CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)

The Civil War was the first war where spying was used on a large scale and became an art. It is an interesting fact that the brightest and the best were young females. There were male spies, but none of them were as successful as the female spies. Three of the very best spies were Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Emma Edmonds and Bell Boyd. These ladies helped their side get information about the other sides' war tactics. 

SPY GADGETS
Spying during the Civil War lead to what is now known as tactical espionage.

It's tempting to think that spy gadgets aren't all that old, but even Caesar encoded messages using cryptography. This disk dates back to the Civil War, when it was used by the Confederate side. CSA stands for Confederate States of America.

It's pretty obvious how the device works: rotate the inner wheel to displace the letters. M = G, P = J, etc. Simple to crack, right? Not if the message is written in a language you don't know. Spies were tricky like that.

Unknown Photo of Women in the Civil War

MORE CIVIL WAR WOMEN OF ADVENTURE ...
Both the Union and Confederate armies forbade the enlistment of women. Women soldiers of the Civil War therefore assumed masculine names, disguised themselves as men and hid the fact that they were female. Because they passed as men, it's impossible to know with any certainty how many women soldiers served in the Civil War. Estimates place as many as 250 women in the ranks of the Confederate army. Visit www.civilwarsoldierwomen.blogspot.com to learn more about these amazing women!