Isabella Marie (Boyd) High (abt. 1844 - 1900)

Born about 9 May 1844 in Martinsburg, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Samuel Wylde Harding — married 25 Aug 1864 (to about 1867) in London, England

Wife of John Swainston Hammond — married 12 Mar 1869 (to 1 Nov 1884) in Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Descendants

Died 11 Jun 1900 at about age 56 in Wisconsin Dells, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States

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Biography

Belle (Boyd) High is Notable.

Maria Isabella "Belle" Boyd was one of the Confederacy's most notorious spies. She was born in May 9, 1844 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) to Benjamin R. Boyd and Mary Rebecca Glenn, a prosperous family with strong Southern ties. The date in the Boyd Family Bible is 9 May 1843, but Boyd insisted it was 1844, and that the entry was in error. During the Civil War, her father was a soldier in the Stonewall Brigade, and at least three other members of her family were convicted of being Confederate spies.^[1][2]

At the young age of 17, Belle shot and killed a Union officer who had forcibly entered their home following the invasion of Martinsburg on 3 July 1861. He was attempting to remove the Confederate flags and replace them with a Federal flag. Belle's protests caused the officer to swear at her using the most offensive language so she shot him. She was found to "have done right" by the Federal command, ironically gaining their respect.^[3]

Belle was later incarcerated at the Old Capitol Prison.^{[4] [5]}

The Old Capitol Prison, at the time Belle Boyd was incarcerated stood on the eastern slope of Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., on the corner of 1st and A Streets NE. It served as the Capitol Building between 1815 and 1819, and has a rich history of use, before and after, including being used as a prison during the Civil War years of 1861 and 1867. The building and site were cleared in 1929 to make way for the US Supreme Court building.^[5]

Belle was released in a prisoner exchange after a month but was arrested again in July 1863. She was then released in December 1863 and banished to the South.

Belle sailed for England on May 8, 1864 and was arrested on board the Greyhound as a Confederate courier. Despite, the popular tales that she escaped with the aid of her fiancee, Lt. Samuel Hardinge, the prize master of the Greyhound, she was instead banished and sent under guard to Canada. Lt. Hardinge was himself under arrest at the time.^[6]

After Hardinge's dismissal from the Navy, the couple were reunited in England and married Aug. 25, 1864 in Saint James, Westminster, London, England^[7]

Shortly after her arrest at Boston, The Boston Post’s reporter described Belle: "She is a tall, well-formed, woman, blonde, and graceful in her manners." "She converses freely and well and was evidently a female of intelligence and quick under standing."^[8]

Most sources say that Belle lived in England for two years until her return to America as a widow and mother. This is partly true she did stay in England a couple of years, writing her autobiography, and training to be an actress. She did have a daughter. Mary Grace Wentworth Fitzwilliam Belle Boyd Hardinge(1865–1933) was born in the July-Sept Qtr. of 1865 • Greater London, London, Middlesex, United Kingdom ^[9] Grace married Lee Bennett.

The untrue part is widow. Her biographer Louis Sigaud believed that Hardinge died in 1865/66, but he was still living in 1870. Read his profile to discover what became of him and their relationship.

During the years between marriages, Belle returned to the states, where she pursued an acting career. She took the stage name Nina Benjamin and it was by this name that her next husband first saw her.^[6]

She married John Swainston Hammond, a Union Army veteran from England, March 12, 1869 in Orleans, Louisiana, United States.^[10] They had four children but divorced after 16 years of marriage.

On 7 Jan 1885, Belle married Nathaniel High, Jr., an actor who was 17 years younger. The financial difficulties of raising Belle's four children caused Belle to launch a new career. She began giving dramatic recitals of her war experiences. Nat was her manager. Eventually, some of her children also joined her performances. An article from the Gafney Ledger gives an interesting glimpse at Belle's life during this time.

Belle died at the age of 56 years of a heart attack in Kilbourne City (now known as Wisconsin Dells), Wisconsin, on June 11, 1900.^{[11] [12]} She was buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Wisconsin Dells, with members of the Local GAR as her pallbearers.^[13]

When Belle died she was buried at the Spring Grove Cemetery, Kilbourn, Wisconsin, by the Wisconsin River. In 1928/1929, her daughter Mrs. Isabel Michael of New York City was arranging for reburial beside the grave of her father Ben Boyd in the local Martinsburg. West Virginia, Green Hill cemetery, where the Daughters of the Confederacy were planning on erecting a suitable monument.^[14][15] This however does not seem to have occurred.

