Stonewall Jackson approached Front Royal
town, she dashed through Union lines to meet
them, informed the general of Yankee inten-
tions, and helped thwart their execution. The
general then personally expressed his grati-
tude for her activities, which she resumed
once Union forces reoccupied the town later
that summer. Boyd was by that time reviled in
the Northern press as something of a “Cleopa-
tra of Secession.” Consequently, she was ar-
rested again, this time on the orders of Secre-
tary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Boyd then
languished for an entire month at the Old
Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., before
gaining her freedom in a prisoner exchange.
During her confinement she impressed many
inmates and authorities with her wit, intelli-
gence, and selfless devotion to the cause.
Belle Boyd had become a Confederate
celebrity.
Boyd next returned to her native Martins-
burg, which had been reoccupied by Southern
troops. However, when the town was subse-
quently recaptured by the North, she was ar-
rested again and sent to Carroll Prison in
Washington, D.C. Boyd endured close con-
finement for several months, languishing
under the effects of typhoid, before she was
banished to the South in December 1863.
Poor health convinced her to abandon her es-
pionage activities, and she next gained an ap-
pointment as a diplomatic courier and was or-
dered to sail to England. When the blockade
runner she traveled upon was captured at sea,
Boyd fell into custody again and was ban-
ished to Canada. From there she eventually
made her way to England. There Boyd mar-
ried none other than Samuel Wylde Hardinge,
who had commanded her captured vessel and
was himself under investigation for allowing
Boyd to escape. While in England she also
basked in the limelight of her notoriety, and
following the death of her husband, she
penned a famous set of memoirs, Belle Boyd
in Camp and Prison.She was only 21 at the
time.
After the war ended, Boyd remained in Lon-
don, where she worked as an actress. She mar-
ried and divorced several times before return-
ing to the United States. Finding her fame little
faded, Boyd then resumed acting and also ap-
peared on the postwar lecture circuit for addi-
tional income. There Boyd waxed unapologeti-
cally for her behavior but concluded her
seminars with appeals for spiritual rapproche-
ment between North and South. Flamboyant
Belle Boyd died of a heart attack in Kilbourn,
Wisconsin, on June 11, 1900, at the age of 56,
while touring. She was one of scores of female
intelligence agents employed by the Confeder-
acy, but none had so totally captivated the pub-
lic as this “Cleopatra of Secession.”See also
Jackson, Thomas J. “Stonewall”Bibliography
Davis, Curtis C. “The Pet of the Confederacy Still? Fresh
Findings About Belle Boyd.” Maryland Historical
Magazine78 (1983): 35–53; Davis, Curtis C., ed. Belle
Boyd in Camp and Prison.Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, 1998; Leonard, Elizabeth D.
All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil
War Armies.New York: W. W. Norton, 1999; Massey,
Mary. Bonnet Brigades.New York: Knopf, 1966;
Scarborough, Ruth. Belle Boyd: Siren of the South.
Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1983; Sigaud,
Louis A.Belle Boyd: Confederate Spy.Richmond,
VA: The Dietz Press, 1944; Stern, Philip V. Secret Mis-
sions of the Civil War.New York: Bonanza Books,
1990.BOYD, BELLE