Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-04-05
The Secret Service.

A history Of the secret service would con.
situte one ofthc most interesting and thrill.
ling portions of our war chronicles. We
trust that some annalist will gather up and
weave together, in readable and presei vabIe
shape. the labors, adventure and hairbresdth
escapes of those whose vocations consisted
In obtaining Information from the en-
emv.
There was undoubtedly, some grounds for
the impressions generally prevailing. that
the insurgents we're more successful in this
business than We. Owing to the fact that
our armies re operating in their territory,
they found it less difficult than we to ferret
out facts concerning the hostile forces
Their Northern allies, too, aided them ma
terially in ohtsining information about the
North For instance, General Heath. who
commanded a division during the advance
upon Cincinnati, was in that city the other
day, and stated in conversation that he knew
the exact position Of, the Federal forces at
the fine bFthe siege He was fully aware
OF the absence Of veterans, knew the mum
Der of men on duty. and %teleern phed to
headquartersfrem time to time as Union re-
endorsements arrived.
We cannot withhold from the Washing
ton authorities. however, the praise Of hav.
ing displayed much indemnity and enterprise
in obtaining 'contrsband intelligence. " For
example they performed no mean achieve.
ment when. in February, 1865, they obtain
ed from official records in the rebel War De,
partment the number and location afall the
insurgent forces. The Richmond Enquirer,
of Wednesday, in abiding tn this circum.
stance, remarks ? "t was but too we'll
known during the late war, that there was
treachnry On the part OF some employees Of
the War Departm ant of the Confederate
States, We allude not now to the perfdy
which kent a secret diary of extracts from
the current official reports. and has lately
put themin the form Of a hook hut to the
correspondence which was kept up by paid
spies with the Washington Government,
purportinR to Give information, and often
giving it correctly, of the most vital charac.
ter - Wt tlH..Hi |g satH. I,-ye .
The scott service embraced a eonsid
erable body Of mon. MANY Of them native
ct. and thoroughly acquainted with tho
South, who passed tn and fro within the
rebel lines. not u~nfrequently penetrating to
the hca tqltqrtnrs of the commanding gen
erai. Mcclellan made hut very little use of
snies, though valuable information was
frequently communicated by deserters =
Through the latter he became immedi-
~ "" w ch'ktOH y DTtStUrc, WncU
StonewaI, in June, 1862, took position
upon Lees right, preparatory to the furious
onslaught upon our line Burnside sadly
felt the need ofspie- and iuformers. though
tor some yeason he was unable to obtain
them. When encsmped opposite Freder-
i%cksbur9. just before the bloody battle of
December Is. he offered a very large sum to
any one who would cross the river and de-.
termine the strength and position Of Lees
forces. To General Hooker IL due the credi,
Of having first made the SPY system effective
in the army Of the Potomac. During his
period Of command valuable reports we're
almost daily brought tn headquarters from
the rebel army. And when he began the
Charlottesville campaign he was fullv most
ed up in regard to the number of LAe's
troops apdthe weak points in his lines Had
Fighting Joe" been as skillfnl in com
mand as he was in details. Chancellorsville
would have been a victory instead IF a ter
rihIe defeat. Among our Western G anerals
Roserrans, perhaps, made the most eff sien,
use of spies. H. kent them constantly going
and coming, and while obtaining all the infor
nation he could concerning the insurgents
kent a careful watch that they should obtain
none from him. Two rebel ~oficars. who,
dressed in Federal nnif,rms, boldly entered
his lines ,nd announced themselves as Al
sistant. INSPECTOR Generals sent to inspect
the Armv Of the Cumberland, we're snm
marily shot hyR osecrans nj the ver7 dsy they
were discovered H. did this. IN order to
strike terror into the rebel spies, and pre-
vent a repetition Of such experiments. II
is needless to ssv that none were afterward
attnmnted. General Grant apparently at
tachnd no great impnrtance to snv lahors.--
In fact he seemed intuifively to divine the
strength and position Of his antagonists. :
The same was true, to a certain extent, Of
General Sherman.