Lincoln's spies : their secret war to save a nation / Douglas Waller.
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: xxiii, 595 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmISBN:- 9781501126840
- 1501126849
- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Inaugurations
- Pinkerton, Allan, 1819-1884
- Baker, La Fayette C. (La Fayette Curry), 1826-1868
- Sharpe, George H. (George Henry), 1828-1900
- Van Lew, Elizabeth L., 1818-1900
- Appomattox Campaign, 1865 -- History
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Secret service
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- 973.7/85 23
Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | *Middletown Public Library | NON-FICTION | 973.785 WAL | Available | 33581008465106 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A major addition to the history of the Civil War, Lincoln's Spies is a riveting account of the secret battles waged by Union agents to save a nation. Filled with espionage, sabotage, and intrigue, it is also a striking portrait of a shrewd president who valued what his operatives uncovered.
Veteran journalist Douglas Waller, who has written ground-breaking intelligence histories, turns his sights on the shadow war of four secret agents for the North--three men and one woman. From the tense days before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861 to the surrender at Appomattox four years later, Waller delivers a fast-paced narrative of the heroes--and scoundrels--who informed Lincoln's generals on the enemy positions for crucial battles and busted up clandestine Rebel networks.
Famed detective Allan Pinkerton mounted a successful covert operation to slip Lincoln through Baltimore before his inauguration to foil an assassination attempt. But he failed as General George McClellan's spymaster, delivering faulty intelligence reports that overestimated Confederate strength.
George Sharpe, an erudite New York lawyer, succeeded Pinkerton as spymaster for the Union's Army of the Potomac. Recruiting skilled operatives, some of whom dressed in Rebel uniforms, Sharpe ran highly successful intelligence operations that outpaced anything the enemy could field.
Elizabeth Van Lew, a Virginia heiress who hated slavery and disapproved of secession, was one of Sharpe's most successful agents. She ran a Union spy ring in Richmond out of her mansion, with dozens of agents feeding her military and political secrets she funneled to General Ulysses S. Grant as his army closed in on the Confederate capital. Van Lew became one of the unsung heroes of the war.
Lafayette Baker was a handsome Union officer with a controversial past, whose agents clashed with Pinkerton's operatives. The unscrupulous Baker assembled a retinue of disreputable spies, thieves, and prostitutes to root out traitors in Washington, D.C. But he failed at his most important mission: uncovering the threat to Lincoln from John Wilkes Booth and his gang.
Behind these secret operatives was a president, one of our greatest, who was an avid consumer of intelligence and a ruthless aficionado of clandestine warfare, willing to take chances to win the war. Lincoln's Spies , as Waller vividly depicts in his excellent new book, set the template for the dark arts the CIA would practice in the future.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-473) and index.
1861. Allan Pinkerton -- George Sharpe -- Elizabeth Van Lew -- Lafayette Baker -- Secret Service -- Bull Run -- The Ohio Department -- Washington -- "Enemies of the state" -- 1862. Richmond -- "I have the honor to report" -- The Peninsula Campaign -- Second Bull Run -- Antietam -- Fredericksburg -- 1863. "The great game" -- Chancellorsville -- Gettysburg -- 1864. Muckraker -- The Richmond ring -- Ulysses S. Grant -- The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign -- 1865. Richmond's fall -- Assassination -- Peace.
Veteran journalist Douglas Waller turns his sights on the shadow war of four secret agents for the North, three men and one woman. From the tense days before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861 to the surrender at Appomattox four years later, Waller delivers a fast-paced narrative of the heroes, and scoundrels, who informed Lincoln's generals on the enemy positions for crucial battles and busted up clandestine Rebel networks.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Cast of Characters (p. xi)
- Time Line of Major Events (p. xvii)
- Maps (p. xix)
- Note to Readers (p. xxiii)
- 1861
- 1 Allan Pinkerton (p. 3)
- 2 George Sharpe (p. 23)
- 3 Elizabeth Van Lew (p. 29)
- 4 Lafayette Baker (p. 39)
- 5 Secret Service (p. 47)
- 6 Bull Run (p. 55)
- 7 The Ohio Department (p. 64)
- 8 Washington (p. 80)
- 9 "Enemies of the State" (p. 102)
- 1862
- 10 Richmond (p. 123)
- 11 "I Have the Honor to Report" (p. 141)
- 12 The Peninsula Campaign (p. 157)
- 13 Second Bull Run (p. 194)
- 14 Antietam (p. 207)
- 15 Fredericksburg (p. 221)
- 1863
- 16 "The Great Game" (p. 233)
- 17 Chancellorsville (p. 249)
- 18 Gettysburg (p. 267)
- 1864
- 19 Muckraker (p. 313)
- 20 The Richmond Ring (p. 322)
- 21 Ulysses S. Grant (p. 340)
- 22 The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (p. 354)
- 1865
- 23 Richmond's Fall (p. 379)
- 24 Assassination (p. 399)
- 25 Peace (p. 415)
- Acknowledgments (p. 445)
- Selected Bibliography (p. 449)
- Source Notes (p. 475)
- Index (p. 571)
