About this episode

This episode explores the covert operations of the Confederate Secret Service during the Civil War and its connections to John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy against Lincoln.

On this episode of Our American Stories, by 1864, the Confederacy was losing the Civil War on the battlefield. But hundreds of miles behind Union lines, Confederate agents were fighting a very different kind of war. Working out of secret bases in places like Montreal, they gathered intelligence, plotted acts of sabotage, worked with Northern antiwar activists, and searched for ways to disrupt the presidential election and ignite an uprising in the North. Some even considered an extraordinary target: Abraham Lincoln himself. Patrick K. O'Donnell, author of  The Unvanquished , shares the hidden history of the Confederate Secret Service and makes the case that its covert war ultimately became entangled with John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy against Lincoln. He also explains how the scouts, spies, raiders, and saboteurs of the Civil War later influenced Wild Bill Donovan as he helped build America's modern intelligence and special operations capabilities during World War II. Support the show ( https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Our American Stories

Guest: Patrick K. O'Donnell

Topics covered

• Civil War
• Confederate Secret Service
• intelligence
• sabotage
• Abraham Lincoln
• John Wilkes Booth
• history

Keywords

• Confederate Secret Service
• Civil War
• intelligence
• sabotage
• Abraham Lincoln
• John Wilkes Booth
• Patrick K. O'Donnell

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Confederate Secret Service, Wild Bill Donovan

Books & works: The Unvanquished

Places: Montreal

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