Laura Ratcliffe

Laura Ratcliffe (March 28, 1836, in Fairfax, Virginia – August 3, 1923, in Herndon, Virginia ) was a Confederate States of America spy. Laura's home in Herndon was sometimes used as a headquarters by the Confederate raider John Mosby. Mosby gave Laura thousands of Federal Greenbacks to hide in her home. She warned him when Union troops came looking for him, saving his life. Laura Ratcliffe was also a friend of Major General J. E. B. Stuart, who gave her several gifts in "appreciation of her patriotism, admiration of her virtues, and pledge of his lasting esteem.". They had met after Ratcliffe had served as a nurse in Jeb Stuart's Camp Quivive in Fairfax in the winter of 1861. The album itself is a mystery because there are no dates of when it was signed or where, but author Charles V. Mauro assumes that it was kept hidden in Laura's house and signed during the Civil War. It is also possible that Stuart sent the album to Laura before leaving Northern Virginia in early March. She used her inheritance to help the poor and local churches. In 1910, she was seventy-four at the time, ninety-six of Mosby's men held their annual reunion in Herndon where Congressman C. C. Carlin praised Laura by saying that she gave the guerilla leader very valuable information regarding the actions of Union troops.