Voices of the Past

The Hoop Skirt Spy

Emeline Pigott was twenty-five when the Civil War broke out. She lived with her family along Calico Creek near the North Carolina coast. The nearby town, New Bern, was a railroad and river transportation center, and this made it a priority for troops from both sides of the war.

Near the beginning of the war, a few thousand soldiers were stationed across the river from Emeline’s home. She wasn’t someone to stand by the wayside when others were in need. A woman of action, she soon became involved in taking food to the troops and nursing the sick and wounded.

Along the way, she met and fell in love with Private Stokes McRae. Emeline had her heart set on the man and would turn down invitations to dances and other social gatherings held for officers if her beau was excluded. The young couple had a few months of courtship in late ’61 and early ’62. However, they decided to wait until the end of the war to marry.

In March 1862, a Yankee force of 11,000 men drove the 4,000 Rebs out of New Bern. Emeline went with them in order to help care for the wounded. Shortly thereafter, McRae’s regiment marched to Virginia to help with the fighting there, and the two lovers were parted, but distance did not weaken their love.

As the months passed, Emeline eventually made her way back through the Yankee lines to her home along Calico Creek. Once more soldiers were stationed nearby, but this time, they were Yankees. She partnered with her brother-in-law, Rufus Bell, to outsmart the enemy. She entertained the officers while Rufus snuck supplies to Confederates who were hiding nearby.

July 1863 broke Emeline’s heart. Word reached her that McRae had died at Gettysburg. She would never marry.

Instead, she poured her heart into doing what she could to subvert the enemy whose forces had taken the life of her fiancé. She became a full-fledged spy. One source referred to her as “North Carolina’s most famous, spy, and blockade” runner. She spied on the soldiers who visited her family’s farm. In addition, she obtained information on Yankee blockade ships and even used local fishermen as sources.

On numerous occasions, she risked her life and safety to carry information, letters, food, and other supplies through enemy lines. One of her greatest assets in addition to her ingenuity and cool-headedness was her hoop skirt. She sewed multiple heavy-duty pockets into the petticoats beneath her voluminous outer skirt. These pockets provided the perfect hideaway for forbidden items, and no self-respecting Yankee male was going to pat down her skirt. It is said that she could carry up to thirty pounds of contraband in her petticoats.

For more than two years, she worked to undermine Yankee control and assist the Confederates.

Then, the Yankees grew suspicious. They started watching her. One evening they caught her on the way out of town in a carriage with her brother-in-law. Her petticoat was laden with contraband, secret messages, and letters.

The Yankees searched Rufus and found nothing. They called in a woman to search Emeline, but before the woman arrived, Emeline managed to eat the most crucial of the secret messages and tore some of the remaining letters into shreds.

The officers charged her with blockade running and put her in jail to await trial. If convicted, she could have faced the death penalty.

However, after several weeks of imprisonment, she was mysteriously released even though the Federal authorities had solid evidence against her. It was rumored that she threatened to reveal the names of prominent businessmen in New Bern who had been assisting the Yankees.

Although I don’t agree with Emeline’s view on the war, she was a woman of courage and strength, willing to risk her life to aid those who fought for her state. And she never stopped loving the young man who had captured her heart in the early years of the war even though she lived for decades after the war.

Sources:
“Emeline Pigott: Confederate Nurse and Spy.” History of American Women. https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2006/09/emeline-pigott.html

“Emeline Jamison Pigott.” NCPedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/pigott-emeline-jamison

Green, Mark. “Family Spy.” Southern Greens. http://southerngreens.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-family-spy.html

Molter, Cheri Todd. “Emeline Pigott: Confederate Lady.” North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction History Center. https://nccivilwarcenter.org/emeline-jamison-pigott-a-confederate-lady

 (Hoop skirt photo is from Goody’s Ladies Book)