Read Online The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini - Free Book Online

as tasty delicacies from their kitchens and gardens. The Dispatch praised the ladies as ministering angels who “have demonstrated their faith by their works. All honor to them,” and singled out the women of Church Hill for not only providing necessary supplies, but also for nursing soldiers who had fallen ill .
    Mary, recognizing herself, proudly clipped the article from the paper and pasted it in her scrapbook. “You could join us,” she reminded Lizzie and Mother. “We could use your help. The other Church Hill ladies wonder why you refuse.”
    “What do you tell them?” Mother inquired.
    “That you’re indisposed.” Mary shrugged helplessly. “What else could I say? Would you have them believe you’re lazy or disloyal? Forgive me, but your disinterest reflects badly upon all of us.”
    Lizzie wanted to retort that she was loyal, and keenly interested, but she managed a tight smile and said, “Thank you for making our excuses.”
    “I do what I can for the sake of the family,” said Mary, returning her attention to her scrapbook, “but people are beginning to talk.”
    Militia companies and untrained recruits from throughout Virginia followed quickly after the South Carolinians. The first regiments set up tents and training fields at the old fairgrounds on West Broad Street, a rough settlement dubbed Camp Lee. Soon thereafter, one hundred and eighty-five cadets from the Virginia Military Institute arrived from Lexington fully armed, equipped, and prepared for war, bringing along a battery of nine field pieces, including a rifled cannon. After setting up quarters at the fairgrounds and undergoing a laudatory review by the governor on Capitol Square, the cadets began training the volunteers, many of whom were old enough to be their fathers. Leading the young drillmasters was a tall, dark-bearded major named Thomas J. Jackson, who was reputed to be somewhat awkward and peculiar, but also a brilliant strategist and a particular favorite of Governor Letcher as well as General Lee, with whom he had served in Mexico. Rumors of the gentlemen’s admiration were quickly proven true, for soon after his arrival, Thomas Jackson was promoted to colonel and placed in command of Harpers Ferry, a crucial outpost General Lee was determined to defend.
    Richmond already seemed full to bursting, but the population continued to swell as Virginians who had been visiting or working in the North fled south, seeking sanctuary in their native state. Before long, the strain of welcoming so many strangers began to wear on the residents of Richmond. Even the newspapers, which generally regarded the city’s transformation into an armed camp with euphoric approval, began to draw attention to the potential danger. The Examiner warned that “Richmond contains at present a large number of secret enemies of the South, in petticoats as well as pantaloons” who must be watched closely lest they pass useful information to their cronies in the North.
    The Richmond city council evidently shared their concerns, for they passed an “Ordinance Concerning Suspicious Persons” decreeing that any citizen who suspected another of entertaining or expressing dangerous sentiments must inform the mayor. Lizzie could not help but think of the numerous letters she had written to her sister Anna in Philadelphia describing the changes secession had wrought within their beloved city. If her letters were intercepted, a malicious person could twist an ordinary conversation between sisters into something sinister and treasonous. Henceforth she would have to censor herself, and warn Anna to choose her words carefully too.
    The city council’s halfhearted attempt to prevent overzealous Southern patriots from forming anti-Unionist vigilante mobs by obliging the mayor to suppress the creation of vigilance committees did nothing to ease Lizzie’s anxieties. Under the new ordinance, any neighbor with a grudge could inform on any other, since believing that the