Belle Boyd House
Home of a Spy
Isabelle “Belle” Boyd, the Confederate spy, lived here during part of her childhood. The ten-year-old and her family moved here in 1853 and left in 1858 for a dwelling (no longer standing) on South Queen Street. According to Boyd, when Union Gen. Robert Patterson’s army occupied Martinsburg in July 1861, she escaped prosecution after
she shot
dead a soldier who invaded the Queen Street house and insulted her mother, Mary Glen Boyd.
In the spring of 1862, Belle Boyd paid a visit to her Aunt Fanny Stewart in Front Royal, Virginia.
There, on May 22, Boyd first gained fame as a spy. When Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and his
army approached the town, which
was occupied by a small Federal Garrison, Boyd walked several miles
to find him and report Union troop numbers and dispositions. Federal authorities later imprisoned lit, Boyd
twice for “communicating with the enemy” then released her. In December 1863, she sailed for England on a blockade runner, bearing diplomatic letters from Confederate
President Jefferson Davis. When the ship was captured, Boyd persuaded
the Federal naval officer in charge
to let her go and later married him.
Her flamboyant personality, scandalous behavior (by the standards of “well-bred” Southern society), reckless courage, and undeniable charm made her a natural
for the stage, where she recounted her exploits. In 1865, she published Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison, blurring the lines between fact and legend. Married three times and the mother of four, she died on June 11,
1900 in Kilbourne, Wisconsin.
(Sidebar) Benjamin R. Boyd, Belle’s father, built this Greek Revival-style house in 1853. When it was threatened with demolition i August, 1992, the Berkeley County Historical Society rescued it. The Society operates the Belle Boyd House as a museum and learning center open to the public.
Marker is at the intersection of East Race Street and North Spring Street when traveling east on East Race Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
