Show 1 l 1 7 F in v Y man Famous A A. A I iB i- i 1 J B ODY o f Belle Boyd l Darling o i Before she was 20 cars old the picture of a I young and beautiful in distress Belle vv tile Con f Toast Boyd had killed a soldier and had braved s I 1 k the fire cross between the Blue and the Gray to t of Southern Armies f carry valuable information to General Stone War Because wall Jackson 11 Deeds the t of Daring on 1 1 to t. t Grave and in Soil of Her Native Old Dominion By Nell Ray Clarke i THE T THE HE body of Belle Boyd is going home to Dixie 4 i 4 The beautiful rebel spy the beloved darling of f I tIle the Confederacy is is soon to sleep in the soil which y i N a J d sh she loved more than life itself 1 t Since 1900 it has lain in Yankee territory in the tf 1 le Spring Grove Cemetery at Kilbourn Wis Each Memorial Day the men against whom she connived ith all her beauty cleverness and dari g to be ray the hands of the South the old Umon soldIers 1 have placed fresh flowers on her grave o oBelle Belle Bell risked h 15 r 1 life i fe time and time again to carry ar y PF information N important to the Southern commanders W wa The old Capitol Prison in Washington D. D C. C where Belle Boyd Bod was incarcerated for Cor some week t T That t and her good looks made her yr I before or of C being sent South in an exchange prisoners the toast of the Southern Army 1 She flattered the Federal soldiers who fought back and forth over Northern Virginia gleaned from them every fragment of information 0 tion she could get and passed it along to the rebels When the war 1 b. b broke ke out she he had just tu turned ed 16 Her first efforts on behalf of the S South uth were regarded lightly as asI hardly more than the ill advised a actions of schoolgirl a but later I 4 the most widely talked to play apart in the war v between the States Before ef re Belle was 20 she had killed a had braved the fire cross r r b between the Blue and the Gray carry valuable information to General Stone t Stone u Jackson had been sent to Washington Washing Washing- ton on the order of the Secretary of War Warf f and twice cast in prison and had nul nui nu- nu i l times been captured by Federal of- of r who who had turned her loose because they could scarcely be persuaded that this i artfully Innocent girl in her teens could I Greal harm to their cause And she virtually ended her picturesque marrying a a. Yankee naval S Sk IE m must t have been been quite a problem to the authorities in Washington It Ita a Was the Victorian n era the age of sentiment senti- senti went ment when women were ere coquettes and men en were supposed to treat all women with chivalrous courtesy Compared with the World War the Civil War was a a. ais is gentleman's war As Als' Belle was a woman it if she would have been shotor shot or h hanged as a a. spy py even 1 if she had been r homely and unattractive But in those troublous times she presented th the picture ofa of a young and beautiful woman in dis- dis distress tress tre in spite of the damage she did f to the Union cause r. r She came from a distinguished family living in fn the Valley of Virginia at Mar Mar- and was related to many of the Outstanding families in the South She as as a lithesome blonde and behind her romantic glamour of plantation ute life Somehow through all her experiences from her manner and ard bearing t. t she Eh managed to retain her reputation i many Southern women of her her c ay she ahe knew the subtle art of bringing men under r her sway It If she had been a mod mod- tin eolD miss nuS we should say that Belle hadIt had It She wrote note the story of her adventures r imprison and camp with quite a a. bit of charm and wherever there are records R th they seem to confirm her statements The Ther r confessIon story was a type of writing i little lc known In Belles Belle's day but her narra- narra i e all the essentials Accord to the custom of my country I 1 was sent at 12 years of age to Mount Washington College and at I she says 16 my education was supposed to be corn com Then she entered upon the thet ot of gayeties and pleasures of her fist t social season in Washington during t 2 nF A Brady photograph of Belle Boyd when she 1 t was the idol of the z r 4 3 Confederacy In Ink y k s K s those chivalrous f. f iii days her spying rw was only lightly S punished but f y according to World y War ar customs she x might have been y 4 executed v j i o. o r y General r s f u. u r 6 n y i y f i. i Gr GrE l Tr a E fy s Stonewall y Jackson who was fr F able to rise s Y sur surprise r General Banks at i iY Strasburg and Y rout the Federal s t troops b acting on information supplied him by B e B d the winter of 61 when for the last time for many years to come the daughters daughters daugh- daugh of the North and the South commingled commingled com com- mingled in sisterly love and friendship During the crisis of the following spring Belle BeIle returned to Martinsburg which was wason wason on the edge of Federal territory When Mr Lincoln demanded from the State of Virginia recruits for the Union Army the State seceded and B Belles Belle's lIes lIe's father immediately enlisted for service under the Stars and Bars For a while she contented herself with doing what she could