Confederate Secret Service

Confederate Secret Service is an umbrella term for a number of official and semi-official operations conducted by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

Overview

During the Civil War a number of secret operations sprung up, some at the direction of the government, some with its tacit approval, and some that were under only the most tenuous control, or even no control whatsoever. Many of these operations involved acts that were considered, by the Union, to go beyond the normal conduct of "civilized" warfare. From the Confederate's point of view, these were desparate measures necessary to compensate for the fact that in conventional warfare terms, they were outmanned, outsupplied and outgunned. By 1864 the Confederate Government was attempting to get control of the various operations that had sprung up, often with little success. In 1865, most of the official papers of the Secret Service were burned by Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin just before the Confederate Government evacuated Richmond, so the full story of Confederate secret operations may never be known.

Military Operations and Officially Sanctioned Secret Service Activities

Foreign Agents

Possibly the first operation to be referred to by the term "Secret Service" was the foreign mission undertaken by James D. Bulloch. In 1861 Bulloch traveled to Liverpool, England, and established a base of operations there. England was officially neutral in the conflict between North and South, but private and public sentiment favored the Confederacy. England was also willing to buy all the cotton that could be smuggled past the Union blockade, which provided the South with its only real source of hard currency. Bulloch established a relationship with the shipping firm of Fraser & Trenholm to buy and sell Confederate cotton; Fraser Trenholm became, in effect, the Confederacy's international bankers. Bulloch arranged for the construction and secret purchase of the commerce raider CSS Alabama as well as many of the blockade runners that acted as the Confederacy's commercial lifeline.

Espionage

The Confederacy benefitted from the services of a number of "traditional" spies including Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Belle Boyd, and Catherine Virginia Baxley.

See also

• American Civil War spies

External links

• Civil War Torpedoes

Sources

• Perry, Milton F. "Infernal Machines: The story of Confederate submarine and mine warfare." Louisiana State University Press, 1985.The
• Crowley, R.O. "Confederate Torpedo Service" in The Century / Volume 56, Issue 2, The Century Company, New York, June 1898.
• Bulloch, James D. "The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe; or, How the Confederate Cruisers Were Equipped." 1883.
• Tidwell, William A. "April '65." Kent State University Press, 1995.