The Civil War, the deadliest conflict in American history, was a battle between the North and the South over the issue of slavery. It was not only fought on bloody battlefields but also in the shadows, where spies risked their lives to help both sides of the war. One such spy was Mary Jane Richards.
A Civil War Spy
The story of Mary Jane Richards was first told in 1911, half a century after the beginning of the Civil War. At the time, Harper’s Magazine interviewed Annie Van Lew Hall, who claimed to have known a black woman named “Mary Elizabeth Bowser” who served as a spy during the conflict. Bowser, she said, had worked in Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ home, where she worked a clandestine mission to gather information for the Union.
While the story “became the stuff of Civil War legend as it was repeated and embellished over the next century,” according to the National Park Service, much of Hall’s story turned out to be true – but she got the spy’s name wrong.
Annie Van Lew Hall’s aunt, Elizabeth Van Lew, was the leader of a spy operation in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Among those working for Van Lew was an African American woman named Mary, later identified as Mary Jane Richards.
The Van Lew family and Richards detested the Confederacy, providing care to northern troops who were wounded in battles fought near their home. At the same time, Elizabeth Van Lew “established contact with the U.S. government” and started providing “military intelligence to army leaders and assisting in the escape of prisoners of war from Richmond.”
Multiple slaves and free African Americans contributed to the espionage operation, including Mary Jane Richards. After the war, Richards recalled her experiences as a spy in multiple public speeches. According to the Anglo African, Richards said “she went into President Davis’s house while he was absent, seeking for washing, and while there was conducted into a private office by one of the clerks, when she opened the drawers of a cabinet and scrutinized the papers. While thus employed Jeff came in and inquired of her what she was doing there, but considering she was colored allowed her to go in peace.”
While there is no official record of Richards’ birth, researchers believe she was born around 1840 in Virginia. It is also unclear who her parents were; Richards provided contradictory explanations about her mother’s identity through the years, including that her mother was a slave, that she didn’t know who her mother was, and that her mother was white. Richards made similarly confusing statements about her father, who she said was unknown and also “a mixture of Cuban-Spaniard and negro.”
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, has the first “probable” record of Richards, which states that “a colored child belonging to Mrs. [Eliza] Van Lew” called “Mary Jane” was baptized on May 17, 1846. Years later, the Van Lew family sent Richards to New Jersey for a formal education, but she eventually returned to Virginia.
While Annie Van Lew Hall’s 20th-century recollection of a Civil War spy named “Mary Elizabeth Bowser” wasn’t quite right, researchers agree Hall was likely referring to Mary Jane Richards, whose clandestine contributions helped the Union win the Civil War.
4 Questions
The story, in brief
Who was Mary Jane Richards in the Civil War?
Mary Jane Richards was an African American woman who worked with Elizabeth Van Lew's spy operation in Richmond, Virginia. Researchers agree she was likely the Civil War spy later misidentified in a 1911 account as Mary Elizabeth Bowser. Her clandestine work helped the Union during the war.
How did Mary Jane Richards gather intelligence in Jefferson Davis's home?
After the war, Richards said she entered President Jefferson Davis's house while he was absent, looking for washing. A clerk led her into a private office, where she opened a cabinet's drawers and examined papers. When Davis came in and asked what she was doing, she said he let her go because she was Black.
Why was Mary Jane Richards once called Mary Elizabeth Bowser?
In 1911, Harper's Magazine interviewed Annie Van Lew Hall, who said a Black woman named Mary Elizabeth Bowser had spied in Jefferson Davis's home. The National Park Service says much of Hall's account was true, but she got the spy's name wrong. Researchers later identified the woman as Mary Jane Richards.
What is known about Mary Jane Richards's early life and background?
There is no official record of Richards's birth, but researchers believe she was born around 1840 in Virginia. Her statements about her parents were contradictory, and her first probable record is an 1846 baptism at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond. The Van Lew family later sent her to New Jersey for a formal education before she returned to Virginia.
