- Joined
- Feb 5, 2017
https://emergingcivilwar.com/2019/03/01/ecw-weekender-elizabeth-van-lew/#more-180771
I wish I lived close enough to attend these things!
She was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame for her work during the Civil War. Richmond society hated her. She discovered Confederate secrets. Her information influenced General Grant’s decisions during the Overland Campaign. She helped create a spy ring and underground Unionist network that operated in the heart of the Confederate capital and even infiltrated the southern White House.
Meet Elizabeth Van Lew.
Born in 1818 and educated at a Quaker school in the north, Van Lew embraced the abolitionist cause – created a unique conflict since she spent most of her life in Richmond, Virginia – one of the slave trading capitals. At certain times, she may have purchased slaves to free them or at least freed and supported her own family’s slaves, pre-war acts that her neighbors did not appreciate.
I wish I lived close enough to attend these things!
She was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame for her work during the Civil War. Richmond society hated her. She discovered Confederate secrets. Her information influenced General Grant’s decisions during the Overland Campaign. She helped create a spy ring and underground Unionist network that operated in the heart of the Confederate capital and even infiltrated the southern White House.
Meet Elizabeth Van Lew.
Born in 1818 and educated at a Quaker school in the north, Van Lew embraced the abolitionist cause – created a unique conflict since she spent most of her life in Richmond, Virginia – one of the slave trading capitals. At certain times, she may have purchased slaves to free them or at least freed and supported her own family’s slaves, pre-war acts that her neighbors did not appreciate.