Mary Bowser facts for kids
Mary Richards, also known as Mary Jane Richards Garvin, was a brave Union spy during the Civil War. She was likely born into slavery in Virginia. When she was about seven years old, she was enslaved by the family of Elizabeth "Bet" Van Lew in Richmond. The Van Lew family helped Richards get an education in the north and even sent her to Liberia in West Africa. She returned to Richmond just before the Civil War began. During the war, Mary was part of a secret group of people, both black and white, who gathered important military information for the United States Army. This group was led by Elizabeth Van Lew.
Mary Richards is often called Mary Bowser. She might have been married to a man named Wilson Bowser when the war started. A magazine article from 1911 made her story very popular. This article, though, had some details that might not be true. For example, it said she worked inside the Confederate White House and had a photographic memory. It also claimed she tried to burn down the Confederate White House at the end of the war.
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Mary Richards' Early Life
Mary Jane Richards was probably born in Virginia. She was likely born into slavery to Eliza Baker Van Lew and John Van Lew, who were Elizabeth Van Lew's parents. The first official record about her is her baptism on May 17, 1846, at St. John's Church in Richmond. She was baptized as "Mary Jane."
The Van Lew family usually baptized their enslaved people at the First African Baptist Church. But Mary Jane was baptized at their own church, St. John's. This shows that someone in the Van Lew family paid special attention to her. They also arranged for her to get an education. Not long after her baptism, Elizabeth Van Lew sent Richards north to school.
In 1855, Richards traveled to Liberia in West Africa. She went there to join a missionary group, which Elizabeth Van Lew had arranged. By the spring of 1860, Richards had returned to Richmond.
Mary Richards as a Civil War Spy
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.
—Elizabeth Van Lew, diary entry dated May 14, 1864
On April 16, 1861, Mary married Wilson Bowser. Their wedding took place at St. John's Church. This was just four days after Confederate troops started the Civil War by firing on Fort Sumter. Her marriage was not very long. By the end of the war, she was using the last name Richards again.
Throughout the war, Mary was part of a secret spy network. This group worked for the Union and was organized by Elizabeth Van Lew. Mary did many things to help the Union cause. For example, she once went into President Davis's house. He was the president of the Confederacy. Mary pretended to be collecting laundry. While inside, she looked for important documents about the war.
We don't know all the exact details of the information she collected. However, important Union Generals like Benjamin Butler, Ulysses S. Grant, and George H. Sharpe recognized how valuable this spy network was.
Life After the War for Mary Richards
A few days after the fall of Richmond, Mary Jane Richards started working as a teacher. She taught formerly enslaved people in the city.
In 1865, Richards gave at least two talks in the North. She spoke about her education, her trip to Liberia, and her experiences during the war. In September, a reporter wrote that she and the famous speaker Anna Dickinson looked like "twin sisters." This likely meant it was unusual for a woman to speak about political topics to a crowd. When she spoke in New York, Richards used different names to protect herself. She called herself Richmonia Richards at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Manhattan on September 11. A week or two later, she used the name Richmonia R. St. Pierre at the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Bridge Street in Brooklyn.
Later, using the name Mary J. Richards again, she started a school for freed people in St. Marys, Georgia. This was in early 1867. Her school taught students during the day, adults at night, and Sunday school students. She taught all the classes herself.
In June 1867, she wrote a letter to the education superintendent for the Georgia Freedmen's Bureau. In the letter, she asked him to call her Mary J. R. Garvin. Another letter later on might mean she planned to join her new husband in the West Indies after her school in St. Mary's closed.
Untrue Stories About Mary Richards
Many stories about Mary Richards are not true or cannot be proven. Some of these stories came from a 1911 article in Harper's Monthly. This article was the first to incorrectly use the name "Bowser" for her. Even today, some news sources like NOW with Bill Moyers, NPR, and The Washington Post have repeated these false or unproven claims.
Here are some of the claims that are not true or cannot be proven:
- There is no proof that Van Lew or Richards were Quaker. It's also not known if either of them went to a Quaker school. We don't know where Richards went to school.
- We don't know if Richards worked inside the Confederate White House as a full-time servant. However, she did enter the house at least once to look for documents.
- A document claimed that a "colored girl Mary" in the spy ring had a photographic memory. But historians, like Elizabeth R. Varon, who wrote a book about Van Lew, doubt if this document is accurate.
- Even though she used many fake names, "Ellen Bond" was not one of them.
- Richards probably did not try to burn down the Confederate White House and run away from Richmond in early 1865. She was still in Richmond in April 1865, teaching newly freed enslaved people.
- She was not secretly taken out of the city to Philadelphia in a cart full of manure during the war.
- A member of the Bowser family told an NPR reporter that in the 1950s, she accidentally threw away a book that might have been Mary's wartime journal. But we cannot confirm if such a journal ever existed. It's unlikely a spy would keep such a dangerous document.
- A picture of another woman named Mary Bowser has been wrongly used for the spy Mary Richards.
Recognition for Mary Richards
"Mary Elizabeth Bowser" (which is not her correct full name) has been honored by the U.S. government. She was added to the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. This was for her important work during the war.
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