The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-30

long as this continued Lees spy sys-
| tenn was perfect He knew the Union
army organization, it's numbers and its
position, while the federal generals
were absolutely in the dark tn res
pect to his!
In the third year of hostilitEes this
position of affairs became intolerable,
and the federal government organized
a bureau of military Information, which
had command over all the Spies the
bail room and the Signal corps. AS a
natural consequence the government
soon ascertained the numbers and COM
mandeas of every brigade and regiment
in the Confederate army, and could
tell, at any time, within a few thous-
and, Lees entire numerical force.
MISS MARY WATSON.
One OF the means of communication
these intIiguantes had was by signall-
ing across the Potomac to their agents
on the Virginia side of the river. The
chief among the spies was Hiss Mary
Watson, the daughter of Major Roder-
lex G. Watson, who resided upon a
bluff at least one hundred feet above
the Potomac river, at Pope's creek,
near Port Tobacco, Charles county
Nd. Miss Watson was q remarkably
pretty girl, % or "a years of age, with
a. 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 height. She loved
the Confederacy with an ardor so in
tense that it is believed she would
have made any sacrifice for its cause.
She was the chief female Confederat e
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 man
aged to transmit south all the Con-
federate mail entrusted to their care
by the Confederate agents north of the
Potomac, and received the mail from
the south which was TO be distributed
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 dur
ing the war. notwithstanding the neigh
borhood of her home was infested with
federal detectives, spys and soldiers,
She 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 Thorn
as A. Jones, with whom she operated.
was the headquarters of the Confeder-
ate spys.
A FAMOUS WAR JAIL.
The character of the prisoners con-
fined in the old capital was a matter
Of wide variation, differing in this par
tlcailar from any other place of con-
finement. 1t held prisoners of state
particularly, such as parties charged
with active disloyalty at the north,
bounty frauds, counterfeiters of Uni
ted States notes and other treacherous
contractors who had swindled the gov
eminent and Confederate spies.
Of the secret agents Or spies in the
service Of the Confederate government
there were some who achieved noto-
rity at least, and they were we'll repre-
scented at the old capitol, among the
latter being the famous Belle Boyd,
who did the Confederacy some service
by her alertneSS and enterprise as a
spy. On a particular daring expedi-
ton she was arrested and imprisoned
as a spy. After remaining a prisoner
in the old capitol about eleven months
she was exchanged for Colonel Michael
CoTcoran Of the Meakher's New York
Irish brigade.
TWO ARCH SPIES.
Miss D., at the outbreak of the war,
was a lovely, fragile looking girl of 10,
remarkable for the sweetness of mr.
temper and the gentleness of her dispo-
sition A few days before the battle df
Bull Run a country market cart stop
ped in the Confederate lines at the door
of General Benhams tent. A peasant
girl alighted from the cart and begged
for an Immediate interview with the
general 1t was granted. General
Benham, 7 believe" said the young
lady, in tones which betrayed her SUI
periority to the disguise she had as
stunned. Then, pulling down her long,
black hair, she took from its folds a
note, small, damp and crumpled. But
it was by acting upon this informal
dispatch that General Beauregard won
the victory of Bull Rull.
Miss Antonio T. Ford was the Deli
lah by whom General Stcughton was
betrayed into the hands of the Con-
federates at Fairfax court house, Vir
ginia
Miss Ford was arrested few days
afterward and conveyed to Old Capt.
toll prison. In her possession was found
her commission as honorary aid-de-
tant letters, showing that she held the
most intimate relations with the Con-
federales and had been employed on
many important missions.
A LIST OF NOTED PRISONERS.
One of the most interesting charac-
tiers in the old Capitol prison was Mrs.
Rose o. H Greenhow, an alleged
southern spy, who was arrested on the
18th of August, 1861, and confined until