Belle Boyd, born May 9, 1843

Isabella Marie Boyd was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, the eldest child of Benjamin Reed and Mary Rebecca (Glenn) Boyd. The Boyds and the Glenns were well-known families of the area.  Belle's grandfather, James Glenn, served in the Revolutionary War and was presented several awards by General George Washington for outstanding service. Members of the Boyd family were merchants and owned several general stores in the area.

Belle described her childhood in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), as idyllic, living a care-free life of a reckless tomboy who climbed trees, raced through the woods, and dominated brothers, sisters, and cousins. Belle was said to have ridden her horse into a room full of dinner guests after her parents had told her she was too young to attend the party.

On February 25, 1853, Belle's father purchased part of Lot 50 in Martinsburg for 350.00. The lot fronted on Race Street along Spring Alley (now Spring Street). He soon began construction of the family's house mansion in the Greek Revival style. By the end of 1853 construction on the home was completed.  Shortly after the family moved in, Benjamin directed that construction begin on a storeroom on the west-side of the house. From that location, he operated a general merchandise store.  The Race Street property was sold out of the family in 1855.

Belle received a good education; after some preliminary schooling, she attended the Mount Washington Female College at Baltimore beginning in 1856. She completed her training four years later, and her family and friends arranged a debut in Washington, D.C., where she filled the role of a debutante.

She was 18 years old when the Civil War began.

Martinsburg, Virginia during the Civil War

After Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Boyd's father joined the 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment (part of what would become the Stonewall Brigade.)  Belle Boyd returned to Martinsburg, where she worked as a nurse. Union troops arrived to occupy the small town  (population 3,364) on July 3, 1861. 

According to the book she published after the war,  on July 4, a band of Union army soldiers heard she had Confederate flags in her room, and came to investigate. They hung a Union flag hung outside her home. This made her angry, but when one of them cursed at her mother, she was enraged. Boyd pulled out a pistol and shot and killed the man. 

Wax Museum Depiction of Boyd Shooting Union Soldier

A board of inquiry exonerated her, but sentries were posted around the house and officers kept close track of her activities. (Official reports regarding the 1861 occupation of Virginia do not have any references to Boyd in regard to any shooting incident or being exonerated)

Daniel Keily, Seated to the Right

She claimed to have charmed at least one of the officers, Captain 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."  Boyd conveyed those secrets to Confederate officers via her slave, Eliza Hopewell, who carried the messages in a hollowed-out watch case. She was evenutally caught and told that she could be sentenced to death.

By early 1862 her activities were well known to the Union Army and the press, who dubbed her "La Belle Rebelle," "the Siren of the Shenandoah," "the Rebel Joan of Arc," and "Amazon of Secessia." 

Her parents sent her to live with her aunt and uncle in even tinier Front Royal (population 417), forty miles to the south.  

Main Street, Front Royal, Virginia

One evening in mid-May 1862, Union General James Shields and his staff gathered in the parlor of the hotel in Front Royal, Virginia.  

James Shields

Boyd, who was living with her aunt and uncle in the hotel, hid in the closet in the room, eavesdropping through a knothole she enlarged in the door. She learned that Shields had been ordered east from Front Royal, Virginia, a move that would reduce the Union Army's strength there. 

Turner Ashby

That night, Boyd rode 15 miles through Union lines, using false papers to bluff her way past the sentries, and reported the news to Confederate Turner Ashby.  

She then returned to town. When the Confederates advanced on Front Royal on May 23, Boyd ran to greet General Stonewall 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 and that evening penned a note of gratitude to her: "I thank you, for myself and for the army, for the immense service that you have rendered your country today." 

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

For her contributions, she was awarded the Southern Cross of Honor.   

Southern Cross of Honor

Boyd was arrested on July 29, 1862, and taken to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., where there was an inquiry on August 7, 1862 concerning violations of orders that Boyd be kept in close custody.  Boyd was held for a month before being released on August 29, 1862, when she was exchanged at Fort Monroe.

Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.

She was again arrested in June 1863 while on a visit to Martinsburg. On December 1, 1863, she was released, suffering from typhoid. 

Months later in 1864, she volunteered to carry Confederate papers to England aboard the blockade runner Greyhound. The ship was stopped on May 10, 1864 by the Union Navy.   Boyd eventually managed to escape, first to Canada, and then to London.

