AGEOD Forums

Just got the event that Pinkerton has arrived. Looking at his attribute details, am I right that he can go alone, far behind enemy lines, without any sort of military escort.

With his 100 evade, I assume that nothing can kill or stop him and he won't run out supplies because he can go into the finest Southern restaurants.

Since this is a totally undocumented unit, more details about how to use him, what can stop him, etc. would be appreciated from Pocus, PhilThib or Beta.

We really need that unit guide, PhilThib.

I noticed the "pinkerton spy" in the manual's "NATO Symbol" overview this morning and wondered what that actually was. From what you're saying he seems like a nice little asset.

When did he pop up in your game?

Pinkerton was notorious in the war for giving fairly bad intelligence to the Union, not deliberately so, but his ill-trained agents often sent back reports on Southern strength that vastly inflated the number of troops in units. A nice feature for the Pinkerton unit would be if the Union player could never be certain if the information is accurate. The South on the whole had a better intelligence operation behind Union lines in Washington, Maryland and occupied Virginia. Perhaps there could be a competing Conferate unit?

I couldn't agree more. A Pinkerton unit should certainly cause the Federal player to read "200.000 rebels" where in reality there are 50.000.

DON wrote:Pinkerton was notorious in the war for giving fairly bad intelligence to the Union, not deliberately so, but his ill-trained agents often sent back reports on Southern strength that vastly inflated the number of troops in units. A nice feature for the Pinkerton unit would be if the Union player could never be certain if the information is accurate. The South on the whole had a better intelligence operation behind Union lines in Washington, Maryland and occupied Virginia. Perhaps there could be a competing Conferate unit?

There is...the South has Belle Boyd.

"There is...the South has Belle Boyd."

Good to know. I haven't yet played as the South.

I was wondering when the Pinkerton unit would show up.

Edwin C. Fishel's "The Secret War for the Union: the Untold story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War"
Is an excellent resource for most things relating to early and middle war Union intelligence. Fishell spent 30 years in US intelligence services starting with the OSS of WW2. In 1959 he found a roomful of never before seen secret Union intelligence documents. He spent the next 30 years collecting more info for his book.

The book goes into great detail about Pinkerton and his operations and dispells many myths, both dealing with Pinkerton and with southern espionage supremacy.
Fishell's conclusion is that Pinkerton skewed his number to match what Mac wanted, and not the other way. For whatever reason Mac truly believed the Rebs had 200,000 although no other intelligence could prove it.

Pinkerton should be tied into McClellan, as he was hired by Little Mac and moved on when Little Mac did. The problem with Pinkerton is that his agents dealt mainly with strategic intelligence. They were dispatched to Richmond and only collected information on the AoNV when passing through or by Richmond rumors.
Many Pinkerton agents were caught. I'm interested to see how the game handles the espionage aspect. It can really be tricky to pull off and hard to please everyone. I'm just thankfull it is included.
Even if it is not 100% historically acurate, it should add another fun dimension to the game.

Historical background.
McClellan practically blinded himself by disassembling his cavalry brigades to serve menial task such as orderlies, couriers, guards, etc..
Also, McClellan was the sole clearing house for any intelligence gathered by the Army. He had no staff to investigate or collate the information.

After McClellan, Gen Pope made an agressive push to collect intelligence by ordering his commanders to hire as many spies and agents as possible. The problem was these agents were in lower-middle Virginia or the Valley, when the campaign moved north, Pope was blind, hence 2nd Manassas.
Burnside made almost no attempt to gather intell.

It was Gen Joe Hooker that created the Union Cavalry Corps and the first actual intelligence section on an army staff. It was the precursor to modern, all source, staff based intelligence gathering and analysis. It was this organization that discovered Lee had almost no troops west of Fredericksburg, and allowed Hooker to move 5 Union Corps onto Lee's flank undetected.
So why the Union debacle at Chancellorsville? Hooker sent Stonemans cavalry on a deep raid to cut Lee's rail lines, depriving himself of battlefield "eyes" when he needed them the most.
That's as much as I've read so far...

(as you can tell, I really like this book )

Very interesting text. Keep us informed on what happens next.

Rafiki wrote:I noticed the "pinkerton spy" in the manual's "NATO Symbol" overview this morning and wondered what that actually was. From what you're saying he seems like a nice little asset.

When did he pop up in your game?

Summer 1863. But I wonder if the event trigger is random or caused by something else?

Well, Pinkerton wasn't a very good spy. Despite his 100 evasion rating, I made one move and he was killed.

How are you supposed to use this unit? Bury him in with a cavalry unit, keep him with the Army although it's sure not sneaky?

Did you instruct him to evade (with the special order to do so)?

Pinkerton was McClellan incognito and visa versa. They were just missing the Third Stooge to become hilariously historic. They had to wait for Butler but Butler never made it to the picnic.

Chris

Pinkerton has already a hide value of 3, with +1 for being a lone leader, so you should be able to sneak him in several places. Perhaps not the main CSA army though!

Rafiki wrote:Did you instruct him to evade (with the special order to do so)?

Rats. He was a default "defend." Didn't think about the evade setting.

Well, his days as a Union spy were very short. One turn, then dead.

I just assumed he could roam anywhere, dining on grits on Monday and then on Yankee food by Friday.

OK, here's what Pinkerton does -- after getting him killed in his first turn and learning things the hard way.

The new unit guide came out one day after I got him killed. It says that Pinkerton dramatically improves Fog of War for the unit to which he is attached.

He apparently is not to be used as a spy behind the lines. You merge him with your corps or Army or whomever is on the attack and it will increase their FOW.

Now that's not real obvious. Thanks to PhilThib for the unit guide -- but why couldn't you have sent us that just one day earlier before I moved Pinkerton and killed him?

Yeah, but does he improve your Fog of War in your favor or the other sides? It is Pinkerton we are talking about.