NCSC Unveils New Digital Exhibit on American Civil War Espionage

For Immediate Release:

Contact: (301) 243-0403
May 16, 2022

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) today unveiled a new digital exhibit on espionage during the American Civil War as part of its “Evolution of Espionage in America” project designed to inform the broader public about the critical role of espionage throughout our nation’s history.  The new Civil War exhibit can be found at https://www.intel.gov/evolution-of-espionage/civil-war.

“Just as espionage has shaped wartime strategies and outcomes from the Revolutionary War to contemporary times, the spies of the Union and Confederacy had a profound impact on the Civil War and our nation,” said Michael J. Orlando, the senior official performing the duties of the Director of NCSC. “We’re proud to spotlight for the public some of the remarkable stories of espionage during this momentous chapter in American history. Only by learning from the past can we effectively confront the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

The research, design, and development of this exhibit was a joint effort by personnel at NCSC and the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency (CLPT), both of which are components of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

While not a full accounting of every case of espionage during this period, the new digital exhibit provides details on more than 20 Union and Confederate spies whose espionage helped shape the course of the Civil War. More than 230 images accompany the narrative and help bring it to life. Visitors to the “Evolution of Espionage” website will meet:

• Kate Warne of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who was touted as America’s first female detective. Working with Allan Pinkerton, who led early Union Army intelligence efforts, Warne foiled an assassination plot against President-elect Abraham Lincoln ahead of his 1861 inauguration by infiltrating a group of southern secessionists bent on killing Lincoln as his train passed through Baltimore, Maryland.

• Elizabeth Van Lew, leader of the Richmond Underground, who was one of the most productive Union espionage sources of the war.  A fervent abolitionist, Van Lew used her reputation as a harmless socialite to cover her secret aid to the Union cause, which included facilitating the escape of many Union soldiers from the notorious Libby Prison.

• Mary Jane Richards, who was one of Elizabeth Van Lew’s most successful agents.  Emancipated by Elizabeth Van Lew, Richards hid her freedom in order to secure a position as housekeeper inside the Confederate White House, where she could eavesdrop with perfect recall on discussions between Confederate President Jefferson Davis, his cabinet members, and military commanders.

• Harriet Tubman, an American icon famed for her work to free enslaved African Americans through the Underground Railroad, but who also served as a scout and spy for the Union Army.  Tubman provided key intelligence to Union commanders in South Carolina that led to the destruction of several Confederate plantations and the liberation of nearly 750 enslaved persons, many of whom would go on to join the Union Army.

• Confederate spy Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, who was considered by some to be “one of the most dangerous men in the Confederacy,” passing secrets – and moving freely in Washington, DC – while using an array of disguises.  It was later revealed that Stringfellow had once been close enough to shoot Union Army commander General Ulysses S. Grant but opted to spare his life.  After the war, with Grant’s assistance, Stringfellow became a chaplain for the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War.

• Charley Wright, who fled slavery in the South, crossing Union lines in June 1863.  Wright provided the Union Army with vital intelligence on the movement of Confederate Army commander General Robert E. Lee’s forces north through the Shenandoah Valley.  In response, Union Army commander General Joseph Hooker moved his army north to shadow the Confederate forces.  The two armies would collide less than a month later at the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the pivotal battle of the war.

The new Civil War exhibit is the second era of espionage adapted from NCSC’s physical “Wall of Spies” museum to make the transition to online, public view.  The “Evolution of Intelligence in America,” debuted on Intelligence.gov in October 2021, sharing tales of more than 30 Continental Army and British Army spies during the Revolutionary War.  Illustrated by more than 80 images, it features heroes and villains of the Revolutionary War and teaches us the following:

• John Jay was one of the great statesmen of his time, serving most famously as a President of the Congressional Congress and first Chief Supreme Court Justice.  But less well known is that John Jay also led a counterintelligence operation which unraveled Loyalist conspiracies to undermine the Continental Army and even assassinate General George Washington.

• Benedict Arnold is a name synonymous with treason today, but before his turn to treachery he was one of George Washington’s best fighting generals.  Frustrated with lack of recognition for his military achievements and plagued by money problems, Arnold’s loyalty turned to bitterness.  Aided by his wife and co-conspirator, Arnold plotted unsuccessfully to turn over the Continental stronghold at West Point to the British.

• Major Robert Rogers was revered for his exploits during the French and Indian Wars where he fought alongside American colonists.  Spurned by General George Washington at the outset of the Revolutionary War, Rogers offered his services to the British, capturing none other than Nathan Hale, perhaps the most famous spy of the American Revolution.

The digital “Evolution of Espionage” exhibit expands and complements the physical “Wall of Spies Experience” museum located in NCSC’s facility at the Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda, making its insights originally intended to educate our intelligence officers accessible to a world-wide audience. This private museum, which was completed in October 2019, is an extraordinary collection of information, imagery, and artifacts detailing America’s history with espionage and sabotage, providing key insights into the perpetrators’ motivations and tradecraft.

The “Wall of Spies” museum includes more than 130 accounts of espionage from our country’s founding to contemporary times. Broken down by era, the museum covers the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the “Golden Age of Soviet Espionage,” the Cold War, and post-Cold War periods.

A center within ODNI, NCSC is the nation’s premier source for counterintelligence and security expertise and a trusted mission partner in protecting the United States against foreign and other adversarial threats.

CLPT leads the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) in its efforts towards greater openness and accountability, helping guide decision-making on how the IC can offer greater insight into its activities, and perform our vital mission more effectively, while ensuring the sometimes-necessary secrecy our work requires.

CLPT leads the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) in its efforts towards greater openness and accountability, helping guide decision-making on how the IC can offer greater insight into its activities, and perform our vital mission more effectively, while ensuring the sometimes-necessary secrecy our work requires.

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