One of the most famous of Confederate spies, Belle Boyd served the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Born in 1843 in Martinsburg - now part of West Virginia - she operated her spying operations from her father's hotel in Front Royal, providing valuable information to Generals Turner Ashby and "Stonewall" Jackson during the campaign in the Valley in the spring of 1862. The latter general then made her a captain and honorary aide-de-camp on his staff. As such she was able to witness troop 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 ship 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 in 1900 while touring the western United States.
(Sigaud, Louis, A., Belle Boyd, Confederate Spy, and Scarborough, Ruth, Belle Boyd.- Siren of the South)