DANGEROUS WORK
Women and girls of all ages worked as spies during the Civil War (1861–1865). Historians believe that more than 1,000 women in the North and the South may have been involved in espionage. Spying was dangerous work. A male spy who was captured during the war risked being sent to prison or being hanged. But even the threat of those punishments did not stop women from becoming spies.
Most women became spies because they desperately wanted to help their side win. Female spies had several advantages over male spies. Early in the war, nobody expected women to engage in espionage. So, soldiers allowed women and girls to pass across Union and Confederate lines without
