Belle Boyd (Photograph 1)

Maria Isabella "Belle" Boyd, one of the most famous Confederate spies during the American Civil War, sits for a glass-plate-negative portrait in Washington, D.C. A debutante in the U.S. capital during the winter of 1860–1861, Boyd became a spy for the Confederacy and under dangerous circumstances relayed information on Union troop strengths and movements to Confederate commanders in the field. According to Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, the intelligence she provided helped the general win victories in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862. Union authorities suspected her of being a spy almost from the start of the war, and she was imprisoned multiple times.