Belle stated that she had gone through the Yankee camps and had gathered the information from one of the Yankee officers. General Jackson was concerned about this seemingly good news from her since he had never seen or heard of her before. The information turned out to be accurate and Front Royal was taken easily—Union troops fled and the Confederate troops were able to save the bridges. Belle then became a viable operative for General Jackson in his Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
General Jackson thanked Belle with a written note, which stated, “I thank you, for myself and for the army, for the immense service that you rendered your country today. Hastily, I am your friend, T.J. Jackson C. S. A.”
As Union secret service surveillance around Front Royal was tightened, Belle was watched closely until late July 1862 when Secretary of War Edwin Stanton issued an order for her arrest. On July 29, 1862, she was arrested by the Federal Secret Service and taken to Washington, D.C., to be held at Old Capitol Prison.
While in prison she was asked to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. Her reply was that if she ever took such an oath she wished that her tongue would cleave to the roof of her mouth, and if she ever signed such an oath that her arms would fall paralyzed to her side.
She was held without specific charges being made against her. After being in prison for one month, on August 29, 1862, General James W. Wadsworth wrote General Dix at Fortress Monroe and ordered him to place Belle Boyd beyond the Federal lines at the earliest opportunity. As a condition of release, she was forbidden to enter Union territory.
She was returned to Richmond, Virginia, where she enjoyed the southern reception afforded her for her service to the Confederacy. In June 1863, she returned to Martinsburg, now in West Virginia, which was in the process of being accepted into the Union as a state. Her purpose for violating the condition of her release was to visit her ailing mother. The next month, Federal troops again returned to Martinsburg. She was immediately placed under arrest for being within Federal lines in contempt of the orders pertaining to her banishment. She was placed in Carroll Prison, which was an annex to Old Capitol Prison. During this period in prison, she developed a severe case of typhoid fever and in December 1863 was again released from prison and banished to the South for the remainder of the war.
In March 1864, after recovering from the fever, she, at the age of 20, set out on her last mission for the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis gave her $500 expense money to go to England and carry messages to Confederate contacts. She boarded the blockade-runner Greyhound at Wilmington, North Carolina, in May and sailed for England. The trip was ill-fated; the Federal ship USS Connecticut captured the blockade-runner at sea and sailed it back to Fortress Monroe. Belle Boyd was again arrested and sent to Boston. Fortunately, she had destroyed the messages she was carrying to England. The authorities in Boston banished her to Canada under penalty of death if she returned to Federal soil.
When the Connecticut captured the Greyhound, a young naval officer took charge of the captured ship to sail it back to Fortress Monroe. His name was Lt. Samuel W. Harding. During the trip back to Fortress Monroe, Belle Boyd and Lt. Samuel W. Harding fell in love and became engaged. Lt. Harding was subsequently dismissed from the Navy for neglect of duty.
Once in Canada, Belle sailed on to England where she completed her mission by relaying the messages to the Confederate contacts. She had committed the messages to memory prior to destroying them when the ship was captured.
Samuel W. Harding, after being dismissed from the U.S. Navy, followed Belle to London. They were married on August 25, 1864. Their wedding was the high point of the social season. Samuel returned to the United States soon after the wedding. When he arrived he was arrested as a Southern spy. It was speculated that he was carrying messages for the Confederacy in place of Belle. In February 1865, he was released and returned to England. The reunion with Belle was short-lived. Samuel was in poor health from his imprisonment and he died within a few months of his return.
Belle began to write about her experiences as a Confederate spy and became an actress while in England. Her book Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison was printed in 1865 in New York. She began a theatrical career after the war in England and in America. She performed all over the United States telling of her episodes as a spy and giving talks to many veterans groups. She billed herself as “Cleopatra of the Secession.” The press had other names for her such as “The Rebel Joan of Arc” and “The Siren of the Shenandoah.”
Maria Isabella “Belle” Boyd. Courtesy of Leib Image Archives.
Belle bore three children over her next two marriages. The first was to a former British officer, John S. Hammond, with whom she lived in California until their divorce in 1884. The third marriage was to the son of a Toledo, Ohio, clergyman named Nathaniel R. High. She lived with him until her death on June 11, 1900, at the age of 66.
Belle Boyd died of a sudden heart attack while in Kilborne, Wisconsin. She was there for a personal appearance at the request of the local GAR post. Belle was buried in the Kilborne Cemetery. Four Union veterans lowered her body into the grave. The inscription on her tombstone read:
Belle Boyd
Confederate Spy
Died in Wisconsin
Erected by a Comrade
In 1929 the United Daughters of the Confederacy had her remains removed from Wisconsin and re-buried in the town of her birth, Martinsburg, West Virginia.
21
Antonia Ford: Confederate Spy
Without a shot being fired Colonel Mosby captured General Edwin H. Stoughton, two of his officers, and 30 enlisted men of the 2nd Vermont Brigade. The capture was the result of information supplied by a daring Confederate Spy named Antonia Ford.
