Essay Database

A Spy For the South Belle Boyd When Stonewall Jackson led the attack on Front Royal in May 1862, he had the advantage of knowing that only about 1,000 Federal soldiers defended the town. That fact had been given to him by a 17-year-old Confederate spy named Belle Boyd.Belle Boyd's career in espionage began by chance. On the fourth of July, 1861, a band of drunken Federal soldiers broke into her home in Martinsburg, intent on raising …

…bullets tore holes in her skirt, she ran to greet Jackson's men. She urged an officer to inform Jackson that "the Yankee force is very small. Tell him to charge right down and he will catch them all."Jackson did so, speedily and successfully. That evening he penned a note of gratitude to Belle Boyd: "I thank you, for myself and for the army, for the immense service that you have rendered your country today."