The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-29
FAIR SOUTHERN SPIES.
Women Who Intrigued Desperately
in the Cause of the COnfederacy.
From the Chicago Record.

part played by the gentle maidens of the
south In the spy system of the oonfeder-
acy. They outnumbered the men and
We're shrewdermore Jealous and unscrup-
ulous. During the war it was hard to find
woman south of Mason and Dlxons
line. no matter how fair her face and re-
fined her character, who was really a
non-combatant.
For the first two years Of the war all
aid and comfort for the coufederacy north
of the Potomac were mainly derived from
the ladies of the ancient regime at Wash
ington. These ripe and languid beauties
who had formed the court and assisted
in the ceremonies of successive admins
trations learned with speed and certainty
many OF the most important secrets Of
Lincoln's administration and impaired
them to their friends in the south. AS
long as this continued Lees spy system
was perfect. He know the union army or
ganization. its numbers and it's position,
while the federal generals were absolute
ly in the dark In respect to his.
In the third year of hostilitles this posi-
'NfulA VI diAfiliH bttdlne lIiOleraDle. ana the
federal government organized a bureau
of military information which had COM
mand over all the spies, the ball room
and the signal corps. AS natural conse-
quence the government soon ascertained
the numbers and commanders of every
brigade and regiment in the confederate
army and could tell at any time, within a
few thousand, Lees entire numerical
force.
One of the means of communication
these intriguantes had was by signaling
across the Potomac to their agents on
the Virginia side of the river The chief
among the spies was Miss Mary Watson,
the daughter of Maj. Roderick G. Watson,
who resided upon bluff at least 100 feet
above the Potomac river al Popes creek,
near Port Tobacco, Charles county, Mary
land. Miss Watson was a remarka bly,
pretty girl, % or "a years of age, with
mop of black hair, dark eyes shaded
by long lashes and heavy black brows.
Her carriage was erect and figure slender,
which made her appear a little above
the average hight. She loved the confed.
eracy with an ardor so intense that 1t is
believed she would have made any sacri-
fee for its cause. She was the chief fe-
male mail carrier with Thomas A. Jones
north of the Potomac from about March.
1862, to the close of the war. She and Mr..
Jones successfully managed to transmit
south all the confederate mail entrusted
to their care by the confederate agents
north of the Potomac, and received the
mail from the SOUTH which was to be dis
tributed at the north or to be transmitted
to the confederate agents in Canada and
Europe. 1t was owing to her vigilance
and untiring zeal that not one of the
confederate mails was captured during
the war, Notwithstanding the neighbor-
hood of her home was infested with fed
I 4 NNs
also kept up during the entire four years
a signal station in one of her fathers
high garnet windows by means of a black
shawl. The house of Thomas A. Jones,
with whom she operated, was the head
quarters of the confederate spies.
The character of the prisoners confined
in the old capitol was a matter of wide
variation, differing in this particular from
any other place of confinement. 1t held
prisoners of state particularly, such as
parties charged with active disloyalty at
the north, bounty frauds. counterfeiters
of United States notes and other treacher.
Gus contractors who had swindled the gov.
eminent, and confederate spies.
OF the secret agents or spies in the SER
vice of the confederate government there
were some who achieved notoriety at
least, and they we're well represented al
the old capitol, among the later being
the famous Belle Boyd, who did the con-
federacy some service by her alertness
and enterprise as a spy On particular
ly daring expedition she was arrested and
imprisoned as a spy. After remaining a
prisoner in the old capitol about eleven
months she was exchanged for Col MI
chael Corcoran of Meagher's New York
Irish brigade.
Miss D. at the outbreak of the war, was
a lovely, fragile-looking girl of 10, remark
able for the sweetness Of her temper ano
the gentleness of her disposition. A few
days before the battle of Bull Run, q
country market cart stopped in the con
federate lines at the door of Gen. Ben
hams tent A peasant girl alighted from
the cart and begged for an immediate in.
terview with the general. 1t was granted
Gen. Benham, l believe" said the younl
lady in tones which betrayed her supe-
riority to the disguise she had assumed
Then. pulling down her long, black hair
she took from its folds note, small, damn
and crumpled. But it was by acting upor
this informal dispatch that Gen. Beaure-
gard won the victory of Bull Run.
Miss Antonio T. Ford was the Delilaf
by whom Gen. Stoughton was betrayed
into the hands of the confederates al
Fairfax Court House, Va.
Miss Ford was arrested a few days
afterward and conveyed to old capitol
prison. In her possession was found hel
commission as honorary aid-de-camp tC
Gen. Stuart, and important letters show
ing that she held the most intimate rela
lions with the confederates and had beer
employed on many important missions.
One of the most interesting characters
in the old capitol prison was Mrs. Rose
O. II. Greenhow, an alleged southern spy
who was arrested on the 18th Of August
1861, and confined until May 81. 1852, wher
she was sent to Old Point. to be delivered
into the confederate lines. Mrs. Green
how was a dashing widow, rather small
OF small facial outlines and graceful In
movement. Her husband had been en-
ployed in the state department as trans
iator. She was a woman of letters and
was born in the south, although brought
up in Washington. She was confined
with her own daughter. Mrs. Rose Green
how, after she was sent within the con.
federate lines, went TO Paris, whore she
left her daughter in a convent school, and
then attempted to return TO the south
but lost her life by drowning near vii
ing n. c.. in October, 1854, while at
tempting 70 run the blockade. Her body
was recovered and she was buried there
with imposing military honors While
Mrs. Greenhow was incarcerated In the
old capitol several other interesting
southern ladies received the hospitality
of Col. Wood Among these may be men