-
The exact dates of Mary's birth is unknown today. They say she was born around the time of 1839. She was born in Richmond, Virginia.
-
Since she was born, Mary Elizabeth was a slave. She was the slave of the Van Lew family. John Van Lew was a wealthy hardware merchant.
-
Van Lew died. The women of the Van Lew family freed all of the slaves. (exact date is unkown)
-
She is working as a free servant to earn money. (exsct date not known)
-
Mary Elizabeth was sent to an African American Quaker school in Philadelphia.
-
Mary returned back to Virginia from Philadelphia. She went back to work for the Van Lew family as a free, paid servant. (exact date is unknown) She came back because war started to appear.
-
The Civil War begins.
-
Mary was married to William (Wilson) Bowser and he was a free black man. They were married four days after the war started. Their wedding cermony was unusual because they were married in a church that only white people went to.
-
Was considered the bloodiest day in the U.S history. Fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
-
She starts to work in the Cofederate White House as a spy. (Her name was "Ellen Bond" and she was still thought to be a slave.)
-
"Lee is defeated" Was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
-
Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederates loose and surrendered under the force of Lt. General John Pemberton.
-
The rebles win this battle. Was fout at the areas of Catoosa County and Walker County
-
Atlanta was burned to the ground by the Union. But it did not completely surrender until Septempber second, 1864.
-
Bowser was suspected as being the leak in the Confederate White House. She fleed the house before she could have gotten captured.
-
On one last attempt to help the Union, whilst fleeing, she tried to burn down the Confederate Capitol, but it wasn’t successful.
-
Robert E. Lee surrenders.
-
Mary Bowser's death is unknown, also the place where she died isn't known either.
-
In 1995, the U.S. government honored Mary for her efforts in spying, by inducting her in the “U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame” (date is unknown)
-
WHAT WAS SAID AT THE CEREMONY-
"Ms. Bowser certainly succeeded in a highly dangerous mission to the great benefit of the Union effort. She was one of the highest placed and most productive espionage agents of the Civil War. ... [Her information] greatly enhanced the Union's conduct of the war. ... Jefferson Davis never discovered the leak in his household staff, although he knew the Union somehow kept discovering Confederate plans."
