Our small town library does not get a lot of the new releases that I love to read, and now that I am not in grad school I have been on a lot of blog tours and have been able to read a lot of new books.
So, somehow it's been almost 4 months since I have shared more parts of my capstone .
I have been writing a lot. With trying to break into the Christian Historical Fiction realm I have been researching lots of fun things. So, hopefully I will be sharing some of that soon ,..
But until then - here is Mary Bowser --- Union Spy
Mary Bowser
Union Spy
Mary Bowser was a fearless African
American Woman. She was born in the year
of 1839. As with the slaves during the American Revolution they did not record
the exact birth of Civil War Era slaves either. She was a slave in the
household of Elizabeth Van Lew and her family. There is not much documented of
her early life. Once John Van Lew died, Elizabeth and her mother freed some of
their slaves. Mary would become a servant in the household until the late
1850’s. At this time, Elizabeth had recognized her intellectual abilities. Mary
was sent to the Quaker School for Negros. The school was located in
Philadelphia.
Van Lew was instrumental in creating
records to make everything look legit. She knew that African Americans were
essential to the operation. They used both free and enslaved blacks. There were
two identities that were created for Mary. Van Lew had registered Mary as Mary
Jones in the 1860 census. She was registered as the only free black servant in
the Van Lew Family. There was also a record that showed up in April of 1861 in
St. John’s Church as a wedding of a Van Lew servant. It is unsure if this was a
real wedding or if this was one to create records.
Once she returned she met and
married Wilson Bowser. Wilson was a free black man. Interesting thing to note
is that she married on April 16, 1861. This was just a few days before the
Civil War begun. There was mostly whites that attended this wedding. They
settled in Richmond, Virginia. They do not appear to have had any children. She
still remained close with Elizabeth Van Lew. With the addition of her intelligence
she also had incredible acting skills per Van Lew Records. Mary Bowser became
Ellen Bond. “Ellen” would be a slow thinking but stable servant. “Van Lew urged
a friend to take Bowser along to help out at functions held by Varina Davis,
the wife of the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Bowser was eventually
hired fulltime, and worked in the Davis household until just before the end of
the war.”[1] This
would allow her access to the Confederate President’s daily activities.
Once inside the Davis household,
Mary worked as a servant. She would clean and cook meals. “Bowser spied on the
South from inside the lion’s den – in the Richmond, Virginia, household of
Confederate President Jefferson Davis. During that period, she provided the
Union with invaluable information about Southern military forces.”[2] They had
no idea that she was literate. She was able to read documents that were laying
on tables or that she was able to gain access too. She also was able to
understand the conversations that she would overhear. One of the things that
was important is that since there was such great racial prejudice during this
time. Servants were expected to be invisible. Bowser was able to secure this
during her time of service.
She would pass her information to
Richmond’s spymaster, Thomas McNiven. McNiven was a baker. While he would be
out making deliveries he could collect information from other Union spies that
had infiltrated the Confederacy. Bowser was a valuable asset since she was able
to repeat things word from word. When he would make his deliveries to the
Confederate home – she would make sure she greeted him and dropped her
information.
After the war, Jefferson Davis’
wife, Varina (who was now a widow) denied that there was ever a spy in their
household. “In a 1905 letter to the regent of the Confederate White House
Museum, Mrs. Davis wrote that she never “had in her employ an educated negro
‘given or hired’ by Miss Van Lew as a spy” during the War.”[3] However historian
and author, William Gilmore Beymer felt that Mary Bowser did indeed work for
and in the Jefferson household. It is also noted that her actual name was: Mary
Ann Richards.
After the war – the Federal Government sought to destroy
discriminating evidence to protect identities of those involved. “When the
fighting was over, War Department records on Union spies were destroyed to
protect those who’d worked for the North from Southern retaliation.”[4] While we
may never know the full effect the information that Bowser and Van Lew
extracted and passed – we do know that they had a significant place in history.
[1] "Bowser, Mary Elizabeth (1839?
- ?), Union Spy during the Civil War..." Hutchins Center. Accessed July 1,
2016.
http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/bowser-mary-elizabeth-1839-union-spy-during-civil-war.
[2] Martin, Paul D. Secret Heroes:
Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World. New York: William Morrow, 2012.
Pg. 39
[3] Winkler, H. Donald. Stealing
Secrets: How a Few Daring Women Deceived Generals, Impacted Battles, and
Altered the Course of the Civil War. Naperville, IL: Cumberland House,
2010. Pg. 79-80
[4]
Ibid. Pg. 43
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