Belle BoydBelle Boyd, "Le Belle Rebelle" Confederate Spy, born Isabelle Boyd in Martinsburg, Va.(now West Virginia) on May 9 1844. she attended Mount Washington Female College in Baltimore, from 1856 to 1860.
She was formally presented to Washingto DC society just before the Rebellion broke out. Returning to Martinsburg , she took part in fund raising events on behalf of the Confederacy.
When her town was occupied by Union solders in July 1861, Miss Boyd mingled with the Union Officers, picking up bits of military secrets which she passed along by messenger to Confederate officials. The first inception of one of these messages only brought a reprimand from the Union officers.
She was appointed courier for Generals Beauregard and Thomas Jackson. She was arrested and detained in Baltimore in 1862 then released. She lived with an aunt in Fort Royal Virginia. There she eavesdropped on Gen James Shield and then rode fifteen miles in the night to deliver the intelligence she gain to the Confederates. She became a Confederate heroine in May 1862 by signaling Jackson's troops to accelerate their advance to save the bridges at Fort Royal. She was arrested again when the Union forces retook Fort Royal. She was held in the old Capitol Prison in Washington. In all she was arrested six times and imprisoned on two occasions. The second time she was arrested, she was aboard the blockade runner the "greyhound" enroute to London. Belle Boyd had important dispatches from Jefferson Davis. While in prison she fell in love with her captor. She managed to escape and fled to Canada. She sailed to England and married, Union Lt. Samuel Wylde Harding Jr. in London. When he returned to the United States, Harding was
arrested for treason for aiding in Boyd's escape, and imprisoned. He was released but his health was ruined and he soon died,
leaving Bele to support herself. She wrote a dramatic account of her life as a spy (1865) and made her debut as an actress in Manchester, England in 1866. She toured the United States as an actress and married again in 1869. She died in after being given a dose of medicine byReference: Broadwater, Robert P. "Daughters of the Cause", Daisy Publishing
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