Elizabeth Van Lews, Military Intelligence Hall of Fame

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
I looked for a 'Spy' or Military Intelligence section before using the general discussion thread to post this. If there is one, please excuse? I was also going to tack her onto another thread but think she's worthy of her own, and not just as excuse to bring up my ancestor ( again ), swear!

When I first bumped into Elizabeth, I had entirely the wrong end of the stick, because her own writing downplays her importance to the Union cause. We'd known my grgrgruncle, Calvin Huson had been taken to the home of someone descibed as a 'wealthy widow' when he'd come down with typhoid while in ( we also thought ) Castle Thunder. He'd been captured as a political prisoner following Bull Run- long story. If you think about it, now why in heck would one person be allowed this 'luxury' when so many died in the various squalors of the CW prisons? Elizabeth Van Lews was the reason- I bumped into her memoirs the other night. In her words, she described what she did for just this ONE man, my uncle but she was a Union spy who helped countless numbers of prisoners and the military while pretending to maintain her position as a belle of Richmond. Grant himself said he could not have managed what he was able without her input and she was given the honor of raising the flag over the city after its' fall. You tend to hear a great deal of Confederate women who functioned well as and became famous as spys, this is a Union story of real heroism.

I took this from Wikipedia, as the briefest, although there are a ton of others including her own story, which is how I came across the part she played in taking Calvin Huson home when she spotted him rotting away with typhoid in a tobacco warehouse prison.



Elizabeth Van Lew (October 25, 1818 – September 25, 1900) was a well-born Richmond, Virginia, resident who built and operated an extensive spy ring for the United States during the American Civil War.

Elizabeth Van Lew was born on October 25, 1818, in Richmond, Virginia to John Van Lew and Eliza Baker, whose father was Hilary Baker, mayor of Philadelphia from 1796 to 1798. Elizabeth's father came to Richmond in 1806 at the age of 16 and, within twenty years, had built up a prosperous hardware business and owned several slaves.
Elizabeth was educated at a Quaker school in Philadelphia, where her family's abolitionist sentiments were reinforced. Upon the death of her father in 1843, Elizabeth's brother John Newton Van Lew took over the business and the family freed their nine slaves, even though John had been somewhat opposed to the idea. Those slaves included the young future Union spy MaryBowser. In the depths of the 1837-44 depression, Elizabeth used her entire cash inheritance of $10,000 (nearly $200,000 in current money) to purchase and free some of their former slaves' relatives For years thereafter, Elizabeth's brother was a regular visitor to Richmond's slave market, where, when a family was about to be split up, he would purchase them all, bring them home, and issue their papers of Manumission.

Upon the outbreak of the war, Van Lew began working on behalf of the Union. When Libby Prison was opened in Richmond, Van Lew was allowed to bring food, clothing, writing paper, and other things to the Union soldiers imprisoned there. She aided prisoners in escape attempts, passing them information about safe houses and getting a Union sympathizer appointed to the prison staff. Prisoners gave Van Lew information on Confederate troop levels and movements, which she was able to pass on to Union commanders.Van Lew also operated a spyring during the war, including clerks in the War and Navy Departments of the Confederacy and a Richmond mayoral candidate. It has been widely suggested that Van Lew convinced Varina Davis to hire Bowser as a household servant, enabling Bowser to spy in the White House of the Confederacy. Varina Davis adamantly denied ever hiring Bowser, although it would be unlikely she would have known of Bowser's real identity or admitted hiring her after the fact Recent research by Lois M. Leveen suggests that although Bowser used several pseudonyms during and after the war, making her contributions especially difficult to document, newly uncovered sources confirm her involvement in the Union espionage circle run by Van Lew Van Lew's spy network was so efficient that on several occasions she sent Lt. Gen. Ullysses S. Grant fresh flowers from her garden and a copy of the Richmond newspaper. She developed a cipher system and often smuggled messages out of Richmond in hollow eggs. Van Lew's work was highly valued by the United States. George H. Sharpe, intelligence officer for the Army of the Potomac, credited her with "the greater portion of our intelligence in 1864-65." On Grant's first visit to Richmond after the war, he had tea with Van Lew, and later appointed her postmaster of Richmond.G rant said of her, "You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war."

