Black Dispatches Black Dispatches was a common term used among Union military men in the American Civil War for intelligence on Confederate forces provided by Negro es . This source of information represented a prolific and productive category of intelligence obtained and acted on by Union forces throughout the Civil War . Black Dispatches resulted from frontline tactical debriefings of slaves — either runaways or those having just come under Union control . Black Americans also contributed , however , to tactical and strategic Union intelligence through behind - the - lines missions and agent - in - place operations . Two such Union agents functioned as long - term penetrations of Confederate President Jefferson Davis ' s " White House " staff in Richmond , Virginia . Even such a prominent woman as Harriet Tubman , best known for her activities involving the " underground railroad , " played an important role in Union intelligence activities . The value of the information that could be obtained , both passively and actively , by black Americans behind Confederate lines was clearly understood by most Union generals early in the war . Popular recognition of this was also apparent through a stream of articles and stories in the Northern press during the war . Gen . Robert E . Lee , commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia , was equally aware , and in May 1863 he said , " The chief source of information to the enemy is through our Negroes . " Because of the culture of slavery in the South , Negroes involved in menial activities could move about without suspicion . Also , officials and officers tended to ignore their presence as personal servants when discussing war - related matters . After the war , however , the intelligence contributions of black Americans became obscure . While racial prejudice probably played a part in this , as it did regarding the military contributions of black American Union military units , several other factors added to this lack of recognition . Historically , most successful spies do not want their identities made public . Even individuals who may have provided one - time pieces of useful intelligence usually prefer anonymity . This was particularly true in the emotional period after the Civil War , when many of these black Americans lived near people still loyal to the South . Simple lack of official records of intelligence activities on both sides was another factor . Many of these records were purposely destroyed to protect those involved and still living . One of the last acts of the Confederate secretary of war before fleeing Richmond in 1865 was to destroy virtually all intelligence files , including counterintelligence records regarding Union spies . In Washington , the War Department turned over portions of its intelligence files to many of the participants involved . Most of these records were subsequently destroyed or lost . Thus , accounts by individuals of their parts in the war or official papers focusing on larger subjects , such as military official correspondence , have become important sources of information on intelligence activities . Much of this information is difficult to substantiate or place in perspective and context due to the lack of supporting documents . George Scott . One of the first large - scale Civil War battles was the result of information provided by George Scott , a runaway slave . He furnished intelligence on Confederate fortifications and troop movements to Gen . Benjamin F . Butler , commander of Fort Monroe located at the mouth of the James River on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula . Shortly after the start of the war , Butler had issued orders that all " contraband " arriving in Union lines be brought to his headquarters for debriefing . Scott had escaped from a plantation near Yorktown . While making his way toward Fort Monroe , he observed that Confederate forces had thrown up two fortifications between Yorktown and the fortress . Butler ' s officers were impressed with Scott ' s information but wanted to confirm it . Scott agreed to accompany a Union officer on several scouting trips behind Confederate lines to obtain more specific intelligence . On one of these missions , Scott barely missed being wounded by a Confederate picket ; the bullet went through his jacket . Based on the intelligence gained from these missions , Butler determined that Confederate forces were planning an attack on Newport News , capture of which would isolate Fort Monroe from Union resupply . He ordered a preemptive attack on the Confederate position , but the military operation was poorly conducted and ended in a Union defeat . Although the intelligence was solid , the military tactics were not . John Scobell . As Union forces grew and better organization was required , Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan was given command of the Army of the Potomac defending Washington . He brought with him as his chief of intelligence Allan Pinkerton , who had gained some fame running a Chicago detective agency . Pinkerton , often using the alias Major Allen or E . J . Allen , had responsibilities for collecting intelligence on the enemy and for counterintelligence activities against enemy agents . Most of the intelligence he collected resulted from an extensive and well - organized debriefing program of people crossing over from Confederate lines . These informants included merchants with business ties on both sides , deserters from the Confederate Army , prisoners of war , civilians traveling to escape the fighting or for other personal business , and former slaves . While each group provided valuable information , Pinkerton soon discovered that the former slaves were the most willing to cooperate and often had the best knowledge of Confederate fortifications , camps , and supply points . Pinkerton instructed his operatives to focus their efforts on debriefing former slaves . He also directed them to be on the lookout for former slaves who had some education or seemed particularly skilled in observing and remembering military details . Once these individuals were identified , they were sent to Pinkerton for further assessment and evaluation . From these black