One of the most famous Civil War spies was Maria Isabella Boyd. Better known as Belle Boyd. Belle was born in Virginia in 1844. When the Civil War broke out, her 45-year-old father enlisted in Stonewall Jackson’s brigade. A loyal and patriotic Southerner, she wanted to serve her country. On July 4, 1861, Union soldiers came to her house because they had learned that she had Confederate flags in her room. They hung a Union flag outside her house. When a drunken soldier assailed her mother with foul language, Belle killed him with a pistol. She was found not guilty of murder and became famous in the South. It was because of this that she became a spy. She charmed a Union officer into giving her military information. She then had a slave deliver it to Confederate officers. Her most famous feat was listening through a knothole to a Union general and his subordinates go over plans for a campaign. She rode through the lines to deliver the info to Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Later, she ran through no man’s land to tell Jackson that the enemy force facing him was small and would be easily defeated if he attacked now. She had several bullet holes in her dress from the escapade. He did and later wrote a thank you letter to her. The Confederate government awarded her the Southern Cross of Honor. She became known as the “Cleopatra of Secession” or “the Siren of the Shenandoah”. She continued with her espionage by frequenting Union camps and keeping her ears open. She also dated Union officers who often divulged secrets to the charming lady. Her reputation grew. Alan Pinkerton assigned three of his detectives to catch her and she was arrested on July 29, 1862 and put in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. She was exchanged for a Union prisoner. In her career, she was arrested six times and each time she was set free. Union officials just could not believe that a female could be a spy. After the war she wrote a highly fictionalized biography entitled “Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison”. It sold well. She toured the country giving lectures and acting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Boyd
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/isabelle-boyd
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/maria-belle-boyd
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