• Life and Accomplishments

    • Early Life: Born into slavery in Virginia, she was owned by the Van Lew family. Elizabeth Van Lew, a staunch abolitionist, freed her and sent her to Philadelphia to be educated.

    • International Travel: Before the war, she was sent to Liberia as a missionary but returned to Richmond in 1860.

    • Espionage: During the Civil War, she joined Elizabeth Van Lew’s "Richmond Underground" spy ring. She was placed as a servant in the Confederate White House, the home of President Jefferson Davis.

    • Post-War: She became a teacher for the Freedmen’s Bureau, educating newly emancipated people in Virginia, Florida, and Georgi

    • Recognition: In 1995, she was posthumously inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

    Intelligence Gathered

    Mary leveraged the racial prejudices of the time, as Confederate officials often viewed Black servants as "invisible" or incapable of complex thought.

    • Document Retrieval: Because she was literate (a fact she hid), she could read war dispatches, troop movements, and cabinet memos left on Jefferson Davis’s desk while she dusted and cleaned.

    • Eavesdropping: She memorized conversations between Davis and his military advisors while serving dinner.

    • Photographic Memory: Couriers like Thomas McNiven reported that she had a "photographic mind" and could repeat documents she saw word-for-word.

    • Impact: Her intelligence was passed to General Ulysses S. Grant, who later acknowledged the "reliable news" gathered by Van Lew’s network.

    Quotes

    From Mary Richards Bowser (on her duty and skills):

    "I had advantages of blood and brain and felt it was my duty, if possible, to work where I was most needed."

    On the danger she faced after the war (1867 letter):

    "I wish there was some law here, or some protection. Having been in their service so long as a detective I still find myself scrutinizing them. There is that sinister expression about the eye... with a little whiskey in them, they dare do anything."

    From Elizabeth Van Lew (on Mary’s intelligence):

    "When I open my eyes in the morning, I say to the servant, 'What news, Mary?' and my caterer never fails! Most generally our reliable news is gathered from negroes, and they certainly show wisdom, discretion and prudence, which is wonderful."

    Sources

    This X post highlights Mary Bowser, an enslaved Black woman who spied for the Union in 1863 by memorizing Confederate maps and documents left in Richmond's White House while posing as an illiterate servant, relaying intel that influenced Civil War outcomes.
  • Historical accounts, including Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Virginia, confirm Bowser's role in Elizabeth Van Lew's spy ring, where her photographic memory provided critical advantages to Union forces without detection.
  • Posted during Black History Month by an account focused on Pan-African themes (RBG Nation), it exemplifies "Black History 365" efforts to share daily stories of Black resilience and agency beyond February.