Tom Ryan to sign book on Gettysburg Aug. 18 in Rehoboth Beach
Author Tom Ryan will be presenting and signing copies of his book, “Spies, Scouts, and Secrets in the Gettysburg Campaign: How the Critical Role of Intelligence Impacted the Outcome of Lee's Invasion of the North, June-July 1863,” Saturday, Aug. 18, from 9 to 11 a.m., at Browseabout Books, 133 Rehoboth Ave., Reboboth Beach. For more information go to www.browseaboutbooks.com.
As intelligence experts have long asserted, "Information in regard to the enemy is the indispensable basis of all military plans."
Despite the thousands of books and articles written about Gettysburg, Ryan's groundbreaking “Spies, Scouts, and Secrets in the Gettysburg Campaign: How the Critical Role of Intelligence Impacted the Outcome of Lee's Invasion of the North, June - July 1863” is the first to offer a unique and incisive comparative study of intelligence operations during what many consider the war's decisive campaign.
Based upon years of indefatigable research, the author evaluates how Gen. Robert E. Lee used intelligence resources, including cavalry, civilians, newspapers, and spies to gather information about Union activities during his invasion of the North in June and July 1863, and how this intelligence influenced Lee's decisions. Simultaneously, Ryan explores the effectiveness of the Union Army of the Potomac's intelligence and counterintelligence operations. Both Maj. Gens. Joe Hooker and George G. Meade relied upon cavalry, the Signal Corps, and an intelligence staff known as the Bureau of Military Information that employed innovative concepts to gather, collate, and report vital information from a variety of sources.
The result is an eye-opening, day-by-day analysis of how and why the respective army commanders implemented their strategy and tactics, with an evaluation of their respective performance as they engaged in a battle of wits to learn the enemy's location, strength and intentions.
“Spies, Scouts, and Secrets in the Gettysburg Campaign” is grounded upon a broad foundation of archival research and a firm understanding of the theater of operations that specialists will especially value. Everyone will appreciate reading about a familiar historic event from a perspective that is both new and enjoyable. One thing is certain: no one will close this book and look at the Gettysburg Campaign in the same way again.
Ryan is the former president of the Central Delaware Civil War Round Table, and is a longtime member of the Gettysburg Foundation and the Civil War Trust. He has published more than 125 articles and book reviews on Civil War subjects, many dealing with intelligence operations, and writes a weekly column called Civil War Profiles for Coastal Point, a Delaware newspaper. Ryan served three years in the United States Army and more than three decades with the U.S. Department of Defense in various intelligence operations-related capacities. Now retired, he and his wife live in Bethany Beach.
