Alias Dragonfly (24 page)

Rose writes that she had a female Pinkerton detective in her house before she was taken to the Old Capitol Prison. So, I got Maddie inside. Her saga continues. Like the young men and women working behind the lines everywhere, who are tested by war and loss, she will be forever altered, as will I.

—Jane Singer

1. Based on what you have learned about Maddie Bradford and the time she lived in, what opportunities would an isolated, rural, nineteenth-century girl like her have? Would she have been able to further her schooling, have a life apart from her parents and her town, go to college and escape the fate of most women at that time? What freedoms have you as young men and women enjoyed that Maddie would be amazed to hear about?

2. Discuss how Maddie’s accident made her feel like an outcast and a misfit, but gave her the remarkable abilities she later uses as a spy. Have you ever met a person like Maddie, someone who is so different from you that they make you feel uncomfortable?

3.Does Maddie seem like a typical teen to you? Do you relate to her insecurities, her impulsiveness, and her bravery?

4. How did the war alter Maddie’s future?

5. If you lived during the Civil War, what side would you have been on? Would it depend on what part of the country you grew up in, or what your parent’s believed, or how you felt about slavery? Do you know people living today for whom the Civil War still stirs strong emotions? If so, why?

6. What made Maddie such a great spy? How did she convince Timothy Webster that she was right for the job? And why did Detective Allan Pinkerton allow her to work for him? Why do you think Maddie’s time in Aunt Salome’s boardinghouse convinced her to disguise herself as a boy and go to her father’s camp? Did other women of the time actually become soldiers and fight alongside men? What did Rose Greeenhow represent to Maddie and others who knew of her extremist sensibilities? Did you have sympathy for Rose and her daughter? How was Rose different from the fanatics we read about today? Or do you think Rose was a patriot who believed in the Confederate cause?

7. What did Maddie see in Jake Whitestone that made her sympathetic to him? Did reporters like Jake play a large role in the Civil War? The push-pull of their relationship was confusing to Maddie. Why?

8. What were Maddie’s views about slavery? And what does Nellie represent? Were there other African-American men like Isaac risking their lives to help slaves achieve freedom?

9. Maddie says she is a different kind of soldier in the war. Do you think a girl like Maddie would ever be able to resume her old life again if she survives the war? Would an organization like the CIA employ a girl like Maddie to work in the intelligence community today? How do you think the young men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have been hardened and changed by their war experiences? Because then as now, spies are offered no protections under the laws of war, how would you feel if you were fighting for your country out of uniform? Would you be able to survive a capture? How hard would it be not to betray your superiors, your friends, and your country?

10. If you could tell Maddie about what happened after the Civil War, how do you think she would feel about the Reconstruction era, African-Americans and women gaining the right to vote, the harsh Jim Crow laws that were enacted, the Ku Klux Clan, the hard-won struggle for civil rights, and finally the election of a bi-racial president?

11. Do you think you have a more hopeful view of the world than Maddie did, or are you pessimistic about your future? She says, “Don’t love a spy.” Why? Could you love someone who is not what they seem? Do you know anyone who has a secret life? Did Maddie’s hunger to know her deceased sister Nancy and invent a life for her have anything to do with the way Maddie reacts to the girl who the Confederates have sent to kill her?

The Civil War is such a popular subject. Thousands of books, and counting, have been written about it, so picking some can be overwhelming. My own home library is crammed with just about every aspect of the war you can imagine, and I haven’t even scratched the surface. So where to start? Here are some books that will give you the basics and then some. It’s how I started. Most are in libraries and some are ebooks now. How good is that?

The Basics

Davis, Kenneth C.
Don’t Know Much About the Civil War.
Perennial: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers: 2004.

Gaffney, Dennis and Gaffney, Peter.
The Civil War.
Hyperion: New York: 2011.

Ward, Geoffrey C.
The Civil War: An Illustrated History.
Based on a documentary film script by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ric Burns, and Ken Burns. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1889. (A beautiful big book. If you want to see it come to life, watch Ken Burns’ film series, “The Civil War.”)

About Spies

Winkler, H. Donald.
Stealing
Secrets: How a Few Daring Women Deceived Generals, Impacted Battles, and Altered The Course of the Civil War.
Cumberland House, 2010.

Markle, Donald E.
Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War.

Hippocrene Books, New York: 2000.

Mackay, James.
Allan Pinkerton: The Eye Who Never Slept
. Mainstream Publishing: Edinburg and London: 1996.

Van Doren Stern, Philip.
Secret Missions of the Civil War.
Bonanza Books: New York: 1959.

Blackman, Ann.
Wild Rose: Rose O’Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy.
Random House Publishing Group. New York: 2005.

Varon, Elizabeth R.
Southern Lady, Yankee Spy.
Oxford University Press, 2003.

Kline, Michael J.
The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
Westholme Publishing, 2008.

Blanton, DeAnne and Cook, Lauren M.
They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War.
Louisiana State University Press: 2002.

Pinkerton, Allan.
The Spy of the Rebellion
. G.W. Carleton & Company: New York, 1883. (A word of warning: Pinkerton wrote this book long after the war ended. He loved a good story and because many of his papers were destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1971, the rest are in the Library of Congress, you should take him with a grain of salt.)

To my wonderful family, for their love, their support, for putting up with my endless hours spent on “that old war.” Chuck Eckstein, Jessica Masser, Lisa, Miles and Raleigh Singer, Hariet Eckstein, Missy and David Burgess, and Judy Oppenheimer.

My cherished friends: Larry Masser, Cindy Borden, Mike Nelson and Susan Chieco, Susanne and Marty Malles, Simone Study and Clay Holmes, Heth, Jed and Rhoda Weinstein, Erik Seastrand, Joanna Rubiner, Becky Bonar, Ken Deifik, Candace Michaels, Sharon Vincuilla and all the angels of Lend A Paw and New Leash On Life, and Dr. Sandra Fallon.

And my fellow “history detectives,” John Stewart, David W. Gaddy, Laurie Verge, John Stanton, Joan Chaconas, and Professor Robert S. Davis.

To my agent Robert Astle, Deborah Smith and Debra Dixon of Bell Bridge Books, Dee Dee De Bartlo,
Gretchen Crary, Corinne Ray of February Partners, and Joel B. Michaels. Thanks and more to all of you.

And of course to Caspy, our brave and whimsical social therapy dog, and Angus, the sweetest four-legged creature I’ve ever known.