When Richmond fell to U.S. forces in April 1865, Van Lew was the first person to raise the United States Flag in the city.
President Grant made her postmaster of Richmond and she served in that office from 1869 to 1877. After Reconstruction Van Lew became increasingly ostracized in Richmond. She persuaded the United States Department of War to give her all of her records, so she could hide the true extent of her espionage from her neighbors. Having spent her family's fortune on intelligence activities during the war, she tried in vain to be reimbursed by the federal government. When the government failed to provide sufficient aid, she turned to a group of wealthy and influential Bostonians for support. They gladly collected money for the woman who helped so many Union soldiers during the war.
Van Lew died on September 25, 1900, and was buried in Shockhoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond. Her grave was unmarked until the relatives of Union Colonel Paul J. Revere, whom she had aided during the war donated a tombstone. She is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. Even into the twentieth century, however, Van Lew was regarded by many Southerners as a traitor.
In her will, Van Lew bequeathed her personal manuscripts, including her account of the war, to John P. Reynolds, nephew of Col. Revere. In 1911 Reynolds was able to convince the scholar William G. Beymer to publish the first biography of Van Lew in Harper's Monthly magazine. The biography indicated that Van Lew had been so successful in her spying activities because she had feigned lunacy, and this idea won Van Lew the nickname "Crazy Bet". However, it is unlikely that Van Lew actually did pretend to be crazy. Instead, she probably would have relied on the Victorian custom of female charity to cover her espionage.


I didn't mean my relative's photo to come out so much larger than both of hers, I just scanned his that way and am too dense to fix it. Both the first are Elizabeth, one of course at a younger age, and the other Calvin Huson Jr., my grgrgruncle, whose story I won't bore anyone with just suffice to say he was a beneficiary of Elizabeth's kindess above and beyond her work as a Union spy. Thank you, Elizabeth Van Lews.

Huson Eliz Van Lews young portrait.jpg
Huson Elizabeth Van Lew.jpg
CalvinHusonJr.jpg
 
I wrote a piece for the New York Times in June about Van Lew and Mary Bowser, "A Black Spy in the Confederate White House," which includes some new research. http://nyti.ms/MlWBFJ You may know that Elizabeth Varon has a very thorough biography of Bet Van Lew. Bet also figures prominently in The Secrets of Mary Bowser, my novel based on the spy ring. The book was published by HarperCollins/William Morrow in May, and it's the August book club pick at Target, as well as being available at bookstores nationwide and online. There's more information at www.thesecretsofmarybowser.com
 
No, I didn't know, or anything at all about her,awful to say, thank you very much! SO appreciated- I accidently bumped into her story, kind of couldn't believe it, then died with delight over this entire subject. These women! I WISH so much the family up north had known= they were growing them of the same ilk, or the type which would have appreciated these sisters black and white, believe me. Seriously, no one KNEW what became of Calvin, only that he'd been captured after Bull Run, died of typhoid, they were told in Libby. The prevailing attitude was that Ely had gotten him killed ( not a popular guy in Rochestor, Huson's just kind of there forever, part of the place so a loss there for a lot of folks ), funny no one blamed Calvin. That part of NY was wildly patriotic and abolitionist 'toboot'- if the family and the area also had had any idea of the existance of Elizabeth, Mary Bowser and their contributions to their local boy in particular and the cause in general gosh- can't imagine. Please excuse the long ramble, just thanks hugely for this! I also belong to the Yates County ( NY ) Historical Society, at least on Facebook, have been in touch with them. Their CW section is wonderful, they're happy to receive information on Yates County folks in the CW. This is going to be most welcome. I realize my uncle's story is just a teeny, teeny part of ' the whole', but it's important as local history.

It's been more than delightful if sad putting the story together over the years, too, although we knew a lot. Piecing Calvin's story together has been slow, you think it can't get any more riddled with sheer history then find him once cared for and buried by the kind hands of one of these women. It feels like he keeps pointing the way - I'm not sure I care if that sounds a little whifty on my part. Elizabeth writes in his words how grateful he was to her for her unbelievable efforts and humanity, especially given the political climate of the time.

