W. Richardson
Captain
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2011
- Location
- Mt. Gilead, North Carolina
Miss Elizabeth Van Lew, daughter of John Van Lew, was one of the most remarkable women of the war. To most of Richmond she was known as “Miss Lizzie” or “Crazy Bet”, but highlights of her reveal a woman of courage and conviction.
She became an abolitionist while away attending school in Philadelphia, and on her father’s death in 1860, she freed the family slaves. Never hiding her Union sympathies, she carried special foods to Federal prisoners at Libby Prison, a custom which aroused much suspicion and hostility against her in the city, so much that the authorities kept her under constant surveillance.
During General McClellan’s 1862 campaign against Richmond, she and her mother prepared a “charming room” in her home for McClellan’s use after he took the city. The two called it the “McClellan room.” However McClellan failed to reach Richmond. On days of fasting decreed by President Davis, the two Van Lew ladies dined in abundant style.
Miss Van Lew opened secret correspondence with Union forces at Fortress Monroe, passing military information on Richmond via secret couriers. She was the leader throughout the war of the small, well organized Union underground in the city, a group of spies and sympathizers. She succeeded in placing at least one and probably more black servants as spies in the Confederate White House and is credited with responsibility for the arson attempt on the mansion in the winter of 1864.
She is believed to have assisted the escape of 109 Union officers from Libby Prison on February 9, 1864. She did visit a leader of the escape, Colonel Streight, at Howard’s Grove, all at a great danger to herself. In early April 1864, she organized the theft of the body of Colonel Dahlgren from Oakwood Cemetery; she then had it secretly reburied to await the end of the war.
On evacuation night escaped Union prisoners hid in secret passages in her home. She was considered so important to the Union that General Grant sent a member of his staff, Colonel Parke, to protect Miss Van Lew and her property when Federal forces entered Richmond. As President, General Grant showed his gratitude to Miss Van Lew by making her postmistress of Richmond. She served throughout his two terms.
By the 1880’s Miss Van Lew was old, ailing and poverty stricken. Never forgiven by the people of Richmond and socially ostracized, she kept 40 cats as companions. When she died in 1900 nobody came to her funeral, and no stone was raised over her grave in Shockoe Cemetery. Later some people from Boston placed a stone there.
The city of Richmond acquired and demolished the Van Lew mansion, her former home, in 1911, during a period of increasing racial polarization. Bellevue Elementary School (which still remains) was erected on the site the following year. Historical plaques and a marker now memorialize her activities.
The Van Lew Mansion.
Elizabeth Van Lew
Sources:
General Lee’s City – An Illustrated Guide to the Historic Sites of Confederate Richmond, by Richard M. Lee, pages: 99-101
Respectfully,
William
She became an abolitionist while away attending school in Philadelphia, and on her father’s death in 1860, she freed the family slaves. Never hiding her Union sympathies, she carried special foods to Federal prisoners at Libby Prison, a custom which aroused much suspicion and hostility against her in the city, so much that the authorities kept her under constant surveillance.
During General McClellan’s 1862 campaign against Richmond, she and her mother prepared a “charming room” in her home for McClellan’s use after he took the city. The two called it the “McClellan room.” However McClellan failed to reach Richmond. On days of fasting decreed by President Davis, the two Van Lew ladies dined in abundant style.
Miss Van Lew opened secret correspondence with Union forces at Fortress Monroe, passing military information on Richmond via secret couriers. She was the leader throughout the war of the small, well organized Union underground in the city, a group of spies and sympathizers. She succeeded in placing at least one and probably more black servants as spies in the Confederate White House and is credited with responsibility for the arson attempt on the mansion in the winter of 1864.
She is believed to have assisted the escape of 109 Union officers from Libby Prison on February 9, 1864. She did visit a leader of the escape, Colonel Streight, at Howard’s Grove, all at a great danger to herself. In early April 1864, she organized the theft of the body of Colonel Dahlgren from Oakwood Cemetery; she then had it secretly reburied to await the end of the war.
On evacuation night escaped Union prisoners hid in secret passages in her home. She was considered so important to the Union that General Grant sent a member of his staff, Colonel Parke, to protect Miss Van Lew and her property when Federal forces entered Richmond. As President, General Grant showed his gratitude to Miss Van Lew by making her postmistress of Richmond. She served throughout his two terms.
By the 1880’s Miss Van Lew was old, ailing and poverty stricken. Never forgiven by the people of Richmond and socially ostracized, she kept 40 cats as companions. When she died in 1900 nobody came to her funeral, and no stone was raised over her grave in Shockoe Cemetery. Later some people from Boston placed a stone there.
The city of Richmond acquired and demolished the Van Lew mansion, her former home, in 1911, during a period of increasing racial polarization. Bellevue Elementary School (which still remains) was erected on the site the following year. Historical plaques and a marker now memorialize her activities.
The Van Lew Mansion.
Elizabeth Van Lew
Sources:
General Lee’s City – An Illustrated Guide to the Historic Sites of Confederate Richmond, by Richard M. Lee, pages: 99-101
Respectfully,
William