Douglas Waller - Lincoln’s Spies: Their Secret War to Save a Nation

ALSO BY DOUGLAS WALLER

Disciples: The World War II Missions of the CIA Directors Who Fought for Wild Bill Donovan

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage

A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Court-Martial That Gripped the Nation

Big Red: The Three-Month Voyage of a Trident Nuclear Submarine

Air Warriors: The Inside Story of the Making of a Navy Pilot

The Commandos: The Inside Story of Americas Secret Soldiers

Simon & Schuster

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Copyright 2019 by Douglas Waller

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First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition August 2019

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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui

Maps by Paul J. Pugliese

Jacket design by Archie Ferguson

Jacket art: Lincoln by is Tock; Pink Erton and Sharpe by the Library of Congress; Van Lew by the Valentine; Baker by the National Archives

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-5011-2684-0

ISBN 978-1-5011-2687-1 (ebook)

To Cameron and Eva

Main Characters in Bold

UNION AGENTS

John Babcock. First hired by Allan Pinkerton, he became George Sharpes top spy.

Joseph Stannard Baker. A cousin who worked for Lafayette Baker as an agent.

Lafayette Baker. A special provost marshal under War Secretary Edwin Stanton, he ran a secret service operation in Washington.

Luther Byron Baker. A cousin who worked for Lafayette Baker as an agent.

George Bangs. Chief of staff in the Pinkerton detective agency.

Charles Carter. A member of Elizabeth Van Lews Union spy ring in Richmond.

Milton Cline. A spy in George Sharpes Bureau of Military Information.

Everton Conger. An agent of Lafayette Bakers, who helped capture John Wilkes Booth.

Abby Green. An operative in Elizabeth Van Lews Richmond spy ring.

Hattie Lawton. A Pinkerton agency employee, she worked undercover with Timothy Webster posing as his wife.

Pryce Lewis. A Welshman who spied for Pinkerton in Virginia.

Frederick Lohmann. A pro-Union operative in Elizabeth Van Lews Richmond spy ring.

Joseph Maddox. A Union spy George Sharpe placed in Richmond.

John McEntee. Third-ranking spy in George Sharpes Bureau of Military Information.

Allan Pinkerton. Head of a Chicago detective agency, he served as General George McClellans intelligence chief.

Mary Richards (later Mary Bowser). One of Elizabeth Van Lews African American servants who spied for her.

William Rowley. A pro-Union operative in Elizabeth Van Lews Richmond spy ring.

Samuel Ruth. Superintendent of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and spy for the Union.

John Scully. Pryce Lewiss partner on his trip to Richmond to find Timothy Webster.

George Sharpe. As head of the Bureau of Military Information, he served as intelligence chief for Generals Hooker, Meade, and Grant.

Isaac Silver. A spy in George Sharpes Bureau of Military Information.

John Howard Skinker. A spy in George Sharpes Bureau of Military Information.

Eliza Van Lew. Elizabeth Van Lews mother.

Elizabeth Van Lew. The daughter of a wealthy merchant, she ran the Union spy ring in Richmond.

John Newton Van Lew. Elizabeth Van Lews brother.

Kate Warne. The first female detective to work for Pinkertons detective agency.

Timothy Webster. A detective from the Pinkerton agency, he was a top spy for Pinkerton when he served as McClellans intelligence chief.

UNION OFFICIALS AND MILITARY LEADERS

Montgomery Blair. Lincolns postmaster general.

Ambrose Burnside. Succeeded George McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Benjamin Butler. The first Union general to receive intelligence from Elizabeth Van Lew.

Daniel Butterfield. Chief of staff for the Unions Army of the Potomac.

Salmon P. Chase. Lincolns Treasury secretary.

Ulric Dahlgren. A Union cavalry officer killed in a raid on Richmond.

Edward Doherty. Led the cavalry detachment that helped capture John Wilkes Booth.

Ulysses S. Grant. A Union commander in the Western Theater who became general in chief of the Army.

Henry Halleck. First general in chief of the Union Army and later chief of staff under Ulysses S. Grant.

John Hay. A White House aide during the Lincoln administration.

Joseph Fighting Joe Hooker. Succeeded Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Unions Army of the Potomac.

Andrew Johnson. Lincolns second vice president, who succeeded him after the assassination.

Abraham Lincoln. President of the United States.

Thaddeus Lowe. Head of the U.S. Army Balloon Corps.

George McClellan. The Union commander of the Army of the Potomac and general in chief.

Irvin McDowell. The general who commanded Union troops at the first Battle of Bull Run.

James McPhail. Union provost marshal in Baltimore.

George Meade. Succeeded Joseph Hooker as commander of the Unions Army of the Potomac.

John Nicolay. A White House aide during the Lincoln administration.

Marsena Patrick. Provost marshal general of the Unions Army of the Potomac.

Alfred Pleasonton. Union cavalry commander in the Army of the Potomac.

John Pope. The Union commander at the second Battle of Bull Run.

Winfield Scott. Commanding general of the Army when Lincoln became president.

William Seward. Lincolns secretary of state.

Edwin Stanton. Lincolns second war secretary.

Levi Turner. An Army major and special judge advocate.

Gideon Welles. Lincolns Navy secretary.

William Wood. Superintendent of Old Capitol Prison.

CONFEDERATE AGENTS AND CONSPIRATORS

John Wilkes Booth. Lincolns assassin.

Belle Boyd. Confederate spy supplying intelligence to Stonewall Jackson.

Rose ONeal Greenhow. Ran a Confederate spy ring in Washington.

David Herold. One of the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination plot.

Thomas Jordan. A Confederate officer who oversaw Rose ONeal Greenhows spying in Washington.

CONFEDERATE OFFICIALS AND MILITARY LEADERS

Pierre G. T. Beauregard. Confederate general who commanded forces at Charleston for the attack on Fort Sumter, at the first Battle of Bull Run, and at Petersburg.

Jefferson Davis. President of the Confederate States of America.

Jubal Early. A Rebel division leader and then corps commander under Robert E. Lee.

Richard Ewell. One of Robert E. Lees corps commanders.

A. P. Hill. One of Robert E. Lees corps commanders.

Thomas Stonewall Jackson. One of Robert E. Lees corps commanders, who died from wounds suffered at the Battle of Chancellorsville.