The Secret War for the Union

The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War

Edwin C. Fishel

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780544388130
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

"A treasure trove for historians... A real addition to Civil War history" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review). At the end of the American Civil War, most of the intelligence records disappeared—remaining hidden for over a century. As a result, little has been understood about the role of espionage and other intelligence sources, from balloonists to signalmen with their telescopes. When, at the National Archives, Edwin C. Fishel discovered long-forgotten documents—the operational files of the Army of the Potomac's Bureau of Military Information—he had the makings of this, the first book to thoroughly and authentically examine the impact of intelligence on the Civil War, providing a new perspective on this period in history. Drawing on these papers as well as over a thousand pages of reports by General McClellan's intelligence chief, the detective Allan Pinkerton, and other information, he created an account of the Civil War that "breaks much new ground" ( The New York Times ). "The former chief intelligence reporter for the National Security Agency brings his professional expertise to bear in this detailed analysis, which makes a notable contribution to Civil War literature as the first major study to present the war's campaigns from an intelligence perspective. Focusing on intelligence work in the eastern theater, 1861–1863, Fishel plays down the role of individual agents like James Longstreet's famous 'scout, ' Henry Harrison, concentrating instead on the increasingly sophisticated development of intelligence systems by both sides.... Expertly written, organized and researched." — Publishers Weekly "Fundamentally changes our picture of the secret service in the Civil War." — The Washington Post

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedications
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Twenty Thousand Potential Spies
• First Bull Run
• “Known in Richmond in Twenty-Four Hours”
• The Phony War of 1861–62
• Mr. Pinkerton’s Unique Arithmetic
• “Outnumbered” on the Peninsula
• Hard Lessons from Professor Jackson
• Too Little and Too Soon
• All the Plans of the Rebels
• Luck Runs Out for Palmer and Stine
• The Blind Campaign of Fredericksburg
• A New Client for Attorney Sharpe
• Ten Days of Southern Hospitality
• Rebel Spies Are Now Second Best
• The Gray Fox Swallows the Bait
• Pinpoint Intelligence and Hairline Planning
• Illustrations
• Paralyzed by a Real Jackson and a Phantom Longstreet
• Lee’s Army Vanishes
• Pursuit
• Lost Intelligence, Lost Battle
• Joe Hooker’s Magnificent Error
• Reaping the Pennsylvania Harvest
• The Thirtieth of June
• Decision and Victory
• Epilogue
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4
• Appendix 5
• Appendix 6
• Appendix 7
• Appendix 8
• Comment on Sources
• List of Abbreviations and Short Titles
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Sources and Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author
• Footnotes