CSA Dept of Dirty Tricks

tulip · #1 01-31-2003, 06:40 PM

Part 1 - Biological Warfare

"About this time [1863-64], the Confederates undertook their most radical clandestine operation. It was a serious attempt at what we would now call biological warfare. Much of the operation is well documented because it became public knowledge before the end of the war, and British and American investigators and courts left records of their investigations.

The central figure . . . was Dr. Luke P. Blackburn of Woodford County, Kentucky. . ." (Come Retribution by Tidwell page 185).

Blackburn recruited Geofrey J. Hyams and met with him in Canada aboard the Alphia, a steamer out of Bermuda on July 12, 1864. Hyams job was to "unload several trunks from the Alphia and arrange totransship them to Washington, Norfolk and New Bern NC (under federal operation). . . The trunks were filled with clothing and bedding presumably infected with yellow fever. Dr. Blackburn wanted Hyams to take a special valise with ÔelegantÕ infected shirts in it as a present to President Lincoln, but this Hyams refused to do.

Hyams arranged to smuggle the infected trunks into Boston and had them shipped to Philadelphia where he collected them and . . . placed them in the hands of an auctioneer at the corner of Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. He was unable to deliver any of the material to Norfolk or New Bern because of military operations that prohibited civilian travel and arranged for a sutler going there to deliver the material intended for those areas. . .

Blackburn does not appear to have been a monster. He had a good reputation as a physician and after the war served as governor of Kentucky. His involvement in this yellow fever operation, however, is indicative of the intensity of hatred for the enemy that pervaded the Confederate government at this stage of the war. It also suggest that strong emotions may have prevented the Confederates from thinking as deeply as they might about the consequences of some of their operations." (ibid pgs 186-187)

unionblue · #2 01-31-2003, 11:21 PM

Connie, as a former Chemical Warfare student in the Army, this fascinates me! I had no idea that any attempt at bio-warfare was considered by either side in the Civil War! What is your source material?

Unionblue

tulip · #3 01-31-2003, 11:50 PM

Neil: The quotes came from Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and Assassination of Lincoln by William Tidwell. While Tidwell did the writing most of the research comes from James Hall who is considered the premiere expert on the assasination. While working for the government in Washington, Hall spent years accumulating documents on Booth and the conspirators and cross referencing his notes.

As the author stated the Blackburn episode was well known before the war ended. It was never much of a secret, but as with many of the South's unchivalrous actions, it was conveniently glossed over in the interest of post war reconcilliation.

The fact that Blackburn was unsuccessful due to his lack of knowledge on the transmission of yellow fever doesn't not weaken the fact that biological warfare was tried. So much for our romantic vision of the war as a chivalrous fight between officers and gentlemen.

As I said earlier, there were also attempts to poison the water supply in major urban areas as well as to bring down several cities in flames. I have to gather my notes on those two issues and will compile them by tomorrow.

When you think about what could have happened if any of these attempts had worked, makes Sherman look like a *****cat with a soft meow.

johan_steele · #4 02-01-2003, 08:37 PM

I had known of US Army attempts to infect Native Americans by giving out blankets that had prior been used by Cholera, Yellow Fever, Influenza etc infected individuals... In fact I read about it in a translation of a Soviet Army text detailing the history of Chemical/Biological Warfare. I'm going to see if my library can get Mr Tidwells book.

Connie, Thanks for piquing my interest... now I just have to finish reading EH Roades again and find some more time.

unionblue · #5 02-03-2003, 10:58 PM

Connie, I look forward to seeing your research on this subject. Thank you for your information.

Unionblue

tulip · #6 02-08-2003, 01:32 PM

"I had known of US Army attempts to infect Native Americans by giving out blankets that had prior been used by Cholera, Yellow Fever, Influenza etc infected individuals... In fact I read about it in a translation of a Soviet Army text detailing the history of Chemical/Biological Warfare."

Sean: The government poisoning American natives is a topic worth exploring, but Sean why not start a new thread and offer some evidence of this?

tulip · #7 02-09-2003, 11:48 AM

Part II Fire!!

