Fairfax Court House

Civil War Women: Bettie Duvall, Confederate Spy

/ sandramervillehart

Washington D.C. resident Rose O’Neal Greenhow had been asked to discover troop movements and battle plans. She had information that Union troops had been ordered to attack Manassas. As a Confederate spy, she had a network of folks to deliver the coded message to Confederate General Beauregard. She gave the information to sixteen-year-old Bettie Duvall. (One source spelled her name “Betty.”)

On July 9, 1861, Bettie, a beautiful Southerner, disguised herself by selling buttermilk and sweet cream at the city market. She left the city, alone, on a farm cart. She rode past the 1st Massachusetts Infantry headquarters. A dirt lane led her to a friend’s plantation near Langley where she stayed for the night.

The next morning, she relinquished the farm cart. Dressed in a stylish riding habit, Bettie rode horseback to her intended destination—the village of Fairfax Court House. Manassas was ten miles from the village.

She met Confederate soldiers at an outpost near Vienna. At her request to speak with Brig. Gen. Milledge Bonham, they took her to his headquarters in Fairfax Court House. Beauregard had just taken over command, but Bonham was his top aide.

At first, Bonham refused to meet her. Upon learning that the beautiful woman was prepared to take the message to General Beauregard herself, he agreed to talk with her.

He recognized her “sparkling blue eyes, perfect features, glossy black hair” as a Southern lady from the spectator gallery at Congress. He agreed to forward on her message.

To his astonishment, she removed the combs from her hair knot. Shaking her beautiful hair loose, she untied a small silk package about the size of a silver dollar from the long strands and gave it to him.

Beauregard learned from the message that an attack was ordered within a week.

The advance warning led to a Confederate victory at the First Battle of Bull Run.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Monson, Marianne. Women of the Blue & Gray, Thorndike Press, 2018.

Winkler, H. Donald. Stealing Secrets, Cumberland House, 2010.

Zeinert, Karen. Those Courageous Women of the Civil War, The Millbrook Press, 1998.

 

Civil War Women: Antonia Ford, Confederate Spy

/ sandramervillehart

Union officers often gathered at Antonia Ford’s family home in Fairfax Court House, Virginia. Like her father, the beautiful young woman was a secessionist. She learned of Union plans for the First Battle of Manassas and rode to warn the Confederate army. Southern officers held her under guard until her information was confirmed by other spies.

After this success, Antonia might have provided information to Brigadier General J.E.B. Stuart, who declared her an honorary aide-de-camp in October of 1861.

At 2 am on March 9, 1863, Cavalry Colonel John S. Mosby, along with 29 of his Confederate rangers, sneaked into Fairfax Court House and captured Union General Stoughton, several of his men, and horses.

Suspicions immediately shifted to Antonia, who had hosted Stoughton’s mother and sister in her home. The Secret Service sent a female undercover agent to the home, who spent hours talking with Antonia.

On March 15, Antonia was awoken by Secret Service agents. When she refused to pledge loyalty to the Union, they searched her house and found Confederate money and papers, letters from Federal officers, and J.E.B. Stuart’s order for her aide-de-camp. Charged with aiding and abetting Mosby’s capture of General Stoughton, she was arrested and held at Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C.

While there, she met Union Major Joseph Willard, who worked to get her released. Willard was part owner of the Willard Hotel in Washington. They fell in love.

Antonia learned in May that she would be exchanged for Northern prisoners. She was arrested again with her father for not swearing allegiance to the Union. They were released on September 18, 1863 after both took the oath of loyalty to the Union.

Antonia married Major Willard on March 10, 1864, and moved to Washington.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

“Antonia Ford Willard,” National Park Service, 2019/01/07 https://www.nps.gov/people/antonia-ford-willard.htm.

DiSilvestro, Roger. “Mosby’s Female Super Spy: Antonia Ford,” History.net, 2019/01/07 http://www.historynet.com/mosbys-female-super-spy-antonia-ford.htm.

Whitehead, A.M. “Antonia Ford (1838-1871).” Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 27 May. 2014. Web. 7 Jan. 2019.