Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow (1840–1913)

Captain Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow was called the lean mean spying machine.

Frank Stringfellow was a Confederate officer, spy, and lover, who survived the civil war, and married the sweetheart for whom he repeatedly risked his life to court -- Emma Green. After the war Stringfellow married Green, and became an Episcopal minister.

Shortly after joining the Confederate Army Stringfellow became the "personal scout" for Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart. He crossed into Union territory on multiple missions, until the union placed a $10,000 reward for his capture.

Early life

Stringfellow attended Alexandria’s Episcopal High School from 1858 to 1860.

Stringfellow would have met Emma Green, his future wife, when they were both children, as two of his older brothers had married two of her older sisters.

Confederate Officer and Spy

When war broke out, Stringfellow sought a commission in the Confederate Army. Despite four denials due to his fragile health (and 94 pound weight), Stringfellow eventually secured a commission as Captain in the 4th Virginia Cavalry (his brothers also served the Confederacy, although his cousins Pleasant and Robert Stringfellow served in the U.S. Army). Stringfellow rode with General J.E.B. Stuart at Seven Pines, Cold Harbor, and the raid at Catlett's Station. Stringfellow also rode with Colonel John Singleton Mosby of the 43rd Virginia Cavalry, most notably in the raid at Loudoun Heights on January 9, 1864.

However, Stringfellow's fame derived from his confidential service, sometimes directly for General Robert E. Lee, but much through J.E.B. Stuart until his death in March, 1864. By the end of the war, Stringfellow was known as the most dangerous man in the Confederacy, with a $10,000 bounty placed on his head. Stringfellow posed as a dental assistant in Alexandria, Virginia and gathered intelligence, and later even obtained a dental license and did the same in Washington, D.C. Although Mary Surratt helped Stringfellow escape in March, 1865, he was captured and an attempt to blow up President Lincoln foiled.

Post-War Years

Stringfellow would risk his life to visit, and court, Emma Green, who lived in Alexandria Virginia, under Union occupation.

Stringfellow refused to take the loyalty oath after the war and moved to Canada. He returned to Alexandria, Virginia in 1867, enrolling at what became the Virginia Theological Seminary and marrying his high school sweetheart, Emma Green. Graduating, he was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1876. At age 57, Rev. Stringfellow enlisted a chaplain in the U.S. Army, after obtaining a reference from former President Grant, who noted Stringfellow had refrained from shooting him years earlier. Rev. Stringfellow also served in various parishes in Virginia, including in Franklin, Patrick, and Henry Counties. As rector, Rev. Stringfellow led the campaign that built Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville in the 1890s, but moved on soon after the building was finished. He considered ministry among fellow Confederate veterans as his mission, and often regaled audiences with stories about his military escapades. He also became the first chaplain of the Woodberry Forest School, a male boarding school in Madison, Virginia which had been established by a fellow Mosby Ranger in 1889.

Stringfellow ultimately retired to Alexandria, where he died in 1913 and is buried beside his wife Emma at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mercy Street

Stringfellow was one of the characters in a PBS Masterpiece Theatre television series entitled Mercy Street and was played by Jack Falahee.

See also

• Mary Phinney
• Emma Green