New York in 1864 was already a leading world marketplace and its muscular trade was helping to strangle the Confederacy. Determined to cut off this economic sinew, CSA terrorists took aim with the weapon the 19th C feared most in an urban setting - fire! The Richmond Whighad been urging the burning of NYC in retaliation for Atlanta and the Shenandoah Valley for some time. "There is one efficient way, and only one that we know of to arrest and prevent this and every other sort of atrocity and that is to burn one of chief cities of the enemy." [10/15/64]

Fire and other methods of terrorism was also taking hold in the inner circles of the CSA government. While covert activities for winning a war was not Davis's preferred style, he and the Confederate government were desperate by the summer and fall of 1864. They needed to diffuse Northern resolve and ratchet up the price tag for Northern commitment to total war.

For some time, the Davis government had been bankrolling and directing operations in Toronto, Canada with operatives sent there to organize, plan and implement a series of covert operations directed at the Northern home front. New York City and Washington DC were prime targets for this subversive network.

Clement C. Clay and Jacob Thompson were placed in charge of the Canadian network and had a draft for one million in CSA gold along with a letter from Davis: "I hereby direct you to proceed at once to Canada, there to carry out such instructions as you have received from me verbally in such manner as shall seem most likely to be conducive to the furtherance of the interests of the Confederate States of America which have been entrusted to you." [Letter published in Canadian Historical Review 1921. Actual draft is in the archives.]

Jacob Thompson held a meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Toronto where he handed out assignments. Thomas Hines was given the task of torching Chicago. Dr. Blackburn who had failed at his biological warfare was told to burn Boston. The destruction of NYC was given to Col. Robert M. Martin and seven additional men.

Plans for NYC were elaborate and included taking over the city while police and firemen were busy fighting fires and panic in the streets. It was erroneously believed that Copperheads would rise up, liberate Confederate prisoners held in the city and then seize federal buildings. Originally set for November 8 to ruin the Federal election, Butler's arrival in the city required the arsonists to abort their attempt and reschedule for November 25, 1864 at 8 pm. Fires were to be set simultaneously in 19 city hotels including the: St. James, LaFarge House, Metropolitan, Astor House, Howard, Fifth Avenue, St. Nicholas, Tammany, Lovejoy’s, Belmont and the United States along with the Hudson River Dock.

"Greek Fire" was the weapon of choice. This liquid accelerant ignited when exposed to oxygen and was shipped to the arsonists in glass bottles from the Confederacy to a prearranged operative in the targeted cities.

Long after the war Thomas Headley, one of the arsonists described his assignment at the Astor. "After lighting the gas jet I hung the bedclothes loosely on the headboard and piled the chairs, drawers of the bureau and washstand on the bed. Then stuffed some newspapers about among the mass and poured a bottle of turpentine over it all . . . I opened a bottle [Greek fire] carefully and quickly spilled it on the pile of rubbish. It blazed up instantly and the whole bed seemed to be in flames before I could get out." Other fires were set along with an unscheduled target, P.T. Barnum's American Museum.

Fortunately, for the city of New York and its citizens, the arsonists were ill-prepared and did not understand fire. Hoping to conceal their work until too late to stop it, each had tightly sealed the rooms where they set the fires depriving the fire of needed oxygen.. In an era always worried about fire, a busy hotel had mechanisms in place for detecting and containing any combustion. In each case, the fire sputtered for lack of draft to carry oxygen and was quickly extinguished by hotel personnel, citizens and the NY fire department. For a variety of reasons and similar bungling, the assigned arsonists in Boston and Chicago also failed.

Just before his execution, Robert Cobb Kennedy who helped set the fire at Barnum's and other hotels explained that the idea of killing women and children had not been considered or pondered. They were simply operating on a narrow thought process driven by vengeance and desperation. "We only wanted to let the people of the North understand that there are two sides to this war, and that they can't be rolling in wealth and comfort while we at the South are bearing all the hardships and privations."

**Information taken from Terror: 1860s Style, N&S issue Vol 5, #4 by Edward Steers and Come Retribution by William A. Tidwell. {fully sourced and annotated)

Edward Steers is the author of Blood on the Moon and His Name is Still Mudd. Steers partners with James Hall who is considered the premiere expert on Lincoln’s assassination and the activities of the Confederate Secret Service. Steers, Hall and Tidwell have spent years pouring through original documents and newspaper articles to accumulate a mass of intelligence that leads to both informed speculation as well as irrefutable evidence.