Hidden Heroes: Spy Games
By Ron Soodalter
NOVEMBER 2018 • AMERICA'S CIVIL WAR MAGAZINE
The North gets timely help from inside sources
In the best of cases, a wartime spy’s prospects for a long life are not ideal. And when you are spying for the Union from within the home of the president of the Confederacy, the odds of dying young increase dramatically. Yet two slaves in the service of Jefferson Davis himself—William A. Jackson and Mary Elizabeth Bowser—provided vital information to the Union and lived to tell about it.
William Jackson’s master had reportedly hired him out to work in a Richmond restaurant prior to his being assigned the dual role of being Davis’ house servant and coachman. Ironically, it was Jackson’s color and social station that allowed him to move about with impunity whenever political and strategic meetings were being held at the Confederate White House. Writes historian Ken Dagler: “Because of his role as a menial servant, he simply was ignored. So Jefferson Davis would hold conversations with military and Confederate civilian officials in his presence.â€
http://www.historynet.com/hidden-heroes-spy-games.htm
