Eugene B . Van Camp Eugene B . Van Camp ( born , March 31 , 1838 ) was an espionage agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War , assisting his father Dr . Aaron A . Van Camp in his spying activities . Early Life and Education . Eugene Bestor Van Camp was born on March 31 , 1838 in Louisville , Kentucky . His parents were Maria Bestor Van Camp and the dentist Dr . Aaron A . Van Camp . Van Camp attended Georgetown College in Washington , D . C . between 1853 and 1855 . Military Service . On April 20 , 1861 in Alexandria , Virginia , Van Camp enlisted in Captain Edward B . Powell ’ s Company of Cavalry , which became Co . F . , 6th Regmt . , Virginia Cavalry . Van Camp re - enlisted in April 20 , 1862 and was promoted to Third Sergeant . He was wounded at an engagement in Strasburg , Virginia and took convalescent leave in Winchester , Virginia in the Fall of 1862 . Van Camp then went absent without leave on Nov . 1 , 1862 and was arrested in Berlin , Maryland as a deserter . Van Camp was paroled and ordered to proceed to Baltimore and then stay north of Philadelphia for the duration of the war . Early Spying Activity . In April 1861 Van Camp became an orderly for General P . G . T . Beauregard before the First Battle of Bull Run . This allowed Van Camp and his father to assist Rose O ' Neal Greenhow , who was operating a spy ring in the capital , in smuggling information pertaining to Union troop movements prior to that battle . Shortly thereafter , Greenhow ' s spy ring was broken up by Allan Pinkerton of the newly formed Union Intelligence Service . In late 1861 , the elder Van Camp was imprisoned as suspected spy in downtown Washington in the Old Capitol Prison . Dr . Van Camp was released from custody in March 1862 after signing an oath of allegiance to the Union . His son was not arrested for assisting his father in the spy ring . Later Spying Activity . A confidential letter from a Union sympathizer to Secretary of War , Edwin Stanton , dated January 18 , 1864 stated that Van Camp was in Vicksburg , Mississippi , and was believed to be a Confederate spy . The letter , written by " B . D . Hyam " of Memphis , Tennessee , indicated that Eugene Van Camp was assisting his father , a " suspected man " to purchase cotton , and that Eugene Van Camp was moving between Vicksburg and Memphis as a secret agent , gathering and conveying intelligence to the Rebels . In April , 1864 Dr . Van Camp arranged for Eugene Van Camp to secure a trading permit from Union commander General Stephen A . Hurlbut to open a store at Fort Pillow , Tennessee three days before an attack upon it by troops led by Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest . It may be that this was a subterfuge to continue spying activities for the Rebels . On April 12 , 1864 . General Forrest and his cavalry troops attacked Fort Pillow , whose 600 defenders were about evenly divided between white and black Union troops . Eugene Van Camp was one of the ( civilian ) defenders and had most of his left hand blown off by a Rebel minie ball . A massacre of the surrendering troops followed the taking of the fort . Eugene Van Camp survived and was evacuated to Memphis where Gen . Hurlbut personally ordered his wounds to be dressed . At the urging of an army surgeon , Dr . Van Camp arranged for Eugene to be sent to Illinois and later to Corning , New York to reside with relatives . In April , 1865 , after Abraham Lincoln ’ s assassination , an anonymous letter is sent to General Christopher C . Augur , who was investigating the conspiracy : “ General C . C . Auger : Aaron Van Camp has left the city to reside in Brooklyn or New York , to throw off the scent and where he can , he thinks , be lost in the crowd of a large city , as well as be near the workers with whom he has heretofore been operating with as also to be able to enjoy the ill gotten gains he has amassed . There would have been too much espionage on him here and too many questions asked . How he became rich so very , very suddenly from comparative poverty . See to him . Perhaps you may find him know to the late murder of our president and the assassin of Sec . Seward . His son is at Zimmerman ’ s No . 71 Street near D . ‘ Truth ’ ” In response to the investigation into Lincoln ' s assassination and the above anonymous letter , Van Camp reported to investigators that his father was in West Virginia Looking after some oil lands there and that he did not know his father ’ s exact whereabouts . Eugene indicated ( probably untruthfully ) that he was forced into service in the Rebel army , but later defended against the attack at Ft . Pillow and was wounded there on April 12 , 1864 . Post War Activities . In 1870 ' s Van Camp accompanied father to Cuba in connection with his father ' s business interests there . In 1900 , Van Camp , aged 62 , was living in San Diego , California with his daughter , son in law and two grandchildren .