- Photo Credits (p. 595)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Waller (Disciples) delivers a highly readable and detailed accounting of spies and spycraft during the Civil War, encompassing a wide network of spying, and of varied spies who used their wit to obtain intelligence for governments, generals, and others--often in competition with one another. Waller follows the lives of several well-known operators, such as Allen Pinkerton, Lafayette Baker, and Elizabeth Van Lew working for an array of individuals and agencies serving the Union side, and Belle Boyd and others for the Confederacy, among others. The author also shows Abraham Lincoln's growing savvy in assessing "intelligence," which was often haphazard and self-serving. Waller does not claim too much for the importance of spying in deciding the war, but he does show how intelligence counted in influencing military thinking on movements and management. VERDICT For those wanting to see spying through both a wide-angle lens in terms of patterns of espionage and a microscopic one in terms of personalities, Waller's book is the one to read.--Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., PhiladelphiaPublishers Weekly Review
Espionage in the Civil War gets a thorough, sometimes fascinating examination in this hefty volume from Waller (Wild Bill Donovan). Detective Allan Pinkerton, Richmond society dame Elizabeth Van Lew, military intelligence pioneer George Sharpe, and rogue lawman Lafayette Baker produced mixed results in four years of operations for the Union, and their exploits are presented in impressive detail. Van Lew, a Union sympathizer, remained in Richmond when war broke out and ran a highly effective network of agents who reported on troop movements, political tensions, and the Confederates' ability to fight. Sharpe, a prosperous New Yorker, started out as a captain in the New York State Militia and then inadvertently became the Union's finest military spymaster with reports that presaged today's sophisticated intelligence analysis. He was much more successful than Pinkerton, whose information collection was vast but rarely timely enough to help. Baker's Brigands--which Waller describes as a network of informers, "plug ugly" detectives, and other opportunists--were free with the law and not above lining their own pockets, but did identify corruption that hampered the Union fight. Waller's narrative moves chronologically, alternating between each of the four subjects and recounting their exploits in detail. This is a long but cracking good tale. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM. (Aug.)CHOICE Review
Spy stories always make for good reading, and Lincoln's Spies by Waller, a former journalist, is no exception. The author provides a wide-ranging history of how Union espionage aided the Northern war effort despite the dire risks taken by the spies operating behind enemy lines. While other books on Civil War espionage offer an expansive view of the war, Waller relates the story of Union spying by emphasizing the activities of four particular secret agents, some more successful than others. The shortcomings of inept intelligence gatherers, such as Allan Pinkerton and Lafayette Baker, were more than compensated for by skilled operators like Elizabeth Van Lew and George Sharpe. Van Lew, an antebellum abolitionist, ran an extensive spy ring from her upper-class mansion in Richmond, while Sharpe, a prominent prewar lawyer who had enlisted as a volunteer in 1861, rose to the rank of major general by accumulating intelligence information from a broad network of agents in Virginia. Waller's skill as a writer is sure to hold the reader's attention throughout this lengthy book as he describes Union spy craft. The concluding chapter on the postwar lives of the various spies is especially interesting. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Steven J. Ramold, Eastern Michigan UniversityKirkus Book Review
A detailed, chronological look at the work of a handful of spies in President Abraham Lincoln's network and the extent to which they helped defeat the Confederacy.While both the North and South used spies, writes Waller (Disciples: The World War II Missions of the CIA Directors Who Fought for Wild Bill Donovan, 2015, etc.), Lincoln was able to employ those sources more efficiently, using such methods as tracking changes in enemy numbers and using hot air balloons. The author focuses on the work of "Allan Pinkerton, Lafayette Baker, George Sharpe, and Elizabeth Van Lewimportant Union agents who operated mainly in the Civil War's Eastern Theater," which "became a crucial region for the war." Pinkerton, of the National Detective Agency, had infiltrated Confederate plots on the Northern railroad system before the time of Lincoln's inauguration. Having unearthed assassination threats to the president-elect, he helped sneak him through Baltimore and into Washington ahead of his announced travel schedule. He would serve as Gen. George McClellan's intelligence chief, and not always skillfullye.g., he inflated the numbers of Confederate troops. Despite the cultivated image of a "simple frontier rail-splitter,' " Lincoln was a keen observer of political intelligence. As the author writes, "he would assume the presidency not totally unfamiliar with the dark arts of subterfuge and intrigue that Pinkerton practiced." Eventually, the administration would "ratchet up police state tactics," such as those used questionably by their strong-armed agent Baker. While Lincoln was anguished over finding a general who would actually challenge Robert E. Lee, Richmond society lady Van Lew, disgusted by slavery, covertly supplied information to Union officials while maintaining her Southern good standing. Waller shows how these quiet workhorses toiling in the shadowsincluding Sharpe, who became "the Union Army's preeminent spymaster"would make all the difference in winning the war. Helpfully, the author includes a timeline of major events and a categorized cast of characters.A meticulous chronicle of all facets of Lincoln's war effort. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.There are no comments on this title.