John Burke (spy)
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John Burke (1830 – January 18, 1871) was a
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
Adjutant General of Texas The adjutant general of Texas (TAG) is the commander and chief executive officer of the Texas Military Department, the executive department of the Texas Military Forces. The adjutant general's position of authority over Texas Military Forces is sec ...
and
spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
. He was born in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. He was left an orphan by age 11 and eventually he made his way to Texas. There he studied law at night and was a cobbler (
shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...
) by day. He was eventually admitted to the bar and took rank as a criminal lawyer alongside his brother-in-law,
Pendleton Murrah Pendleton Murrah (1824/1826August 4, 1865) was the tenth Governor of Texas. His term in office coincided with the American Civil War. Career Murrah's birth date and birth location vary from source to source. Some have him born in 1824; others ...
. He joined the Confederacy and was briefly a member of the famous
Hood's Brigade The Texas Brigade (also known as Hood's Brigade) was an infantry formation of the Confederate States Army, Confederate Army that distinguished itself in the American Civil War. Along with the Stonewall Brigade, they were considered the Confederate ...
until he became a scout. He served early in the war as a scout for
P.G.T. Beauregard Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 - February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer of Louisiana Creole descent who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is common ...
,
Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...
, and
J.E.B. Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...
during Jackson's Valley Campaign in 1862. He rode with J. E. B. Stuart around McClellan's army in 1862. Burke traveled behind Union lines as far as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. He used disguises, frequently the uniform of a Union officer, and would change the color of his artificial eye. He was able to provide Lee with valuable information about Union forces and dispositions. Unfortunately, Captain John Burke never really kept a record of any field reconnaissance, but the information he gathered for the Confederacy was "said to have aided Beauregard and Johnston at Manassas." His most daring adventure came after he was apprehended in Philadelphia. He was placed under guard, in irons and handcuffs. As the train to Washington crossed a high trestle, he jumped into the river and made his way back to Lee. Fatigued by his exertions and now a colonel, Burke resigned and accepted appointment by Governor Murrah as adjutant general of Texas, effective November 1, 1864. General Lee wrote a letter thanking him for his services. Records of the adjutant general's office were lost in the Capitol fire of 1881, and little of Burke's service in that assignment is known. At the end of the war he joined Murrah in his flight to Mexico. After Murrah died, Burke returned to Marshall and resumed his law practice. Before the war, Burke married Jennie Taylor in 1855. They had two sons and a daughter, all of whom were born at John and Jennie Taylor Burke's plantation, Taylor Hall. After the war, Col. Burke emptied his plantation house of all finery as he had to burn it down. During reconstruction, the Yankees seized the plantations of high-ranking officers. Burke knew that being lynched for taking this step was the penalty according to the martial law. No one dared to reproach this dedicated man. His most famous case at the bar was his defense of prisoners held at Jefferson in the Stockade Case in 1869. Burke died at Jefferson on January 18, 1871, and is buried there.


Disguises and Spy Life

John Burke was both a scout and a spy. Those are completely different jobs, yet still similar, especially if one spy is doing them both. Scouting means to hear information, so a scout is one who would hear and find out important information about the enemy and their plans and problems. The way a scout does this is that they are supposed to learn, from others, the movement's, strengths, and force of the enemy. To spy means to see. A spy is supposed to be observative and watch everything. A spy is supposed to learn by seeing. A spy like Burke enters the lines of the enemy in disguise in order to spy out the land. General Thomas Rosser says that John Burke "was the eyes and ears of Lee's army." If a spy like John Burke was seen in battle, he is to be seen as 'a regular prisoner of war.' Spies are often secretive by creating clever disguises in order to gather important information. During his expeditions as a scout and a spy, Burke many times went into the enemy's country in various clever disguises. Some of these disguises were being a truck farmer and pretending to be a gentleman of leisure lounging around the capitol at Washington. John Burke also had an artificial eye. He would take out and change the color of this glass eye as a very different disguise. Lastly, because he was born in the Northern region of the United States, Burke "possessed a Northern accent that enabled him to move about among the Yankees without rousing suspicion;" thus, making him a key element in the Confederate spy ring. As a scout and spy, John Burke invaded the departments and gathered a lot of valuable information from enemies. Importantly for his career, Burke excelled as a mimic. From the most reliable people and sources, he was able to pick up important army news. Although, sometimes John Burke was not careful enough and the enemy was almost too quick for him, but every time, he outsmarted the enemy. On one expedition, John Burke was caught in Philadelphia. He was ironed and handcuffed, and death by hanging seemed to be next. But, while being taken away in a train at night, Burke remembered jumping off of bridges. Because of this memory, he jumped overboard the train and he escaped and was back at Lee's headquarters in only a few days. Back in battle, Burke was discovered again. He decided to abandon and run away from his horse and go into hiding nearby. He found an empty barn. This barn was just too empty. It had no place for Burke to hide. He decided to climb up onto the cross beams overhead, and he hid breathlessly while he watched as his pursuers entered the barn and looked almost everywhere possible that the clever spy, John Burke, could be. Finally, they gave up and left. There are many more escape stories from John Burke's spy and scout career, but there is one particularly amusing one. With the enemy close at his heels, Burke ran into a friend's house nearby. The only possibly sufficient hiding place was the wide-spreading hoopskirt of his hostess. This very personal hiding spot proved sufficient.


References

Max S. Lale, "BURKE, JOHN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbu33). Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Sulick, Michael J. Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown UP, 2014. Print. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, John American Civil War spies Texas Brigade People of Texas in the American Civil War People from Marshall, Texas 1830 births 1871 deaths