Mary Elizabeth Bowser
Mary Elizabeth remained in the Van Lew household after she was freed and worked for a while as their servant. She soon met and married a freeman named William or Wilson Bowser. But Mary Elizabeth still dreamed of having an education. Ms. Van Lew agreed to pay her tuition, and she attended school in Philadelphia.
After the Civil War began, Ms. Van Lew arranged for Mrs. Bowser to work as a domestic servant in the home of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, who talked openly about matters of the Confederacy and the war in her presence. She passed this information to Ms. Van Lew, and it eventually reached Union military officials, including General Ulysses S. Grant.
Mary Elizabeth Bowser
Mrs. Bowser had a photographic memory and could repeat word for word letters and dispatches that she saw in the president’s private study. They obviously believed she was illiterate. Her treachery was never discovered, and she served the Union for the duration of the war.
In 1995, 130 years after the Civil War ended, the United States Army finally recognized Mary Elizabeth Bowser’s contribution to the Union war effort by inducting her into the U.S. Army Intelligence Hall of Fame.
She was a gutsy lady!
Copyright © 2006 Maggie MacLean
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