Antonia Ford was born in 1838, the daughter of a Virginia shopkeeper. Her father, Edward Rudolph Ford, was a very successful businessman and provided the family with a fine home in Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia. Antonia had dark hair and eyes, and was considered an attractive woman. She was 23 years old in 1861 when the Civil War began.
Her father opened his home to Union officers, after the war began, in an effort to improve his income and gather information which could be passed on to the Confederate army.
Antonia thus began her career as a Confederate spy. Using her quiet, genteel personality, she would entertain the Union officers who were guests in her father’s home. She was very careful to talk about everything except the military information she was seeking. This strategy worked in her favor. In their boastfulness, the Union officers revealed information that was useful to Antonia. After gathering information, she would pass it on to General J.E.B. Stuart through other field operatives. She often carried messages for and used couriers from Rose O’Neal Greenhow’s spy organization.
In a desperate effort to find out how Union military information was being transmitted to the Confederate army, the Union troops conducted a surprise house-to-house search of Fairfax Courthouse. The troops were looking for any notes, messages or information that would reveal the source of the suspected espionage.
Antonia Ford. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Antonia was warned just in time to gather all the documents in her possession and conceal them under her skirts. She was sitting in the parlor reading when the soldiers arrived to search the Ford home. She invited them to search all they wanted to. Upon completion of the search the officer in charge asked her to stand up. She angrily replied that she did not think that even a Yankee would expect a Southern woman to rise for him. The officer then left in haste. The documents hidden under her skirt remained undetected.
During the later part of August 1862, just prior to the Battle of Second Manassas/Bull Run, Antonia acquired some vital information needed by General J.E.B. Stuart. She found no one available to carry the message, so she prepared her carriage and set out on a 20-mile trip to deliver the information herself.
Her trip was slowed down by heavy rains and by having to dodge Union troops along the way. Her ordeal made such an impressio
n on General Stuart that he commissioned her his honorary aide-de-camp. The commission was an honor for Antonia. It read:
Honorary aide-de-camp
Know ye, that reposing special confidence in the patriotism, fidelity and ability of Miss Antonia Ford, I, James E. B. Stuart, by virtue of the power vested in me, as Brigadier General in the Provisional Army of the CSA, do hereby appoint and commission her my honorary aide-de-camp to work as such from this date. She will be obeyed, respected and admired by all the lovers of a noble nature.
Her reputation began to grow and her daring exploits were just beginning to be publicized. Her most unusual accomplishment, however, was yet to happen.
As commands changed and Union troops were replaced by others, the Ford home continued to be used as a headquarters by Union leaders. In December 1862, General Edwin H. Stoughton came to Fairfax Courthouse to command the 2nd Vermont Brigade. He made the Ford home his headquarters while his troops camped five miles out of town. General Stoughton was 24 years old—the youngest general in the Union army.
Antonia learned that General Stoughton was planning a huge party at her home, complete with food, champagne, and caviar. Once she was told the date of the party, she conveyed the information to Colonel John Mosby who was camped 20 miles away.
General Edwin H. Stoughton. Courtesy of Massachusetts Commandery Military Order of the Loyal Legion and the US Army Military History Institute.
The party began early in the afternoon and soon Antonia became the belle of the ball. Everyone was having great fun, eating and drinking too much.
While the party proceeded, the Confederate troops quietly surrounded the house, cut all telegraph lines, and waited for the right time to attack. Wearing raincoats over their confederate uniforms, they rode undetected into Fairfax Courthouse at 2 a.m. The few Union pickets did not recognize them as Confederate soldiers.
As guests and sentries left the party or became accessible, they were quietly captured. Soon, all were captured without a shot being fired. The only two not immediately captured were General Stoughton and his personal guard. The General had retired to his room to sleep off the intoxicating party.
One of Colonel Mosby’s men knocked on the bedroom door and called out that he was bearing dispatches for the general. When the door opened the drowsy guard was quickly captured and his mouth covered so he could not call out.
Colonel Mosby then walked over to the bed, pulled back the quilt and slapped the general on the backside. The general awoke and jumped up. “Did you ever hear of Mosby?” asked the Confederate Colonel. General Stoughton replied, “Yes. Have you caught him?” “No,” said Mosby. “He’s caught you.”
Colonel Mosby not only captured General Stoughton, he also took two captains and thirty enlisted men as prisoners, and confiscated eighty horses with all their equipment. This incident ruined General Stoughton’s reputation.
This daring raid on the Ford home also intensified the search for the Confederate spy whom the Union believed lived in Fairfax Courthouse. The information compiled by the Secret Service pointed to the Ford home and Antonia. Mr. Lafayette Baker, head of the Secret Service, reported his suspicions to President Lincoln who placed Antonia on top of the wanted list. He ordered Mr. Baker to get the evidence needed to stop her.
Colonel John S. Mosby. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Mr. Baker sent a female detective named Frankie Abel to Fairfax to trap Antonia. The female detective disguised herself as a Confederate lady from New Orleans who had taken refuge in Fairfax. When she arrived at the Ford home she was wearing an old faded calico dress. Her tales of being mistreated by the Yankees outraged the local citizens. She soon won the confidence of the citizens of Fairfax Courthouse as well as Antonia.
