Portraits of Blue & Grey: The Biographical Civil War Podcast Recorded History Podcast Network

This episode surveys Civil War intelligence-gathering and espionage on the Confederate side. We look at the cavalry's role, the Confederate Signal Corps and Secret Service, and introduce a few Rebel spy stories. Part 2 will examine some of the best-known Confederate spies and a few of the strange operations pursued by the Rebel Secret Service.
In this Episode:
12:10 - Jedidiah Hotchkiss, Shenandoah Valley Cartographer
16:30 - Confederate spy Antonia Ford
21:30 - Union General Grenville Dodge, Grant's spy master
24:00 - Sam Davis, the South's Nathan Hale
29:45 - Will Talbot, Virginia cavalryman caught spying in Maryland
31:10 - Frank Stringfellow, top-gun Confederate spy
41:30 - The Iron Scouts and the Beefsteak Raid
47:00 - Confederate Secret Service
53:45 - UK blockade policy
59:20 - Confederate Signal Corps; encryption
1:03:00 - George "Lightning" Ellsworth, Rebel telegraph trickster

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President Lincoln called them "fire in the rear." Northern anti-war Democrats--called Copperheads--advocated for a peaceful resolution of the war and sharply criticized the Lincoln Administration's restrictions on civil liberties in the North. This episode explores the Copperhead movement, introduces a few prominent Copperheads, and evaluates their arguments against Lincoln and the war.

11:00 - Copperheads in the Press.

16:00 - Marcus "Brick" Pomeroy.

29:00 - Copperheads in Politics; Ohio Rep. Clement Vallandigham.

34:00 - Ohio Rep. Alexander Long; Censure and Expulsion in the House of Representatives.

44:00 - Indiana Rep. Daniel Voorhees.

50:00 - NY Mayor and House Rep. Fernando Wood; NY Police Riot.

59:00 - NYC Secession?

1:04:00 - 1864 Democratic Party Convention.

1:10:00 - Lincoln Administration Constitutional Restrictions; Suspension of Habeas Corpus; Martial Law; 1st Amendment Violations.

1:24:00 - Knights of the Golden Circle.

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This is the second half of our look at Union intelligence operations and spies during the American Civil War. This episode finishes up the discussion of Col. George Sharpe's Bureau of Military Information and the big influence Col. Sharpe had on intelligence during and after the war. We then introduce several charismatic Union spies--including Richmond socialite Elizabeth Van Lew, former slave Mary Bowser, actress Pauline Cushman, and Canadian master of disguise Sarah Edmonds. We also meet "the Tsar of the Underground"--counter-intelligence specialist Lafayette Baker--and explore his role in the Lincoln assassination.
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This episode explores Civil War espionage, starting with the intelligence operation and spies on the Union side. Allan Pinkerton, Kate Warne, Timothy Webster, and Col. George Sharpe feature prominently in this episode. A follow-up episode will be out soon finishing up our look at Union spies with figures like Elizabeth Van Lew, Lafayette Baker, Mary Richards Bowser, Pauline Cushman, and Sarah Emma Edmonds.
A future show will discuss Civil War spies on the Confederate side.
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The third (and final) episode of our series on the Red River Campaign finishes up the action in Louisiana. We look at the Union withdrawal, an unorthodox cavalry-vs-navy battle at Blair's Landing, the Camden Expedition, and some nifty impromptu dam-building by a Wisconsin engineer named Lt. Col. Joseph Bailey.
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Part 2 of the Red River Campaign explores the Battle of Mansfield and follow-up Battle of Pleasant Hill--which proved to be the pivotal confrontations of the campaign. Then, we digress into some Civil War trivia.
Look for Part 3, which will wrap up the series, in the near future.
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