Devil's Game: The Civil War Intrigues of Charles A. Dunham - Softcover

Cumming, Carman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252075196 ISBN 13: 9780252075193

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2008

Synopsis

The first book-length study of one of the Civil War's most outlandish and mysterious characters

Devil's Game traces the amazing career of Charles A. Dunham, Civil War spy, forger, journalist, and master of dirty tricks. Writing for a variety of New York papers under alternate names, Dunham routinely faked stories, created new identities, and later boldly cast himself to play those roles. He achieved his greatest infamy when he was called to testify in Washington concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Many parts of Dunham's career remain shadowy, but Cumming offers the first detailed tour of Dunham's convoluted, high-stakes, international deceits, including his effort to sell Lincoln on plans for a raid to capture Jefferson Davis. 

Exhaustively researched and unprecedented in depth, this carefully crafted assessment of Dunham's motives, personality, and the complex effects of his schemes changes assumptions about covert operations during the Civil War.

About this title

About the Author

Carman Cumming worked as a reporter and editor in Canada and the United States before becoming a journalism professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. His publications include Secret Craft: The Journalism of Edward Farrer and Sketches from a Young Country: The Images of Grip Magazine.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252075196
• ISBN 13: 9780252075193
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328