Americans , Pinkerton recruited a small number for intelligence collection missions behind Confederate lines . The best known of these Pinkerton agents was John Scobell , recruited in the fall of 1861 . Scobell had been a slave in Mississippi but had been well educated by his owner , a Scotsman who subsequently freed him . He was quick - witted and an accomplished role player , which permitted him to function in several different identities on various missions , including food vendor , cook , or laborer . He often worked with other Pinkerton agents , sometimes playing the role of their servant while in the South . He worked with Timothy Webster , perhaps Pinkerton ' s best agent , on missions into Virginia and also with Mrs . Carrie Lawton , Pinkerton ' s best female operative . Scobell is credited with providing valuable intelligence on Confederate order of battle , status of supplies , and troop morale and movements . Frequently , while the white Pinkerton agents elicited information from Confederate officials and officers , Scobell would seek out leaders in the black community and collect their information on local conditions , fortifications , and troop dispositions . Scobell often used his membership in the " Legal League , " a clandestine Negro organization in the South supporting freedom for slaves , to acquire local information . League members sometimes supported Scobell ' s collection activities by acting as couriers to carry his information to Union lines . On at least one occasion , as described by Pinkerton , Scobell protected the escape of Mrs . Lawton from pursuing Confederate agents . He worked for Pinkerton from late 1861 until the intelligence chief closed down his operations in November 1862 , when McClellan was replaced by Gen . Ambrose E . Burnside . Riverboat spy . While Scobell was roaming behind enemy lines between Washington and Richmond , another black American , W . H . Ringgold , was working on a riverboat on the York River in Virginia . He had been " impressed " ( coerced ) into service as a result of having been in Fredericksburg at the time Virginia seceded from the Union . Ringgold spent six months on the river , helping move troops and supplies on the Virginia peninsula . When his ship was damaged by a storm , he and the other crewmen were permitted to travel back North by way of Maryland ' s Eastern Shore . On reaching Baltimore , he sought out Union officials , who immediately sent him to Pinkerton in Washington . In December 1861 , Ringgold provided Pinkerton with detailed intelligence on Confederate defenses on the peninsula . This included locations of fortifications and artillery batteries , troop concentrations , and defenses on the York River . His information was the best McClellan received before the start of his peninsula campaign in March 1862 ; it was also the basis for much of his strategic planning for the opening of that campaign . Naval intelligence . Equally valuable intelligence was provided to the Union Navy by black Americans . Two examples of strategic importance occurred during the late 1861 - early 1862 period . Mary Touvestre , a freed slave , worked in Norfolk as a housekeeper for an engineer who was involved in the refitting and transformation of the USS " Merrimack " into the " Virginia " , the first Confederate ironclad warship . Overhearing the engineer talking about the importance of his project , she recognized the danger this new type of ship represented to the Union navy blockading Norfolk . She stole a set of plans for the ship that the engineer had brought home to work on and fled North . After a dangerous trip , she arrived in Washington and arranged a meeting with officials at the Department of the Navy . The stolen plans and Touvestre ' s verbal report of the status of the ship ' s construction convinced the officials of the need to speed up construction of the Union ' s own ironclad , the USS " Monitor " . The " Virginia " , however , was able to destroy two Union frigate s , the USS Congress and the USS " Cumberland " , and run another , the USS " Minnesota " , to ground before the Union ironclad ' s arrival . If the intelligence from Touvestre had not been obtained , the Virginia could have had several more unchallenged weeks to destroy Union ships blockading Hampton Roads and quite possibly open the port of Norfolk to urgently needed supplies from Europe . Robert Smalls ' achievements . A second piece of important naval intelligence concerned the strategic Confederate port of Charleston , South Carolina , one of a few ports in the south with railroad lines capable of speedy transportation of supplies to Richmond and other key Confederate manufacturing and supply centers . In March 1862 , a free black American , Robert Smalls , rowed out to a Union warship that was part of a large fleet assembled to attack the seacoast town of Fernandina , Florida . He reported that Confederate troops were preparing to evacuate the town as well as Amelia Island , which guarded the approach to Fernandina . Smalls , a harbor pilot , had observed Confederate preparations to destroy the town ' s harbor facilities during the withdrawal . Smalls understood the importance of keeping the Fernandina harbor operable as a logistics facility and base for Union operations against Charleston . Based on the intelligence he provided , Union forces attacked Fernandina and routed the enemy ' s rear guard before the Confederates could sabotage the harbor . The intelligence provided by Smalls was considered so significant that the Secretary of the Department of the Navy described it in detail to President Lincoln in the Secretary ' s annual report . While this information was Smalls ' greatest intelligence contribution to the Union , he subsequently provided another gift to the Navy . On the night of May 12 , 1862 , he , family members , and other black American crewmen of the " Planter " , a cargo steamer turned into an armed coastal patrol ship , sailed out of Charleston harbor after the captain and two mates had gone home . In the dark , Smalls pretended to be the captain and , from his previous experiences , was able to provide all the correct countersigns to challenges from the various harbor fortifications . Upon reaching ships forming the Union blockade , he surrendered the " Planter " to them . Later that month he and his fellow crewmen received payment from the US government for half the appraised value of the ship as a reward . When Pinkerton left his position as chief of intelligence for the Army of the Potomac in November 1862 , he took all his intelligence files on the Confederacy with him ( because he had been a private contractor , the files belonged to him ) . This left Union forces without centralized Confederate order - of - battle information , and the one remaining intelligence officer in the Army of the Potomac had to travel to the War Department in Washington to re - create this information from records of previous battles . Charlie Wright . When Gen . Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac on 27 January 1863 , he immediately saw the need for an effective centralized intelligence system . On 11 February , Col . George H . Sharpe , an attorney and an officer of New York state volunteers , accepted the post of head of the Army ' s intelligence service . Under Sharpe , with direction from Hooker , the Bureau of Military Information ( BMI ) was created . Its sole focus was collection of intelligence on the enemy ; it had no counterintelligence responsibilities . It soon developed into the first " all - source intelligence " organization in US history . Sharpe obtained , collated , analyzed , and provided reports based on scouting , spying behind enemy lines , interrogations , cavalry reconnaissance , balloon observation , Signal Corps observation , flag signal and telegraph intercepts , captured Confederate documents and mail , southern newspapers , and intelligence reporting from subordinate military units . This structured approach , which ended with the Confederate surrender , was not re - institutionalized until 1947 , when the CIA was created . Sharpe ' s BMI was well established when Charlie Wright , a young black man , arrived at Union lines from Culpeper , Virginia , in June 1863 . While being debriefed , his extensive knowledge of units in Lee ' s army became apparent . He had an excellent memory for details . On 12 June , Capt . John McEntee , an officer from the BMI who had deployed with Union cavalry forces just after the battle of Brandy Station , telegraphed Sharpe the following : " A contraband captured last Tuesday states that he had been living at Culpeper C . H . for some time past . Saw Ewells Corps passing through that place destined for the Valley and Maryland . That Ewells Corps has passed the day previous to the fight and that Longstreet was them coming up . " Shortly thereafter , McEntee also reported that Wright was well acquainted with these two corps and that he believed Wright ' s information was reliable . Wright identified more than a dozen separate Confederate regiments from both Ewell ' s Corps and Longstreet ' s Corps . The key intelligence Wright provided was that these troops had passed through Culpeper bound for Maryland . Thanks to the Bureau ' s records and all - source information , Sharpe was able to confirm Wright ' s descriptions of the various Confederate units . This confirmation convinced General Hooker of Wright ' s assertion that Lee ' s army was moving into Maryland . Hooker ordered his army to shadow the Confederate forces ' movements while traveling on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains out of view of Lee ' s troops . This movement by the Union Army shielded Washington from Lee ' s forces and eventually forced the battle at Gettysburg . For several decades after the war , Union cavalry reconnaissance was given credit for identifying Lee ' s movement in the valley toward Maryland . But historical records now make it clear that Wright ' s intelligence was the key factor in convincing Hooker to move his forces . While many reasons can be cited for Lee ' s defeat at Gettysburg , there can be no doubt that the ground held by the Union forces played a significant role in the victory . This was Charlie Wright ' s contribution . He had provided the intelligence that eventually enabled Union forces to get to Gettysburg first and seize the best ground . Agents in place . Because both sides were poorly prepared for the war , notwithstanding the many years of political buildup to the actual fighting , there apparently were few intelligence agents who had been specifically placed in the enemy ' s institutions . In - place agents have the strategic advantage of providing the plans and intentions of an enemy rather than reporting on how and when they are carried out . Although the Confederacy did not create its civilian and military power structure until just before the war began , the Union did have several such agents in the Confederate capital by the first year of the war . Two were black Americans employed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in his official residence . William A . Jackson was a slave hired out by the year to President Davis as a coachman . His first documented report was on 3 May 1862 , when he crossed into Union lines near Fredericksburg , Virginia . As a servant in the Davis household , he was able to observe and overhear the Confederate President ' s discussions with his military leadership . While no record remains of the specific intelligence he produced , it apparently was valuable enough to cause General McDowell to telegraph it immediately to the War Department in Washington . The second agent , Mary Elizabeth Bowser , was part of a Union spy ring known as " the Richmond underground , " directed by Elizabeth Van Lew , whose family was well respected and well connected socially in Richmond . While not hiding her Union loyalties , Van Lew affected behavior that made her appear harmless and eccentric to Confederate authorities . After the war , she traveled to Washington and obtained all the official records from the War Department related to her activities and destroyed them . Thus , details on Bowser ' s specific activities are sparse . Bowser had been a slave of the Van Lew family , but Van Lew freed her and sent her North to be educated . When Van Lew decided to establish a spy ring in Richmond shortly before the fighting began , she asked