From slave to spy: Mary Elizabeth Bowser

Spokesman Magazine, Nov, 2004 by Anthony Pendleton

Elizabeth Van Lew, of Richmond Va., headed a highly effective spy ring in the Richmond area during the Civil War.

She was a die-hard patriot, and had long held anti-slavery and antiwar sentiments. Ms. Van Lew was quite outspoken on both these issues, but despite her stance against war, she volunteered her services to the Union cause when war broke out between the North and South.

One of the most effective members of her spy ring was a former Van Lew family slave, Mary Elizabeth Bowser. Mary Elizabeth was born on the Van Lew plantation between the late 1830's and early 1840's. When Ms. Van Lew's father died, she freed the Van Lew slaves--including Mary Elizabeth Bowser.

Mary Elizabeth stayed on with the Van Lew family and worked for a time, and it was during this period that she married a freeman named William or Wilson Bowser. Sometime after the marriage, Elizabeth Van Lew agreed to finance Mary's long held desire for an education, so Ms. Bowser left for Philadelphia to study.

Prior to the outbreak of the war, she returned to Richmond to work for Van Lew--a return that would prove of immense value to the union cause. After the war started, Elizabeth Van Lew learned of an opening for a domestic servant in the home of the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis. Ms. Van Lew was considered by Richmond society to be somewhat strange; however, she was not viewed as an enemy of the Confederacy. Thus she was able to make arrangements for Ms. Bowser to join the Davis household as a servant. It was then that Mary Elizabeth Bowser became a Union spy.

Ms. Bowser's duties as a household servant brought her into frequent contact with the confederate president and with various important visitors to the confederate president's home and office. Ms. Bowser's formal education was not divulged to Jefferson Davis and he never suspected she was educated.

It was a common belief among whites that blacks should receive no formal education, and this put Ms. Bowser in a position to spy on the confederate president's activities. Jefferson Davis openly discussed war matters with his staff and senior military commanders in her presence.

Her duties also allowed her to move freely around the mansion including the president's private study, so she was able to read war dispatches and other important papers the confederate president left out.

Ms. Bowser had a photographic memory--a talent that enabled her to recite word for word the contents of Jefferson Davis' letters. She would then pass her intelligence to Elizabeth Van Lew or to Thomas McNiven who was also a member of the Van Lew spy network.

Mr. McNiven owned a bakery which became a central exchange point for information in Richmond and sold fresh bread to the Davis household. His frequent delivery visits to the Confederate White House enabled Ms. Bowser to pass on her findings while the information was still fresh. He, Ms. Van Lew, or other Union informers would pass her information to military leaders, including General Grant.

Her work on behalf of the north continued throughout the duration of the war. She was never discovered, and after the war the United States kept the information about her activities under very tight security for her own protection.

Some reports state Ms. Bowser kept papers that chronicled her efforts in her own handwriting. This has never been substantiated. Some have alleged that family members destroyed the papers because they were afraid to keep them lest they fall into the wrong hands. Rumors also circulated that Mary Elizabeth Bowser kept a personal diary. It's rumored to still exist and be in the possession of a family who refuses to release it.

The contributions she made to the country's cause--at considerable risk to herself--were finally recognized in 1995 when the United States Army honored her with induction into the United States Army Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

According to an account assembled by the hall of fame, Jefferson Davis never discovered the leak in his household staff, although he knew the Union somehow kept discovering Confederate plans.

By Capt. Anthony Pendleton (retired)

Special to the Spokesman