LYNN RUEHLMANN
Spy! The Story of Civil War Spy Elizabeth Van Lew (CD)
e-mail: ruehlmann@erols.com
http://www.cascadingstories.com

Spy! The Story of Civil War Spy Elizabeth Van Lew (CD)
Elizabeth Van Lew was a remarkable, daring woman. She lived in Richmond, Virginia,
for most of her life. Although her father was a wealthy businessman who owned slaves,
Elizabeth was passionately against the practice. Before the war broke out, she and her
mother freed all the family slaves, and during the war her dedication to the cause of
abolishing slavery led her to begin spying for the Union. General Ulysses S. Grant
himself credited her with sending him extremely valuable information during the war.

This is the story of how Elizabeth Van Lew became a spy. It is the story of how she
smuggled messages into Libby Prison in a pot of food; how she saved her favorite horse,
Chieftain, f rom soldiers, and how she hid escaped prisoners in her home and sent them
to safety through her own underground railroad. Here also is the story of how she earned
the nickname "Crazy Bet" when she began affecting dementia in order to avoid suspicion.

Much of the material in this story comes from the diary that Elizabeth kept all during the
war and which she buried in her backyard when she feared it would be discovered.

She is buried in a family plot in Shoehoe Hill Cemetery with a plaque reading:
Elizabeth Van Lew
1818-1900
She risked everything that is dear to man—friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself, all for
one absorbing desire of her heart—that slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved.

Written and Performed by Storyteller Lynn Ruehlmann
Order or contact: Lynn Ruehlmann, (757) 625-6742 or e-mail at ruehlmann@erols.com
http://www.cascadingstories.com