Bowser to return and work with her for the Union . Van Lew obtained a position for Bowser as a servant in the Confederate " White House " through the recommendation of a " friend " who provided supplies to that household . Bowser pretended to be uneducated but hardworking and , after working part - time at several functions , was hired as a regular employee . Her access provided her with opportunities to overhear valuable information . As a black servant , Bowser was almost certainly ignored by the President ' s guests . Her reporting focused on conversations she overheard between Confederate officials at the President ' s residence and on documents she was able to read while working around the house . She and Van Lew , often dressed as a country farmwife , would meet at isolated locations on the outskirts of Richmond to exchange information . Another Union spy , Thomas McNiven , noted that Bowser had a photographic memory and could report every word of the documents she saw at the " White House . " In recognition of her intelligence contributions , Bowser was inducted into the US Army Intelligence Hall of Fame at Fort Huachuca , Arizona , on 30 June 1995 . Tubman ' s triumphs . Harriet Tubman , another black woman involved in intelligence collection for the Union , is well known for her activities with the underground railroad . Her intelligence activities , however , are well documented . Tubman , often referred to by her contemporaries as " Moses , " is best known for the numerous trips she made into the south to free relatives and friends and bring them to safety . Her last trip took place in 1860 . With the advent of the fighting , she spent the early years of the war assisting with the care and feeding of the many slaves who had fled to Union - controlled areas . By the spring of 1863 , Union officials had found a more dramatic and active role for Tubman . The Union forces in South Carolina badly needed information about the Confederate forces opposing them . Intelligence on the strength of enemy units , location of encampments , and designs of fortifications was almost nil . All these requirements could be met by short - term spying trips behind enemy lines , and it fell to Tubman to organize and lead these expeditions . Tubman selected a few former slaves knowledgeable about the areas to be visited and established her spy organization . Often disguised as a field hand or poor farm wife , she led several spy missions herself , while directing others from Union lines . She reported her intelligence to Col . James Montgomery , a Union officer commanding the Second South Carolina Volunteers , a black unit involved in guerrilla warfare activities . The tactical intelligence Tubman provided to Union forces during the war was frequent , abundant , and used effectively in military operations . For example , her part in a June 1863 Union raid up the Combahee River in South Carolina is well documented . Tubman had conducted spy missions into the area , identified enemy supply areas , and reported weaknesses in Confederate troop deployments . In late May , Gen . David Hunter , commander of all Union forces in the area , asked Tubman to personally guide a raiding party up the river . On the evening of 2 June , Tubman led Montgomery and 150 of his men up the river past Confederate picket lines . In a swift raid , taking the Confederates by surprise , the Union forces destroyed several million dollars worth of Confederate supplies and brought back more than 800 slaves and thousands of dollars in enemy property . By this action alone , Tubman ' s contribution to the Union cause was significant . When Tubman died in 1913 , she was honored with a full military funeral as a mark of respect for her activities during the war . A signal achievement . No discussion of intelligence activities by black Americans during the Civil War would be complete without mention of a popular story about a black couple who provided intelligence on Confederate troop movements to the Union during the fighting around Fredericksburg , Virginia in 1863 . The original account evidently appeared in a newspaper or magazine article written by a Union officer who claimed to have been a witness to the events . No official records have documented this story , and the claims about the value of the intelligence produced are questionable . But there is probably some factual basis for the tale . The story involved a runaway slave named Dabney , who crossed into Union lines with his wife and found employment in General Hooker ' s headquarters camp . It became apparent that Dabney knew the geography of the area very well , and , though he had little education , was clever . He quickly developed an interest in the Union flag - signal system , and he learned all he could about it . After several weeks , Dabney ' s wife asked permission to return to Confederate lines as a personal servant to a Southern woman returning to her home . A few days after his wife ' s departure , Dabney began reporting Confederate movements to members of Hooker ' s staff . His reports soon proved accurate , and he was questioned as to the source of his intelligence . Dabney explained that he and his wife had worked out a signaling system based on the laundry that she hung out to dry at her mistress ' s house , which was observable from Hooker ' s headquarters . As the wife observed Confederate troop movements , she would hang the laundry in a particular sequence to signal Dabney of the activity . For example , a white shirt represented Gen . A . P . Hill , a pair of pants hung upside down represented the direction west , and so forth . This system produced useful intelligence on Confederate movements until Hooker moved his headquarters . While such a signaling system could produce simple messages such as " Hill - north - three regiments , " the value of the information would not be great . Union cavalry pickets and Signal Corps observers would have provided similar intelligence . But the fact that this story is repeated in numerous articles and books makes it a part of the legend of intelligence activities during the war . References . " This article incorporates text in the public domain from the Central Intelligence Agency . "