Women's Spies During The Civil War

The Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars that had occurred on American history. No one could know about the catastrophe that would occur because of the fight against slavery. It was one of those times where women were needed in order to settle the fight. Women spies were of a great help during the war since it was not known for such methods to be used. The more common way of having spying operations was the usage of men spies rather than females. However, that all changed when women from both nations thought that it was time for them to do something for their nation, and have their battle in the war. There is not an exact number of how many women spies there were but it is believed that hundreds of women served as spies in both the Union and Confederate nations. Women spies were the ideal candidates for these operations due to their reputation as
Famous Confederate spies included Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Belle Boyd while famous Union spies would be Harriet Tubman and and Pauline Cushman. Confederate spies jobs were to gather information that would lead to the Confederates to gain the upperhand. This occurrence was fairly easy for the women spies as they received their information directly from the Union troops when, occupying southern towns, would invite women to army-sponsored balls, which the women spies would eavesdrop on their conversations. Rose O’Neal had similar incidents and had the satisfaction to help the Confederates win in the First Battle of Bull Run when she sent Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard to Bull Run. While Belle Boyd was an actress who dared to defy the Union as far as to kill a Union soldier. This lead to her spiraling into a full fledged spy who was in many missions and was even detained and imprisoned for more than three times. Nevertheless, Confederate spies had a fairly easy time in gathering intelligence due to their coordinated