. John Scobell, who was an African-America spy for the Union worked with Lawton during this time all the while posing as her servant (Quarles, 1953). Pryce Lewis and John Scully, two agents were sent by Pinkerton to Richmond to investigate the lag but these men were caught and later released but somehow from them the identity of Webster was extracted. Webster and Lawton both were caught, and Webster was hanged to death while Lawton was sentenced to serve one year in the Castle Thunder prison but got an early release in 1863 being exchanged for a Union soldier (Markle, 1994). Conclusion So we see that remarkable roles have been played by women as spies in the Civil War for both the confederacy as well as the Union. Some women like Sarah Emma Edmundson (1841 – 1898), the Canadian lady who fought for the Union, was a master of disguises and did some espionage work as well, or Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832 – 1919), the surgeon, alleged spy and the only Woman to have received the Medal of Honour, albeit deserving mention could not be focused upon due to the limit of the scope. But I believe those I have written about here and what I have written about them bear ample testimony to the critical importance of the many roles played by Women spies in the Civil War and ably justify the opening quote. References: Bakeless, J., (1970) Spies of the Confederacy , Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company Banks, L.W., (2001) Stalwart Women: Frontier Stories of Indomitable Spirit, Arizona Highways, (ISBN 0-916179-77-X) CIA official publication, (2005), Intelligence in the Civil War, Public Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC 20505 (703) 482-0623, ISBN No. 1-929667-12-4 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/index.html. Christen, W.,(2006) Pauline Cushman: Spy of the Cumberland, Edinborough Press, (ISBN 978-1-889020-11-2) Clinton, C., (2004). Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. New York,Little, Brown and Company. Finley, J.P., (1995) The Civil War, In Finley (ed) U.S Army Military Intelligence History: A Sourcebook, U.S. Army Intelligence Center & Fort Huachuca, Fort Hucachuca Fishel, E. C., (1996) The Secret War for The Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co Larson, K. C., (2004) Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York, Ballantine Books (ISBN 0-345-45627-0). Loewen, J. W., (1999) Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong New York, Touchstone Markle, D. E., (1994) Spies and Spyasters of the Civil War, New York, Hippocrene Massey, M. E., (1966) Risked Everything, Bonnet Brigades. New York, Alfred A. Knopf Miller, E (1995) Confederate Espionage, In Finley (Ed) U.S Army Military Intelligence History: A Sourcebook, U.S. Army Intelligence Center & Fort Huachuca, Fort Hucachuca Moore, F., (1866) Women of the War; their Heroism and Self-sacrifice, Chicago, S.S. Scranton & Co Pinkerton, A., (1883) The Spy of the Rebellion; being a true history of the spy system of the United States Army during the late rebellion. Revealing many secrets of the war hitherto not made public. Comp. from official reports prepared for President Lincoln, General McClellan and the provost-marshal-general, New York, G.W. Carleton & Co. Quarles, B., (1953) The Negro in the Civil War, Boston, Little, Brown. Rhoades, P. (August 2002). "The Women of Castle Thunder." The kudzu Monthly http://www.kudzumonthly.com/kudzu/aug02/CastleThunder.html Ross, I., (1954) Rebel Rose: Life of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, Confederate Spy, New York, Harper & Brothers Rose, P. K. (1999). Black Dispatches Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence During the Civil War. Washington D.C., Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA, http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS61145. Stanton, E. C. et al., (1881) The History of Woman Suffrage, Rochester, Susan B. Anthony, pp: 82-83. Tidwell, W. A., Hall, J. O. & Gaddy D.W., (1988) Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Univ. Press of Mississippi (ISBN 0878053484) Williams, D.R., (1998) Call in Pinkerton's: American Detectives at Work for Canada, Dundurn Press Ltd, (ISBN 1550023063) Read More