Bella Boyd
Though seldom written about in depth in standard high school history textbooks, the spy played a pivotal role in the United States Civil War. However, the most noteworthy spies during this time of national crisis were generally not your stereotypical black-trench-coat-wearing, sly, cunning, male spies. Much more common were female spies, generally using their Southern feminine wiles to extract vital and secretive information from high-ranking Northern military personnel. They would extract such information by first weaving their way into a soldier’s heart by simply exchanging tender glances, utilizing their ostentatious flirting ability, or in a few cases, going as far as becoming engaged to a “mark” for the sole purpose of extracting information beneficial to their cause. This fact made Confederate women spies extremely useful and efficient during the Nation’s internal unrest, even more so than any of the time’s male spies.
Female Civil War spies were extremely talented at what they did, and were generally raised in families which already had a strong background in espionage. One such example is Belle Boyd, a female spy for the Confederacy, who eventually became knows as the “Cleopatra of the Secession” for all of her espionage work benefiting the South. Belle Boyd’s family was rich with spies and saboteurs. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Denny, a suspected relative of Belle’s, was a secret agent with whom Belle frequently interacted. Colonel John E. Boyd, a known relative to Belle’s, was sentenced to death for spying, but managed to escape with a bit of coercion shortly before he was scheduled to be hung.
The Essay on Information Technology and Health Care
Overview of current and emerging information technology systems and devices that are commonly used by healthcare organizations The utilization of information technology systems and devices in all areas of the work place is expanding. With the advent of the microcomputer, computer use has spread to all areas of work including healthcare organizations. Computer systems in health care facilities ...
Belle Boyd was educated in an all-girls school in Baltimore from ages 12 to 16 , at which point she concluded her education and became an unofficial Confederate spy. When Belle’s home town was occupied by Union soldiers, she frequently lounged about her father’s hotel under the roués of being a customer, to pick up small, tactically important fragments of the soldier’s conversations which she would then pass on to Confederate forces. One of the highlights of Belle’s espionage career was the conversation that she overheard and passed on to General Stonewall Jackson in which two Union soldiers discussed their commanding officer’s orders to withdraw from the town, blowing up all of the bridges behind them. The Confederacy’s awareness of this stifled the Union’s attempt to complete such a task. General Stonewall Jackson was so please with Belle’s loyalty to the Confederacy that he made her an honorary captain.
In the time of the Civil War, being a spy required one to be where the action is. Being where the action was, of course, always entailed a good amount of danger, with which Belle was all too familiar. At one point in 1861, the battles traveled back through Belle’s home town of Martinsburg, (what is now) West Virginia, and two Confederate soldiers were too sick to continue on with their regiment. Belle Boyd and her maid took the soldiers in and cared for them. One morning three Union soldiers entered Belle’s home and announced that they would be raising a Union flag above it. Belle’s mother said directly to the Union soldiers, “Men, every member of my household will die before that flag shall be raised over us.” After a verbal dispute in which Belle and her mother forbade the Union soldier to raise the flag, he scoffed at her and began hoisting it. It was at this point that Belle grasped and raised one of the Confederate soldier’s guns, aimed it square at the Union soldier’s chest, and fired one round. The two other men quickly picked up their fellow soldier and carried him out the door. Moments later, the Union soldiers returned and began piling scrap wood against the side of Belle’s house. Immediately recognizing what was going on, she sent a courier out to nearby Confederate forces, and units arrived just as the Union soldiers were about to burn Belle’s house to the ground. Very luckily for them, no one in the household was hurt.
The Term Paper on Ukraine to Soviet Union
The breakup of the Soviet Union was a pivotal event of the 20the century that changed significantly the political environment of the world. Million of people in Eastern Europe awakened from a bad dream as the communism collapsed. Poland and Ukraine are two of the countries that have come out of the Communist block and embarked in a transition, from the general characteristics of a Communist ...
Belle Boyd was jailed several times during her time as a spy, and because she was a woman, she enjoyed exceedingly good treatment and short jail terms. Belle was arrested once in July of 1862 , and shortly thereafter released to the supervision of relatives. Shortly thereafter she was arrested again, contracted typhoid, and let go. Once she had recovered, she was sent to Europe as a secret courier. Union forces captured the ship she was sailing on, and arrested all passengers and crew on the ship. Soon though, a Union officer by the name of Samuel Hardinge fell in love with Belle Boyd, and the two absconded to England, where they lived happily for a year until Hardinge died of unknown causes in 1865.
For the remaining years of her life, Belle Boyd wrote a book detailing her life as a successful spy, and pursued an acting career. Boyd died in 1900 while speaking at a university in Wisconsin about her almost unbelievable espionage escapades. With all that she accomplished for her cause, she is known among historians one of the most successful spies of her time.
Works Cited
Books
Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Pennsylvania & New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1970.
Websites
Belle Boyd: Confederate Spy. “Dixiemom.” January 27, 2003. <http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/southernrebels/belle.html>
Belle Boyd. R. Weeks. January 27, 2003. <http://www.civilwarhome.com/belleboyd.htm>
Today’s Treasure Archives. C. Frawley. January 28, 2003. <http://www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/npm/studentprojects/civilwar/civilwar.html>
Isabelle Boyd, (Belle).
eHistory.com Editor. January 28, 2003. <http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/features/people/bio.cfm?PID=84>
Belle Boyd. Schoolnet.UK Editor. January 28, 2003. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWboyd.htm>
Captain Belle Boyd. Kentucky Southern Party. January 28, 2003. <http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/SpiesRaidersAndPartisans/captainbelleboyd.html>
The Term Paper on Civil War Women Union Spy
Women in the Civil War and the Roles They Played on the Battlefield and on the Home front By: VM HIST 1301 8/01/03 The Civil War, which lasted for four long years, was a "total war" involving every aspect of society. During this time in one of the bloodiest of wars, northern and southern women were as equally involved as their male counterparts, if not more. Because of this war, women were forced ...
