Mary Richards, also known as Mary Jane Richards Garvin and possibly Mary Bowser (born 1846), was a
Union spy during the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
.
She was possibly born
enslaved from birth in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, but there is no documentation of where she was born or who her parents were. By the age of seven, she was enslaved by the household of
Elizabeth "Bet" Van Lew, in
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
. The Van Lew family sent Richards to school somewhere in the north, and then to
Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
through the
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...
. Richards returned to Richmond shortly before the outbreak of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, where she was one of many black and white Richmond residents who collected and delivered military information to the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
under the leadership of Elizabeth Van Lew.
[ ]
Richards is often referred to as Mary Bowser. She was likely married to a Wilson Bowser at the start of the Civil War. A 1911 article about her in ''
Harper's Monthly
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...
'', which was based in part on the faulty memory of Bet Van Lew's niece, popularized Richards' story, and was the source of much of the ensuing lore around Richards, including a 1987 TV movie, ''A Special Friendship''. The ''Harper's'' article included details that are not known to be accurate, such as that Richards had worked undercover directly in the
Confederate White House, that she had a
photographic memory
Eidetic memory ( ), also known as photographic memory and total recall, is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''photogr ...
, and that she tried to set fire to the Confederate White House at the end of the war; and other details that are clearly false, such as that her name was "Mary Elizabeth Bowser".
Early years
Mary Jane Richards was likely born in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and was possibly
enslaved from birth by Eliza Baker Van Lew and John Van Lew (parents of Elizabeth) or their extended family.
The first record directly related to her is her
baptism
Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
, as "Mary Jane" at
St. John's Church in Richmond, on May 17, 1846.
Mary Jane's baptism at the Van Lew family church, rather than at Richmond's
First African Baptist Church where the other Van Lew slaves were baptized, indicates that someone in the Van Lew family took special notice of Richards, as evidenced also by subsequent arrangements for her education.
Not long after this baptism, Elizabeth Van Lew, sent Richards north to school.
In 1855, Richards went to
Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
in West Africa, to join a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
community, as arranged by Elizabeth Van Lew. By the spring of 1860, Richards had returned to Richmond.
The American Civil War
On April 16, 1861, Mary wed Wilson Bowser. The
ceremony
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin .
Religious and civil ...
took place in St. John's Church, just four days after
Confederate troops opened fire on
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a historical Coastal defense and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor in 1829, the fort was built in response to the W ...
, the
first battle of the Civil War.
The marriage was relatively short lived, and by the time the war ended, she was once again using the surname Richards.
Throughout the war, Mary participated in the pro-Union underground espionage ring organized by
Elizabeth Van Lew
Elizabeth Van Lew (October 12, 1818 – September 25, 1900) was an American abolitionist, Southern Unionist, and philanthropist who recruited and acted as the primary handler of an extensive spy ring for the Union Army in the Confederate ca ...
.
She engaged in a variety of pro-Union activities.
On at least one occasion she went, as she later put it, "into
President Davis's house while he was absent," pretending to be getting laundry, in order to look for documents related to the war effort.
Although the exact details of the intelligence she collected are unknown, the value of this espionage ring was noted by Generals
Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general (United States), major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, ...
,
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
, and
George H. Sharpe.
Postwar life
A few days after the
fall of Richmond, Mary Jane Richards worked as teacher to former slaves in the city.
Richards gave at least two lectures in the North in 1865 about her education, travel to Liberia, and wartime experiences.
In September, a reporter claimed that she and the famed white political orator
Anna Dickinson "might, indeed, easily be mistaken for twin sisters," likely referring to the strangeness of a woman speaking about political issues to a group.
While speaking in New York, Richards protected her identity by using pseudonyms at both lectures, calling herself Richmonia Richards at
Abyssinian Baptist Church
The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch located at 132 West 138th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is affiliated with the National Bapt ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
on September 11 and Richmonia R. St. Pierre a week or two later at the
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...
on
Bridge Street in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
.
Again using the name Mary J. Richards, she founded a
freedmen's school in
St. Marys, Georgia in early 1867.
Her school served day students, adult night students, and Sunday school students, all taught by herself.
In a June 1867 letter to the superintendent of education for the Georgia
Freedmen's Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...
, she requested that he refer to her as Mary J. R. Garvin.
A later letter may imply that she intended to join her new husband in the
West Indies
The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
after St. Mary's school closed.
