Grant’s Richmond Spy or Union Espionage Queen

Grant’s Richmond Spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, was the Union’s Espionage Queen during the Civil War. Van Lew was an outspoken opponent of slavery, but did not consider herself an abolitionist. She believed the institution of human bondage was absolutely repugnant and could not tolerate it any longer. General Ulysses S. Grant would benefit profoundly from the intelligence that the scion of Richmond society would convey to him and Van Lew’s unswerving loyalty to the Union would always be remembered as one of the most outstanding acts of heroism and self-sacrifice during the internal conflict.

Elizabeth Van Lew, one of three children, was born in October of 1818, a native of Richmond, Virginia to a wealthy and respected Richmond hardware merchant and Elizabeth “Eliza” Baker, daughter of Philadelphia mayor Hilary Baker. Her father, John Van Lew, had moved to Richmond at 16 and when Elizabeth was born, had become one of the most prominent, respected and prestigious businessmen in the community.  The Van Lews lived lavishly in an elegant three-and-one-half story mansion atop Church Hill outside of Richmond. They also owned a farm opposite City Point where crops were grown in fields worked by a dozen slaves owned by the Van Lews.

Elizabeth was tutored at home early in her life, then as a teenager, she was sent to a Quaker school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she became convinced that slavery was wrong and should be abolished. When Elizabeth returned to Richmond, her views on slavery escalated to a point of embarrassment to her family. Elizabeth did not consider herself to be an abolitionist, a Van Lew diary entry relates, “I was never an abolitionist. Abolitionists are fanatics who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. I have always spoke out against slavery, for which I paid dearly in the loss of many friends. But I was never a fanatic.”

When Elizabeth was 25 years old, her father died and she began to act more on her own ideals, regarding that peculiar institution. She and her mother freed all of the family’s slaves; most of them stayed on as paid servants. When she heard that the slaves’ children or relatives were being sold by other owners, Elizabeth bought and freed them as well. She wrote in her diary, “Slave power crushes freedom of speech and of opinion. Slave power degrades labor. Slave power is arrogant, is jealous and intrusive, is cruel, is despotic, not only over the slave but over the community, the state.”

Before the Civil War, Elizabeth was considered eccentric by Richmond society, because of her outspoken abolitionist beliefs and practices. Van Lew was considered pretty in her youth, but by the time she was in her forties, her appearance had changed. She had a sharp nose, piercing blue eyes and a voice that could be piercing to the unfamiliar, however she had an ability to be charming and flirtatious if advantageous. Her unmarried state, at a time when all women were expected to marry, further embellished her reputation for eccentricity.

When the Civil War began, Elizabeth and her mother were asked to join the ladies of Richmond in making clothing for the Confederate soldiers. The two politely declined and found themselves the recipients of criticism and threats. After the Battle of First Bull Run, Elizabeth began hearing horror stories of the conditions the Federal prisoners were forced to endure at Libby Prison. She quickly approached Libby Prison Commandant Lieutenant Todd (Mary Lincoln’s half brother) and requested a nursing position within the prison. She was denied. She continued up the chain of command, increasing her “charm,” until her request was granted. From that point on, she visited the prison regularly and brought medicines, clothing, bedding and anything she could think of that would alleviate the prisoners’ suffering.

Elizabeth was vehemently criticized for her efforts. The Richmond Enquirer wrote, “Two ladies, a mother and a daughter, living  on Church Hill, have lately attracted public notice by their assiduous  attentions to the Yankee prisoners…. these two women have been expending their opulent means in aiding and giving comfort to the miscreants who have invaded our sacred soil.”

Threats of violence quickly followed, as Elizabeth’s diary reflects, “I have had brave men shake their  fingers in my face and say terrible things, we had threats of being  driven away, threats of fire, and threats of death.”

These threats only resulted in Van Lew being more determined than ever to help the Union. She passed  information to prisoners using a dish with a secret compartment and communicated with them through messages hidden in books. She bribed guards to  give prisoners extra food and clothing and to transfer them to hospitals where she could interview them.

