Bold...Brilliant...Brave...Heroines Throughout History PETTICOAT SPIES ~ Part Two by Tara Kingston

Welcome back to History Undressed, our regular 3rd Tuesday blogger, Tara Kingston! Today she's bringing us Part Two of her Petticoat Spies article. The first can be viewed here. Enjoy!

Bold...Brilliant...Brave...Heroines Throughout History

PETTICOAT SPIES ~ Part Two

by Tara Kingston

Greetings! I’m Tara Kingston, historical romance author and lover of all things Victorian. I’m fascinated by history through the ages, especially the bold, brilliant women who helped shape our world, and I’m delighted to be a monthly contributor to History Undressed. I’ll be sharing facts about daring women through history—some famous, some not so well-known, but all remarkable with their own unique contributions.

Today’s post takes a look at several female spies of the Civil War era. Driven by fierce loyalty, women on both sides of the conflict faced incredible risks to gather intelligence that help defeat the enemy. This month, the focus is on some of brave women who spied for the Confederacy.

Rose O’Neal Greenhow ~ The widowed Washington, D.C. socialite known as “Rebel Rose” used her considerable connections to spy for the Confederacy. A charming hostess, Rebel Rose gleaned information on military activities and Washington’s defenses and passed this on to Confederate leadership. Her activities drew the suspicion of Allan Pinkerton, resulting in her house arrest and eventual confinement in the Old Capitol Prison for several months. Deported to the South, Mrs. Greenhow was sent on a diplomatic mission to Britain and France by Jefferson Davis. During her time in England, Mrs. Greenhow wrote and published her memoirs.

Belle Boyd ~ Born in West Virginia in 1844, Belle Boyd began spying for the Confederacy at the age of seventeen. Using her skill at flirtation to help her gather info, Belle served as a courier, passing information to Confederate generals such as Stonewall Jackson and P.G.T. Beauregard. The woman known as “Cleopatra of the Secession” and “Siren of the Shenandoah” was arrested on multiple occasions by Union forces and faced eventual imprisonment in the Old Capitol Prison. Following her release, Belle boarded a ship bound for England in 1864, intent on transporting Confederate papers. After the ship was intercepted by a Union Navy vessel, Belle was again arrested as a spy. She fell in love with a Union officer who was one of her captors, Samuel Hardinge; they later married and had a daughter. After the war, Belle Boyd wrote and published a memoir, Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison, and launched a career as an actress and performer, eventually touring the country giving lectures on her adventures as a Civil War spy.

Antonia Ford Willard ~ Born in Virginia in 1838, Antonia Ford gathered information from occupying Union soldiers in her hometown, Fairfax Court House and provided military intelligence to Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart and spied for Colonel John Mosby, leader of a group of Confederate rangers. Miss Ford received an honorary commission as an aide-de-camp from Stuart in 1861. Accused of spying in 1863, Antonia Ford was arrested and held in the Old Capitol Prison. Her arresting officer, Major Joseph Willard, had lobbied for her release. After taking the Oath of Allegiance, Antonia was released from prison and went on to marry Major Willard. Their son later became the lieutenant governor of Virginia.

Petticoat spies like these courageous women inspired my Secrets & Spies series. The three books in the series are available for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Here’s a link to the first book in the series: Secrets, Spies & Sweet Little Lies on Kindle

Here’s a little about the story:

A heart's destiny cannot be denied when a daring Union spy abducts a beautiful runaway bride he suspects of being a traitor.

Emma Davenport was a model senator’s daughter: prim, proper, but hell-bent on escaping the dreaded fate of spinsterhood that awaited her under wartime Washington’s all-too watchful eye. She was going to be a bride, and no one was going to stop her. Not even the daring renegade who steals her from a train transporting her to a forbidden marriage. Her heart tells her this mysterious desperado is a dangerous man, but the pleasure of his touch is a more potent threat than any weapon.

Union Army Major Cole Travis is a highly trained operative, as skilled with deception as he is with a gun. Keeping a beautiful traitor from her rendezvous with a treacherous scoundrel shouldn’t be a challenge for the battle-seasoned spy—but he’s not the only one after his tempting captive. Emma Davenport must be kept out of enemy hands at all costs. Drawn to this woman whose innocent allure may be just another weapon in her arsenal, Cole risks his neck to shield her. Soon, however, protecting her from his own heart’s desire becomes another story entirely.

