Telling the stories of influential women war spies from Maryland
BALTIMORE -- From the Civil War to World War II and beyond, there's a long line of lady spies who came from Maryland, women who risked their lives for their country.
Their stories are remarkable, but their roles are all but forgotten.
Lauren Silberman's new book highlights these tenacious and daring women from Maryland who played crucial roles in American history.
Silberman said the most famous lady spy of Maryland is one we've all heard of but may not have known was a spy, Harriet Tubman.
"Everyone knows her amazing story of helping so many people escape to freedom but not everyone knows that she then went on to help the military during the Civil War," Silberman said.
During the Civil War, Tubman worked with the Union.
She was a nurse, a scout and a spy.
Tubman helped identify Confederate mines, supply areas and troops.
"She helped the military find places to loot, find places where they could free people and lead them to the same freedom Harriet had helped from so many in Maryland before," Silberman said.
While Tubman did it disguised as a field hand, another lady spy of the Civil War hid in plain sight – Anna Carroll.
"She wanted to play at the same table as everyone else regardless of what they expected from her being a woman," Silberman said.
Silberman describes Carroll as a "complicated woman" who came from essentially Maryland royalty.
Her father was a governor and her ancestor signed the declaration.
While society at the time expected Carroll to use her connections and status to find a husband, she was digging for intelligence.
"She is rubbing shoulders and getting men to tell her things that they might not tell other people," Silberman said.
She used that information to aid military leaders all the way up to President Abraham Lincoln himself, earning the nickname "Lincoln's Secret General."
She correctly predicted that taking the Tennessee River instead of the Mississippi River would aid the union in gaining control of the south.
"She was on top of things because the letters that she wrote fell in line with what the military did and where the military succeeded," Silberman said.
Fast forward about 50 years to World War I.
Marguerite Harrison was a journalist from a well-to-do Baltimore family. She went overseas to report on post-war Germany.
"She's not just doing that for the news though, she's also doing it for the military intelligence division of the U.S. Army," Silberman said.
Harrison was later imprisoned in Russia and refused to spy for the Russian government.
"My favorite lady spy of Maryland has to be Virginia Hall," Silberman said.
Baltimore native Virginia Hall was initially denied a career in the foreign service because she lost her leg in a hunting accident.
But Hall went on to work undercover in France during World War II for British Intelligence.
"She has a cover story reporting for American news," Silberman said. "She is doing everything, all the while trying to fight the Nazis."
Hall eventually ended up working for the U.S. Office of Strategic services and organized several sabotage operations against the Nazis.
"I don't know what it is in the water here but there are so many wonderful role models for us to look up to and it was a true privilege for us to be able to tell some of their stories," Silberman said.
