Tag Archives: spies

9 July 1864: “We regard it as not only dangerous, but certainly and positively injurious.”

Item Description: “Yankee Deserters” (editorial), The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N. C.), 9 July 1864. Transcription: Yankee Deserters. We learn that some forty-two deserters from GRANT’S army arrived here last night under guard from Petersburg. We have a word to say … Continue reading

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13 June 1862: “Mrs. Morris & Mrs. Greenhow have arrived here at last from their Wash’n Prison…”

Item description: Letter, 13 June 1862, from Edward Porter Alexander to his wife. The letter includes a brief mention of Rose Greenhow and Augusta Morris, Confederate women spies. [Transcription available below images.] Item citation: From folder 11 of the Edward … Continue reading

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28 December 1861: “[Maryland] now lies prostrate & can only raise her hands clanking in chains & with one finger slyly beckon her southern friends to come to her rescue.”

Item description: Letter, 28 December 1861, to Edward Porter Alexander from an unidentified writer (later identified by Alexander as simply “Chapman”).  Item citation: From folder 9 of the Edward Porter Alexander Papers, #7, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University … Continue reading

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25 October 1861: “THE SPIES of the Lincoln government are gone or cut off.”

Item description: An article from The Daily Journal of Wilmington, North Carolina, describing the efforts of the United States Navy and Union spies to capture ministers from the Confederate States of America, who sailed on the steamer Nashville, presumably for … Continue reading

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22 September 1861: “I cannot explain what my place is exactly because I don’t know but one man I can trust and because this letter might get in the wrong hands…”

Item description: Letter, dated 22 September 1861, addressed to Union General George McClellan from an unnamed correspondent. According to a note penciled at the bottom of the letter, this letter was in fact a piece of counterintelligence employed by Confederate … Continue reading

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28 April 1861: “The troops are under arms and performing duty as though we were in a state of siege.”

Item description: Bryan writes to his father after his arrival at Norfolk. Because many troops that guarded the river, he was encouraged to “take to the rail.” In the midst of the secession crisis, Bryan reported many uniformed soldiers.  He … Continue reading

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