C S Bell Union/Confederate Spy/Scout

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I came across this article:

About Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

It was in an article in the Public Ledger April 10, 1869 Memphis TN about a C S Bell who seems to be a counterspy. Seems to be primarily working for Union.

Does anyone know who C S Bell was? Sounds like he should have a book written about him. Did a quick Fold3 search and the name comes up associated with Subversion Cases, some in Virginia. Before I go much further, just wondering if someone has already done the legwork.

The article references him being sent to Sam Henderson's Scouts with a name Lt Charles Pierson. Was that an alias he used while working on Confederate side?

 

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I found him. Charles S Bell (1843-1879). He was born in New York which begs the question of why he was so successful speaking southern. He died in Ohio. Used C S Pierson as his Confederate name. His mother's maiden name was Pierson. May have also used William Grant and George Wakeman. There seems to been a series of articles published covering his adventures. I only stumbled across this one because it had the term Hendersons Scouts"

 

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I've been able to find half of the 17 articles published in 1869 and it is quite a story. He joined up in 1861 in Chicago with Illinois 19th Infantry. He is detailed to be a scout and in Sep 1862 reports to Gen Hurlbut in Memphis. They come up with a scheme where Bell would raise up a company of Partisan Rangers as C S Pierson. Bell would be in Brownsville, TN in mid January where they arranged for him to be captured. He was captured by 3rd Michigan Cavalry there. For his cover, he had to be treated as a prisoner, so he goes from Brownsville to Jackson, to Columbus, KY. In Columbus, the Union Officer there who was to let him escape, dies. Several weeks later he finally escapes on his own (Feb 1863). He locates his company, goes to Mississippi and reports to Chalmers. He then becomes an aide to Chalmers and becomes a scout for him operating by himself. He seems to be at all the right places at the right time. He gave Johnston bad info at Vicksburg and aided Grant/Sherman there. Going back to Chalmers he kills a courier with dispatches, one which saved the life of another Union spy last name Jordan. He gets homesick and works out a plan with Hurlbut to capture him again where he is furloughed when he gets to St Louis. And the story goes on with much more.

In Fold3 I found:

Military Telegraph about his capture in LaGrange on May 28, 1863 that refers to him working for Hurlbut.

An affidavit he wrote in Oct 1865 about being arrested in New Orleans. It provides some info on war years including having letters from Grant, Sherman, Hurlbut, Grierson, Hatch, and others. He says he was in prison in Washington Arkansas charged as being a Federal spy with a guy named Hunnicutt. Hunnicutt was released and reported him as dead. The Federals then informed his parents which made his mom ill. It goes on to say that the same M P Hunnicutt was the Special Officer that was charging him in New Orleans. I've also run across references to Bell being a detective after the war in Arkansas and Texas after the war.

This almost sounds made-up but I have found several official records that match. I'll keep looking for missing articles to fill in gaps. It looks like Newspapers.com and Chronicling America have gaps in papers.

I can

 

[lupaglupa]

Wow. This does sound the plot for a really good miniseries. It's amazing the stories you stumble across when you are looking for something else.

 

[RedRover]

Interesting stuff.

Mr. Bell has been suspected of being the unnamed spy sent into Confederate lines by General Hurlbut, who subsequently appeared at Grant's HQ in the midst of the Vicksburg campaign with Confederate letters he was carrying between Johnston and Pemberton, etc.

General Badeau, in his history of Grant's campaigns, vol. 1, noted...

Mr. Feis in "Grant's Secret Service" (2012) presumes that Mr. Bell was likely that key player...

 

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I've found 12 of 16 articles. Some were in Australian newspapers. Still looking for 12-15.

I hope I haven't been sucked into a fictional story but William B Feis states in his article on Military Intelligence at: essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com
that "One of his [Grant's] most prolific scouts, Charles S. Bell, carried out thirty-seven missions by himself, sometimes disguised as a Confederate staff officer."

Not only should this guy have a book, but also a movie! He's only around 20 years old and is a Civil War 007.

