Existing comment:
Musical Intelligence:
Music often gave away secrets -- scouts listened carefully to bands to determine the location, size, and composition of the enemy. That meant it could also be used for deception. Outnumbered by Union troops outside Yorktown during the Peninsula Campaign, Confederate General John Magruder was desperate. He told his bands to play loud and long into the night. Deceived, General McClellan believed that he was the outnumbered one. He ordered his army to entrench, thereby losing his change to overwhelm Magruder. |