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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
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The Subversion of Gender Roles During Wartime
Gender roles during wartime tend to become somewhat relaxed. As men leave home to fight, women are left to take over the roles traditionally reserved for men. The Civil War was no exception. In the 19th century, men and women both faced intense pressure to fulfill gender norms. But as the war progressed, people had to adapt to newly arising needs, which often necessitated bending, blurring, and breaking societally imposed expectations of gender. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy introduces Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonson, Rose Greenhow, and Elizabeth Van Lew, all women who acted outside of traditional gender roles and otherwise leveraged gender and societal expectations to achieve their goals.
In some ways, the women of the novel broke gender norms entirely, adopting masculine behavior and even personas as a way of seizing autonomy and power. Belle often dressed in a mix of a Confederate soldier’s uniform and women’s clothing, sometimes posing as a man to cross Union lines. She would also ride astride her horse instead of side saddle, which, at the time, was considered quite unladylike; under different circumstances, such behavior would have drawn much harsher consequences than mere scandal. Emma, presenting as a man, fought valiantly as a soldier, quickly surpassing many of her comrades during training when it came to handling a rifle. Her stoic nature, more associated with the masculine, meant she rarely cringed at the gory sights of amputated limbs and infected wounds.
In other instances, the women of the novel operated skillfully within the expectations of traditional femininity and womanhood, using stereotypical perceptions of women to their advantage. Belle, who was particularly adept at adapting in terms of gender roles, sometimes leaned into the 19th-century ideal of what a proper Southern lady should be. Belle flirted and charmed men easily, relying on men viewing her as nothing more than a young woman—that is, as silly and harmless. Abbott speculates as to Belle’s internal dialogue during such an encounter: “‘He was completely off his guard’ she thought, ‘and forgot that a woman can sometimes listen and remember’” (189). By letting General John Shields in particular see her as a young lady, sweet, pure, and vapid, Belle obtained Union military intel that ultimately assisted Stonewall Jackson in securing another Confederate victory. Rose, drawing on her skills as a sex worker, became the Civil War’s version of a femme fatale. Using her looks and charm, she seduced men into divulging secrets. Growing up, Rose had learned the importance of reading body language and other subtle cues to learn someone’s intent. She also learned how to adjust herself to suit the wants and desires of the men she was with. Drawing on the belief that women loved truly and purely, Rose thereby manufactured intimacy, eliciting her male clients’ trust. Elizabeth, in comparison, used her invisibility as a shield. As an unmarried woman, a spinster, living at home with her mother, she was generally overlooked by society. Though her comments and actions regarding abolition and her Northern heritage made many distrustful, her status as an older, wealthy, Christian woman protected her from intense scrutiny.
Regardless, the woman all elicited strong reactions from society for their subversion of gender roles, with rejection—especially by other women—being a common societal punishment. Rose Greenhow was often ridiculed by other women for her many affairs and spoken of with disdain for how she used her skills as a sex worker to obtain money, power, and connections. Mary Chestnut, a woman who was part of Rose’s spy ring, once commented, “She has all her life been for sale” (68). Mary Chestnut’s assessment of Rose wasn’t entirely wrong, though it fails to capture Rose’s role in effectively selling herself. In Fort Royal, Belle immediately alienated herself from the other young women, who viewed her personality, self-interest, and stories of espionage as inappropriate or merely dull:
Women, Belle soon learned, made for a surly audience, their lack of interest in her stories directly proportionate to her insistence on telling them. One Fort Royal, neighbor, Lucy Buck, found Belle ‘all surface, vain, and hollow’ and complained of being carried ‘captive into the parlor’ (187).
For her part, Belle was mostly ambivalent about the opinions of other women and made great use of the fact that she didn’t fit in. For Belle, the Civil War was an opportunity to make a name for herself by standing out, an approach that ties into the theme of Legacy and Fame as a Means of Survival.
