Bibliography
Bettwy, David. Laura Ratcliffe. www.lauraratcliffe.org (accessed April 20, 2011).
This is the website I used to contact Win Meiselman, the residing owner of Merrybrook presently. On this site, they have some quick facts about Laura Ratcliffe but the main purpose was to tell the history of Merrybrook house. Also, this gives a good in-depth story of that incident where Laura saved Mosby’s life by warning him about the Union’s plans. There are good pictures of the photos that I will use if Mrs. Weiselman does not give me the consent to take pictures for myself. However, this is the first place I have seen that has photos of the house inside and some of the traditional layouts of the rooms and staircases that shows 19th century architecture.
Crouch, Richard E. “Merrybook-Laura Ratcliffe’s House.” North County Chronicle¸2004.
Just like any other articles you can enter in Google by searching “Laura Ratcliffe,” this is just one of many links that is associated with Laura Ratcliffe. The main argument of this article is that the former residence of Laura Ratcliffe, Merrybrook, was about to lose some of their land estate to Fairfax County in order to build a soccer park. Crouch is arguing that Laura is such a key part of our local history and the land surrounding Merrybrook should be left alone because soccer parks can be built anywhere; however you cannot build historic places.
Eggleston, Larry G. Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Inc., 2003.
According to Eggleston in his preface, the purpose of this book was to recognition to the women who sacrificed their lives and for their contributions to American history. This book had no mention of Laura Ratcliffe but he did tell two stories of Union woman spies. However, I was able to use some of his literature to get a better understanding of the women in the Civil War. Just like what Mauro mentioned in his book of Laura Ratcliffe, women dealt with more hardship because they had to take care of the families, did the jobs that men left, and they were constantly worrying about whether their husbands, sons, or fathers were ok.
Mauro, Charles V. A Southern Spy in Northern Virginia: The Civil War Album of Laura Ratcliffe. Charleston: The History Press, 2009.
This is a book that goes in detail about the 40 signed signatures in the album given to Laura Ratcliffe by J.E.B. Stuart. It seems that the possession of the album is with Lewis Leigh Jr. who allowed Mauro to autograph the album cover. It gives a good brief history of the Ratcliffe family and their connection with Fairfax, and Laura’s personal history as well. With extensive study and research, Mauro was able to find information on almost all of the 40 signees. A lot of his sources came from Fairfax Court House as well as the City of Fairfax Regional Library. Interesting point is that near the end of his book, he states that one of the last survivors who knew Laura said her mom Ann, her sister Ann Maria, and Milton Hanna are buried there as well however there is no provided information to prove it.
Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J.E.B. Stuart. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009 (Accessed through Google Books on April 8, 2011).
In this book, it tells the biography of J.E.B. Stuart and his actions in the Civil War. The whole books argument is about whether to blame Stuart for the loss at Gettysburg or was he just one of the many reasons. However, the part I focused on is when he met Laura Ratcliffe on Camp Qui Vive after a battle in 1861. From this book, it was the first time I learned about the poems and other presents Stuart gave Laura. Also, it mentioned another friend of Laura, Antonia Ford who was another Confederate spy which gave me the conclusion that there was more than just Laura who were women spies. There were endnotes for the sources of the specific material I used; however, the page of endnotes was not available through Google.
Special thanks to the Meiselman's for allowing me to come to their historic homes and especially for Win Mesielman for sharing some key information for my project.