Background
Antonia Ford was born at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. She was a daughter of a prominent local merchant and ardent secessionist named Edward R. Ford.
Antonia Ford was born at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. She was a daughter of a prominent local merchant and ardent secessionist named Edward R. Ford.
Before going to the Buckingham Female Collegiate Institute in Buckingham, Virginia, she attended nearby Coombe Cottage, a private finishing school for girls.
She also spied for John South. Mosby, a noted partisan ranger. Stuart, grateful for her service and appreciative of the information he had received, designated Ford as an honorary aide-de-camp on October 7, 1861. In early 1863, Ford was betrayed by a Union counterspy named Frankie Abel, whom she had befriended and shown the document bearing Stuart"s signature.
Ford was subsequently arrested on March 13 and incarcerated in Washington, District of Columbia at the Old Capitol Prison.
She was accused of playing a prominent role in the capture of Union general Edwin H. Stoughton, but Colonel Mosby and others later denied her complicity, and no evidence of her guilt could be foundation She was released and exchanged seven days later.
However, she was arrested in Fairfax by Major Joseph Willard (1820–1897) and sent back to Old Capitol Prison. The couple had three children.
Antonia Ford Willard died in Washington, District of Columbia in 1871 as an indirect result of health issues stemming from her captivity.
Her husband (who later became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia) never remarried.