In December 1863, two Union soldiers who had escaped from Libby Prison with the help of Van Lew’s underground network, told Union General Benjamin Butler about Van Lew.  Butler sent one of the men back to Richmond with orders to recruit Van Lew as a spy. Elizabeth agreed and soon became the head of Butler’s spy network. Van Lew wrote her dispatches in code and in a colorless liquid,  which turned black when combined with milk.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser, once a Van Lew slave, was one of the most unusually placed spies in the network. After Miss Van Lew convinced her mother to free all their slaves, she sent Mary Elizabeth to Philadelphia to be educated.  Then, through a series of contacts, Elizabeth secured a position for Mary as a maid in the home of  President Jefferson Davis. Mary’s photographic memory proved to be a powerful tool in securing important information for the Union. She cleaned Davis’ office, served dinners, overheard many important conversations and reported what she learned to Van Lew.

On January 30, 1864, Van Lew informed Butler that the Confederacy  was planning to ship inmates from Richmond to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Butler immediately reported the movement to Secretary of War Stanton, who ordered a raid, but the rebels had been warned and foiled the effort. On February 14, 1864, one hundred Union officers tunneled out of Libby Prison, over half gained their freedom. Van Lew was appalled at the condition of the prisoners incarcerated at Belle Isle Prison, as she wrote in her diary, “It surpassed in wretchedness  and squalid filth my most vivid imagination. The long lines of forsaken,  despairing, hopeless-looking beings, who, within this hollow square, looked upon  us, gaunt hunger staring from their sunken eyes.”

In 1864, General Grant set up his headquarters at City Point and communication with Van Lew in Richmond was an everyday occurrence. Elizabeth mentioned in her diary, “The war advanced and the army closed around Richmond, I was able to communicate with General Butler and General Grant, but not so well and persistently with General Butler, for there was too much danger in the system and persons. With General Grant, through his chief of Secret Service, General Georges H. Sharpe, I was more fortunate.”

As the war ground on her aid mission to Union prisoners evolved into a full-fledged intelligence gathering operation. From Union prisoners Van Lew gathered information on Confederate troop strength and movements, which she passed on via couriers to General Grant and his intelligence officer, Col. George H. Sharpe. Both officers later acknowledged both the quantity and quality of the information she provided to them. Van Lew also successfully operated a spy ring, which included clerks in the Confederate War and Navy Departments.

The day Richmond fell to the Union Army, a mob quickly gathered outside Van Lew’s home and threatened to burn it down. Grant ordered Major General Godfrey Weitzel to immediately place a guard around the Van Lew property, her fellow Richmonders couldn’t forgive her aiding and abetting Virginia’s sworn enemy.

Van Lew recorded in her diary, “A person cannot be called a spy, for serving their country within its recognized borders.  Am I now to be branded a spy by my own country for which I was willing to lay down my life…. God knows there is no vocation more ennobling, more honorable, and even the disgraceful word cannot stain my record.”

Elizabeth Van Lew needed to find employment in order to save what little remained  of the family fortune. General Sharpe secured a small amount of money for Van Lew’s sacrifice and assured that the house would remained in the family. In 1869 when Grant was elected President, he appointed Van Lew postmaster of Richmond for his two terms of office. Elizabeth then went on to Washington where she held a modest clerk position, until she finally resigned and went home to Richmond. Near the end of her life, the family of Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere of Boston, whom she had aided while in Libby Prison, raised money in order for Elizabeth to meet her expenses.

Elizabeth Van Lew died on September 25, 1900 and was buried in an unmarked grave at the family plot in Shockoe Cemetery. Finally, a roughly cut boulder was placed over the grave with a plaque that reads, “She risked everything that is dear to man—friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself, all for the one absorbing desire of her heart—that slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved.” The tombstone was a gift from Boston relatives of Colonel Paul Revere who was one of the many escaped prisoners she’d harbored in her home during the war. Under the epithet is engraved, “This boulder from the capitol Hill in Boston is a tribute from Massachusetts Friends.” For her work on behalf of the Union army Van Lew was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

Grant’s Richmond Spy, Elizabeth Van Lew, was the Union’s Espionage Queen during the Civil War and was definitely the most formidable female spy behind the Confederate lines.

Bummer