Children

1. Mary Grace Wentworth Fitzwilliam Belle Boyd Hardinge(1865–1933) was born in the July-Sept Qtr. of 1865 • Greater London, London, Middlesex, United Kingdom ^[16] She married Lee Bennett.
2. Martin Hammond b. in California between 1870 and 1872, died young.^[6]
3. Byrd Swainston Hammond b. 26 Feb. 1874, Butterfield Mansion, Utica, New York. She died in 1932.^[6]
4. Marie Isabelle Boyd Hammond was born 31 Oct 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland^[6]
5. John Edmund Swainston Hammond was b. 30 August 1881, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[6]

More detailed information about Belle can be found in her autobiography, a biography, and some of the sources listed below:

• Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison New York: Blelock & Company, 1866.
• Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison Vol. II. London: Saunders Osley and Co., 1865.
• Sigaud, Louis A. Belle Boyd Confederate Spy. Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Press, 1944

Sources

1. ↑ Confederate Spy, Belle Boyd.
2. ↑ [1]
3. ↑ National Biographies "Belle Boyd"
4. ↑ Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D. C. [2].
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Old Capitol Prison".
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5} Sigaud, Louis A. Belle Boyd Confederate Spy Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Press Inc., 1944.
7. ↑ England Marriages, 1538–1973, database, FamilySearch: Sam Wylde Hardinge and Belle Boyd, 25 Aug 1864; citing Saint James,Westminster,London,England, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,042,324.
8. ↑ ”Bell Boyd [From the Boston Post 21st.]” The Cleveland Daily Leader (Cleveland, Ohio) Weds. 25 May 1864. p. 1.
9. ↑ FreeBMD.org.uk Birth record Hardinge, Mary Grace Wentworth Fitzwilliam Belle Boyd in Hampstead Vol. 1a, p 529.
10. ↑ Louisiana, Parish Marriages, 1837-1957, database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 18 December 2015), John Hammond and Belle Boyd, 1869.
11. ↑ Wisconsin, Death Index, 1820-1907, database, FamilySearch; Mary Isabel High, 11 Jun 1900; from "Wisconsin Deaths, 1820-1907," database, Ancestry.com: 2000); citing p. 0530, volume 01, Columbia, Wisconsin, reel 012, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, Vital Records Division, Madison.
12. ↑ Wisconsin, Death Records, 1867-1907, database, FamilySearch; Mary Isabel Boyd, 1900; citing Death, Kilbourn, Columbia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,310,176.
13. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 121
14. ↑ ”To Bury Belle Boyd in South.” Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin). 18 Dec 1928, Tue • Page 1
15. ↑ “Belle Boyd Reburial Is Aim of Daughter.” The Daily Republican. (Monongahela, Pennsylvania) Tuesday, April 2, 1929 - Page 2
16. ↑ FreeBMD.org.uk Birth record Hardinge, Mary Grace Wentworth Fitzwilliam Belle Boyd in Hampstead Vol. 1a, p 529.

See also:

• United States Census, 1850, database with images, FamilySearch; Marca J Boyd in household of Peter Polk, Martinsburg, Berkeley, Virginia, United States; citing family 555, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• United States Census, 1860, database, FamilySearch; Maria Boyd in household of Benj R Boyd, Martinsburg, Berkeley, Virginia, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 143, household ID 1014, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 805,335.
• Wikipedia; Belle Boyd
• Civil War Trust; Maria "Belle" Boyd
• History and Women Friday, July 22, 2011 "Isabella Marie Boyd (Belle Boyd)".
• American Civil War Story "Belle Boyd"
• Encyclopedia of Virginia. "Belle Boyd (1844–1900)" Contributed by Michael DeMarco.
• Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison
• Belle's War 1861-1865 The Memoirs of a Confederate Spy -Volume One (Confederate spy Belle Boyd)
• Belle Boyd: Siren of the South by Ruth Scarborough (1983)