Who Was Madame La Force?

The American Civil War threw up a number of spies of both genders; and Madame La Force was a spy helping the Confederates.

On June 28, 1861 the Confederate vessel St Nicholas sailed out of Baltimore, Maryland carrying on board a somewhat strange passenger. The passenger, a foreign lady named Madame La Force kept the passengers and crew entertained by outrageously flirting with them. Her antics diverted their attention from other men who were embarking, bringing aboard what looked like military trunks and toolboxes.

Immediately the ship set sail, Madame La Force retired to her cabin from which she did not emerge till the vessel docked at Point Lookout on the southern tip of Maryland. The Madame emerged on deck and resumed her disgraceful flirting while some more men came aboard. Once more when the ship resumed its journey, she retired below decks. She reappeared shortly after the vessel sailed but this time had thrown off what was a disguise. She now emerged as a full-fledged, fully armed Confederate Colonel, Col Richard Thomas. He immediately took charge of the men who had come aboard as passengers. From the military trunks and boxes they unloaded weapons with which they rounded up the passengers and crew and placed them below decks under guard. The captain of the vessel was ordered to sail to Coan River where they were to pick up a Lt Lewis and his men. One of the men in the new contingent was a Confederate commander, George N. Hollins.

The St Nicholas in the normal course was scheduled to stop alongside the union warship Pawnee to collect mail and deliver supplies. When it was learned that the Pawnee had been diverted to Washington, Hollins order the captain to set course for Fredericksburg, Virginia. Enroute, Hollins and his men captured three union ships loaded with ice, coal and coffee all in short supply with Confederacy troops. Part of Hollins men sailed the captive ships to Fredericksburg while the Pawnee and her cargo was towed by the St Nicholas.

10 days later at Fredericksburg, Colonel Richard Thomas was captured and incarcerated, kept in solitary for two years. In a prisoner exchange he was released after which he fled to France never to return. Col. Thomas was a 'Zouave', one of the foreign soldiers who fought in the American Civil War.