After reading what I have come across, it highlights the problems of discerning friend or foe. They didn't have fingerprints, photo ID, or database on individuals. It doesn't look like the Confederates had a good system of vetting anyone or rooting out spies in general. It would make sense given what they had that they had to heavily rely of the "Good Ole Boy" network and trust only known family and friends.

 

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In the articles written by George Wakeman are very detailed with locations and events. Since it was written in 1869, it was very soon after the war. Charles S Bell must have had an extremely good memory to report details later so he didn't carry notes or papers that would hang him. So the details in the articles are probably fairly accurate. So they would be of interest to anyone researching events in West Tennessee and/or Mississippi.

 

[RedRover]

The public seemed to like the spy stories. And it was striking that of the handful of trusted Confederate army couriers in the Vicksburg Campaign, one was a "spy."

In 1876 Bell's adventures were indeed widely reported, though also noted that his personal dealings post-war were of a curious nature that folks might want to consider...

Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, 4-21-1876.

 

[dfostermem]

The following files provide the articles I was able to find. Most of these are made available by our Australian friends down under. The files titled "Adventures of a Spy" were published in THE QUEENSLANDER starting Jul 17, 1869 through Aug 28, 1869. They are made available by the National Library of Australia website Trove at: https://trove.nla.gov.au

The files titled "Union Scout of the Mississippi" were published in the Public Ledger Memphis, TN in 1869. They were made available by the Library of Congress website Chronicling America at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

A couple are redundant between the two sources so you can compare.

I tried to clip the appropriate material but in some cases there is nonapplicable material that was within the rectangle clip. Some changes were made in conversion to try to improve readability. There may be instances where going to the original sites above may help.

I have been unable to locate articles 12-15.

I hope everyone enjoys the adventure! Love to hear comments. There does seem to be some almost impossible feats performed.

Concerning my Henderson's Scouts research, I'm just glad that while they came in contact with "LT Pierson" they did not take him into their fold. I'd like to think that is a reflection of Sam Henderson's intellect and wisdom but it could have just been luck. I did find it strange that Henderson sent him back after receiving an order from Chalmers to take him. I think the other thing that these articles show is how porous the lines were and how quickly one could get around- both of which would have worked to the Henderson's Scouts favor also.

 

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It seems the more you pull a string, the more interesting things come out:

In Fold3 there is a letter in civilian files where Charles S Bell states he was in prison in Washington, Arkansas, awaiting trial for spying. I have been looking for something that might shed light on how he was caught and ended up there. Anyway, he states he was in prison with M P Hunnicutt, who at the time the letter was written, was the one going after him in New Orleans.

I decided to pull the M P Hunnicutt string and found out he was Sergeant Mordecai P Hunnicutt, another Union spy who was a little more famous. Edwin Fishel has about two pages on him in his book "The Secret War for the Union". I was a little disappointed to find that this in depth book on Civil War intelligence was focused almost entirely on the East but it is an excellent book if that is your area of interest. So it ends up Hunnicutt was one of Sharpe's spies who operated in Northern Virginia and Richmond. Not in the book, but I found in Fold3 that he became too "hot" in that area and was discharged because he was too well known by the Confederates. So in 1864, he is writing New Orleans offering his services to them. Someone, must have taken him up on it to end up in prison with Bell but I didn't find it. I did find a letter where the Provost Marshal wanted him after the war, which is probably how he ends up crossing paths with Bell in New Orleans.

Hunnicutt seems to be another person someone could write a book about. He came from a Quaker family which settled in Dinwiddie County VA and then moved to southern Ohio where Mordecai enlisted to fight in Mexican War. He then ends up with William Walker in Central America and after that falls apart becomes a pastry cook for the President of Costa Rica. He is in Kansas during hostilities there, a detective in Memphis, and a detective in Prince George's County VA - and that was all before the war. After the CW he is in New Orleans and then Texas. He was one of the original captains of Texas Police Force and Chief of Police in Waco TX.