Maria Isabella Boyd, also know as Belle Boyd, was a female spy for the confederate states. She was the most well know spies for the confederacy. Her father, Benjamin Reed Boyd, was a shopkeeper before the war, and a soldier in the Stonewall Brigade, during the war. It is said that from the start that Belle was a strong-willed, high spirited, and clever women. One time belle rode her horse into a family party after being told that she was to young to attend. According to Karen Abbott's Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, Boyd told her parents and party guests "my horse is old enough, isn't he?"
On July 4th, 1861, Belle Boyd shot and killed a drunk union soldier because he “Addressed my mother and myself in a language as offensive as it was possible