[1] In each film, Gauntier plays Nan, a Confederate spy during the Civil War who often cross-dresses in order to achieve her physically daring missions.
[2] The series was reportedly inspired by real-life spy Belle Boyd.
[1] The series is considered important by contemporary film scholars who argue that Gauntier's "girl spy" character is a precursor to the popular daredevil American film serial queens like Pearl White and Grace Cunard in the later 1910s[3][4][5] and mark the beginning of the stunt-driven American movie serial genre centered around an intrepid young woman.
[6] Other historians have emphasized the series' importance as part of a first wave (from 1908-1921) of American films featuring women cross-dressing that were set on the frontier or during the Civil War.
[7] A copy of The Girl Spy: An Incident of the Civil War is held at Library and Archives Canada; a copy of The Further Adventures of the Girl Spy is held at both the BFI National Archive, and the Library of Congress; and a copy of The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg is held at the EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.