On August 25, 1864, in London she married one of the Union naval officers who had seized the Greyhound, Lieutenant Samuel Wylde Hardinge.  When Hardinge returned to the United States to answer charges that he had aided and abetted an enemy spy, he was jailed.  Soon after his release, he apparently died. "The end of the Hardinge marriage and, indeed, the end of Hardinge himself are shrouded in mystery," the historian Drew Gilpin Faust has noted, "and some have doubted Boyd's assertion that he never rejoined her abroad."  Others, like Roger Austen, biographer of the writer Charles Warren Stoddard, argue that he neither died nor returned to England.  Austen has written that Hardinge instead traveled to San Francisco, where the "swarthily handsome" New Yorker had an affair with Stoddard that was immortalized in that writer's autobiographical novel, For the Pleasure of His Company (1903).

Belle Boyd Hardinge, 1865

Boyd's daughter Grace Hardinge was born in England. 

George Augustus Sala

Looking for a way to generate income, with the help of English journalist, George Augustus Sala, she wrote her two-volume memoir, Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. She also began performing as an actress.

Cover Page of Boyd's Memoir,
Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison

She returned to the United States on November 11, 1869. She married John Swainston Hammond, an Englishman who had fought for the Union Army, in New Orleans.  She had three children by Hammond: two sons and a daughter.  They divorced in 1884.  Two months later, at the age of 41, she married Nathaniel Rue High, Jr., an actor seventeen years her junior. 

In 1886, she began touring the country giving dramatic lectures of her life as a Civil War spy.  

She billed her show as "The Perils of a Spy" and herself as "Cleopatra of the Secession."

While touring the United States, she died of a heart attack in Kilbourne City, Wisconsin (now known as Wisconsin Dells) on June 11, 1900.  She was 56 years old. She died in poverty.

She was buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Wisconsin Dells, with members of the Local GAR as her pallbearers.

 Her tombstone inscription:

BELLE BOYD

CONFEDERATE SPY

BORN IN VIRGINIA

DIED IN WISCONSIN

ERECTED BY A COMRADE

Boyd's Tombstone

Boyd's Gravesite

The Belle Boyd House and Museum is located in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and is the headquarters for the Berkeley County Historical Society. The Belle Boyd Birthday Celebration is the third weekend in May each year.

John Wayles Jefferson, born May 8, 1835

John Wayles Hemings was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 8, 1835, the first son of Eston Hemings, a former slave who was seven-eights of European descent, and Julia Ann Isaacs, the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant.  John is believed to have been the grandson of  Sarah ("Sally") Hemings, a slave, and her master, Thomas Jefferson, the  third President of the United States. 

Thomas Jefferson

John's father, Eston, was born a slave at Monticello in 1808, the youngest of Sally Hemings' six mixed-race children, who are understood to have been the children of Thomas Jefferson.  

Monticello, Jefferson's home in Virginia

As they were seven-eighths European in ancestry, under Virginia law at the time they were legally white, but they were born into slavery.  Under the slave law principle of partus sequitur ventrem, children of slaves took the status of the mother.

Jefferson informally and formally freed all of Sally's children.  Jefferson's will freed  the brothers Madison and Eston Hemings shortly after the president's death in 1826; Eston was "given his time" so that he did not have to wait until age 21. Madison, already 21, was freed immediately. In 1830 Eston purchased property in Charlottesville, on which he and his brother Madison built a house. Their mother Sally lived with them.

In Charlottesville, Eston married Julia Ann Isaacs, who was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, David Isaacs from Germany, and Ann (Nancy) West, a free woman of color.  Their first son, John Wayles Hemings, was born in Charlottesville. His first and middle name were after his maternal great-grandfather, John Wayles, who, as a widower, had fathered six children by his enslaved concubine Betty Hemings; their youngest child was Sally Hemings.  Betty's children were the half-siblings of Thomas Jefferson's late wife, Martha Wayles Skelton. 

Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson

John's sister, Anna Wayles Hemings (later Jefferson) (1836–1866), was also born in Charlottesville.

After his mother, Sally, died in 1835, Eston and Julia Ann Hemings moved their family in 1836 to Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio.  They lived there for more than 15 years. Eston and Julia Ann's youngest child, William Beverley Hemings, (1839–1908) was born in Chillicothe.  The town had a thriving free black community and strong abolitionist activists who helped fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad.   Eston was well known as a musician and entertainer. The children were educated in the public schools. Eston's brother Madison Hemings and his family also moved there.

Chillicothe, Ohio

After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 increased the danger to members of the African-American community as slave catchers came to Ohio, the family moved  to Madison, Wisconsin in 1852.  After they arrived in Madison, Eston Hemings changed his name to "Eston Hemings Jefferson"; his wife and teenage children also adopted the new surname. John was 17, Anna 16, and Beverly 13 at the time of the move. 

