Civil War Intelligence

[whitworth]

How important was intelligence information in the Civil War? We all probably know the famous piece of non-intelligence information, the lateness of Lee learning the Union army had crossed the Potomac River.
But how much did the Army of the Potomac know about the Army of Northern Virginia and where they were in Pennsylvania?

One book I highly recommend? It changed my perspective on the Battle of Gettysburg? The book is, The Secret War for the Union. The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War. Edwin C. Fishel. Another is ...The War between the Spies. Alan Axelrod.

The Civil War was a modern war, unlike those of the past. Railroads affected logistics and the size of armies. The telegraph affected intelligence gathering and was a mighty tool of the Union army in Pennsylvania. The Signal department used telescopes and flags to quickly gather fact from line of sight.

Gettysburg was a modern battle, that armies did not fight twenty years earlier.

[samgrant]

I've just started Grant's Secret Service by William B. Feis.

It's focused on Grant's use of all sorts of sources of information, not strictly scouts and spies.

Very good, so far, and it has just about the best maps I have ever found in a non-topographically oriented CW book.

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Check out these CIA web pages about "Intelligence in the Civil War"

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications.../Civil_War.htm



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