Isabella “Belle” Buchanan Edmondson
Born: November 27, 1840
Birthplace: Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, Mississippi
Father: Captain Andrew Jackson Edmondson 1793 – 1872
(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee)
Mother: Mary Ann Howard 1800 – 1861
(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee)
Education: Franklin Female College in Marshall County, Mississippi
Antebellum Events:
The Edmondson family moves to Shelby County, Tennessee, near Memphis, just prior to the beginning of the War Between the States
Civil War Events:
After the City of Memphis was taken by Federal forces in early June of 1862, Edmondson became a smuggler of contraband across the Union picket lines, working in and around north Mississippi and reported primarily to Missouri troops.
She came to be known as a "Secret Agent" for the Confederate Army
1864 - From January to November, Edmondson wrote in a diary about her activities, notes on troop movements, skirmishes, etc. in and around the family farm near Memphis Tennessee (later published as A Lost Heroine of the Confederacy: The Diaries and Letters of Belle Edmondson, which was edited by William and Loretta Gilbraith)
1864 - Edmondson fled south to avoid arrest, and by November she had moved to Waverly Plantation in Clay County, Mississippi.
Postbellum Events:Edmondson returned to Memphis, Tennessee after the war ended
1873 - Shortly after announcing her engagement to a "Colonel H.", who perhaps was a Yankee, she died.
Death: 1873
Place of Death: Elm Ridge, Shelby County, Tennessee
Age at time of Death: 32 years old
Burial Place: Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee (July 16, 1873)
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