Belle Boyd Bookmark

Front: Maria Isabella Boyd “Belle Boyd”. May 4, 1844 – June 11, 1900 Martinsburg, Va. “If it is a crime to love the South, its cause and its President, then I am a criminal. I would rather lie down in this prison and die than le…

Front: Maria Isabella Boyd “Belle Boyd”. May 4, 1844 – June 11, 1900 Martinsburg, Va. “If it is a crime to love the South, its cause and its President, then I am a criminal. I would rather lie down in this prison and die than leave owing allegiance to a government such as yours.” She relayed information to Jackson’s troops, was captured and arrested three times, and finally escaped to England. Back: Martinsburg, Virginia July 4, 1861 “The doors of our houses were dashed in; our rooms were forcibly entered by soldiers who might literally be termed “mad drunk”, for I can think of no other expression so applicable to their condition. Glad and fragile property of all kinds was wantonly destroyed. They found our homes scenes of comfort…; they left them mere wrecks, utterly despoiled and mutilated. Shots were fired through the windows; chairs and tables were hurled into the street.” Appeals to the Union soldiers sense of decency were of no avail as “to such applications the reply was invariably a volley of blasphemous curses and horrid imprecations.”