Each of the four protagonists of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy thus broke down barriers of what was expected of them because of their gender. These four women successfully subverted the gendered expectations they lived with and exploited assumptions and attitudes made about women. In doing so, each protagonist was able to further her mission and goals, often collecting intelligence that would otherwise be impossible to find. They became Civil War heroes as some of the best spies on either side of the war.
Loyalty and Betrayal in Espionage
Throughout Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, Abbott shares with the reader the complex relationship spies had with the concepts of loyalty and betrayal. In the 19th century, espionage and spy craft were often disparaged as dishonorable or cowardly. In contrast to fighting on the battlefield, which had a direct nature, espionage took place in the shadows, using “unfair” tactics like seduction, disguise, lies, and stealth to steal information from unsuspecting targets. Many viewed spies as having no loyalty to anyone or anything but themselves, assigning them all a mercenary persona. People of the 19th century typically held honor highly, so being considered dishonorable could be costly. An individual who couldn’t be trusted should be treated as an outsider.
Trust in the 19th century tied closely into the concept of honor and was similarly at a premium. Determining if someone was trustworthy was a laborious process. The telegram was barely 20 years old, and background checks were expensive and time-consuming. Accordingly, people could easily leave town and become a new person with very few questions asked; this was how Emma Edmonson could so easily reinvent herself as Frank Thompson. Spies were therefore viewed with deep suspicion, if accepted as a necessary evil in war, and generals often distrusted them until proven otherwise.
However, as illustrated in Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, those who participated in espionage and worked as spies were often more loyal than the average soldier or officer. Their honor and loyalty kept them focused and on track as they risked their lives for the cause. Each woman’s trustworthiness was repeatedly tested. Their actions as spies led them to be accused of treachery and disloyalty to the Union and Confederacy, respectively. Yet Rose, on having to choose between swearing an oath of loyalty to the Union or risking execution, chose the former:
Suppose the government should conclude to let you go. Would you consider that you owed allegiance to it; and would you be willing to be bound by the rules of war?’ Rose stiffened; she would never pledge allegiance to the North (171).
To her, the oath and execution were equivalent. Taking the oath would be killing a part of herself, stopping her from aiding the cause she believed in. Her dilemma illustrates the degree of sincerity with which Rose viewed her word and loyalty. She refused to take the oath, even though it would have been an “easy” way out of her predicament; she would simply have been sent to the South, where she would face no consequences. Instead, she refused the deal and risked pleading her case, knowing that she could be imprisoned longer or even executed.
Similarly, Emma’s actions and inner turmoil also demonstrated her honor and loyalty despite her being a spy in disguise. For example, the final time Emma went behind enemy lines in disguise as a Southern boy, she stumbled upon a wedding party. At this party was Captain Logan, a Confederate officer forming a military company, offering a bounty to those who would willingly enlist and conscripting the rest. She was held under watch until she gave her decision to be drafted:
She knew he was serious, especially as she would be required to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederate Government, but she trusted in God and in her own ingenuity to escape the dilemma. She would have to flee before being forced to declare her loyalty (281).
Like Rose, Emma valued her word. Even with her survival under threat, her chief concern was escaping before having to take an oath of allegiance to a government in which she did not believe, betraying her oath to the Union. For her, taking the oath was not an option, ultimately leading her to shoot the captain.
In short, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy illustrates the complexities of loyalty and betrayal that spies must contend with. This theme follows the four protagonists, with each woman developing her own strict honor code and high standard of loyalty. Abbott shows how often these women encountered circumstances that made them weigh the value of their life against their word and how, even then, the women prioritized their word.
Legacy and Fame as a Means of Survival
In Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy, legacy and fame are key tools that Rose, Belle, Emma, and Elizabeth variably use to survive during and after the war. When the women were active as spies, legacy and fame could provide power and protection. After the war, as the flexibility around gender roles gave way to strict traditional norms once again, legacy and fame became one of very few remaining pathways to stability and independence.
