Elizabeth Van Lew

5 3/31/15 Civil War Research Paper: Elizabeth Van Lew “‘You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war.’” ("Elizabeth Van Lew." American Civil War Stories, para. 1), Union General Ulysses S. Grant wrote to Elizabeth Van Lew after the Civil War, congratulating her on her work as a spy. Born in October 1818, in Richmond, Virginia to John and Eliza Van Lew, Elizabeth Van Lew was one of three children ("Elizabeth Van Lew." American Civil War Stories, para. 5)

Elizabeth Van Lew was born on October 15/17, 1818, in Richmond. She's the daughter of John Van Lew and Elizabeth (some called her Eliza) Louise Baker, in addition, the sister of Anna and John (her sister and brother). Her ancestors weren't from Virginia, her father came from Long Island/Jamaica, New York, where he lived with his Dutch family. There, he worked as an apprentice for a New York City merchant. In 1816, he moved to Richmond, where he started business with Dr. John Adams. The business

Elizabeth Van Lew: An Unlikely Union Spy A member of the Richmond elite, one woman defied convention and the Confederacy and fed secrets to the Union during the Civil War image: https://thumbs-media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/Elizabeth-Van-Lew-Civil-War-spy-631.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg Elizabeth Van Lew One of the most effective Union spies was Elizabeth Van Lew. Over a course of four years she quietly sent valuable intelligence to Union officers and even ran her own network of spies. (The Granger

In the North attempts were made to organize nurses and in June 1861 Dorothea Dix was put in charge of recruiting nurses for military hospitals, first in Washington and later other areas. Dix, like the rest of society, had some very strong ideas about what a nurse should and shouldn’t be and in a document dated July 14, 1862 she specified those ideas. No candidate for service in the Women’s Department for nursing in the military hospitals of the United States, will be received below the age of thirty-five

Mary Decker Mary Thereza Decker-Slaney was born on August 4th, 1958 in Flemington, New Jersey. When she was just 14 years old, she was known as “Little Mary Decker” for winning the 800m at a US-Soviet meet(The). At 15 years old she broke indoor records in the 1000 and 800 meter. After a few years off due to injuries, Decker came back in 1979 and won a gold medal at the Pan-American Games in the 1,500. Mary Decker has been one of the greatest American female middle distance and distance runner.

“Mary Elizabeth Bowser” Mary Elizabeth Bowser was born the year of 1839 in Richmond, Virginia. Mary was born to slave owner John Van Lew who was a well-off hardware merchant. Mary and fellow slaves were freed by Elizabeth and her mother after the death of their master John Van Lew who died the year of 1843. Despite the fact that she was considered a free slave, she chose to stay an work for the Van Lew family as a free paid servant. She was sent to an African American Quaker school in Philadelphia

Case of the Civil War Spy: Mary Elizabeth Bowser During the Civil War, the Union and the Confederacy developed spies networks to help each side gain victory. Many of these spies were women and African Americans. An African American woman, Mary Elizabeth Bowser is one of the most celebrated spy with the least amount of historical data. Although Bowser isn’t recognized as much as other Civil War spies, she has been celebrated by journalists, historians and the Central Intelligence Agency. Bowser

done it for selfishness. The Liar, Temptress, Solider, and Spy by Karen Abbott, depict all sides of people during the civil war. Specifically focused on four women named Belle Boyd, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, who both worked for the Confederacy, and Elizabeth Van Lew and Emma Edmondson, who sided with the Union. During the Civil War, it was a time where people started to have a voice, people started to choose their own sides of the war. Although people rebelled

of women nurses who aided the Union to succeed in critical battles of the American Civil War. Women were often underestimated which made them perfect to act as spies and gather information that benefited the Union. One of the best was spy Elizabeth Van Lew, an important figure in Richmond, Virginia. She was brought up in the North and could not support slavery. She didn 't reveal her true

abundance of radical periodicals and writings intended for a female audience emerged at the beginning of the war (Endres 32). With ample encouragement women found it within their interests to take an active role in the fight. Some, including Elizabeth Van Lew, simply desired for the feuding between the regions to end and found espionage to be their contribution (Kane 235). In “Companions of Crisis: The Spy Memoir as a Social Document”, Curtis Carroll Davis depicts the female scouts perceiving their