in the way of preparing temptIng tempting tempt tempt- Ing boxes of food and clothing for the Southern soldiers but she soon round found this too tame and monotonous to satisfy my temperament she confessed Soon however the Confederates retreated retreated re- re treated from above Martinsburg and the Federal forces strong poured Into the little city They immediately began drinKing and rOistering about and more than once Belle BeIle appealed to the officers for protection from insult to herself and other women and against the destruction of their homes When a party of soldiers broke into her home to raise a Union flag over it it her mother protested and w was s insulted by the soldier in command This was too much for Belle hot head andI and andI I drew out my pistol and shot him she saId Soon the commanding officer and his stall staff arrived at the house to investIgate gate the affair and he finally concluded according to the b beautiful Belles account ac- ac count that r I had done perfectly right b ry F That was Belles Belle's first real encounter with the enemy and she had some rIme off victorious Perhaps It washer first taste of power At any rate she was thereafter involved in a a. continuous succession of clashes with the Federal authorities Meanwhile my residence within the Federal lines and my acquaintance with so many of the officers enabled me to gain much important information as to the position and designs of the enemy Whatever I 1 heard I 1 regularly and carefully carefully care care- fully committed to paper and whenever an opportunity offered I sent my secret to General General Gen Gen- dispatch by a a. trusty messenger eral J. J E E. E B B. B Stuart or some some brave officer in command of the Confederate troops Belle wrote one of these notes fell EVENTUALLY LJ into the hands of the Union authorities authorities ties and Belle was summoned before the commander of the UnIon troops ps who read to her the article of war which promised promised prom prom- death or whatever penalty the honorable hon hon- members of the martial court shall see fit to inflict I 1 was not frightened she sa saps s for forI I 1 felt within me the spirit of the th Doug Doug- I 1 listened listened lis- lis lases from whom I am descended quietly made a a. low bow and with witha a sarcastic Thank you gentlemen of the jury I departed not In peace however for my little rebel heart was on fire and andr andI r I indulged in thoughts and plans of ven- ven And she was only 16 Iwas r a 30 From this hour she says I suspect and all the mischief done to the Federal cause was laid to my charge and it is with unfeigned joy and true pride I confess that the suspicions of the enemy were far from being unfounded Because of the close surveillance of her movements in Martinsburg her family sent her to her aunts aunt's home In Front Royal Va which was also In the hands of the Federal forces The commanding commanding com com- manding general had commandeered the big house belonging to the family for headquarters and Belles Belle's aunt was living in a house in the yard ard Upon her arrival B Belle lle immediately s sent nt her card to General Shields who answered it in person with true courtly courtesy and introduced Belle to his susceptible Irish aides who from time to time paid Bellecourt Belle Bellecourt court wrote to her remarkable effusions effusions as she called them and gave her hersome hersome some withered flowers From them she says sars she obtained a great deal of very important information which was carefully carefully care care- fully transmitted to mY countrymen General Shields was about to whip General Jackson so he taunted Belle The night before he was to put his plans into execution he held a council of war warin warin in the drawing draing room of the big house Belle knew that there was a hole In the floor of a closet in the room above the drawing room so as soon as the officers were assembled she stole softly upstairs and by lying down on the floor of the closet and putting her ear over the hole she heard every word of the conversation in the room below As soon as the officers om- om cers had gone to their tents Belle crept out jotted down everything she could rem remember saddled a horse got through the Federal lines with fake passes rode fifteen miles to put the information into the hands of Colonel Ashby himself and then got back home before daylight It a all 11 sounds a little improbable and some historians say that not much ot of that claim of Belles Belle's is true She evidently had a gorgeous imagination and perhaps she did embroider the story a little bit but the above is the way she tells It General Shields marched south to laya lay a a. trap for poor old Jackson and his demoralized demoralized de- de moralized army as he told Belle leaving behind a few hundred soldiers to hold Front Royal Meanwhile Belle nelle was discovered discovered dis- dis covered with some incriminating papers and put under closer surveillance A few da days s 's later the rebels came unexpectedly upon the town and threw th few Federal Federal Fed Fed- eral troops into an uproar In the midst of the confusion Belle obtained from a Federal officer the general outline of the plans of the Federal