Some 200,000 African Americans served in the Civil War as soldiers and

sailors, but not much is known about the many men and women who provided

intelligence to the Union, during the war.  Mary Touvestre was one such

person. 

Mary Touvestre was a free (formerly enslaved) housekeeper of a Confederate

engineer, during the Civil War.  Before the war, the U.S. Navy had a

significant naval base in Norfolk, VA.  When the war began, the military

ordered the destruction of ships in that base, so that they wouldn't fall

into enemy hands.