The Importance Of Men And Women Spies During The American Civil War

Male and female spies were essential sources of information during the Civil War. The best spies were people you would never suspect. Spies were brave, faceless and they knew the environment very well. Their presence was incredibly excepted. Whether they dressed as men and joined the army, posed as mindless slaves, or just kept their ears opens in collective circles, spies provided necessary information. It was even a woman spy who provided Union battle plans to Confederate Army, which allowed them to win the First Battle of Manassass (First Bull Run). Throughout history, men have been spies and the American Civil War was no exception. The finest spies are people you would never suspect. Spencer Kellogg Brown, George Curtis and Philip

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

Each woman faced their own set of problems depending on their race, social class and gender. These same issues also allowed for them to excel as spies during the Civil War. Lincoln’s legacy is preserving the nation that his predecessors had created and maintained. The Confederacy was fighting to preserve the Southern way of life which depended upon slavery. The system of slavery was all that most of them knew and change can be frightening. In the end, the lack of industry was a major factor that killed the South’s possibility of victory. The South also was more conservative with new strategies and weaponry. This caused the South to fall behind in a period of immense technological development. Lincoln was praised for his new integration of the

Furthermore, some women enlisted in the armies disguised as males, others found they could contribute their service to the war through acting as scouts. For those women that enlisted, changing their dress was only a small fraction of the work required to blend in to their brigade. Hiding all feminine characteristics including the ways, in which they walked, talked, sat, and acted was necessary to avoid detection (Eggleston 2). An abundance of radical periodicals and writings intended for a female audience emerged at the beginning of the war (Endres 32). With ample encouragement women found it within their interests to take an active role in the fight. Some, including Elizabeth Van Lew, simply desired for the feuding between the regions to end and found espionage to be their contribution (Kane 235). In “Companions of Crisis: The Spy Memoir as a Social Document”, Curtis Carroll Davis depicts the female scouts perceiving their duty to their country to be through espionage. Surprisingly, men, including fathers and other patriarchal figures, actively sought the help of their female kin to play an active role in the war through espionage. For instance, the father of Antonia Ford encouraged his daughter to entertain and extract information from Union officers on behalf of the Confederate cause (Eggleston 97). The passion for liberty was undoubtedly just as

They organized Ladies’ aid societies to supply the Union troops with any of the necessities they

The Civil War was one of the darkest times in American History that lasted from 1861 to 1865. It was a war fought primarily over the contrasting beliefs between the southern states who were pro-slavery and the northern states who were anti-slavery. After the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, the southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. To this day, it is still unclear whether the southern states had any legal basis for seceding but the fact of the matter is the federal government did not have any power to prevent them at the time. The conflict during the Civil War was whether slavery was morally acceptable but the main reason for the war was states’ rights to own

Introduction:The Civil War started from 1861 to 1865 and it was fought for the long-standing controversy about slavery in the United States. The war concluded with Abraham Lincoln’s victory and the abolish of slaves. It is said that the Confederate states started the war by attacking the union soldiers at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

When he was still a candidate, he claimed that he was not to abolish slavery but also did not want slavery to expand throughout the nation. After Lincoln became the president, the South was extremely angry and seceded the U.S.. The South was called the Confederate States and the U.S was called the Union States during the time. The Civil War started with the Confederates’ attack on Fort Sumter on April 12 in 1861. Soldiers on both sides were fighting a fierce deadly war.

The United States during the Civil war was a divided nation and filled with gruesome fighting. It hit all parts of the country and brought the fighting right to the back yards of families. While the men of the nation fought the combat war, woman fought different wars in the shadows. Fighting split millions of families up, and it affected woman in multiple ways. Challenges differed for woman from North and South. While some woman’s homes were turned into hospitals, other woman had to learn how to tend to their plantations while their husbands were away fighting. Many women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war because in the 1860s, a woman fighting in the war was not allowed yet. Numerous enslaved

A slave, or so his masters thought named John Scobell was actually another important spy for the Union army. Everybody around Scobell believed him to be just a slave and thought nothing more of him. He cleaned and did all the duties a slave would do, there was nothing more to think of him. Confederate officers would leave important papers with him, converse about the Confederate troop plans in front of him or give up useful Confederate information without knowing they had given it up. Many Northern black men and women who had escaped their masters volunteered to pose as slaves for the Union. Another “slave” spy named Mary Bowser who had been born into slavery yet was freed at a young age and went to school was said to have run one of the war's most complicated spy rings. She was given a job as a Confederate White House house housekeeper and stole information from President

The Civil War lasted for four years, from 1861-1865. It was between the northern states and the southern states. The South was called the Confederate States of America and was led by President Jefferson Davis. The North was still the Union, and was led by president Abraham Lincoln. Slavery had been a historical problem before the war that could be linked to starting the war. In the eyes of some Southerners slavery was a necessary evil. The South found slavery highly profitable and knew their economy would collapse without

Spies, you may think that spies just dress up in all black and listen to other people's conversations and tell their bosses, but there is way more to it. In the Civil War, spies would work in the enemy's white house for example. Mary Bowser and her sister Elizabeth Van Lew were spies for the union. They would work in the confederate’s white house and while they would be cleaning, they would look through the documents and find out information. They would get this information to the North, using their friend who would work in the bakery and bring bread to the white house. Now you needed to have connections with people so you could travel the news. Just like Mary and Elizabeth had the bakery man, if you were a spy, you need someone that you could

Actions taken by Union spies had little impact on events during the Civil War. Shortly before the Civil War officially begun, a plan to assassinate the newly-elected President Lincoln was about to take place in Baltimore, Maryland. Luckily, due to information found out by Allan Pinkerton and spies from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, they were able to prevent the assassination by sneaking Lincoln out of Baltimore and to Washington D.C. (Floyd Jr., 9). Despite taking place before the war, it is considered the greatest achievement of Union spies of the Civil War era since they were able to prevent the death of the president. If Lincoln had died, it would have been a morale booster for the Confederacy and might have helped them later on in the war.

Throughout this research I have noticed that the most frequently talked about the subject concerning the civil war is mostly about the slaves, fighters in the war, and leaders of each opposition party and the military issues of the war. The group of people who have actually been excluded is the male citizens who refused to fight in the war in the southern states. The male citizens who refused in the war were mostly disabled ones. This was because the southern states had no military and they had to recruit soldiers immediately which included almost all the working and not disabled male citizens (slaves did not count). The women were not really included in the actual civil war but they fought the war in their own way which was fortunately recognized after the war. It was the first time in American history that women played a significant role in a war effort. Whether they were appreciated or not appreciated their opinions on the war still counted

The Civil War was fought between the union and confederate states over the ongoing issue of slavery. When the war first began in 1861, president Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to help quell the southern insurrection. The war lasted four years and ended when the confederate states and their leader Robert E. Lee surrender to