Women History Blog

I forgot to include the URL last time, http://www.womenhistoryblog.com

This week on the Women History blog, I looked at women spies during the Revolutionary war. I first read about a women who spied for the revolutionaries and helped to pass on coded messages. Her name was Anna Smith Strong. Part of her role in coded messaging was hanging laundry so that revolutionaries would know the positions of the enemy. Because she was a women, many saw her as a noncombatant and she was never suspected. The spy group she belonged to was extremely detrimental to the revolution.

On the other spectrum of things was a woman named Ann Bates, who was able to effectively spy for the British. Her position in the community was such that she wasn't suspected, and she even disguised herself as a man to get information. As a woman she was able to walk around the revolutionaries armies without being questioned.

I think it was satisfying to see women using their "low class" position for their cause.