Jeffa09Civil+War+Final+Essay

Jeff Biestek Air Group Spies highly influenced the outcome of the Civil War. They impacted how generals on both sides moved with their troops, attacked and/or retreated, and ultimately who won the battles. Spies would attempt to collect useful information, give that information to their generals to use, all while risking their lives everyday. There was also a special kind of spy that could collect information more successfully than others. Spies in the Civil War were constantly trying to go out and collect information that would help their side. They would wear disguises and try to persuade people they met to give them helpful information on the movements and other intel that could be used against the enemy. They could be very tricky and witty, sometimes even getting their victims drunk to loosen their tongue. They would use almost any means necessary to get the information they were seeking. Spies in the Civil War were very clever and smart, because they were being relied on to collect information that would bring the advantage to their side. The information that spies tried to get was very important. When useful information was successfully retrieved, it would be used to aid their side. It would help the generals to know what the other side was doing, any movements of supplies or troops, and other useful things that could be advantageous. Without this information, many battles plans and army movements probably wouldn't have happened. Otherwise it went drastically wrong or would have been sure luck if successful. However, this information was retrieved, by spies, and therefore impacted the war and changed the way things went throughout it. Information collected by the spies was priceless, and that is probably why these spies risk their lives everyday for the high reward of intel from the enemy. Every time a spy left on a mission, no one knew when or if they would return. Things could always go wrong, yet it continued because the pros would out weigh the cons if the mission was successful. A specific side might loose 3 or 4 spies, but if the 5th was successful then it would have been worth it to get the information. The risks spies faced everyday very easily could have seemed endless. There were two types of spies, and one had advantages that the other simply couldn't have. This advantage belonged to women, who were also important spies in the civil war. These women seemed to have more motive to be spies and seemed to it well, sometimes better than men spies. A specific advantage the women had was simply being a woman. If they were caught, they faced .extremely less likely odds of being hanged such as a male spy would have been. They most likely would just be warned or threatened and possibly face a prison charge, yet they were released to freedom and continue spying eventually. The main reason for this was that most men basically found it morally wrong to kill a woman and couldn't bring themselves to do it. Women played a huge role in this war, for it was the first time women had taken a major role in espionage. Also, they did not ever take a big role in any other wars after the Civil War. The Civil War was a spy-crazy war, with everyone spying on everyone else. For this reason, spies played such a big role because information could be found and then put to use if it fell into the wrong hands. Spies were very sly in their actions, and they collected some extremely important information in their job. There was always a risk, but the rewards were so great that spies were prosperous during the Civil War. And women spies played a deadly role by getting highly involved. Therefore all spies, both men and women, without a doubt impacted the Civil War and helped make it what it was.