Title: Intelligence in the Army of the Potomac: 1861-1863.
Creator: Browne, Thomas A. (Major)
Date: 2011
Publisher: Quantico, Virginia. Marine Corps University, Command and Staff College (CSC)
Description: Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited.
Type: thesis
Format: 32 pages, 690 KB PDF
Sponsoring Agency/Branch: United States Marine Corps
Abstract: This paper examines the intelligence capabilities in the Army of the Potomac under the command of General McClellan in 1861 and ends in 1863 while the army is under the command of General Meade. Several innovations in intelligence took place during this time period most notably under McClelland and Hooker. McClellan developed the army's first professional spy network under the leadership of Alan Pinkerton. General Hooker took this a step further and organized the army's first all source analysis organization in the form of the Bureau of Military Information (BMI). The innovations in the field of intelligence that were developed during this time period were keys to improving the overall professionalism of the Union Army. However, these improvements were not often translated into successes on the battlefield. The greatest tactical success of the period, General Meade at Gettysburg, took place without any further improvements to the intelligence system that General Hooker established.