Elizabeth Van Lew
-----------------
Union spy in Richmond (a.k.a. "Crazy Bet").
1818-1900
Elizabeth Van Lew, a member of one of Richmond's best and Virginia's
oldest families, was 42 years old when the Civil War broke out. The
little sharp-nosed bright-eyed woman was already considered strange
by Richmond society. Having returned home from her Philadelphia
education an outspoken abolitionist, she had persuaded her widowed
mother to free the family slaves. After the war began, Van Lew used
her reputation for odd behavior as a cover, enabling her to become
the most effective Union spy in Richmond.
Taking food, clothes, and medicine to the Union prisoners held in
Libby Prison, Van Lew received from new inmates valuable information
on Confederate troop movements that she forwarded regularly to
Washington. Her humanitarian service to Yankee prisoners angered
Richmond society, and Van Lew suffered what she described as "the
threats, the scowls, the frowns of an infuriated community." Van Lew
adopted more eccentric behavior, mumbling to herself as she walked
down the street, wearing shabby clothes, and sporting matted hair.
She was soon dismissed as "Crazy Bet" and was left alone to continue
her spying.
As the war wore on, Van Lew enlisted her mother and family servants
into the spy ring. She befriended the prison's commandant, even
boarding him at her home for a time. Her most spectacular success,
however, was in placing a spy in the Confederate White House. Van Lew
had paid for the Northern education of one of her freed slaves, Mary
Elizabeth Bowser, and managed to find employment for her on President
Jefferson Davis's household staff. There Bowser was privy to mealtime
conversations, and coded information was sent out by household
servants on a regular basis.
When Richmond finally fell, one of Grant's first actions was to visit
Van Lew and have tea with her on her columned porch. He wrote to
her: "You have sent me the most useful information received from
Richmond during the war."
Ostracized by society, Van Lew continued to live in her Richmond
family mansion for the rest of her life. She had spent most of her
wealth working for the Union and died in abject poverty in 1900.
