While Lyle has a point this same attitude was common toward servants  
as well. The history of espionage is full of secrets being discussed  
in front of servants (not just enslaved ones), who then pass them on.  
Servants were habitually ignored and thus "invisible".

James Brothers, RPA
[log in to unmask]



On Mar 2, 2007, at 23:17, Anita L. Henderson wrote:

> In a message dated 3/2/07 10:22:52 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>> BTW, I had heard that one of the sources of Elizabeth Van Lew's intel
>> was a servant woman in Jeff Davis' house who served tea while high
>> level matters were discussed. These guys couldn't conceive that their
>> own property had enough intelligence to understand what was  being
>> said and to report it up the pipeline to Van Lew. Even when it was
>> obvious that there were leaks, they couldn't put it together. This
>> was the classic example of folks seeing what they wanted to see and
>> not seeing a thing. It amazes me that even today folks are not able
>> to figure out the con.
>>
>> Lyle Browning
>>
>>
>
> Dear Lyle:
>
> In Ken Burns documentary The Civil War, there was a segment on  
> spies and he
> quoted a union officers observation about the black slaves he  
> encountered as
> being good spies as "they had been spies all their lives."   They  
> did indeed
> make good spies due to white assumptions about their "lack of  
> intelligence" or
> being "just slaves."   Mary Elizabeth Bowser was indeed a servant  
> in Jefferson
> Davis' White House but was a paid free servant not a slave.   She  
> had been
> enslaved but was freed by Elizabeth Van Lew aka Crazy Bett at her  
> inheritance and
> then sent North for an education by Ms. Van Lew.   I do agree with  
> you on the
> Davis et als. preconceived notion regarding black intelligence  
> blinding them
> to the possibility of Ms. Bowser's connection to Ms. Lew and her  
> activities.
> It is an example of the modern interpretation on what assumptions  
> make ;-0!!!
>
> Anita L. Henderson
>
>
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