movements by asking asking ask ask- ing him excitedly as he was leaving what he Intended to do So putting on a white sunbonnet she sheran sheran ran as fast as s she could out over the open fields toward the Confederate lines which were rapidly advancing The Federal Fed Fed- eral cral artillery soon spied her and opened fire Bullets sang and fell around herand her herand and even pierced her clothes A big shell struck the ground within twenty yards ards of her feet and instinctively ely she threw herself hersel on the ground for protection against the flying missiles Then on again she ran until she reached the Confederate Confederate Con Con- federate lines Acting on the information tion General Jackson was able to surprise General Banks at Strasburg and brought about the complete rout of the Federal forces at that point FROM FROM that time on Belle was a a. marked l' l woman The Northern journals vied led ledwith with one another In publishing extravagant extravagant gant accounts of her exploits and heaped the worst of vituperation ration upon her char char- acter It was inevitable as the Federal and Confederate armies swept s back and forth over Northern Virginia that she should have been captured Mr Stanton the Secretary of War ordered her arrest and she was escorted in a a. coach guarded by horsemen with drawn sabers to the railway terminus and sent in charge of a detective to Washington and lodged in the old Capitol Prison The War Department records show that she spent at least five weeks in prison before she was as sent South in an exchange of prisoners because no specific charges or information have been lodged against her After her return to Virginia Belle made madea a tour of the South where herc she was the toast of every town she visited Not only were her bravery and her sufferings known but they were being heralded the North as well but in less complimentary significance Upon her return to Martinsburg an order was received or her arrest from Secretary Stanton and again she was as taken to Washington this time to be I lodged in the old Carroll Prison The newspapers during that period frequently f carried items ms about the beautiful spy many of them highly uncomplimentary but admiring young men shot messages tied to arrows Into her room and hundreds hun hun- Y of former enemies became her j friends The room in which I Y she was confined for so long was low 2 raM and fearfully warm and the air was j fetid and rank with ith the fumes of an ill ill- J ventilated bastile Belle wa was stricken I with typhoid fever According to the J War Department records she remained In Carroll Prison from August 28 23 1863 until some time in November when she was again sent through the Federal lines into the South I 4 A GAIN Belle journeyed to the far South r for her health but returned to ro Richmond Rich Rich- f mon mond In March 1864 and since she had hadnot not yet et gained her strength because ei 01 her i long confinement In prison she decIded to visit Europe and so made her arrangements arrangements ar- ar for sailing salling on a a. blockade blockade- i i runner When President Jefferson Davis heard of her plans he made her the bearer of dispatches to England I The vessel was overhauled before it reached Bermuda and was as brought back t to Fortress Monroe as a a. prize The Thc gallant gal gal- i lant Federal officer officer who was put In charge of the prize ship on its journey into port fell victim to Belles Belle's charm And so she her troth to Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu Lieu- tenant Sam Wylde Hardinge Lieutenant Hardinge was ordered to take his prize to New York where he and Belle debarked for dInner and the theatre theatre thea- thea tre and then on to Boston where Bells Belle was interned in a a. hotel She obtained permission a a. few days later to leave the country and made her way to Montreal then to Quebec and finally to England Lieutenant meanwhile sent In his resignation which was accepted In spite of the fact that it was wartime probably because the authorities decided that since he heas was as engaged to Belie BeTIe Boyd he wouldn't be of much service to the Union forces anyway lIe then joined Belle in London and they were married married- an event which on a of its romantic romantic ro- ro mantic background created quIte a a. sensation sensation sen- sen in the BrItish ciL ciLa a 1 In a few days totter the happy happ surrender surrender der of La Belle Rebelle to the Yankee naval officer he sailed to America only to be seized by the thc Federal authorities and thrown Il into prison as a a. For more than a year Belle was l lefts left's ft n London without money while her was shifted from one cne prison to the other r the thc remittances which were sent fo o her being confiscated by the authorities At Atthe the thc close of the war she joined him but his health was broken by the hardships lie he had undergone and lie hc died in 1869 Belle married again and was divorced and then she was married a a. third time For a number of years she went about the thc country lecturing and finally joined a a. theatrical company She died while hUe j on tour in Wisconsin and her body u ru buried there At last she is coming home 1 bu 11 rubles |