To Read More About Civil War Petticoat Spies:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-spies-of-the-civil-war-162202679/?no-ist

 https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/spies/9.htm

https://www.nps.gov/resources/person.htm?id=134

http://www.biography.com/people/belle-boyd

www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/maria-belle-boyd.html

http://www.britannica.com/biography/Rose-ONeal-Greenhow

http://www.civilwar.si.edu/leaders_greenhow.html

All photographs are in the public domain.

About The Author:

Award-winning author Tara Kingston writes historical romance laced with intrigue, danger, and adventures of the heart. A Southern belle-out-of-water in a quaint Pennsylvania town, she lives her own love story with her real-life hero in a cozy Victorian. The mother of two sons, Tara's a former librarian whose love of books is evident in her popping-at-the-seams bookcases. It goes without saying that Tara's husband is thankful for the invention of digital books, thereby eliminating the need for yet another set of shelves. When she's not writing, reading, or burning dinner, Tara enjoys cycling, hiking, and cheering on her favorite football team.

Connect with Tara at www.tarakingston.com and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTaraKingston

In a world where a man’s loyalty doesn’t depend on the color of a uniform, danger, intrigue, and passion are facts of life for the men and women of Tara’s Secrets & Spies series, historical romances set against the backdrop of the Civil War. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GK677PY/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Guest Author Victoria Gray - PETTICOAT SPIES: Corsets, The Civil War, and Pauline Cushman

Welcome back to guest author, Victoria Gray, who is tantalizing us yet again with another post in her Petticoat Spies series. If you've missed her other posts, you'll want to check them out! Rose O'Neal Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew.  It amazes me how these women lived! Enjoy!

PETTICOAT SPIES: CORSETS, THE CIVIL WAR, AND PAULINE CUSHMAN]

By Victoria Gray

The Civil War and the adventurous ladies who broke past society’s restrictions (or used them to their advantage) and used their feminine wiles to gather information for their cause is a favorite subject of mine. One such petticoat spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, not-so-fondly known as Crazy Bet in her native Richmond, was the inspiration for the crazy-as-a-fox spymaster in my recent release Angel in My Arms. I visited History Undressed with her story in January…hope you’ll take a peek in the archives if this article stirs your interest in the brave women who risked it all to serve the North and the South. Today, I’d like to introduce you to a legendary Yankee petticoat spy, Pauline Cushman.

Born Harriet Wood on June 10, 1833, the New Orleans native moved to Michigan as a girl. Leaving home at age eighteen, she took off for New York, where her beauty and vibrant personality fostered a career as an actress. After changing her name to Pauline Cushman, she traveled the country in road shows. When the war broke out in the spring of 1861, she was performing in Kentucky, which was at that time under Union control. Confederate officers who viewed her performance offered her a substantial sum to toast Jefferson Davis during her show. Seizing her opportunity, Pauline parlayed the on-stage toast into espionage. Held by Union officers in a pre-planned “arrest”, she became an instant heroine to the Confederates. The Federal officials then threw her out of Union territory, providing her a reason to follow the Confederate Army. Claiming to look for a long-lost brother fighting in the Rebel army, she spent time with Confederate soldiers who shared information on their defenses and operations, gathered lists of Confederate spies and used her riding skills to serve as a Union messenger.

Her assignments grew more daring and more dangerous. Infiltrating the camps of Confederate General Braxton Bragg, Pauline used her beauty and charm to loosen the lips of Confederate officers and gather information. Confronted with more information on defenses, war strategies, and weapons than she could possibly remember, she violated a key rule: never carry documents that would reveal her activities. Feeling she had found the perfect place to hide her notes, she concealed the papers in the soles of her shoes. This came back to haunt her when she was betrayed by a Confederate scout. Arrested and tried by a military court, she narrowly escaped a death sentence by hanging when Union forces invaded the town where she was being held, Shelbyville, Tennessee. Awarded the rank of Brevet-Major by General James Garfield, she wrote a book about her adventures, appropriately titled The Thrilling Adventures of Pauline Cushman and toured the country regaling crowds with the tales of her exploits.

Pauline Cushman died in December 1893. She was buried with full military honors. Her gravestone lists only her name and a unique designation: Union Spy.

