Millions of American men and women fought against each other in this war, and more than half a million died. Yes, that is a fact. The men were usually soldiers. Women tended to be nurses, aides, or doctors, although some of them posed as men in order to be able to fight in the war. Some of these men and women, though, were spies. Instead of fighting with guns and ammunition, these people fought through secrets and sabotage. These tactics turned out to be essential. Battle could be won or lost depending on information aquired from spies.

Back then, spying was hardly the same as it is today, with all of our high-tech gadgets and well-organised secret agent groups. However, most of the things that spies do today were done in the nineteenth century just as effectively. On thing that spies did was send messages, which were usually about the e

If a spy was caught, they were usually treated just like common criminals. The penalty for being a spy was most often death by a public hanging, although many spies begged to be shot to death, which was considered to be a more honorable way to go. Young boys that were spies were hanged as well, but there is no record of a femal spy ever being hanged. Although there was one sentenced once, she got away.

There are many famous spies that worked for the Confederacy. Among them are Rose O'Neal Greenhow, "Mrs. M," William Norris, Thomas Nelson Conrad, and Colonel Thomas Jordan. William Norris And Thomas Jordan weren't really spies, but they were well involved with the spying community. William Norris was the chief spymaster of the Confederacy. Thomas Jordan (who often worked with Rose O'Neal Greenhow) organised his own spy ring in Washington, and created his own secret code. "Mrs. M" is most known for an incident in which she wrapped a report around the body of her dog, and then sewed him a new fur coat which was placed around the report on the dog's body. When she reached her camp, she obtained a knife from an officer, and pretended to cut her dog open, when she was really just getting the report. Thomas Nelson Conrad was known for dressing as a minister in order to be able to move freely among Union troops. Before he was a spy, he was actually an ordained Methodist minister. Another interesting thing about him is that he used to hold spy meetings in the Interior Department Building, right under the noses of the Union. He figured that the Union people would never expect spies to meet in their own building. He was right.

nemy's plans and movements, their troop size, their supplies, and the placement or strength of their forts. Many used coded messages with words that stood for different words. Some had different symbols for letters and numbers. Some spies even used inivisible ink. The spies also had ways of concealing the messages that they had to deliver. Messages were often hidden in articles of clothing. People had to write on silk, that was then sewn into clothing, and spies could also hide information in large metal buttons. Women's clothing was ideal for hiding things in. Sometimes, they would even hide people under their hoop skirts!

Two of the major secret agent unions that existed during the Civil War were The Secret Sevice Bureau, which was the official name of the Confederate's espionage bureau, a

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Approximate Word count = 1651
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)