Paying our Respects to Elizabeth Stiles - President Lincoln’s Spy

In June of 2018 we took part in a group investigation at the Madison Seminary, and we made sure to walk down a little ways from the building to pay our respects to Elizabeth Stiles.   Elizabeth served as a spy for Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War.

Elizabeth Stiles is buried in Middle Ridge Cemetery located on Middle Ridge Rd.   Her long history ended at Madison Seminary and she was buried in the Seminary's cemetery.

To summarize the story of Elizabeth Stiles, after her husband was murdered by confederate soldiers, she went under cover as an elderly nurse and became a Union spy.   She would report locations of federal troops throughout the Civil war and carried on her a letter from President Lincoln to aid in crossing over enemy lines and for safe passage back to the North if should of ever been captured by the Union Army.   If you would like to hear more details about her story, please check out our "Behind the Haunting" video about Mrs. Stiles.

The following is a photograph of that letter that she carried that was discovered years later by her decedents in some of her belongings that they were going through.

Photo of Letter from President Abraham Lincoln that Elizabeth carried on her. Photo from Findagrave.com

There are many resources that will provide you more information about Elizabeth's story that we used for research.   We will provide some of them here if you would like to learn more.

• Elizabeth Stiles - President Lincoln's Spy
• Find a Grave Information
  
• Elizabeth Stiles: President Lincoln’s Spy from Ashtabula, Ohio- Pluckily She Persisted!
  

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