charge of, not only her holding but his properties as well which made Laura a very wealthy woman. She used her inheritance to help the poor and local churches. In 1910, she was seventy-four at the time, ninety-six of Mosby's men held their annual reunion in Herndon where Congressman C. C. Carlin praised Laura by saying that she gave the guerilla leader very valuable information regarding the actions of Union troops. Injury, death, and markers At age seventy-eight, in 1914, Laura went outside to feed her chickens and she slipped on a flat piece of stone. Though her injury was not examined by a doctor, she broke her hip. Laura spent the next nine years of her life in bed and died at the age of eighty-seven on August 8, 1923. While on her deathbed, she still had servants on her dairy farm who took care of her, and visitors described her as gracious and, strangely, wore little earrings. Even dying, Laura remained cheerful and interested in her community. She was buried on her property in Herndon in a small family plot with her mother and husband. Merrybrook, her house, is now one of the only antebellum homes to remain standing after real estate developments in Herndon. Merrybrook is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and, in addition to that, a historical Virginia highway marker was made to honor Laura Ratcliffe. This highway marker is located on Route 228 near her grave. About two miles out from the highway marker, is another marker that describes Mosby's Rock. References Sources Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Courier Corporation, 1997, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Spies_of_the_Confederacy/Bf8kAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0. Frank, Lisa. Women in the American Civil War: Volume 1. ABC-CLIO, 2008, https://books.google.com/books?id=X2GeBUmW_MgC&pg=PA469&lpg=PA469&dq=how+did+Laura+Ratcliffe+become+a+spy&source=bl&ots=sHqc84QEAn&sig=ACfU3U0ZV0c2BzyFJymPUfRCKVCtwDwYPw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdi-2EqrvpAhUQpp4KHXseD5IQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=how%20did%20Laura%20Ratcliffe%20become%20a%20spy&f=false. Mauro, Charles. A Southern Spy in Northern Virginia: The Civil War Album of Laura Ratcliffe. History Press, 2009, https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Southern_Spy_in_Northern_Virginia/5Xl0CQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0. Winkler, Donald. Stealing Secrets: How a Few Daring Women Deceived Generals, Impacted Battles, and Altered the Course of the Civil War. Cumberland House, 2010, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Stealing_Secrets/J-feCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0. External links LauraRatcliffe.org Laura Ratcliffe at Civil War Women 1836 births 1923 deaths People from Fairfax, Virginia Female wartime spies Women in the American Civil War American Civil War spies People of Virginia in the American Civil War People from Herndon, Virginia