The Confederate Secret Service: The History of the Confederacy's Intelligence Operations during the Civil War

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Since the war's start over 150 years ago, the battles have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American history, and had the two sides realized it would take four years and inflict over a million casualties, it might not have been fought. Since it did, however, historians and history buffs alike have been studying and analyzing the biggest battles ever since.  The Confederate government’s evacuation plans had been established well before Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had to evacuate Petersburg and let Richmond fall. General Lee had warned the government as early as January that his lines around Petersburg might break at any given point, and many members of the Confederate Congress had left a few weeks earlier after they had adjourned on March 18. Some cabinet members had already made their own arrangements, with the bulk of their important records having been sent out of town, and after the emergency meeting, the Confederate president and cabinet adjourned to get to the work of packing vital papers and putting them on a train heading out of town. Meanwhile, documents that were considered of less importance were piled up and set alight. As it turned out, Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin had already personally burned the records of the Confederate Secret Service, ensuring that there would be enduring mysteries about Confederate intelligence operations throughout the war, and particularly whether John Wilkes Booth’s conspiracy against the federal government had official support. For almost a century following the war, very little was known about any of this, and historians who knew the Confederate Secret Service had existed could not reconstruct what it had done.