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(1844 - 1900) Famous as a Confederate spy during the Civil War, Marie Isabella Boyd resided at a stately colonial mansion near this site in the 1880s. One of the most effective of spies, the slender, blonde girl was only 17 when the Civil War began in 1861. Her passionate devotion to the South and to chivalry indirectly started her career when, in a fit of rage, she shot and killed a Union soldier who threatened her mother. While briefly confined at her Georgia estate, Belle was kept under watch by Federal officers, but so charming and friendly was she that they unwittingly divulged many secrets-- which soon found their way into Confederate hands. Her activities led to several prison sentences and finally exile from the United States. In England Belle married S. W. Hardinge, a Union naval officer of southern sympathies. They had one daughter. After Hardinge's untimely death, she returned to this country to become famous again, as a lecturer and a dramatic reader. In New Orleans in 1869, she married noted businessman J. S. Hammond. With their three children they later moved to Dallas, where they lived for some time. In 1884 they were divorced and in 1887, Belle sold this house. She died in 1900. |
