THE HOOP SKIRT SMUGGLERS

 

Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, my old stompin' grounds.

In July 1864, four women risked charges of treason to smuggle supplies for Confederate soldiers across the Potomac River. Their story begins on the Maryland-Virginia border in northern Loudoun County, a place of divided loyalties and fierce fighting, and serves to challenge conventional notions regarding nineteenth century women as weak and apolitical.

The climate of war that framed the journey of Elizabeth White, Kate and Betsie Ball, and Annie Hempstone into Union territory to obtain supplies was one of increasing desperation for the Confederacy. The women’s illicit crossing of the Potomac from Virginia to Maryland coincided with a renewed burst of fighting on the border. In July 1864, General Robert E. Lee had ordered General Jubal Early to initiate an attack against Washington D.C., and in tandem with this offensive, Col. John S. Mosby was sent to sever communication lines between Washington and Harpers Ferry. Col. Mosby succeeded in defeating Union forces at their Point of Rocks base on July 5, 1864, and spent the evening dining at the Confederate enclave of Temple Hall. Temple Hall, located north of Leesburg, was the residence of Henry Ball, the father of two sons in the Confederacy.

Ball himself briefly fought early in the war and was once imprisoned for refusing to pledge allegiance to the Union. Also living there during this time was Elizabeth White, the wife of Confederate cavalry officer Elijah V. White. Mrs. White was not present at that night’s festivities, however, for on that morning she and three friends had embarked on a daring mission north into Maryland to retrieve supplies for “our dear Maryland boys in grey.” Annie Hempstone later wrote of their adventure as a “little trip across the Potomac,” which belied the true perils of their journey.

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