Surveillance and Spies in the Civil War: Exposing Confederate Conspiracies in Americas Heartland [Paperback]

Surveillance and Spies in the Civil Warrepresents pathbreaking research on the rise of U.S. Army intelligence operations in the Midwest during the American Civil War and counters long-standing assumptions about Northern politics and society. At the beginning of the rebellion, state governors in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois cooperated with federal law enforcement officials in various attemptsall failedto investigate reports of secret groups and individuals who opposed the Union war effort. Starting in 1862, army commanders took it upon themselves to initiate investigations of antiwar sentiment in those states. By 1863, several of them had established intelligence operations staffed by hired civilian detectives and by soldiers detailed from their units to chase down deserters and draft dodgers, to maintain surveillance on suspected persons and groups, and to investigate organized resistance to the draft. By 1864, these spies had infiltrated secret organizations that, sometimes in collaboration with Confederate rebels, aimed to subvert the war effort. Stephen E. Towne is the first to thoroughly explore the role and impact of Union spies against Confederate plots in the North. This new analysis invites historians to delve more deeply into the fabric of the Northern wartime experience and reinterpret the period based on broader archival evidence.

Surveillance and Spies in the Civil Warrepresents pathbreaking research on the rise of U.S. Army intelligence operations in the Midwest during the American Civil War and counters long-standing assumptions about Northern politics and society.

“Built on impressive research, Stephen Towne’sSurveillance and Spies in the Civil Warreveals the very real danger posed by pro-Confederate Copperheads and other disloyal secret societies in the Old Northwest during the Civil War. In a fascinating and in-depth look at antiwar subversion in the Midwest, he painstakingly illustrates hl“+