Bureau of Military Information

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The Bureau of Military Information (BMI) was the first formal and organized

Allan Pinkerton was contracted by Federal and a number of state and local governments to solve cases such as train robberies. In early 1861, Pinkerton assumed responsibility for Abraham Lincoln's safety, including gaining wind of an alleged assassination attempt.

Shortly after the start of the Civil War, Pinkerton was contacted by George B. McClellan, a friend and former client, to provide intelligence for the Department of the Ohio.

Colonel Charles Pomeroy Stone also utilized a number of detectives. Starting in 1862, General Winfield Scott hired Lafayette C. Baker to provide him services similar to those Pinkerton provided McClellan. Lincoln hired William A. Lloyd to infiltrate the Confederacy and report directly to him at the cost of $200 a month plus expenses.^{[citation needed]}

In all cases, the detectives and spies in question were civilians, despite the fact they reported to military heads and served in wartime (Pinkerton, however, created an alias that was a Union Army major). They also reported directly to and were paid at the leisure of their superiors, not to any military or government agency, and in fact, Pinkerton and Baker's organizations actively competed against one another, to the point of arresting each other's agents to maintain an upper hand. After the war, both Pinkerton and Baker claimed to have held the position of "Chief of the United States Secret Service". However, none of the above are considered to be a true intelligence agency.

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  Allan Pinkerton, chief of McClellan's secret service, with his men near Cumberland Landing, Virginia, 05-14-1862
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  Pinkerton on horseback on the Antietam Battlefield in 1862
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  John G Babcock with his horse "Gimlet"
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  Right foreground Allan Pinkerton aka "Major E.J. Allen" with his operatives: Left to right: George H. Bangs; John G. Babcock; Augustus K. Littlefield. Seated in the left foreground William H. Moore, private Secretary to Edwin M Stanton
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  October 1862 Pinkerton with about a dozen of his "opertatives"
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  Pinkerton (left) with

  Major General John A. McClernand
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  Timothy Webster a Pinkerton opertative who was hanged in Richmond Va in 1862

Bureau of Military Information

On January 26, 1863,

In July 1864, Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant, in preparation for the campaign to capture Richmond, stationed Sharpe and the BMI staff into his command headquarters, to ensure he would have the most up to date knowledge of the battlefield. Sharpe and BMI continued to serve Grant up until the Battle of Appomattox Court House, where they were responsible for paroling the former members of the Army of Northern Virginia, including Robert E. Lee himself.

Aftermath

The BMI was disbanded in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. The United States would not create another formal intelligence agency until the Office of Naval Intelligence was established in 1882. The Army would create its Military Information Division in 1885, which would become the predecessor of the Military Intelligence Corps and United States Army Intelligence and Security Command.

Following

• American Civil War spies
• Black Dispatches
• Confederate Secret Service

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Linedecker, Clifford L., ed. Civil War, A-Z: The Complete Handbook of America's Bloodiest Conflict. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.
  ISBN 0-89141-878-4
• United States Government, Intelligence in the Civil War. Washington, D.C., Central Intelligence Agency, 2005.
• The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide