Belle Boyd's name was actually Isabella Marie Boyd. People started calling her "La Belle Rebelle", which earned her the nickname Belle. She was born on May 9, 1844, and was the first of eight children. His father and mother were Benjamin Reed and Mary Rebecca Boyd. Belle Boyd and her family moved to Martinsburg State when she was ten years old. They had six slaves and one of them was named Eliza Corsey. She was Belle Boyd's good friend and Belle taught Eliza to read and write even though it was illegal. Boyd was a tomboy who loved climbing trees and playing with her loved ones. Her family didn't have much money, but she still received a good education. At age 12, she received preliminary schooling and then went to Mount Washington Female College in Baltimore, Maryland. She completed her education at the age of 16. involvement in the war Shortly after returning home, on July 4, 1861, Boyd killed a Union soldier while harassing her mother. The soldier was in their house because he was trying to hang a Union flag. She didn't like the way he harassed her mother, so she shot him. Even though Boyd was not considered guilty, sentries and officers were to watch over her. This worked out well for his future as a spy. She flirted with the officers and they started telling her military secrets (she used it a lot and it usually worked). She revealed secrets to Confederate generals Pierre Beauregard and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. One day she was arrested by union troops and told she would be sentenced to death, but she was not. Boyd wrote: “It didn’t scare me. It only taught me that I needed to find a better way to communicate. » There are numerous documented occasions where she spied and betrayed secrets. They say that one day when...... middle of paper ......oyd. She started acting again to tell the story of her espionage. She died on stage following a heart attack. She died at age 56. Women in War…Spies Women spies were a great help during the war. Men did not expect innocent women to be involved in such dangerous activities, which is why they are often not discovered at first. Men easily trusted female spies and confided important military secrets to them. Spies would obtain information, then write it on paper or cloth and sew it into their clothes or put it in their hair. With larger objects, they attached them to the hoops of their skirts and hid them in the dolls. People became suspicious when female spies began committing "inappropriate" acts, such as allowing men into their homes at all hours of the night, arranging meetings with men in various locations, and riding horses and in unaccompanied strollers..”