The lion and the fox Two rival spies and the secret plot to build a Confederate Navy

Historian Rose (Washington's Spies) delivers an entertaining chronicle of the battle of wits between a Confederate spy and a Union agent in England during the early years of the Civil War. In 1861, ex-Union Navy officer James Bulloch sailed for Liverpool seeking to build a clandestine Confederate navy in order to break the Union blockade of Southern ports. His nemesis was U.S. consul Thomas Dudley, whose "Quaker rectitude, stiff-necked temperance, and remorseless work ethic" provided a jarring contrast to Bulloch's "designedly aristocratic style." Tracing Britain's 1861 Proclamation of Neutrality to the British view that the Civil War "was yet another of their rancorous colonial cousins' periodic fits of madness," Rose documents how Bulloch--aided by a well-placed mole in Britain's Foreign Office--exploited a loophole in the British Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819 to convince Liverpool's shipbuilders to manufacture the commerce raiders CSS Florida and CSS Alabama. The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation helped turn the tide in Dudley's favor, however, as Britons came to view the war as "a humanitarian crusade to free the oppressed," rather than a fight to preserve the Union. Rose's indelible character sketches and firm grasp of the industrial and political milieu of 19th-century Britain enrich the contest of wills between Bulloch and Dudley. This spy-versus-spy tale delights. (Dec.)

Historian Rose (Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring) masterfully delivers an exciting tale of plots and schemes among the shipyards, docks, and government offices of Liverpool and London. At the onset of the American Civil War, the Southern states lacked a navy. The North blockaded southern ports, cutting off cotton to foreign markets. Confederate leaders dispatched James Bulloch (1823--1901) to England to raise a small fleet of commerce raiders. These ships wreaked havoc among Union shipping and drew needed warships away from the blockade effort, allowing southern merchants to ply their trade. Northern leaders were concerned that the Confederates would seek out assistance and recognition from European governments, especially those of France and Great Britain, where cotton was in high demand. So, the federal government sent a new consul, Thomas Haines Dudley (1819--93) to Liverpool, England, then a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers, to ferret out clandestine Southern activities. Dudley soon suspected that Bulloch and English sympathizers worked to raise funds and construct warships with the aid of middlemen and fictitious companies. VERDICT Based on archival and primary research, this well-written account of intrigue will appeal to readers of Civil War history and real-life tales of spies and espionage.--Chad E. Statler