Just as they did during previous wars, slaves, free blacks, and maroons (runaway slaves) assisted both Union and Confederate Armies, as laborers, soldiers, guides, and spies. These spies were servants, field hands, skilled craftsmen, and unskilled laborers. They were male and female, slave and free, adults and children. They passed between the two armies and learned a great deal about both.

 In northeastern North Carolina, which was occupied early in the war, the slaves of Bertie, Hertford, and neighboring counties pro­vided information to occupying Union forces that were useful in tracking Con­ federate movements. They also gave in­ accurate or misleading information to enemy armies. Throughout the South, white civilian and military leaders openly discussed secret plans and strategies in front of the slaves and free blacks who served them, believing them to be ignorant and unable to comprehend what was being revealed. These blacks, however, often were fully aware of what was being discussed; and through the "grapevine," which kept slaves on neighboring plantations in­ formed, they passed this information to advancing troops. These slaves and servants also served as guides, leading Union troops through hostile territory, including swamps, forests, and un-mapped areas. It is difficult to calculate how important. African-American spies were to both armies, but based on the evidence, they made important contributions and significantly influenced the outcome of numerous battles fought during the war.

see example here: William Henry Singleton, a formerly enslaved man, recalls fighting for the Union, 1922


More on African Americans of North Carolina service during the Civil War