Miss. Laura Ratcliffe

Confederate spy, great granddaughter of Richard Ratcliffe, and known as the local beauty; Laura Ratcliffe was a brave and dedicated lady who saved the life of Col. John Mosby in 1863. She lived in the area of Frying Pan (Herndon) Virginia, on Centreville Road.

Confederate Spy
As a confederate spy, Laura Ratcliffe was a prime example of the brave women on both sides of the Civil War conflict who put themselves at risk in order to help their cause.

Laura saved the life of John Singleton Mosby, one of the south's most effective partisans.

Mosby (the Grey Ghost) so effectively engaged Union troops that the north had to devote hundreds of soldiers just to counter him - - Soldiers who would have been otherwise used on the battlefield.

On February 7th 1863, a trap had been set for Mosby near Laura's home. A young Union Lt. could not resist boasting about it to her when he came by to purchase milk; "I know you would give Mosby any information in your possession; but, as you have no horses and the mud is too deep for women folks to walk, you can't tell him; so the next you hear of your 'pet' he will be either dead or our prisoner."

He underestimated her. Laura went out on foot across the fields to reach the home of her cousin George Coleman to ask him to warn Mosby. As luck would have it, her path crossed Mosby's and she was able to warn him herself, thus saving him from capture. He acknowledged his great debt to her in his memoirs:

". . . I observed two ladies walking rapidly toward me. One was Miss Laura Ratcliffe. . . But for meeting them, my life as a Partisan would have ended that day."

After her crucial act of saving Mosby's life, Laura provided continuing intelligence to the southern troops and would serve as "banker" for Mosbys Rangers by hiding money and supplies near "Mosby's Rock." (The Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved an historical highway marker for Mosby's Rock in 2000 denoting its significance.)

Local Heroine
Among her many admirers was the famous General J.E.B. Stuart who was smitten by her when her first saw Laura tending the wounded at his camp Quivive in Fairfax. Soon after, he wrote a poem dedicated to her.

" ... were I that soldier ... "

Stuart also presented her with a gold-embossed brown leather album with the following inscription on the front page: "Presented to Miss Laura Ratcliffe by her soldier-friend as a token of his high appreciation of her patriotism, admiration of her virtues, and pledge of his lasting esteem." The album was signed not only by Stuart but also by many other soldiers who fought with him including Mosby and Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee. She quietly kept this memoir, as well as Stuart's gold watch chain, among her possessions at Merrybrook after the war. These items were discovered in her effects after her death.

She is buried nearby in a small, almost hidden family cemetery on the grounds of the Worldgate Marriott Hotel.

Jeb Stuart

Contact - 703.713.0124    lratcliffehouse@aol.com