Mary Bowser

Mary Jane Richards, also known as Mary Jane Richards Denman, Mary Jane Richards Garvin and possibly Mary Bowser, was a Union spy during the Civil War. She was enslaved from birth in Richmond, Virginia, but was effectively freed as a young child in 1843 when her owner, John Van Lew, died and his daughter, the abolitionist Elizabeth "Bet" Van Lew, took ownership of all his slaves and subsequently freed them all. But Van Lew then had Richards sent to school. When the Civil War broke out, Van Lew recruited her to serve as a spy and helper for the Union cause. She relayed information she heard to Van Lew, who in turn communicated it to Union leadership. Richards was only one of a spy ring run by Van Lew, although Van Lew considered Richards her most important source.