Antonia Ford Willard (July 23, 1838 – February 14, 1871) was a volunteer civilian

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

for the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Early life

Antonia Ford was born at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. She was a daughter of a prominent local merchant and ardent

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

ist named Edward R. Ford. Before going to the Buckingham Female Collegiate Institute in

Buckingham, Virginia Buckingham is a census-designated place (CDP; listed as Buckingham Courthouse) in and the county seat of Buckingham County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 133.Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

J.E.B. Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...

, in whose artillery her brother, Charles, served. Ford also spied for

John S. Mosby John Singleton Mosby (December 6, 1833 – May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosb ...

, a noted partisan ranger. Stuart, grateful for her service and appreciative of the information he had received, designated Ford as an honorary aide-de-camp on October 7, 1861. In early 1863, Ford was betrayed by a

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

counterspy named Frankie Abel, whom she had befriended and shown the document bearing Stuart's signature. Ford was subsequently arrested on March 13 and incarcerated in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, at the

Old Capitol Prison The Old Brick Capitol in Washington, D.C., served as the temporary Capitol of the United States from 1815 to 1819. The building was a private school, a boarding house, and, during the American Civil War, a prison known as the Old Capitol Priso ...

. She was accused of playing a prominent role in the capture of Union general Edwin H. Stoughton, but Colonel Mosby and others later denied her complicity, and no evidence of her guilt could be found. She was released and exchanged seven days later. However, she was arrested in Fairfax by Major Joseph Clapp Willard (1820–1897) and sent back to Old Capitol Prison. She took the Oath of Allegiance, he resigned his position in the Union Army, and they subsequently married on March 10, 1864, in Washington, D.C. The couple had three children, only one surviving infancy. Antonia Ford Willard died in Washington, D.C. in 1871 as an indirect result of health issues stemming from her captivity. Her husband never remarried. Their son

Joseph Edward Willard Joseph Edward Willard (May 1, 1865 – April 4, 1924) was an American politician, philanthropist, and diplomat. Early life The son of prominent Washington hotelier and Union Army commissary major Joseph Clapp Willard (1820–1897) and former C ...

later became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and the father-in-law of

Kermit Roosevelt Kermit Roosevelt MC (October 10, 1889 – June 4, 1943) was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer. A son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Kermit graduated from Harvard College, served in both Wo ...

Ford was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Film

The 2007 made-for-television docudrama, ''Now & Forever Yours: Letters to an Old Soldier'', artistically recounts the courtship of Antonia Ford and Major Joseph Clapp Willard. It was written and directed by Steven Fischer. In the film, Ford and Willard recount from an ethereal netherworld the events of their two-year affair. This narrative is dramatically illustrated with scenes of the courtship filmed in and around Fairfax,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, where the actual romance took place. ''Now & Forever Yours: Letters to an Old Soldier'' was a critical success, winning, among others, an Emmy Award nomination for cinematography. The dialogue between the lovers was taken directly from the couple's surviving letters. The movie starred Katie Tschida and Winston Shearin. In 2009, BLM Productions released a feature-length docudrama, ''Spies in Crinoline'', which recounts the intersecting lives of spies Antonia Ford and Laura Ratcliffe. The screenplay, adapted from Karla Vernon's ''The Spy in Crinoline'' and numerous primary sources, intersperses dramatic sequences shot on-location in Fairfax County,

, with period images, narration, and interviews with historians. Directed by Bert Morgan, it stars Emily Lapisardi as Antonia Ford, Gregory Labenz as Joseph Willard, Becci Varga as Laura Ratcliffe, and Joe Cain as General J.E.B. Stuart.

References

Stuart-Mosby Historical Society

External links

Antonia Ford in ''Encyclopedia Virginia''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Antonia 1838 births 1871 deaths American Civil War spies Women in the American Civil War People of Virginia in the American Civil War People from Fairfax, Virginia Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Women spies