Antonia gave her clothing to replace the old dress she was wearing when she arrived. A close, trusting relationship grew over the two months Frankie stayed with Antonia. So trusting was the relationship that the two young women even exchanged confidences about the services they rendered for the Confederacy. Antonia even showed Frankie the commission she received from General J.E.B. Stuart.
Shortly thereafter, Frankie left and Federal agents descended on the Ford home searching for the evidence they needed against Antonia. The needed evidence was found, including the commission Antonia received from General Stuart. Antonia and ten others, including her father, were arrested and taken to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. Antonia was escorted to prison by Major Joseph C. Willard who had previously escorted her to many parties.
Antonia spent several months in prison and became very ill. She was released in September because of her poor health, and her willingness to sign a loyalty oath.
Throughout her imprisonment, Major Willard, who had had himself transferred to the prison, begged her to sign a loyalty oath to the Union. After much pleading from him and thought from her about her future, she agreed on the condition that Major Willard resign his commission. Major Willard agreed and she was released.
On March 10, 1864, in the Great Parlor of the Metropolitan Hotel in Washington, D.C., Antonia Ford and Joseph Willard were married. They honeymooned in Philadelphia and New York, and made their home in a beautiful house at Fourteenth and G. Streets in Washington.
Over the next few years she bore three children, two of whom died in infancy. Antonia never recovered from the illness she contracted while in prison. She died seven years later in 1871 at the age of 33. Her husband never remarried and mourned her until his death in 1897.
22
Charlotte and Virginia Moon: Confederate Spies
A love of adventure and a deep devotion for the Confederacy prompted two young Virginia sisters to become spies during the Civil War. Their adventurous spirits and ability to portray many different roles proved to be invaluable assets in their espionage activities and saved their lives on more than one occasion.
The Moon sisters were daughters of a Virginia planter. They were both quite spirited young women who craved adventure. They often performed on stage in small amateur theatricals.
Lottie often performed as a ventriloquist, and could dislocate her jaw and act as if she was in serious pain. A very convincing loud crack could be heard as she dislocated her jaw.
As a young girl Virginia Moon was expelled from an Ohio school for shooting down a United States flag as it flew over the campus and for using her ring to scratch “God bless Jefferson Davis” on a store window.
Lottie Moon, in one of her wild romantic adventures prior to the beginning of the Civil War, became engaged to a promising young Union officer. As the couple stood at the altar, the minister asked Lottie if she took this man to be her husband. She hesitated for a moment then shouted, “No siree, Bob!” She quickly turned and ran out of the church.
The stunned and jilted young officer would later have an opportunity for revenge. However, when the time came and both sisters stood before him charged with spying for the Confederacy, General Ambrose E. Burnside relented and released them after only trying to frighten them into giving up their spying activities.
After the Civil War began, Lottie had another bizarre romantic adventure. She became engaged to 16 young Southern soldiers at the same time. When questioned about this risky situation, she replied, “If they died in battle, they’d have died happy and if they lived, I didn’t give a damn.”
The Moon sisters got their initiation into their espionage careers from a Southern agent named Walker Taylor. He convinced them to carry a message from General Sterling Price to General Edmund Kirby Smith in Lexington. Taylor explained that he could not carry the message himself because he was being watched too closely by Federal agents and was afraid that he would be arrested.
The excitement of such an adventure was quite appealing to the sisters. They agreed to the assignment and set out that afternoon. They disguised themselves by wearing shabby old shawls and bonnets posing as two bent-over old women.
By late afternoon they had reached the Ohio River. After crossing the river o
n the ferry, they changed their disguises and became two grieving Irish widows. The sisters then set out searching for transportation toward Lexington. They requested travel permits from the local authorities but were denied. Finally their grieving Irish widow act drew sympathy from several Irish-born sailors who smuggled them aboard the cargo vessel on which they worked. They sailed undiscovered toward Kentucky.
At the closest point to Lexington they disembarked and proceeded on to their destination. Once they finally reached the city they counted on luck to guide them. As it turned out, the first Confederate officer they met was Colonel Thomas Scott. Lottie thrust the document into his hands and instructed him to give it to no one but General Kirby Smith. Colonel Scott was amazed by the girls and their clever disguises and agreed to deliver the message as they had requested.
Relieved that they had accomplished their objective with no real problems, the girls boarded a train to take them to a point near their home. While they were on the train, a warning was given to watch out for a female spy. The sisters, still posing as grieving widows, befriended a Union officer, General Leslie Coombs, and resorted to their crying act. Their convincing act touched General Coombs, who stayed with them and personally saw them safely off the train at their destination. From this point they worked their way through fields and wooded areas to avoid detection until they reached their home.
Lottie’s next major assignment was without her sister. She was to disguise herself as a British subject trying to regain her health. Using forged papers she was to travel to Washington, D.C., and deliver messages to the Southern operatives in and around the Washington area.
Women in the Civil War Page 12