Isabelle Boyd, or Belle Boyd, was on the Confederate Army’s side during the Civil War (Belle Boyd, 2017). Boyd was born on May 9, 1844. Boyd’s parents owned and ran a general store in Berkeley County, Virginia. Boyd loved her home and the environment around her. At 12, she was sent to Mount Washington Academy until she was 16. At this time she lived in Washington D.C. where she partook in various social happenings. Boyd took great pride in her southern roots throughout the Civil War (Cox, 2012).
On July 7, 1861, Union soldiers were replacing Confederate flags with Union flags. When Boyd’s mother refused to comply with this, a Yankee soldier, assumed to be Pvt. Federick Martin of the 7th Pennsylvania insulted her. It was at this time that Belle Boyd shot Pvt Martin. Because of this, Union officers stopped daily to intimidate the family. In turn, Boyd flirted and used her femininity to withdraw secrets and sensitive matter from Union officers. She would pass secrets to slaves to pass onto Confederate officers (Cox, 2012). …show more content…
At Front Royal, she used charm to gain information from the Brigadier General James Shields and his fellow staff. One particular event occurred while a meeting was being held by Shields. Boyd went to the hotel they were meeting and, through a hole in the floor above the meeting hall, heard there were plans of pursuing Stonewall Jackson. She wrote down the information she received, ran to the border of the territories, and told Stonewall Jackson’s cavalry commander, Colonel Turner Ashby, of the impending activities (Cox,