Spies in the Civil War

Rose O'Neal Greenhow	Rose was born in Montgomery County, Maryland in 1817. She was well-known in Washington D.C. She believed that the South was right in leaving or succeeding from the United States. She became a famous spy for the South during the Civil War. Two famous Confederate generals complimented her on her spying activities. General Pierre G.T. Beauregard was given a message by Rose that he believed lead to him winning the Battle of Bull Run. The South's President, Jefferson Davis, stated that she helped the South win the Battle of Manassas. Rose was put in jail by the Union for her spying. She first was confined to her home and then later she was put in the Old Capital Prison. Rose was a very good spy. She was even able to send messages to the Confederacy in the hair of a woman. When she was caught the second time and put in jail again, she was sent to the South. She died when trying to get away from a ship that was about to be captured by the Union. Her rowboat capsized and she drowned because she had gold on her. It was so heavy that she sunk.

Belle Boyd	Belle Boyd was another famous spy for the South. She was only 17 when she began spying. She was well-known to both the North and the South. She had grown up in the South and spied for the South by just listening to Northern soldiers and then telling Southern officers what she had heard. Belle Boyd lived until she was quite old and died in 1900.

Sarah Emma Edmonds	Sarah Emma Edmonds spied for the North. Once she dressed as a black slave and went into the South. She carried buckets of water around the camp of the Confederacy. She listened and kept notes in her head about what the Confederates were doing. She was told to stand guard at one point and that allowed her to go back and report to the Union soldiers what she had learned.

The Dabneys Spies for the North	The Dabneys were a black couple who worked as spies for the North. Mr. Dabney's wife lived in a cabin near the river. She worked for some of the southern officers as a laundress. She would send messages to her husband on the other side of the river where the Northern army was camped. The couple had a code that had to do with the way she hung the laundry. Their code helped the Northern officers know what the Southern officers were planning.

George Scott	"One of the first large-scale Civil War battles was the result of information provided by George Scott, a runaway slave. He furnished intelligence on Confederate fortifications and troop movements to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, commander of Fort Monroe located at the mouth of the James River on the tip of the Virginia peninsula. Shortly after the start of the war, Butler had issued orders that all "contraband" ³ arriving in Union lines be brought to his headquarters for debriefing. Scott had escaped from a plantation near Yorktown. While making his way toward Fort Monroe, he observed that Confederate forces had thrown up two fortifications between Yorktown and the fortress. Butler's officers were impressed with Scott's information but wanted to confirm it. Scott agreed to accompany a Union officer on several scouting trips behind Confederate lines to obtain more specific intelligence. On one of these missions, Scott barely missed being wounded by a Confederate picket; the bullet went through his jacket. Based on the intelligence gained from these missions, Butler determined that Confederate forces were planning an attack on Newport News, capture of which would isolate Fort Monroe from Union resupply. He ordered a preemptive attack on the Confederate position, ⁴ but the military operation was poorly conducted and ended in a Union defeat. Although the intelligence was solid, the military tactics were not. " This information came from the following resource http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/dispatches/dispatch.html