Belle Boyd
Belle Boyd
was a tomboy growing up; she loved to climb trees and ride horses. She was
also very aggressive; one time a Union soldier insulted her mother. Boyd
took a gun and shot him. Boyd’s first chance to become a spy was when a
reporter was staying at their house, and was doing a briefing on the
Union’s battle plans. Boyd wrote down everything she heard. After she
was finished getting all the information from the reporter, she sent it
down to the south.
When her
town was occupied by Union solders in July of 1861; Boyd mingled with the
Union Officers, picking up little military secrets, which she passed along
to her messenger who then gave the messages to Confederate officials. Boyd
made no attempt to disguise her handwriting or write in code, so the Union
officers found her messages and arrested her. She was arrested in
Baltimore in 1862; then released because she was a women and the Union did
not see her as a threat.
After that, she
lived with her aunt in Fort Royal Virginia. There she eavesdropped on
General James Shield and then rode fifteen miles in the night to deliver
the information she gained to the Confederates. She told General
Jackson’s troops to advance quicker then they were planning to, so they
could save the Bridges at Fort Royal. Using
her charm, she discovered Union plans to surround the troops of
Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, who was camping in the area.
Even during a
battle, Boyd would dash across the front lines to deliver new information,
sometimes arriving with bullet holes in her dress. Boyd would do anything
to help the Confederacy win battles. She was a well-determined woman.
Throughout her career, she was arrested six times and imprisoned twice.
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