Confederate spy buried in Wisconsin

Belle Boyd, Confederate spy

Isabelle Boyd, born Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) on May 4, 1844, one of the most infamous of Confederate spies, who provided valuable information to General "Stonewall" Jackson during the Civil War, today lies buried among the very "Yankees" she worked so hard against. During the war she became known as "Le Belle Rebelle" by French war correspondents and the "Cleopatra of the Secession" by the North and is now sometimes referred to as the "Wisconsin's Southern Belle."

"Belle" Boyd started her career at an early age. Her town was occupied by the Union in July of 1861. One day a party of drunken Union soldiers broke into her home looking for Confederate souvenirs. They found nothing and one belligerent soldier intent on raising the Union flag over their house pushed her mother. Belle drew her pistol and shot the man dead. She was only 17.

She was exonerated, the courts finding her actions justifiable, and a guard was placed by the house to prevent further incidents.

This occupation by Union forces gave Belle the opportunity to "fraternize" with the enemy, learning secrets which she relayed to the Confederacy either in person or through messenger. One of these messages was intercepted and when brought before the Union officers, she used her charm to convince them she was ignorant of the matter.

Her parents sent her to live with her aunt in Front Royal and while there Belle overheard a conversation with General James Shield and delivered that information to the Confederacy. She returned to town and when the Confederates arrived, it is said she ran to greet the soldiers, ignoring enemy fire which put several holes in her skirt. She told an officer to let Jackson know that the Union forces were small and if he hurried he could take them all. Jackson successfully accelerated his advance. In gratitude, Belle was awarded the Southern Cross of Honor and Jackson made her a captain and honorary aide-de-camp.

When the Union recaptured Front Royal, Belle was imprisoned for a month. In total, Belle was arrested several more times throughout her career as a spy.

She wasn't an exceptional beauty; in fact, one rather harsh historian described her in rather unflattering terms, thusly, "Miss Belle wasn't really an especially pretty girl. Surviving portraits show that she looked rather like one of those horses she rode so perfectly—a long face, a very long nose, and prominent teeth." Yet, it is said she had exceptional legs that she used to her advantage as she climbed in and out of carriages.

After the war, she toured the country giving lectures on her activities as a Confederate spy. She died on June 11, 1900 while in Kilbourne City, Wisconsin (now Wisconsin Dells). She was buried in an unmarked grave in Spring Grove Cemetery.

It wasn't until about 50 years later that an unknown southern gentleman donated a gravestone. When the people of Virginia started thinking about digging her up and moving her back to her place of birth, an idea was started to build a large cap over her grave from stones sent from every Confederate state. Before the cap was set, some women from one of the chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy sprinkled some dirt from Virginia upon the grave.

In an exchange program of sorts, every Memorial Day Confederate flags fly over her grave while a Wisconsin state flag is flown over a marker for the 36th Wisconsin Infantry, which suffered heavy casualties in a battle near Richmond, Virginia.

For further information:

Wisconsin's Southern Belle

Belle Boyd, Cleopatra of the Secession