Born into slavery, Mary Elizabeth Bowser (circa 1839 –?) posed as a servant and spy for the Union during the American Civil War. The information it collects plays a very important role.
Born a slave
Born around 1839, Mary Richards was born into slavery to the family of Eliza Baker and John Van Lew, near Richmond, Virginia (USA). She was baptized in May 1846, under the name of “Mary Jane”. Records indicate that the ceremony takes place at the Van Lew family church and not where the family's slaves are customarily baptized, indicating that Mary is receiving special treatment.
When John Van Lew died in 1851, Eliza and her daughter, Elizabeth Van Lew, who was an abolitionist, granted Mary de facto freedom. Noting his intelligence, Elizabeth sends him to study in the North, because it is then illegal, in Virginia, to teach blacks to read. In 1855, she arranged for him to join a missionary community in Liberia, but Mary returned to the United States in 1860.
In April 1861, four days after the first battle of the American Civil War, Mary married Wilson Bowser; they are both entered in the register as “coloured servants of Mrs. E. Van Lew” .
The Civil War
A fervent supporter of the Union, Elizabeth engages with wounded soldiers and sets up a spy network. She convinces Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, to hire Mary Bowser as a servant. Despite the risk, Mary agrees.
From her position in the Confederate White House, Mary collects information that is transmitted to the Union through Elizabeth's network. A fellow spy, Thomas McNiven, said of her that she had “a photographic mind. Anything she saw on the president's desk, she could repeat word for word." After the war, the documents will all be destroyed to avoid reprisals, also preventing the information gathered by Mary from being determined; but Union officers Benjamin Butler, Ulysses S. Grant, and George Sharpe all hailed Elizabeth's network as a critical source of information.
After the war
After the Union victory, traces of Mary Bowser were quickly lost. She works as a teacher for the former slaves of Richmond, and gives several public lectures under pseudonyms. Described as sarcastic and full of humor, where she recounts her life, her education, her time in Liberia and her war experiences. And also talks politics, encouraging young black people to educate themselves.
In 1867, under the name of Mary J. Richards, she founded a school in Georgia welcoming young students during the day and adults at night; she teaches there herself. In June of that same year, a letter from her indicated that her name was henceforth Mary J. R. Garvin; this is the last trace of Mary Bowser, a former slave and spy in the heart of the Confederacy.