The family lived as part of the white community in Madison and elsewhere and for the rest of their lives. As adults, both Anna and Beverly Jefferson married white spouses; John never married. (Anna died in 1866 at the age of 30.)

John was 26 years old when the Civil War began.

American House, Madison, Wisconsin

Before the Civil War, John Wayles Jefferson operated and later owned the American House hotel and boarding house in Madison, across the street from the state capitol building of Wisconsin,  He brought on his younger brother Beverly to help and learn the business.  Jefferson expanded the hotel to triple its original size in 1858. During these years, it remained a favored establishment of state senators and representatives, but it was often maligned for its somewhat lower-class amenities and home-style food. In fact, it was said that those venturing to eat a meal at the American required “sharp teeth and strong knives.”

Wisconsin 8th Infantry

At the age of 26, Jefferson entered the regular United States Army on August 26, 1861, at Madison.  He took command of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry during the Civil War.   On September 28, 1861 he was promoted to Major; to  Lieutenant Colonel on April 23, 1863; and to Colonel on June 16, 1864.  His service records noted that John Jefferson had red hair and gray eyes.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

He wrote a letter to his brother, Beverly in 1863, during the war:

“HAINES’ BLUFF, in rear of Vicksburg, May 21, 1863.
Dear Brother:—I hasten to drop you this line; I cannot write much, as I have no time or spirits. Since the 2nd of May up to yesterday (excepting two days I was in Jackson, Miss.,) I have been continually on the March and fighting the rebels. I had not until to-day changed my clothes or had a decent meal for nineteen days. We marched around Vicksburg on the Louisiana side 90 miles, crossed the river at Grand Gulf, marched about 170 miles in a roundabout way to Jackson, Miss. Our brigade charged the rebel works at Jackson, and were the first troops in the town. Four days before this we met the rebels at Mississippi Springs, and had a hard skirmish but whipped them (I am speaking about our regiment and our brigade); we have had a number of other battles. At Jackson Major General Sherman made me Provost Marshal of the town, had also charge of all the prisoners and was ordered to destroy five million dollars worth of rebel property. We are now in the rear of Vicksburg, and in sight of the city. We have been fighting for four days, and have them surrounded. Their entrenchments and breastworks are awful to attack. Their works were stormed to-day by part of our army, and to-morrow all the army will attack the works at 9 a. m. We are losing a great many men, and there will be an awful slaughter to-morrow. We have captured 81 cannon, 10,000 stands of small arms at the different battles (not Vicksburg). I was ordered to turn over 5,500 prisoners in my charge to-day, and that is why I am here. Will return to my regiment in one hour which is only five miles distant. We just lived on what we could pick up during the past three weeks, and I have been almost completely exhausted from hunger, loss of sleep and fatigue. Vicksburg will be ours in a day or two, but it has and will cost as many thousand lives.
I write this hoping you may get it in season.
Yours &c.

He was wounded twice in Mississippi; at Vicksburg, a shot went through his left hand, nearly severing his fingers.  He was mustered out of service on October 11, 1864 at Madison, Wisconsin.  

Jefferson wrote as a newspaper correspondent during and after the war, publishing articles about his experiences.

His brother, Beverly Jefferson, also served as a white officer in the Union Army. After the war, Beverly became proprietor of the American House and, later in the 1860s, of the Capitol House hotel. He also ran a carriage and trucking service that brought travelers up from Madison's train stations to the Capitol Square, and was well-known to most of the state's political leaders.

Capitol House, Madison, Wisconsin

John Wayles Jefferson later moved from Madison to Memphis, Tennessee.

Memphis, Tennessee

He became a prominent businessman as a cotton broker and the owner of the Continental Cotton Company.

Cotton Sellers on Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee

Jefferson never married. He died in Memphis on June 12, 1892, at the age of 52. 

He was buried in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Jefferson family plot at Forest Hill Cemetery.

Tombstone of John Wayles Jefferson

He left a sizeable estate.

In 1902, a former neighbor from Chillicothe recalled the younger Jefferson's concerns about his mixed ancestry in the social climate of the times:

...and I saw and talked with one of the sons, during the Civil War, who was then wearing the silver leaves of a lieutenant colonel, and in command of a fine regiment of white men from a north-western state. He begged me not to tell the fact that he had colored blood in his veins, which he said was not suspected by any of his command; and of course I did not.

