|
Belle Boyd
room is located on the first floor, next to the kitchen and on the
south side of the Stonewall Jackson Inn with a beautiful view of the
back yard and the roses. Belle Boyd is set with two Full beds, in-room
private bath with a shower, cable TV and phone for local calls.
Another room that is perfect for a small group of friends on
vacation together, we hope you will choose the Belle Boyd room during
your travels to
Harrisonburg, VA.
|
Belle Boyd's espionage career began by chance. On the fourth of July,
1861, a band of drunken Union soldiers broke into her home in
Martinsburg, intent on raising the U. S. flag over the house. When one
of them insulted her mother, Belle drew a pistol and killed him. A
board of inquiry exonerated her, but sentries were posted around the
house and officers kept close track of her activities. She profited
from this enforced familiarity, charming at least one of the officers,
Captain
Daniel Keily, into revealing military secrets. "To him," she wrote
later, "I am indebted for some very remarkable effusions, some withered
flowers, and a great deal of important information." Belle conveyed
those secrets to Confederate officers via her slave, Eliza Hopewell,
who carried the messages in a hollowed-out watchcase.
Then, one
evening in mid-May, General
James Shields and his staff conferred in the parlor of the local
hotel. Belle hid upstairs, eavesdropping through a knothole in the
floor. She learned that Shields had been ordered east, a move that
would reduce the Union Army's strength at Front Royal. That night,
Belle rode through Union, using false papers to bluff her way past the
sentries, and reported the news to Colonel Turner Ashby, who was
scouting for the Confederates. She then returned to town. When the
Confederates advanced on Front Royal on May 23, Belle ran to greet
General Stonewall Jackson's men. She urged an officer to inform Jackson
that "the Yankee force is very small. Tell him to charge right down and
he will catch them all." Jackson did and that evening penned a note of
gratitude to her: "I thank you, for myself and for the army, for the
immense service that you have rendered your country today."
|
|
Sign up for our monthly newsletter for more current events,
things to do and special discounts for newsletter recipients.
|
547 East Market Street
Harrisonburg, Virginia
22801
(540) 433-8233 or (800) 445-5330
Info@StonewallJacksonInn.com
|
Send this website to a friend
|
