The Slave-Turned-Spy Who Infiltrated the Confederate White House

Thanks to her intelligence, ingenuity, and connections to the Van Lew family, Mary Jane Richards stood up for the abolitionist cause as a spy.

Eastman Johnson, "A Ride for Liberty--The Fugitive Slaves," circa 1862, by Eastman Johnson. Brooklyn Museum. This painting depicts a family of African Americans fleeing enslavement in the Southern United States during the American Civil War. Public Domain

It’s unsurprising that the details of the life of a spy and ex-slave would be hard to pin down. Its various narratives and pseudonyms shift and merge like shadows cast by a roving flashlight, so that historians today have as much difficulty tracking the elusive Mary Jane Richards as her enemies did during her lifetime. But through the work of scholars like Lois Leveen and Elizabeth Varon, we can sketch a fairly accurate outline of the life of this Civil War spy.

Mary Jane Richards was sometimes called Mary Elizabeth Bowser or Mary Richards Denman. Her story leads from slavery to spycraft. She gathered intelligence at the highest levels of the Confederacy and passing it along to the Union.

A Humble Start

Mary Jane Richards was likely born around 1840 near Richmond, Virginia. Her exact parentage is unknown, and Richards herself gave varying accounts of it. But we do know that from a young age, probably from birth, Richards was enslaved by John and Eliza Van Lew, wealthy natives of Richmond. A May 17, 1846 baptismal record for a “Mary Jane” “belonging to Mrs. Van Lew” appears at Saint John’s Church in Richmond.