DNA tests conducted in 1998 confirmed that a male-line descendant of John's brother,  Beverly, had a male ancestor in common with male-line descendants of Thomas Jefferson's uncle, Field Jefferson. This supported the family's tradition of descent from Thomas Jefferson and disproved the Jefferson family tradition that his Carr nephew(s) had fathered Sally Hemings' children.  The Carr DNA did not match. 

For most historians, this data, together with the weight of historical evidence, has confirmed the Hemings family's claim of descent from Thomas Jefferson.

Descendents of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson

Jean Davenport, born May 3, 1829

Jean Margaret Davenport was born May 3, 1829, in Wolverhampton, England.  Her father was a lawyer, but he left the bar for the stage, and became the manager of the  Richmond Theatre in the London borough of Richmond Upon Thames.

Richmond Theatre

Jean made her first professional appearance at the Richmond Theatre at the age of 8, in 1837, as Little Pickle in The Manager's Daughter.  She also played in King Richard the Third.

National Theatre, New York City

She played in other cities prior to traveling to the United States of America in 1838.  Her first appearance in the U.S. occurred at the National Theatre, New York, under the management of James William Wallack, the Elder. Afterward she played star engagements in other cities. 

James William Wallack, the Elder

In 1842 she returned to Europe and traveled in Italy and France.  Her education was conducted by private tutors.  In Paris, she studied music under the tuition of Manuel Garcia.  

 Manuel Garcia

In 1846 she went to the Netherlands, taking an English company, with which she acted in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague.  They also performed in Germany at Hamburg and Hanover.  The tour continued for two years and was remunerative. 

In England in 1848 she made her appearance as a public reader, being one of the first females to give readings from Shakespeare.  

Her second visit to America was made in 1849, and she determined to make it her home.

She was 32 years old when the Civil War began.

Cincinnati, Ohio, 1850

Her father died at Cincinnati, Ohio on July 5, 1851.  The following year, she returned to England to settle the affairs of her parent's estate and to study for the next dramatic season.

In 1853, she returned to her adopted country, then made her first visit to California in 1855.   She  traveled to England a few times between 1856 and 1859. 

On October 12, 1860, she married in San Francisco, California.  Her husband was the transcontinental explorer and civil engineer, Frederick Lander.  Her married life was happy, but brief; the Civil War began five months after their wedding, and Lander joined the Union Army.  He published a popular poem on the Battle of Ball's Bluff, as well as other patriotic poems that drew national attention.

Frederick Lander

During the early part of the Civil War, Lander served with distinction on secret missions as a volunteer aide de camp on the staff of General George McClellan.  He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861 and served on the staff of General  Thomas Morris during the battles of Philippi and Rich Mountain, as well as many minor skirmishes.
At the conclusion of the Western Virginia campaign, General Lander was assigned to command a brigade in Charles Stone's Division of the Army of the Potomac.  After a short time in command of a brigade, he was assigned to command the District of Harpers Ferry, where he was involved in an engagement the day after the Battle of Ball's Bluff in October 1861.  He was badly wounded in the leg. 

He was then given the command of a division in the Army of the Potomac with the task of protecting the upper Potomac River.  When Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson bombarded Hancock, Maryland, Lander refused to surrender the town, forcing the Confederates to withdraw towards West Virginia.  He led a successful charge against a Confederate camp at Bloomery Gap on February 14, 1862. 

About two weeks later he was stricken by a "congestive chill."  Lander died from complications of pneumonia at Camp Chase, Paw Paw, Virginia (later West Virginia) on March 2, 1862.

Beaufort, South Carolina

For two years, Jean Lander served as a supervisor in charge of the nurses working in the Union Army hospitals at Beaufort, South Carolina.

Union Army Hospital, Beaufort, South Carolina

On February 5, 1865, Jean Davenport Lander resumed her acting career, performing at Niblo's Garden Theatre in New York City.  

Niblo's Garden Theatre in New York City

Her performance of Queen Elizabeth was first seen at the National Theatre, Washington, D.C. in April 1867.  She was the original representative, in America, of Marguerite Gauthier, a part which she named Camille.  

Autographed Card of Jean M. Davenport Lander in Scarlet Letter Costume

Her last appearance was made at the Boston Theatre, January 1, 1877, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

The later years of her life were passed in retirement, in Washington, D.C.  Her house stood where the Supreme Court building is now located.  She presented a Tiffany window to St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill.

She died in Washington, D.C. on  August 3, 1903, aged 74.  She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in that city.

Grave of Jean Margaret Davenport Lander