While researching my upcoming book on the battle of Plymouth (Savas Beatie), I came across one of the few accounts of the execution of a Black man for spying. A member of the 1st Virginia Infantry, the morning of the battle, recalled that they found a Black man “wearing the dress of a field hand, and having a red handkerchief tied around his head.” Under these clothes was “the full uniform of a Yankee soldier.” The spy was “hung on the spot,” his identity unknown. Most people would either discount this story, or add it to a somewhat questionable list of atrocities committed by Confederate soldiers during the Plymouth Campaign.[1]
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| From Colyer. |
Colyer then gives us a few names and exploits. One spy, Charley, made three trips to Kinston. W.M. Kinnegy also scouted for the Federals in Kinston. Two freemen who came into the lines were used to scout in the Beaufort area.
Spies are seldom mentioned in official
correspondence. When they are, their race is almost never mentioned. Major
General J.G. Foster, wrote from New Bern on January 20, 1863 to Henry Halleck, “I
have just received information from a spy, who has been within the enemy’s
lines and conversed with their soldiers, to the effect that the rebel force in
this State has been largely increased; that the main body intended to be thrown
by railroad either to Weldon or Wilmington… The rebel soldiers reported to the
spy that 75,000 men were at Goldsboro.”[3]
Writing from Suffolk on March 21, 1863, Maj. Gen. John J. Peck asked Major
General Dix: “Is it not time for your peddler [spy] to return?”[4]
Writing from Wilmington in August 1863, Maj. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting complained to
the Secretary of War that he had too few men. The few that he did have were
busy, among other things, in the “detection of spies.”[5]
Spies were even used in the
greater Plymouth area. Major General John Peck, commanding the eastern North
Carolina district, gave several accounts of using the local population to
gather intelligence on Confederate operations. In February 1864 Peck mentions a letter from Brig.
General Wessels, commanding at Plymouth, that Wessel’s “spy has just come in
from Halifax. He came from Wilmington, and 25,000 pounds of iron was on the
same train.” It was iron for a gun boat. On March 18, Peck reported that Wessels
had reported on the “return of a man sent out … to procure information
concerning the ram at Halifax.” On March 29, Peck wrote that “My spy came in
from Kinston last evening, having been out seven days.” There is little clue
about the race of each of these spies, although Peck adds that in March, an
officer had examined “all the contrabands” and that they “agree that there is a
large force at Kinston, and also at Greenville, and that the obstructions below
Kinston are being removed.”[6]
The use of Blacks as spies, both
free and formerly enslaved, was something of which even the Confederate high
command was aware. In May 1863, Robert E. Lee, in writing to Lt. Col. J.
Critcher, 15th Virginia Cavalry, noted that "The chief source
of information to the enemy is through our Negroes."[7]
Was the treatment of the Black
man caught wearing a Federal uniform under other clothes unusually harsh? Maybe
not. Execution has been the normal punishment for spies caught by the enemy for
quite some time. We need only to mention names like Timothy Webster and Sam
Davis. There were other Black spies, probably the most famous on the Northern
side being John Scobell, who worked for Pinkerton. Overall, the work of Black
men and women as spies is one that needs to be explored more. That is a challenge.
If spies are successful, no one, except their handlers, know of their accomplishments.
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