Show 1 M r M 4 A e 11 fj I 1 owl g by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ELLE BOYD la Is going home back to tier her beloved valley vallet of the shenandoah for nearly thirty years one of the most famous spies in all amerlean american histo history ling slept in what to tier her was alien ground in n little cemetery near kilbo kilbourn urn wib als over her grave stood a simple stone upon which was this inscription belle boyd confederate spy born in virginia died in wisconsin erected by a comrade but now plans plan sare are under way to rebury her in the soil of her native state in the south which the she served so well belle boyds life span was a stormy half century them story of her girlhood she tells in a book belle boyd in camp and prison which slie she wrote while she was virtually an exile la in england after the civil war she says bays there la Is perhaps no tract ot of coun try to in the world more lovely than the valley of the shenandoah there Is or rather I 1 would say eay there was wan rio no prettier or more peaceful ful village than Mart martinsburg insburg where I 1 was born in 1841 1844 according to the custom of my country I 1 was sent at al twelve years yeara of age to mount washington college of which mr staley tt of whom I 1 cherish a most grateful recollection recollect lan was the principal at sixteen my education was supposed to be completed and I 1 made my entree into the world in washington city with all the high hopes and thoughtless joy natural to my time of life washington to Is so eo well known to english people that I 1 will not pause to describe its gay atles and pleasures in the winter oti of 1860 61 when I 1 made rny my first arst acquaintance with 11 1 the reason was eminently preeminently pre brilliant the cong congles con gres halls balls were nightly dignified by the presence of our ablest orators and statesmen the salons salona of the wealthy and the talented were filled to overflowing the theaters were crowded to excess and for the last time for or many yeara to come the daughters of the north and the south commingled la in sisterly love and friendship 4 i then she tells how virginia replied to Lincol ns call for or volunteers by a similar call for volunteers for virginia both her mothers fattier father and her own father immediately eti enlisted listed lo in the confederate army her father joining the second bif vif virginia inia regiment says bays belle it was armed nad and equipped with a subscription raised by myself and other ladles of the valley the corps was commanded by colonel and belonged to that section of the southern army known as the stonewall brigade Mart martinsburg insburg being on the border line between the north and the south it soon eoon felt the ravages of war and belles first service tor for the south was as a nurse in a hospital for confederate soldiers in her home town ahen the northern forces entered that town belle came into prominence by defying a union captain who declared before leaving that the she was au an independent aqel reh el andy jady belle behe saves savel her home her attitude toward the invaders of cf Martin iburg resulted in the federal traps to raise the stirs and stripes over the boyd home idelles belles mother declared that every member of her er family boum dle die before they would permit that where upon spona a soldier who la in said to have been intoxicated struck tier her to the floor ile he was waa promptly shot down by the daughter in retaliation the sol awers threatened to lo burn the house but relle belle hastener haste nei to the union on corn com mander and by life big orders iab the home was saved caved soon a afterwards furwa belle took addan tage of the opportunity presented by her position within the federal lines to begin her activities lis as a spy tier her first attempt haw however ver was a failure one day after having exercised her cherins to wheedle military infozina information from a union officer she en R af f Z k IN tf a Z r trusted a message to in an old negro mammy who was to carry it to the confederates the was captured and the message she carried traced to belle boyd who was arrested and taken before a union colonel that officer probably im pressed by her charms no less than his subordinate contented himself with reading her the articles of war about spies instead of shooting her HO he released her warning her however that the she would not escape so en easily atly the next time undaunted by this experience belle continued tier her work as a spy whenever the opportunity offered she he constantly furnished valuable information to gen stonewall jackson and gen J B E B stuart while they were operating in the shenandoah valley and in one instance she Is believed to have saved jackson froni from a disastrous defeat belle Is found guilty on one occasion she entrusted a message to a supposed confederate soldier who turned turned out to be a union spy and who took the message to general shields belle was arrested taken to ao harpers perry ferry and then to washington where she was confined in the old capitol prison she was tried by court I 1 martial 1 found guilty but after w n imprisonment of several months was given hir her freedom through I 1 on an exchange of prisoners As AB a matter of fact the record of her various arrests Is none too clear and for some mysterious reason she was repeatedly peat edly released although she was known tobe to be a dangerous spy some of her exploits verge upon the legendy legendary so that it Is impossible to set down any complete record of her life asa aaa spy with any assurance that abai it Is accurate in every everk detoll deball about tile the only thing that Is certain la in that her spirit vias was never broken by any an of tier her experiences and that she did mo more re arst class defying of her captors than any other spy on record perhaps the highest tribute that was ever paid to her was the order of secretary stanton when she was waa arrested in martinsburg Mart insburg to which she had returned to in 1863 dont let her pet get near enough to an oneto yoneto talk he be directed shell charm the heart out of hla his bod body Y I 1 I 1 eventually she ans imprisoned in carroll prison ln in washington ahan placed on trial t rl at and sentenced to hard labor in FIt fitchburg ihburg prison hater ifill sent enve was commuted and she wa was released and sent south with orders never again to be found the federal lines some time later she took tonk passage on oin a blockade runner hound bound for england this ship was captured by a union vessel and belle boyd was again a prisoner howe however v er she was treated more as A a guest oa 03 the union ship than as a prisoner here romance entered her life when she made the acquaintance of aleut samuel harding who fell in love with her belle reciprocated and lifter being sen sent tto to canada she ma mazellier dellier way to england harding joined her there and they were married when liar har ding returned to the united states he was arrested as a deserter and ira im prisoner soiled for bior it a time there Is some borne dispute as to the lator later life of harding harddng and his wife according to one account belle rejoined him in this country after resident president johnsons John amnesty proclamation had freed him but for some reason their happiness together was waa short lived live and she divorced him another account says nothing about aboud a divorce but states mat th at he joined her in england after he was released and that he be died there in 1869 takes to the stage at any rate the next that Is heard of belle boyd la Is tier her entrance upon a theatrical career and tier her becoming the leading lady at the academy of music in new orleans soon afterwards w ards she married col john ston hammond Ua but they soon drifted apart and were divorced she married a third time her last husband being nathaniel R high son of a toledo clergyman high accompanied her upon her tours about the country af a an actress and a lecturer and wa with her when she come came to KIl kilbourn hourn wis in 1000 to fill a theatrical en gager ga gement nent she fell III there and died on junt 11 she was burled in the aprin sprin P grove cemetery there and for sonn time tier her grave was unmarked final ly two men members bers of the womans ile he ilef corps in kilbourn purchased a board on which was placed the fol lowing inscription one flag ont country marie isabel high befit boyd confederate spy born blay alay 0 9 1843 died june 11 1000 later a stone was purchased by W A ever man of greenville miss and that it the stone which now stands at head of her grave each year at me morial day members of the 0 A it aud and the womans comans relief corps deco rate the grave as reverently us as the do those thos of af their own soldier dead wit but if present plan are carried out that labor of love will no lunger longer bip be n ary P for or belle boyd to la going L 1 i home hack ak ta to her belove d of 0 the shenandoah and in the future her awn people of the south will care for tier her grave and over oer it one day tn in each year will droop the stars and bars which she elie served so well a many years ago |