Blogging Through the Alphabet: B is for Belle Boyd

 

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There are several well-known spies from the American Civil War, including ones for both the Union and Confederacy. Two of the most famous from the South include Rose O'Neal Greenhow and the subject of this post - Belle Boyd. And while there was no official network of spies both the Union and Confederacy had many individuals who served to gather information to help the war effort. 

The Start of the Belle's Career 

Maria Isabella "Belle" Boyd was born on May 9, 1844, to a prominent family near Martinsburg, Virginia (West Virginia today). She received a good education during her youth. When war broke out, her forty-five-year-old father enlisted in the Confederate Army and would serve in the Stonewall brigade. 

While her father was away, Belle would start on the road to infamy when she shot and killed a Union officer. On July 4, 1861, a drunken Union soldier insulted her and her mother so she shot and killed him in their home. Belle would later write in a post-war memoir that the soldier had "addressed my mother and myself in language as offensive as possible." She would be found not guilty after an investigation into the event.

Confederate Courier 

At the age of 17, Belle started her career as a Confederate spy and courier. In May of 1862, she took news to General Stonewall Jackson regarding the Union strength at Front Royal. Jackson captured Front Royal and acknowledged the contribution of Belle. 

She would continue to gather information by frequenting Union camps. One of the ways she gathered information is through flirting with the Union officers and using her charm. In the years after the Civil War, she would exaggerate her spying by saying she eavesdropped at Union headquarters in Front Royal. She became so famous that she would be dubbed by the press as "La Belle Rebelle" and "Cleopatra of Secession." 

Arrests 

Belle did not avoid arrests. In fact, she was arrested six or seven times. In July of 1862, she was arrested in Washington D.C. and held at the Old Capitol Prison. After about a month, she was let go as part of a prisoner exchange. But Belle would be arrested again in July of 1863 and released in December. 

When sailing for England in 1864, she was arrested as a Confederate courier. She only escaped to Canada with the aid of Lieutenant Sam Hardinge, a Union Naval Officer. She would later marry Lt. Hardinge after getting to England. She would stay in England for several years, writing her memoirs, including Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison, and gaining fame on the stage. She returned to America as a widow and mother to share her story.

After the War 

While in America, she married again (another man who fought for the Union) but divorced him after 16 years, in 1884. Two months after her divorce, she married an actor 17 years her junior. Belle Boyd died on June 11, 1900, of a heart attack in Kilbourn, Wisconsin. 

As a Confederate spy, Belle Boyd defied the traditional women's role of the day. She continued to defy the traditional role by sharing her experiences during the American Civil (a bit exaggerated) in both memoirs and on stage. For someone who was so well-known during the Civil War, I found it odd that I hadn't really read her name as much as I had read about "Rebel Rose." I also find it interesting that she married two men who fought for the Union when she was such a supporter of the Confederacy. 

Do You Want to Read More? 

American Battlefield Trust 

Smithsonian: Women Spies of the Civil War