I VERY much appreciate the information towards your book, many thanks, very kind of you! I may not have known a thing about Elizabeth but am getting myself educated at the speed of light, or as fast as the rapidly forming cataract in the right eye allows. :smile: I generally only use my FB for keeping up with the kids scattered all over the planet and some CW friends who allow me to bug them, but almost posted on Elizabeth and Calvin last night, ran out of time. I think I'll wait until I read your book, if it's ok to post that then ( think I should ask permission ), amazing to be able to touch history like this, however fleetingly. I already 'share' Clara Barton's missing ( now found ) office in DC, funny the people I never suspected might be interested in this kind of thing become attracted when you post on history instead of whatever current political figure painted their fingernails blue and who the heck cares about that- the general FB 'bleah'.

Well, I had other things I should have been getting to today, think some of them might be on the list for tomorrow instead. :smile:
 
helping escaped prisoners and her involvement in the disinterment and secret re-burial of Ulric Dahlgren could led to the gallows if caught.
 
I looked for a 'Spy' or Military Intelligence section before using the general discussion thread to post this. If there is one, please excuse? I was also going to tack her onto another thread but think she's worthy of her own, and not just as excuse to bring up my ancestor ( again ), swear!

When I first bumped into Elizabeth, I had entirely the wrong end of the stick, because her own writing downplays her importance to the Union cause. We'd known my grgrgruncle, Calvin Huson had been taken to the home of someone descibed as a 'wealthy widow' when he'd come down with typhoid while in ( we also thought ) Castle Thunder. He'd been captured as a political prisoner following Bull Run- long story. If you think about it, now why in heck would one person be allowed this 'luxury' when so many died in the various squalors of the CW prisons? Elizabeth Van Lews was the reason- I bumped into her memoirs the other night. In her words, she described what she did for just this ONE man, my uncle but she was a Union spy who helped countless numbers of prisoners and the military while pretending to maintain her position as a belle of Richmond. Grant himself said he could not have managed what he was able without her input and she was given the honor of raising the flag over the city after its' fall. You tend to hear a great deal of Confederate women who functioned well as and became famous as spys, this is a Union story of real heroism.

I took this from Wikipedia, as the briefest, although there are a ton of others including her own story, which is how I came across the part she played in taking Calvin Huson home when she spotted him rotting away with typhoid in a tobacco warehouse prison.



Elizabeth Van Lew (October 25, 1818 – September 25, 1900) was a well-born Richmond, Virginia, resident who built and operated an extensive spy ring for the United States during the American Civil War.

Elizabeth Van Lew was born on October 25, 1818, in Richmond, Virginia to John Van Lew and Eliza Baker, whose father was Hilary Baker, mayor of Philadelphia from 1796 to 1798. Elizabeth's father came to Richmond in 1806 at the age of 16 and, within twenty years, had built up a prosperous hardware business and owned several slaves.
Elizabeth was educated at a Quaker school in Philadelphia, where her family's abolitionist sentiments were reinforced. Upon the death of her father in 1843, Elizabeth's brother John Newton Van Lew took over the business and the family freed their nine slaves, even though John had been somewhat opposed to the idea. Those slaves included the young future Union spy MaryBowser. In the depths of the 1837-44 depression, Elizabeth used her entire cash inheritance of $10,000 (nearly $200,000 in current money) to purchase and free some of their former slaves' relatives For years thereafter, Elizabeth's brother was a regular visitor to Richmond's slave market, where, when a family was about to be split up, he would purchase them all, bring them home, and issue their papers of Manumission.

