Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster: The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War
Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster uncovers the exploits of Elizabeth Van Lew, an ardent Unionist and abolitionist, living in the cradle of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. While history is peppered with the exploits of female spies during the Civil War, the name Elizabeth Van Lew is rarely mentioned, which may be due to her success, or more importantly, her discretion.
Elizabeth Van Lew was an unlikely Unionist. Born in Richmond, Virginia to the wealthy Van Lew family, she was raised in a household staffed with enslaved workers. The family owned some twenty enslaved people by the time her father died in 1843. Following his death, Elizabeth became a wealthy woman, and while she could not free the family’s enslaved workers, she often paid them or allowed them to live as free.
The advent of the Civil War spurred Elizabeth to further action. She quietly rendered aid to Union prisoners of war, using her wealth and status as a polite, upstanding member of Richmond’s social elite to disarm Confederate officials. Eventually, Elizabeth formed a network of informants, orchestrating the escape of Union soldiers from Richmond’s notorious Libby Prison, and gathering crucial military secrets for the Union war effort.
Gerri Willis’ biography of Elizabeth Van Lew is an overdue acknowledgement of her pivotal role as a Union spymaster. Unfortunately, Willis’ accounting of Van Lew’s life is unorganized. Very little is written on Elizabeth’s family and upbringing; instead, pages of narrative are devoted to subjects only loosely related to Elizabeth’s story. These tangents seem to be a misguided effort to provide context for the period or, perhaps, fill in significant gaps regarding Elizabeth’s life and work. Nonetheless, as the latest biography on Elizabeth Van Lew, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster is a solid attempt to recognize a fearless woman determined to right the wrongs of the country.
