Biography article mary elizabeth bowser

Freed slave and American Civil War spy, born

Mary Richards, also known as Mary Jane Richards Garvin and possibly Mary Bowser (born ), was a Unionspy during the Civil War.^[1] She was possibly born enslaved from birth in Virginia, 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 domesticated of Elizabeth "Bet" Van Lew, in Richmond, Virginia. The Van Lew family sent Richards to school somewhere in the north, and then to Liberia through the American Colonization Society.

Richards returned to Richmond shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War, where she was one of many black and white Richmond residents who calm and delivered military information to the United States Army under the leadership of Elizabeth Van Lew.^[2]

Richards is often referred to as Mary Bowser.

She was likely married to a Wilson Bowser at the start of the Civil War. A article about her in Harper's Monthly, 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 TV movie, A Exceptional Friendship.

The Harper's article included details that are not acknowledged to be accurate, such as that Richards had worked undercover directly in the Confederate Colorless House, that she had a photographic memory, 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".^[1][2][3]

Early years

Mary Jane Richards was likely born in Virginia, and was possibly enslaved from birth by Eliza Baker Van Lew and John Van Lew (parents of Elizabeth) or their extended family.^[4][5] The first record directly related to her is her baptism, as "Mary Jane" at St.

John's Church in Richmond, on May 17, ^[2] 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 spot of Richards, as evidenced also by subsequent arrangements for her education.^[1] Not long after this baptism, Elizabeth Van Lew, sent Richards north to school.^[1][2]

In , Richards went to Liberia in West Africa, to join a missionary community, as arranged by Elizabeth Van Lew.

By the spring of , Richards had returned to Richmond.^[1][2][6][7]

The American Civil War

When I open my eyes in the morning, I speak to the servant, "What news, Mary?" and my caterer never fails!

Most generally our faithful news is gathered from negroes, and they certainly show wisdom, discretion and prudence, which is wonderful.

—&#;Elizabeth Van Lew, diary entry dated May 14,

On April 16, , Mary wed Wilson Bowser.

The ceremony took place in St. John's Church, just four days after Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, the first battle of the Civil War.^[2] 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.^[1] She engaged in a variety of pro-Union activities.^[6] 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.^[8] Although the exact details of the intelligence she collected are unknown, the value of this espionage call was noted by Generals Benjamin Butler, Ulysses S.

Grant, and George H. Sharpe.^[2]

Postwar life

A limited days after the fall of Richmond, Mary Jane Richards worked as teacher to former slaves in the city.^[1]

Richards gave at least two lectures in the North in about her learning, travel to Liberia, and wartime experiences.^[1] In September, a whistleblower 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.^[3] While speaking in New York, Richards protected her identity by using pseudonyms at both lectures, calling herself Richmonia Richards at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Manhattan on September 11 and Richmonia R.

St. Pierre a week or two later at the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Bridge Street in Brooklyn.^[1]

Again using the name Mary J. Richards, she founded a freedmen's school in St. Marys, Georgia in preceding ^[1]Her school served day students, adult night students, and Sunday school students, all taught by herself.^[2]

In a June letter to the superintendent of education for the Georgia Freedmen's Bureau, she requested that he refer to her as Mary J.

R. Garvin.^[1] A later letter may imply that she intended to join her new husband in the West Indies 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.

Richards returned to Richmond shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil Warwhere she was one of many black and white Richmond residents who collected and delivered military information to the United States Army 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 article about her in Harper's Monthlywhich 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 TV film, A Special Friendship.

Many are embellishments of a June Harper's Monthly article, the first recognizable publication of the erroneous Bowser's name.^[2][9] A number of contemporary media sources, including NOW with Bill Moyers, NPR and The Washington Post, have republished these false or disputed claims.^{[1][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

• No evidence exists that Van Lew or Richards identified as Quaker, or that either one attended a Quaker school, as is sometimes claimed.

  It is not recognizable where Richards attended school.^[1]

• 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.^[8]
• A "colored teen Mary" who participated in the espionage ring is claimed to have a photographic memory 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.^[1][6]

• Although she used numerous pseudonyms, the call "Ellen Bond" was not one of them.^[1]
• Richards did not likely attempt to set fire to the Confederate White House and flee Richmond in early , as she was still in Richmond in April educating newly freed slaves.^[1][2]
• She was not smuggled out of the city to Philadelphia in a cartload of manure during the war.^[1][2]
• A member of the Bowser family told an NPR reporter that in the s she had inadvertently discarded a book that might have contained Mary's wartime journal.^[15] But the existence of such a journal cannot be confirmed.

  It is unlikely that a spy would keep such a dangerous document.^[1]

• A photograph of another woman by the name of Mary Bowser has been incorrectly associated with the spy Mary Richards.^[3]

Popular culture representations

A novel by Lois Leveen, The Secrets of Mary Bowser, is based on Richards' life.^[17][18][5]

The play Lady Patriot by Ted Lange 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.^[19]

A made-for-TV movie, A Unique Friendship, was loosely based on Bowser and Van Lew's activities.

Bowser was played by Akosua Busia.^[20]

The heroine of the novel An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole is based in part on Mary Bowser.^[21]

The Civil War podcast Uncivil had a episode about Mary Bowser.^[22] This episode has been criticized for presenting much of the disputed facts about Richards – including the name "Mary Bowser" – as fact.^[8]

The opera Intelligence by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer is based on Mary Bowser's life.

African-American Union agent in the Confederate White Home. ? Mary Elizabeth Bowser was born as a slave to owner John Van Lew, a wealthy hardware merchant. His daughter, Elizabeth, and her mother freed her father's slaves after his death in or (sources differ).

Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, the new opera premiered at the Wortham Theater on September 20, with a production directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.^[23] The opera repeats a number of false claims, for example, "Bowser" setting fire to the Confederate White House, perhaps further confusing audiences about the actual history.^[24]

Recognition

"Mary Elizabeth Bowser" [sic] has been honored by the U.S.

government with an induction into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for her work in the war.^[25]

See also

References