SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BACKGROUND MATERIALS ONTHE ART OF INTELLIGENCE WARFARE IN THE 18th CENTURY
ARRT-R members and guests are invited to read selections from two 18th century books that deal explicitly with military intelligence, as well as a conference paper that I wrote which covers much of the material that will be presented at the November 2008 Roundtable. Together with websites of the Clements Library (“Spy Letters of the American Revolution”) and the Central Intelligence Agency (“Intelligence in the War of Independence”), these materials will provide you with good background for the presentation and for your understanding of a critical aspect of military operations in the 18th century.
These treatises, one by an English officer and the other by a French Count, provide the most explicit description of military intelligence that I have found in the overall 18th century military literature. They are unique because of the depth of their treatment of intelligence issues. Although there are some important differences between these works, they agree on many important issues. George Washington owned a copy of the French translation, and it may have guided some of his understanding of European military intelligence in the early phases of the Revolutionary War.
Although both books have the same English title and were published in English in the same year (1761), the French one first appeared in French in 1754. It was written by Count Turpin de Crissé, who was a Colonel of light cavalry at the time he composed his book and who later became a lieutenant general. The two-volume work was translated by an English officer. Turpin de Crissé=s emphasis is on the interaction of intelligence with other operational functions, with summary descriptions of specific intelligence techniques. This book is the only work I have found so far that emphasizes the necessity of a commander having explicit knowledge of the campaign area, and he uses that principle as the unifying theme for his entire work. While the author refers extensively to other authors and books, the work appears to be his original composition.
The other book, by Captain James Anderson (an English officer who had been living for some time on the Continent), deals more deeply with intelligence techniques but also recognizes the important interaction of intelligence with the other operational functions. He borrows extensively from other writers of the 17th and 18th centuries, but much of his discussion of intelligence appears to be his own analysis and thus an original English contribution to the military literature. It is the only work I have found that talks explicitly about the use of ciphers to maintain secrecy in communications. It is an unbreakable code (even today by NSA!) and can be solved only by knowing the encoding method – or by capturing the key or stealing it (known as a “black bag” job in modern jargon).
Both books are quite long, so I have highlighted (with underlined bold font) the sections that discuss key intelligence issues as well as some sections that make other important points of interest.
The paper I wrote for an academic conference examines British use of military intelligence in three disastrous military operations in America B Braddock in 1755, Gage in 1774-1775, and Burgoyne in 1777 B to determine how closely each general abided by the intelligence Alessons@ highlighted in the overall military literature of the era.
If you don=t have the time to read everything, skimming through the 18th century books will give you an overall appreciation of how contemporaries understood the issues in the age of the Enlightenment. I will be covering the key conclusions of the paper in my presentation.
John Kenneth Rowland
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WEBSITES DEALING WITH
INTELLIGENCE IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Central Intelligence Agency,
“Intelligence in the War of Independence”
https://www.cia.gov/library/center‑for‑the‑study‑of‑intelligence/csi‑publications/books‑and‑monographs/intelligence/index.html
William L. Clements Library,
“Spy Letters of the American Revolution”
http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/index‑about.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
J. Ransom Clark, Muskingum College (Emeritus),
“The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments” (2008)
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/
Click on AMain Table of Contents@
Click on AHistorical (Pre-WWI)@
Click on AUnited States@
Click on AAmerican Revolution@
Army War College, Army Heritage Collection On-Line,
“Colonial America and the War for Independence”
(Bibliography of AWC holdings as of 1976)
http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp
Click on AResource Guides/Finding Aids@
Click on ASpecial Bibliographic Series@
Click on ANo.14: Colonial America and the War for Independence@
Download Bibliography (Adobe Acrobat)
Go to AIntelligence Services@ on pages 57-58 (images 63-64)