Spies

      Women were tired of being inactive and thought of as weaker than men, they left their uneventful lives behind and began working in the civil war despite the criticism of others. Many of these women became spies, they delivered secret messages from the dangers of enemy lines and smuggled supplies to troops. They hid important papers in their dresses and were thought of as weak and innocent so were easily able to cross enemy lines.

Belle Boyd

     Belle Boyd was thought of as one of the best Confederacy Woman Spies. She served forces in the Shenandoah Valley by carrying important letters and papers across enemy lines. She operated her spying operations from her father's hotel in Front Royal, she provided valuable information to General Stonewall Jackson and General Turner Ashby in 1862. Later she was made a captain, but was betrayed by her lovers and arrested on July 29, 1862. In December 1863 she was released and sent to Europe because of health issues. In her attempt to return she fell in love with Samuel Hardinage and was married to him in England till he died after being released from a Union prison.  Belle died while touring the western United States.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser

     Mary Elizabeth Bowser was a freed slaved who pretended to be a dull-witted servant for the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia. While she cleaned the house and waited on Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his military leaders, she read war dispatches and overheard conversations about Confederate troop strategy and movement. She memorized details and passed them along to Union spies. They "greatly enhancing the Union's conduct of the war," according to the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.  Nothing is known of what she did after the war or where and when she died.




Elizabeth Van Lew


     Using neither charm nor beauty like other romantic women spies Elizabeth Van Lew relied on her own witty and rebellious personality to collect important information for the Union. Nearby was the Libby Prison where Union soldiers were brought after being captured, Elizabeth brought them clothes, food, medicine, and books. Union prisoners had valuable information gathered while being in Confederate lines that she would send to Union generals. The newer prisoners would be full of important information about Confederate troops, and Elizabeth would find a way to get that information back to the Union. She even managed to penetrate the home of Jefferson Davis, by convincing one of her servants to secure a position working for the Confederate President. She created codes and elaborate methods of transmitting the messages safely back to the Union. When Grant reached Richmond, he visited Elizabeth for tea saying, “You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war.”She died penniless, a plaque upon her grave reads, “She risked everything that is dear to man….friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself, all for one absorbing desire of her heart….that slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved.”