I’ll be back this summer with more tales of petticoat spies. My Civil War-era novels Destiny, Angel in My Arms, and my upcoming release, Surrender to Your Touch, were inspired by the espionage and intrigue that surrounded the Civil War. In my latest release, Angel in My Arms, Union spy Amanda Emerson must break her cousin, a notorious double agent, out of a Confederate prison before his imminent execution. She’s a skilled Union operative, but for this mission, she needs a man. Even a man who looks and acts like a Viking warrior. Caught with Rebel battle plans and set for a hanging, Union spy Steve Dunham isn’t about to refuse the assistance of the sable-haired beauty who shows up at the jail and slips him the keys to his cell. Of course, she’s there for a reason besides saving his neck—he’s the key to her plan. He may be trading one noose for another, but he won’t forsake her. The spoils of his victory will be her surrender. And the terms of surrender will be sweet.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Are you working for DuBois?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Amanda steadied her voice. If she didn’t keep her fear tightly leashed, she would fall apart. She had no time for that.

“I think you do. Why else would you break a man out of jail who smells and looks like the town drunk and ride off with him? Did you plan to charm me into revealing the details of my mission?”

“Betsy thought we could count on you. She’s been told—”

“I’m not the guard in that country jail.” His hand moved from her hair to the small of her back, pressing her to him. “Do you realize how easy it would be for me to hike up your skirts and savor some of the charms you flaunted?”

Amanda tasted bile as his words stabbed with the viciousness of a stiletto.

To hell with this man.

Her palm struck his bearded cheek with all the force Amanda could muster. His eyes widened as one broad hand rose to rub his face. She wrenched away and bolted to the horse as fast as her cumbersome skirts would allow.

She couldn’t escape him if he chose to pursue her. Amanda knew that. But she had to try.

Captain Dunham captured her in his arms before she could lift herself into the saddle. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Despite Amanda’s best efforts to deprive him of the satisfaction of seeing her weep, moisture brimmed in her eyes. “You were right. My source was entirely wrong about you.”

She shoved against his chest, but she might as well have been a mouse trying to open a barn door. He didn’t budge. His arms coiled around her and dragged her against his body.

He peered down to study her for several breaths. Then his hands moved higher, stroking Amanda’s back and shoulders with soothing pressure.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” His gruff drawl had lost its angry edge. “Don’t you know how dangerous men can be?”

She swallowed hard. “We were desperate. Betsy thought you would help us.” Amanda wriggled away from his touch. “She was wrong.”

“Why did you come for me?”

“I’ve tried to tell you. But you won’t listen.”

He caught her in his arms again. “Tell me now.”

She twisted to free herself. “Take your hands off me. I’m going home. You can…you can find your way to your contact. You’re clever enough.”

He smiled but made no move to release her. “You’re not going anywhere without me. That would be like throwing you to the wolves.”

“This is coming from the man who spoke of hiking my skirts?” Amanda squirmed against him, brushing against undeniable proof he was not immune to her charms, as he’d described them. “I think I’ll take my chances with the wolves.”

“I thought you were working for…hell, it doesn’t matter what I thought.” He cast his gaze to the ground. “I would never hurt you. I don’t…I’ve never hurt a woman in my life. I was trying to make a point.”

She was tired. She was cold. And she needed to get away from him. It was bad enough when he frightened her. But now, the husky rasp in his voice stirred a warmth she couldn’t afford to feel.

“You’ve made your point very clear.” She veiled her eyes with her lashes. “You’ve also convinced me that seeking your assistance was a fool’s errand.”

“You sure are stubborn when you get riled.” He tipped her chin with one finger, keeping one hand planted firmly at her waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pretty girl get so angry with me.”

“I doubt there are many girls, pretty or otherwise, who’ve had as much justification.”

“In my defense, I thought you were leading me into a trap.”

“You don’t think that’s the case now?”

He shook his head. “If it was, I’d be dead by now. DuBois isn’t a patient man.”

Amanda trembled when he drew his fingertips very lightly along the curve of her face. Her top teeth grazed her bottom lip. His touch should repel her. But it didn’t. The sensations rippling through her body were not shudders of revulsion. To her horror, the sweep of his skin against her flesh was pleasant. Too pleasant.

Her teeth sank into her lip as she twisted against his restraint. “You shouldn’t touch me like this. Your behavior is most improper.”

“I suppose it is,” he agreed, his husky voice deepening.

“You need to let me go.” She held herself rigid and prayed he couldn’t feel the tiny quivers coursing through her body.

