Belle Boyd Photo Gallery
Belle loved to publicize herself. This image is from the same photo session as the one on the book’s cover. Her hairstyle is the same. So is the drapery behind her. It’s obvious she took a change of clothes with her. Belle loved dressing up.
This photo is from the 1880s when Belle was promoting herself as “The Famous Rebel Spy”. Wearing trousers, with her legs crossed like a man’s, and a sword across her knees, everything about the image is intended to shock the viewer.
A vintage image of the Stewart’s hotel on the Main St. of Front Royal. Known in later years as Strickler House, the building is no longer standing.
This vintage postcard shows wartime views of Martinsburg, including the ruins of the rail depot, the town square, and sandbag barricades guarded by Union soldiers.
Belle was no beauty — although she would not agree! Men were drawn to her voluptuous figure, her vitality and rebelliousness. A rival once called her “the fastest girl in Virginia”.
Belle continued to attract attention towards the end of her life. She gave out autographed postcards to friends and fans.
Another image of Strickler’s Hotel. Although the postcard says it is taken from the hotel, the building is actually pictured on the left.
During the Civil War, newspapers carried sketches like this one, an artist’s impression of the Battle of Hoke’s Run. Described in the book, it resulted in Martinsburg being taken over by Union forces for the first time. Note: the town is said to have changed hands 37 times during the war.
This unflattering outfit resembles the one Belle wore to the Confederate camp at Centreville where her whiskey smuggling activities started a riot that injured thirty soldiers. Note the shortened skirt that reveals her pantaloons, and the pistol in her belt.
“Belle Boyd Cottage” in Front Royal, Virginia. Owned by the Stewarts, Belle’s aunt and uncle, this is where Belle was staying when she made her famous battlefield dash and returned home with bullet holes in her skirts. The balcony referred to in the book was actually part of the hotel.
Belle’s father built this home in Martinsburg in 1857. His store is the addition on the right. This porch is where Belle and her sister Mary would have stood to watch the destruction of the railroad depot. The Boyds lived here only a few years before the family moved to a home on Queen Street that is no longer standing.
When she was twelve, Belle carved this name that is not quite hers into the window at her boarding school. This is the book’s opening scene. Read the excerpt!