Throughout the novel, Abbott emphasizes the unsubtle behavior of Rose and Belle, alluding to the way both women vied for notoriety for their actions. Notoriety is part of what made Belle a good spy. Those around her assumed she was so obviously spying that she wasn’t good at espionage, which tricked them into letting their guards down: “[T]his brazenness became a vital part of her costume: After all, she asked, how dangerous could such an open foe be?” (98). Rose was also open about her actions and belief in the Confederate cause, using the attention her words attracted to affirm her reputation and power: “There were rumors, whispered by the ladies of Martinsburg with either pride or disgust, that a rebel woman, Rose Greenhow, had contributed to the victory” (53). The credit Rose claimed for her actions elevated her status in the Confederacy from that of a glorified sex worker to a hero. Later on, Rose was even able to cultivate relationships across the Atlantic Ocean that led to a warm welcome when she arrived in Europe. In short, Rose and Belle used fame like a weapon.
After the war, Belle, Rose, and Emma all turned to the power of legacy in an attempt to secure their continued welfare. By building a legacy for themselves, they managed, at least for a time, to generate a living and secure their reputations even after their roles in the Civil War were rendered obsolete. All three women published memoirs, with Rose managing to secure a publishing deal prior to her fatal voyage. In addition, dissatisfied and frustrated living only as a wife and mother, Belle eventually realized that she could support herself through acting. For decades, she drew crowds on the lecture circuit as she reenacted scenes from her life and memoir.
Legacy was not easy to build or maintain, however. As Belle aged, so did those who remembered her, and her fame began to fade:
In the coming decade her crowds dwindled, even in the South, the people who had lived through the war were dead or dying off. She was destitute, often unable to pay for housing on the road (422).
As the country entered an era of restoration, Belle’s tenuous legacy was crushed under the public’s will to move on. In an interview she gave before her death, she reflected on this loss: “Fortune has played me a sad trick by letting me live on and on” (423). Emma similarly struggled with establishing a legacy strong enough to persuade the country to pay her pension. Having donated the majority of the profits from her memoir, Emma realized that she was dangerously close to not being able to make ends meet. She was disabled after the war, and as she grew older, struggled with her poorly healed injuries. On learning about the pensions other Civil War veterans received, she chose to fight for her own pension. Her legacy emerged as the men she fought beside, at her request, testified to her valiant acts as a soldier and spy. Ultimately, after many years, Emma’s memoir and the personal impact she made on fellow soldiers made it possible for her to receive her pension.
Unlike the other three women, Elizabeth refused to write about her life as a spy during the Civil War, attempting to rely instead on the United States government to fulfill its promise to reimburse her. She appealed repeatedly, to no avail, for repayment of the massive fortune she had spent saving soldiers and gathering intelligence. Elizabeth’s legacy and fame did not serve her well to begin with, and in the aftermath of the Civil War, her ability to harness these factors to her benefit did not improve. Briefly, she was the postmaster for Richmond. However, she soon lost this position and, ultimately, was treated as an outcast and traitor to the South by the people of her city. She and her brother both struggled to find employment after the war, as Southerners refused to work with them. When Elizabeth tried to sell her home, she received low and unfair offers; banks were unwilling to give a good mortgage rate for the Van Lew mansion. Elizabeth lamented her circumstances, which now seemed impossible to change as traditional gender roles reasserted their power after the war: “‘I tell you truly and solemnly I have suffered’ she wrote. ‘I have not one cent in the world…I am a woman and what is there for a woman to do?’” (426).
Three of the four protagonists leveraged the legacy and fame they built during the Civil War as a way to survive. Elizabeth, the one woman who was unable to, died largely in isolation as an outcast. With Elizabeth’s story in this context, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy stresses how few options women had after the war. The work they had done was no longer needed, and they often struggled to adapt to the post-war United States. Having burned so many societal and personal bridges for their cause, the women faced the challenge of crafting a new reputation that might allow them to reintegrate; a failure to meet this substantial challenge, in turn, could have tragic consequences.
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