During the civil war, both the Confederate States of America and the United States of America had female spies. The women that worked as spies came from various different backgrounds. Despite the different backgrounds of each women, they all had some things in common. They were committed, they all held a degree of power during the war, and their fates depended similarly regardless of which side they were apart of. In the rest of this research paper we will be looking at some of the women and their lives before, during and after the civil war and how it impacted them. Belle Boyd, Cleopatra of the Secession, was a spy for the Confederacy during the U.S. civil war. Maria Isabelle (Belle) Boyd was born on May 9, 1844 to a family that had deep
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She worked in the capitol of the Confederates in Richmond Virginia. She was so skilled at helping the Union army men who were captured escape from prison. Some say that Van Lew was even more skilled than her opponent Belle Boyd. She was born in the South and raised in the south. Elizabeth Van Lew grew up in Richmond Virginia with her two older siblings and her parents John and Eliza Van Lew. Her father moved to Virginia and started a company that soon became the most successful in the state of Virginia. When Elizabeth was a teenager she was sent to a Quaker school. It was in that school that she was taught slavery was wrong, and she wanted to abolish it. However, even though she wanted slavery gone she never considered herself an abolitionist she said
“I was never an abolitionist. Abolitionists are fanatics who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. I have always spoke out against slavery, for which I paid dearly in the loss of many friends. But I was never a fanatic” (American Civil War Story-Elizabeth Van Lew). When she was a young teenager she bagged and bagged her dad to let their slaves run free. However, her dad never agreed. In the year 1843 her dad died. Her mother, after a lot of bagging, gave into letting the slaves
She worked in the capitol of the Confederates in Richmond Virginia. She was so skilled at helping the Union army men who were captured escape from prison. Some say that Van Lew was even more skilled than her opponent Belle Boyd. She was born in the South and raised in the south. Elizabeth Van Lew grew up in Richmond Virginia with her two older siblings and her parents John and Eliza Van Lew. Her father moved to Virginia and started a company that soon became the most successful in the state of Virginia. When Elizabeth was a teenager she was sent to a Quaker school. It was in that school that she was taught slavery was wrong, and she wanted to abolish it. However, even though she wanted slavery gone she never considered herself an abolitionist she said
“I was never an abolitionist. Abolitionists are fanatics who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. I have always spoke out against slavery, for which I paid dearly in the loss of many friends. But I was never a fanatic” (American Civil War Story-Elizabeth Van Lew). When she was a young teenager she bagged and bagged her dad to let their slaves run free. However, her dad never agreed. In the year 1843 her dad died. Her mother, after a lot of bagging, gave into letting the slaves