After my travel to Virginia to meet Belle Boyd, I sat down with her over some coffee. We sat in her fathers hotel located in Front Royal, Virginia. When I asked her about her childhood, she talked about how she grew up in a family that didn’t have that much money. Although they didn’t have much money she said that she was fortunate enough to still get a good education at Mount Washington Female College. Belle said that as a child she was a tomboy and enjoyed running around with her brothers, sisters, and cousins. Belle Boyd was a spy for the Confederacy. When I asked her about how a normal civilian decided to make the brave choice of becoming a spy, she said that it all happened by chance. She said that some Union officers found a Confederate flag in a few of her rooms, and after she shot one of the officers, they kept close watch on her. This became an advantage to the Confederate army when she would here information from the Union soldiers. She would send her slave with a hollowed out watch case to give to the Confederate army. She laughed as she told me this, saying it was ironic that she was able to use a slave to help with the war against slavery. But she was soon caught, and Belle then decided that she would need to come up with a better and more efficient way to spy. She told me that after eavesdropping on the Union’s plan, she rode to tell the colonel herself. Belle bravely ran through the battle to get information to Stonewall. She made it through the war zone safely with bullet holes in her skirt. Belle told this to me while nostalgically looking at the skirt that she wore on that day. Belle Boyd told me that she was later arrested, this was her first time, but not her last time. When she was later sent off to Canada, she met the man that would be her husband. He was a Union naval officer. When she told this to me, I laughed at the thought of this. She was .just imprisoned by the Union and she finds herself marrying one. She laughed too, but said that after the war life went on she was blessed with a husband and eventually a daughter. Although her life changed during the war, Belle was strong and did her part in fighting for what she believed in. After the war, there were still affects of the war, but she was able to move on and make a good life. Belle is able to look back at the things she accomplished during the war, and tell her children a story that they will be glad to pass down through generations, unless they end up being against slaves.