Untrue or unsubstantiated claims
In addition to the misuse of the name "Bowser," a number of claims made in purportedly nonfiction accounts about this figure are unsubstantiated, or even untrue. Many are embellishments of a June 1911
''Harper's Monthly'' article, the first known publication of the erroneous Bowser's name.
A number of modern media sources, including ''
NOW with Bill Moyers'',
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', have republished these false or disputed claims.
* No evidence exists that Van Lew or Richards identified as
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
, or that either one attended a Quaker school, as is sometimes claimed. It is not known where Richards attended school.
* It is not known whether Richards infiltrated the Confederate White House as a permanent servant, although she did on at least one occasion enter the house to look for documents.
* A "colored girl Mary" who participated in the espionage ring is claimed to have a
photographic memory
Eidetic memory ( ), also known as photographic memory and total recall, is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''photogr ...
in a document called, "Recollections of Thomas McNiven and his activities in Richmond during the American Civil War." The document's accuracy is doubted by historians including
Elizabeth R. Varon, author of ''Southern Lady, Yankee Spy'', a biography of Van Lew.
* Although she used numerous pseudonyms, the name "Ellen Bond" was not one of them.
* Richards did not likely attempt to set fire to the Confederate White House and flee Richmond in early 1865, as she was still in Richmond in April 1865 educating newly freed slaves.
* She was not smuggled out of the city to Philadelphia in a cartload of manure during the war.
* A member of the Bowser family told an NPR reporter that in the 1950s she had inadvertently discarded a book that might have contained Mary's wartime journal.
But the existence of such a journal cannot be confirmed. It is unlikely that a spy would keep such a dangerous document.
* A photograph of another woman by the name of Mary Bowser has been incorrectly associated with the spy Mary Richards.
Popular culture representations
A novel by
Lois Leveen, ''The Secrets of Mary Bowser,'' is based on Richards' life.
The 2013 play ''Lady Patriot'' by
Ted Lange
Theodore William Lange III (; born January 5, 1948) is an American actor, director and screenwriter best known for his roles as bartender Isaac Washington in the TV series ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986) and Junior in ''That's My Mama'' (1974–7 ...
is about Bowser and her acts of espionage. The play was produced by Mary Lange and premiered at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Santa Monica, California. Mary Bowser was played by
Chrystee Pharris.
A 1987 made-for-TV movie, ''A Special Friendship'', was loosely based on Bowser and Van Lew's activities. Bowser was played by
Akosua Busia.
The heroine of the 2017 novel ''
An Extraordinary Union
''An Extraordinary Union'' is a 2017 romance novel by American author Alyssa Cole. It was received favorably by critics and named to multiple best-of lists. It won multiple awards but was passed over by Romance Writers of America's nominations ...
'' by
Alyssa Cole is based in part on Mary Bowser.
The Civil War podcast ''
Uncivil'' had a 2018 episode about Mary Bowser.
This episode has been criticized for presenting much of the disputed information about Richards – including the name "Mary Bowser" – as fact.
The opera ''Intelligence'' by composer
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie (born March 31, 1961)Slonimsky, Nicholas; Kuhn, Laura; ed. (2001). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Volume 3: Haar-Levi'. New York: Schirmer Books. pp. 1509–1510. . is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestra ...
and librettist
Gene Scheer
Gene Scheer (born April 28, 1958) is an American songwriter, librettist and lyricist. He is the brother of Samuel Scheer, who is an English teacher at Windsor High School and a part-time musician.
Education and early career
Scheer was born in New ...
is based on Mary Bowser's life. Commissioned by
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...
, the new opera premiered at the
Wortham Theater on September 20, 2023 with a production directed by
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The opera repeats a number of false claims, for example, "Bowser" setting fire to the Confederate White House, perhaps further confusing audiences about the real history.
Recognition
"Mary Elizabeth Bowser"
ichas been honored by the U.S. government with an induction into the
Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in
Fort Huachuca
Fort Huachuca is a United States Army military base, installation, in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately north of the Mexico–United States border, border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huac ...
, Arizona, for her work in the war.
See also
*
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...
*
Ellen Barnes McGinnis, an enslaved woman who worked in the Confederate White House
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowser, Mary
African Americans in the American Civil War
Women in the American Civil War
American spies
Female wartime spies
Year of death unknown
1830s births
19th-century African-American women
People from Richmond, Virginia
African-American history in Richmond, Virginia
19th-century African-American people