Elizabeth Van Lew, Southern Spy for the North
Virginia-born Woman, Loyal to the Union, Headed a Spy Network
Sep 18, 2009
Outwardly, Elizabeth Van Lew was a Southern belle, a scion of one of Richmond’s richest families on the eve of the Civil War. In the old South, women were expected to be modest, to act “feminine” at all times, and to defer to men on most occasions. But as the years went on, “Bet” Van Lew seemed to be marching to the tune of a different drummer. She grew more eccentric with the passing of the years, until most people thought she was not quite in her right mind.
It was only until the end of the war that her neighbors realized her “eccentric old lady” persona was just an act. In reality, this “southern belle” was on one of the most effective espionage agents the Union ever had. Not only was she an effective spy personally, she also was a spymaster for a group of Union agents—agents that included African American former slaves.
Elizabeth van Lew’s Life before the Civil War
Van Lew was born on October 17, 1818, in Richmond, Virginia. Her father and mother were actually transplanted northerners, though her father John Van Lew had lived in the south for many years. Young “Bet” was educated by a tutor, but later sent to school in Philadelphia. Some friends later said that it was her schooling--if not her parents’ origins—that made her sympathetic to the North.
Her father died when she was 25. She and her mother immediately freed all the slave of the household, though many stayed on as paid servants. She never married, which later helped her assume the guise of a “crazy old spinster.”
Elizabeth Van Lew, Union Spy
Van Lew was shocked and dismayed when Virginia seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy. She privately considered secession treason, and a crime. Van Lew decided to all she could to help the Northern cause.
In the early months of the war Van Lew as known for her humanitarian work with Union POWs at Richmond’s Libby Prison. She and her mother would bring food, fresh bedding, and medicine to the prisoners, who were forced to live in squalid cells. She got information from the Union captives, and also sometimes from the Confederate guards, and passed them on. Her black servants would be ready at any time to smuggle the information out-sometimes in the sole of a shoe, or in a hollowed egg shell.
Her neighbors didn’t like the idea of Van Lew giving aid and comfort to “Yankee” prisoners, but since it was a humanitarian mission they kept silent. For most of the war the citizens of Richmond didn’t suspect she was an actual Union agent. Part of her “cover” was her eccentric behavior. She’d walk the streets aimlessly, muttering to herself. She became known as “Crazy Bet,” strange and bizarre, but harmless.
One of Van Lew’s greatest coups was to place her African American “slave,” Mary Bowser, as a servant in the Confederate White House in Richmond. President Jefferson Davis would meet with Confederate officials, and leave important papers about. As a black servant Bowser was given little notice, and it was thought she was illiterate. Bowser could read and write, and could pass on the information she heard and read.
In later years Varina Davis, First Lady and wife of the Confederate president, denied that Bowser had even been employed at their home. Perhaps, but maybe it was an attempt to cover up an embarrassing lapse in security.
Elizabeth Lew was largely ostracized by her neighbors after the war, but she remained unrepentant. Union General Ulysses S. Grant credited her with giving some of the most valuable information in the war. In gratitude for her services, Grant appointed her Postmistress of Richmond after he became President. Van Lew died in 1900.
Sources:
Harriet T Kane, Spies for the Blue and the Gray Hanover House, 1954
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