Changes

After the war, American spying took a downturn as the country was preoccupied with building the young country. In fact, the US was ill prepared for the war of 1812, where US soldiers were often unaware even where the frontier with Canada was even located. It was the Civil War where things changed once again. The North, in the Civil War, developed a network of spies who were able to cross between the borders with the South, such as William Alvin Lloyd. The North also developed two spying agencies, including one run by Allan Pinkerton and another run by Lafayette Baker. There was two due to infighting between generals who depended on the different spy heads. This often lead to information not being shared and sometimes counterproductive efforts that sometimes even led to the arrest of spies working for the other agency. There were some notable successes in troop movement observations, but often the information did not have a clear chain where the intelligence could be used for actionable purposes. The South had some notable successes, often creating an elaborate network in major northern cities. The most successful group was the so-called Canadian Cabinet, which ran a Southern spy network from Montreal. It is likely John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, derived from this group. They also succeeded in several sabotage operations and creating fires in major cities.