“I will.” The pad of his thumb swept over her bottom lip. “But you’re too damned pretty to resist.”

And then he kissed her.

Amanda’s knees went from weak to jelly. To her horror, she made no attempt to fight him. She stood transfixed, savoring the taste of his lips, the gentleness of his possession. This brute of a man claimed her with a tenderness she’d never felt in her twenty-four years. She could only remain a captive in his embrace, savoring his heat and his caress.

He released her slowly. Reluctantly. His hard body pressed to hers, stirring needs she’d buried on the brutal day she became a widow.

If his breath and the tension in his body were any indication, he’d been as affected by the kiss as she had. His fingertips traced over her cheeks. He watched her in the moonlight as though he’d discovered something rare and precious.

“Christ, tell me you weren’t acting,” he murmured against her lips.

*****

Leave a comment today for a chance to win a pdf of Angel in My Arms. Thanks for stopping by!

Visit Victoria at, http://www.victoriagrayromance.blogspot.com/ or http://www.victoriagrayromance.com/

Petticoat Spies: Rose O'Neal Greenhow aka Rebel Rose

Welcome back, Victoria Gray with her Petticoat Spies series!  Today she will delight us with her post on Rose O'Neal Greenhow, also known as Rebel Rose. If you missed the last post on "Crazy Bet", click here.

Rose O’Neal Greenhow: Rebel Rose

By Victoria Gray

As I discussed in my previous post, one of the Union’s most successful spies was a spinster who hid in plain sight, her eccentric, slightly mad persona the perfect disguise for their activities. Widely known as “Crazy Bet”, Elizabeth Van Lew rubbed elbows with Richmond elites while ferrying information to Union generals. The South also had its share of petticoat spies. Today, I’m going to share the story of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, possibly the most notorious of the Confederacy’s female spies.

Rose Greenhow was in many ways Elizabeth Van Lew’s opposite. A popular Washington, D.C. hostess, she flattered secrets out of the nation’s political and military elite. Married as a young woman to a State Department employee, Robert Greenhow, Rose associated with notables such as Dolley Madison and John C. Calhoun. Sophisticated and gracious, her charm proved as effective a disguise as Crazy Bet’s eccentricities when the war broke out in 1861 and Rose’s sympathy for the Confederacy led her to betray those who considered her a friend.

“Rebel Rose” quickly proved her mettle as a spy, providing Union general Beauregard with information that helped the South rout the North in the First Battle of Bull Run. Transporting the sensitive intelligence in the hair of a female courier, Rose demonstrated her ingenuity and her effectiveness.

Her activities were not without risk. Before long, she’d attracted the attention of Allan Pinkerton, who’d been brought in by the Union to combat espionage. Placed under house arrest, her home was occupied by Union soldiers and used to house other female prisoners. Confinement in Fort Greenhow, as her home came to be known, did not put a stop to Rose’s activities. Communications complaining of her mistreatment leaked out, creating great sympathy for her in the South. After several months, Fort Greenhow was closed. Rose and her young daughter were transferred to the Old Capitol Prison.

While in Old Capitol, Rose became a propaganda tool for the South, which portrayed the Northerners who’d imprisoned her as brutal for imprisoning both a woman and her child. Following a hearing that seemed to accomplish nothing, Rose Greenhow was exiled to Richmond. Mrs. Greenhow soon traveled to Europe, meeting with Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, and other members of the elite to garner support for the Confederate cause, while her book detailing her confinement in Washington during the first year of the war became a best seller in Britain.

Rose Greenhow’s European trip culminated in tragedy. On the last stretch of the voyage home, the ship on which she traveled ran aground off the North Carolina coast. While attempting to reach shore on a small boat, Mrs. Greenhow’s vessel capsized. She drowned and was buried with full military honors in Wilmington, North Carolina.

While she met a tragic end, Rose Greenhow lived her life defiantly, serving a cause she believed in quite passionately. She was a daring woman who stood up for her convictions, regardless of the cost, one of many women on both sides of the conflict who made great sacrifices for their beliefs.

Leave a comment for a chance to win an e-copy of Victoria's latest novel, ANGEL IN MY ARMS.

Victoria Gray writes sizzling Civil War era romance novels. Visit her at: http://www.victoriagrayromance.com/ or http://victoriagrayromance.blogspot.com/