Belle Boyd Braves Enemy Fire while Spying for Confederacy

Isabella Marie Boyd (May 9, 1844[2] – June 11, 1900), best known as Belle Boyd considering her middle name; or Cleopatra of the Secession, was a Confederate spy in the American Civil War. She operated from her aunt's hotel in Virginia,and provided valuable information to Confederate general Stonewall Jackson in 1862.
She was born in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), the eldest child of Benjamin Reed and Mary Rebecca (Glenn) Boyd. As a teenager, she was a fun loving debutante.

Belle Boyd's espionage career began by chance. According to her 1866 account, on July 4, 1861, a band of Union army soldiers broke into her home in Martinsburg, intent on raising the U.S. flag over the house. When one of them pushed her mother, Belle drew a pistol and killed him. She was 17 years old. A board of inquiry exonerated her, but sentries were posted around the house and officers kept close track of her activities. She profited from this enforced familiarity, charming at least one of the officers, Capt. Daniel Keily, into revealing military secrets. "To him," she wrote later, "I am indebted for some very remarkable effusions, some withered flowers, and a great deal of important information." Belle conveyed those secrets to Confederate officers via her slave, Eliza Hopewell, who carried the messages in a hollowed-out watch case. On her first attempt at spying she was caught and told she could be sentenced to death, but was not. She was not scared and realized she needed to find a better way to communicate. However the Official Records of the Civil War do not show any board of Inquiry concerning Boyd in 1861; they do however mention her in 1862-see below.
Belle Boyd was not blessed with a pretty face, but a good body. She was particularly noted for having the best looking ankles known—and she used them to her advantage. She evidently had a "winning way" with the Union troops and was most obliging in taking care of their needs.

Then, one evening in mid-May 1862, Union...

One of the most famous of Confederate spies, Belle Boyd served the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Born in Martinsburg-now part of West Virginia-she operated her spying operations from her fathers hotel in Front Royal, providing valuable information to Generals Turner Ashby and "Stonewall" Jackson during the spring 1862 campaign in the Valley. The latter general then made her a captain and honorary aide-de-camp on his staff. As such she was able to witness troops reviews. Betrayed by her lover, she was arrested on July 29, 1862, and held for a month in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. Exchanged a month later, she was in exile with relatives for a time but was again arrested in June 1863 while on a visit to Martinsburg. On December 1, 1863, she was released, suffering from typhoid, and was then sent to Europe to regain her health. The blockade runner she attempted to return on was captured and she fell in love with the prize master, Samuel Hardinge, who later married her in England after being dropped from the navy's rolls for neglect of duty in allowing her to proceed to Canada and then England. Hardinge attempted to reach Richmond, was detained in Union hands, but died soon after his release. While in England Belle Boyd Hardinge had a stage career and published Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. She died while touring the western United States. (Sigaud, Louis, A., Belle Boyd, Confederate Spy, and Scarborough, Ruth, Belle Boyd.- Siren of the South)