Upon the outbreak of the war, Van Lew began working on behalf of the Union. When LibbyPrison was opened in Richmond, Van Lew was allowed to bring food, clothing, writing paper, and other things to the Union soldiers imprisoned there. She aided prisoners in escape attempts, passing them information about safe houses and getting a Union sympathizer appointed to the prison staff. Prisoners gave Van Lew information on Confederate troop levels and movements, which she was able to pass on to Union commanders.Van Lew also operated a spyring during the war, including clerks in the War and Navy Departments of the Confederacy and a Richmond mayoral candidate. It has been widely suggested that Van Lew convinced Varina Davis to hire Bowser as a household servant, enabling Bowser to spy in the White House of the Confederacy. Varina Davis adamantly denied ever hiring Bowser, although it would be unlikely she would have known of Bowser's real identity or admitted hiring her after the fact Recent research by Lois M. Leveen suggests that although Bowser used several pseudonyms during and after the war, making her contributions especially difficult to document, newly uncovered sources confirm her involvement in the Union espionage circle run by Van Lew Van Lew's spy network was so efficient that on several occasions she sent Lt. Gen. Ullysses S. Grant fresh flowers from her garden and a copy of the Richmond newspaper. She developed a cipher system and often smuggled messages out of Richmond in hollow eggs. Van Lew's work was highly valued by the United States. George H. Sharpe, intelligence officer for the Army of the Potomac, credited her with "the greater portion of our intelligence in 1864-65." On Grant's first visit to Richmond after the war, he had tea with Van Lew, and later appointed her postmaster of Richmond.G rant said of her, "You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war."

When Richmond fell to U.S. forces in April 1865, Van Lew was the first person to raise the United States Flagin the city.
President Grant made her postmaster of Richmond and she served in that office from 1869 to 1877. After Reconstruction Van Lew became increasingly ostracized in Richmond. She persuaded the United States Department of War to give her all of her records, so she could hide the true extent of her espionage from her neighbors. Having spent her family's fortune on intelligence activities during the war, she tried in vain to be reimbursed by the federal government. When the government failed to provide sufficient aid, she turned to a group of wealthy and influential Bostonians for support. They gladly collected money for the woman who helped so many Union soldiers during the war.
Van Lew died on September 25, 1900, and was buried in Shockhoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond. Her grave was unmarked until the relatives of Union Colonel Paul J. Revere, whom she had aided during the war donated a tombstone. She is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. Even into the twentieth century, however, Van Lew was regarded by many Southerners as a traitor.
In her will, Van Lew bequeathed her personal manuscripts, including her account of the war, to John P. Reynolds, nephew of Col. Revere. In 1911 Reynolds was able to convince the scholar William G. Beymer to publish the first biography of Van Lew in Harper's Monthly magazine. The biography indicated that Van Lew had been so successful in her spying activities because she had feigned lunacy, and this idea won Van Lew the nickname "Crazy Bet". However, it is unlikely that Van Lew actually did pretend to be crazy. Instead, she probably would have relied on the Victorian custom of female charity to cover her espionage.


I didn't mean my relative's photo to come out so much larger than both of hers, I just scanned his that way and am too dense to fix it. Both the first are Elizabeth, one of course at a younger age, and the other Calvin Huson Jr., my grgrgruncle, whose story I won't bore anyone with just suffice to say he was a beneficiary of Elizabeth's kindess above and beyond her work as a Union spy. Thank you, Elizabeth Van Lews.

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Such interesting info glad you shared it with us
 
It's been such an odd Elizabeth Van Lews kind of week. I'd never heard of her and Mary Bowser ( nice grammer- we know who isn't writing books ), seems a landslide of information in a few days. I've once again left the darn thing in the car but one of the Civil War magazines ( not the 'Times', it's the special edition of something? ) includes a page on her, same photo, with a story on her and the failed raid to rescue Union prisoners in Richmond, Colonel Alden ( I think ), smuggling his body back to his family. Please no one eat me if I'm incorrect there- rheumatoid brain this morning, just am now truly smitten even more with these women and their work.

Thanks very much, Lois, for permission. It always feels one kind of should ask? I realize the purpose of books is to be read, it just feels odd to turn around and swipe something from one public format and insert it in another. My family is more than used to it. I've always been a little nutty on our Husons and the CW history which goes with them. JPK fell at Gettysburg, Calvin's brother. Being able to make a 'find' like this, that Elizabeth touched Calvin's life briefly while she and the ring were helping countless others is like winning the darn lottery. Like touching history, amazing to me. I have a few CW friends who are going to get a big, fat kick out of this on FB- be nice to be able to point them in an informative direction for once. :smile:
 
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