This autograph book/scrapbook belonged to Belle Boyd, a Confederate spy. Only 17 years old at the start of the war, Boyd used her looks and charm to gain information from Union troops stationed near her Virginia home. Her most significant action was providing information to Turner Ashby and Stonewall Jackson about Union activities in Front Royal during the 1862 Valley campaign. Boyd was arrested multiple times and was held in Union prisons from July 29, 1862 to August 28, 1862 and again from August to December 1863.
Transcript:
To Miss Belle
In after years when thought shall trace
The past with many an ardent sigh
And memory lighten o’er thy face
When friends warm praises meet thine eye
Spurn not this page; which speaks of one
Who dreamed youth’s half of life away
And after deemed where beauty shone
He saw the glance of Glory’s ray
10 Nov. 1861
Sturgis
Citation: Belle Boyd (1844-1900), Album: 1859-1903 [bulk 1862-1900]. AMs 1296/16