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"You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war."-Ulysses S. Grant

A monument was placed on her grave by admirers from Boston and the inscription 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.

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During the first two years of war, Van Lew aided union officers in the nearby Libby Prison, helping them to survive and to escape by telling the officers that she was doing acts of charity in keeping with the female imperative of benevolence. Once, when a number of prisoners escaped from Libby Prison through a tunnel, she hid some of them in .her house until they could safely get away. And this while she had invited the new commander of Libby Prison to stay in her home until he and his family found a place. The painting in the background is of the Libby Prison

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Elizabeth Van Lew lived in Richmond, Virginia and was born October 15, 1818. She accomplished a lot in her life as a civil war spy and did anything it would take to help the union. When Elizabeth came back to Richmond, Virginia from a school in Philadelphia she became an abolitionist. This is what Elizabeth had wrote in her diary, "Slave power is arrogant, is jealous and intrusive, is cruel is despotic." Around 1850 after Elizabeth's father passed away, she convinced her mother to free the family's slaves, many of them chose to stay with her. The civil war shaped Elizabeth Van Lew so much that she was hated by everybody because she was part of the union. Richmond was a confederate city so this is how Elizabeth's whole life was shaped "No one will walk with us on the street," she wrote, "no one will go with us anywhere; and it grows worse and worse as the years roll on."

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Anderson, Ella. "Elizabeth Van Lew's American Civil War Activities." HistoryNet. N.p., 04 Aug. 2016. Web. 14 May 2018.

"Dictionary of Virginia Biography - Biography." Creating Traditional Culture. N.p., 2018. Web. 14 May 2018.

"Elizabeth Van Lew." Our Family Tree, Consisting, At, Present, of 166 Generations. N.p., n.d. Web.

Institute, Author Civil War. ""Give Them Liberty or Give Me Death": The Unionist Espionage of Elizabeth Van Lew: An Interview with Elizabeth Varon." The Gettysburg Compiler. N.p., 09 Feb. 2018. Web. 14 May 2018.

"KnowledgeExchange@Southern | Southern Adventist Univeristy Research." "The Impact of Media Exposure" by Salenna Russello. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2018.

Weaver, Mark. "Elizabeth Van Lew." American Civil War Stories. N.p., n.d. Web.

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The image below is a cipher key that Elizabeth Van Lew had made for sending secret messages to the union soldiers in the Libby Prison. After Van lew's death, it was found folded at the back of her watch. Elizabeth had found many clever ways to hide messages when sending them to certain people. For example, she sent a secret message in an egg which was mixed in a basket full of eggs so her (free) household servants could deliver it without getting caught. Van Lew also used code names and invisible ink when delivering messages, which her (free) servants would carry in their shoes and clothing.

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In 1863, a number of prisoners escaped from Libby Prison through a tunnel, Elizabeth hid two of them in the attic of her house until they could safely get away. Believe it or not, while she was hiding them she invited the new commander of the Libby Prison to stay in her home until he and his family found a place.