Nancy Hart was born in 1843, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
A precursor to her 'Southern persuasion' was the fact that her mother was a first cousin to Andrew Johnson. The hatred Nancy
bore for the Union neared the boiling point when her brother-in-law, William Price,
was shot in the back by Union soldiers when he refused to make a speech in the nearby
town of Spencer. However, her career as a Confederate Spy began the evening some Union Soldiers marched past
a house where she was attending a party. While on the front porch, she threw her hands over her head,
shouted "Hurrah for Jeff Davis", and immediately heard rifle fire. Four
minie balls struck the front stoop, one of then lodging in the door facing Nancy.
Nancy subsequently joined the Moccasin Rangers,
a pro-southern guerrilla outfit. She served as a Confederate scout, guide and
spy, carrying messages between the Southern Armies by traveling alone at night and
sleeping during the day. Nancy also was an 'underground' worker. She saved the lives of many wounded Confederate Soldiers
by hiding them with sympathizers and often nursing them to health again. Because
she was familiar with the area, she also served as a guide for Rebel detachments.
By peddling eggs and vegetables to the Yankees, she was able to hang around isolated Federal outposts in the
mountains so as to report their strength, population and vulnerability to General Jackson. Nancy
eventually led Jackson's Cavalry on several raids against Union Troops.
By the summer of 1862
Nancy's reputation was so great the wrathful Federals offered a large reward for Nancy with the order of her arrest.
A tall, lithe, black-eyed beauty, Nancy was twenty years old when she was captured by
Lt Col Starr of the 9th West Virginia at a log cabin in Summersville while she was crushing corn. Nancy was jailed in the upstairs portion of a dilapidated house
while soldiers were quartered down stairs. They figured her worth to the
Confederates was so great that a sentry guarded her in the room at all times
while guards constantly patrolled the building on every side.
As her striking beauty and bright roving eyes kept captors in continual turmoil,
vacillating between duty and desire, Nancy gained the trust of one of her guards
who allowed her to examine his pistol. She promptly used it to kill him on the spot,
then dove headlong out the open window into a clump of tall jimson weeds.
'Borrowing' Lt Col Starr's horse, she rode bareback, clinging low to the horse's
neck Indian fashion. About a week later, at 4:00 o'clock in the morning of July 25, 1862, Nancy returned to Summersville with 200 of Jackson's Cavalry led by Major R. Augustus or Col. George Patton's 22nd Virginia Infantry. Nancy was still riding
Lt Col Starr's horse. They raided the town, setting fire to three houses, including the commissary store
house. They destroyed two wagons, and took eight mules and twelve horses, as well as several prisoners, including
Lt Col Starr.
Sometime after 1862 Nancy
nursed back to health a former Moccasin Ranger, Joshua Douglas, who would
otherwise have died from his wounds. After the war he returned to the area, found Nancy, and married her.
They settled in Greenbrier County and spent the rest of their lives there
raising their two sons, George and Kennos.
Nancy Hart Douglas died in
1902 and is buried in Mannings Knob in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Her grave is in the cemetery where the Mannings family buried their slaves.