Nancy Hart
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Confederate spy.
1843 or 1846-1913
Nancy Hart was born in 1846, in Raleigh, North Carolina. When she
was an infant, she moved to Tazewell, Virginia. Her mother was first
cousin to Andrew Johnson and lived with him as a child. Nancy had an
older sister who married William Price. Nancy never learned to read
or write. Nancy was of Scotch-Irish descent. Nancy was an expert
rider. In 1853 she and her family moved in with Nancy's sister Mary
and her husband William and over the course of the next six years
Nancy virtually lived in the wilderness in Roane County.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Nancy joined the Moccasin Rangers,
a Confederate guerrilla unit made up largely of residents of Calhoun
County. Only about 15-18 of age at the time, her legend claims she
was already an expert with rifles, pistols, and riding a horse, her
level of proficiency said equal to any man of the region.
The young Ms. Hart soon began serving as a scout for the Confederacy,
and according to some accounts she performed scouting duties for
General "Stonewall" Jackson. She also acted as a spy, posing as a
farm girl who offered the sale of vegatables and eggs to Federal
troops. After learning what she could, she then reported her findings
about the enemy's plans and activity in the region.
Not long after a large reward was offered for her capture in 1862,
Ms. Hart was apprehended by Union forces lead by Lt. Col. Starr, 9th
West Virginia, and held prisoneer in a make-shift jail, located in a
two-story house in present-day Summersville, WV.
According to tradition, Ms. Hart was a striking young burnette, of
exception beauty, which is credited with playing havoc with the Union
guards. During one evening she managed to grab the pistol from her
naive young guard, with which she shot the guard dead with a single
shot. Leaping out an open 2nd-story window, and stealing Lt. Co.
Starr's horse, she managed to escape behind Confederate lines.
About a week later, on July 25, 1862, Nancy Hart guided forces in an
attack against the federal forces at Summersville, consisting of 200
Confederates, led by Major R. Augustus Bailey, of Patton's 22nd
Virginia Infantry. During the engagement many of building in
Summersville were burned, and Lt. Col. Starr was among the Federals
taken prisoneer.
Following the end of the Civil War Ms. Hart married Joshua Douglas,
the couple making their home at Spring Creek, in Greenbrier County,
later living in Richwood, WV, Nicholas County, 1906-1908.
