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Editor's Notes

For partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Murray State University Honors Diploma, Sarah Stellhorn has written "Women of the War: Female Espionage Agents for the Confederacy." This thesis investigates the role of women during the Civil War and how they contributed to the Confederate war effort. While these women were part of what was known as "The Lost Cause," their courage and bravery was celebrated on both sides of the Civil War.

Open Peer-Reviewers: Amanda Sadler & David Wallace

Abstract

Although historians have frequently examined the role of women on the home front during the Civil War, women who contributed to the cause in more direct ways, such as espionage, are often neglected. An in-depth examination of specific females spying for the Confederacy, such as Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Belle Boyd, proves that their actions, both remarkable and uncharacteristic of women at the time, had a direct impact on the war. A vast network of spies and smugglers existed not only in the southern and border states but also throughout the North, even in Washington D.C. itself. This network was utilized especially in the early war years to transmit a number of vital messages, including several collected and sent by Rose O’Neal Greenhow concerning imperative information in the Battle of First Manassas. Females who spied for the Confederacy came from a variety of social classes and backgrounds. Some of the most successful spies, however, were women who used their high political connections in the North to retrieve information and send it South. For spies who were caught, punishments varied, but typically included imprisonment or banishment to the South.

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