A Spy’s Eye View of the Civil War
A Spy’s Eye View of the Civil War
In continued commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the International Spy Museum has added two new artifacts to the special exhibition, “From Ballroom to Battlefield,” which explores the significant role intelligence played across a divided nation. Out of context, these artifacts – an officer’s sword and a brass bugle – are merely relics from an era of a worn-torn country. However, the stories behind these effects unveil the intrinsic history of espionage utilized by both the Union and the Confederacy and woven into the War Between the States.
An Officer’s Sword Commands the Consequence of Espionage
On June 8, 1863, Confederate Colonel William Orton Williams and his cousin Lieutenant Walter G. Peter were caught behind enemy lines trespassing in Union-held Fort Granger, TN, wearing Union uniforms and carrying forged papers. They were arrested and ordered to be court-martialed as spies by Brigadier General (and future president) James Garfield who instructed to “hang them before morning.” The next day, the man designated with carrying out the order, Captain Julius H. Alexander, presided over the execution of Williams and Peter with this sword at his side. A year later, the bodies were moved to Washington, D.C., where they rest today at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.
The Bugle that Ended the War
Throughout the war, the sound of a buglers tune could identify a unit’s positioning, allowing units to effectively pass coded messages to one another detailing battle strategy. For two-and-a-half years, the sounds of this bugle marked the daily rhythm of life and work in Battery I of the 3rd Pennsylvania Artillery. It was in the possession of bugler Samuel Alexander on April 9, 1865, when he witnessed General Robert E. Lee surrender his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War.
Learn more about espionage in the Civil War and the special exhibition “From Ballroom to Battlefield” at www.spymuseum.org.
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