ipl-logo

Elizabeth Van Lew's Southern Lady, Yankee Spy

870 Words4 Pages

Southern Lady, Yankee Spy is a riveting historical account of a Richmond-born aristocratic matriarch, Elizabeth Van Lew, who risked it all for her beloved country. Elizabeth R. Veron writes with the confidence of a true maestro, the fruits of a labor which undoubtedly included countless hours devoted to compiling the treasure trove of historical accuracy this novel rightfully boasts. Veron accounts with painstaking detail how Van Lew transformed then contemporary stereotypes of women into an Achilles Heel for the Confederacy through her crucial contributions as a Union spy. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy has a title which thoroughly resonates throughout the book, aptly surmising how Van Lew led a double life throughout the course of the war. …show more content…

During a time period where men went off to fight war and women remained behind to see to the house, several women challenged this notion, and arguably none had the impact which rivaled Van Lew’s. As aforementioned, in order to be a spy in the Confederate capital, it was necessary that Van Lew live two separate, but concurrent lives. She did all the things that were expected of Antebellum women; publically she displayed unrivaled compassion towards the Confederate casualties. The story could not be more different privately. Van Lew supplied financial assistances to hunted fugitives, including the one hundred and nine soldiers that escaped from Libby Prison during the chilled winter of 1864. Taking her espionage a step further, she even opened her home to both escaped Union soldiers and Confederate deserters. Her wartime contributions did not stop at aiding and abetting, however. She plotted as spymaster for Richmond’s extensive ring of sympathizers and loyalists. Her most important contribution was her reports of Confederate forces to Union commanders, which were extensively used during the 1864 Overland Campaign. Following the Burning of RIchmond, and Lee’s Surrender to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Van Lee continued to destroy gender barriers of the time frame. She was a pioneer while fighting for the education of blacks immediately following the war, during a time in which most women themselves were not allowed an education. Though she was shunned by most of white Richmond following the war, President Grant appointed her Postmaster of Richmond, a predominantly male post, in 1869. She would serve in that capacity until

Show More
Related
979 Words | 4 Pages

During her first mission, she disguised herself as a freed slave by darkening her skin and wearing a wig and torn clothing. Her mission was to go behind the Confederate lines and learn about their fortifications, equipment, numbers, and intentions although it turned out to be a waste. On her second mission, she disguised herself as an old Irish peddler woman. She went behind the Confederate lines and gathered information that guided the Union Troops in the Battle of Fair Oaks.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

She passed along the information that she received to General Stuart. Ford was such a great confederate spy, she got recognized for her work by General Stuart. He made her his aide-de-camp.

Read More
1206 Words | 5 Pages

She eavesdropped on Union meetings and relayed the information back to the Confederate army, so that they were prepared. She once rode 15 miles to inform the general that the Union troops were marching towards them. But mostly, she acted smitten with the enemy soldiers. She gathered information while staying in their camps, which she yet again

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

Rose was a social butterfly which benefited her in her job as a spy. One of her closest companions had been John C.Calhoun. She was also the Confederacy’s most celebrated spy during the started of the Civil War. During her times as a spy she stayed in Richmond collecting diplomatic, and wrote her memoirs until recalled in 1864. Rose managed to established a spy network throughout Washington, Rose usually picks up information from the union plans.

Read More
206 Words | 1 Pages

Maria Isabella Boyd, also know as Belle Boyd, was a female spy for the confederate states. She was the most well know spies for the confederacy. Her father, Benjamin Reed Boyd, was a shopkeeper before the war, and a soldier in the Stonewall Brigade, during the war. It is said that from the start that Belle was a strong-willed, high spirited, and clever women. One time belle rode her horse into a family party after being told that she was to young to attend.

Read More
202 Words | 1 Pages

She could send crucial information that led to win of the last battle war. Conclusively, Van Lew has risked everything to preserve the Union and Abolish slavery. She was one of the most heroic Union spies. She spent all

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

She was an important figure to African American society and the general public, because she encouraged other African American women to work in the science, mathematics and technology field.

Read More
363 Words | 2 Pages

In 1817, a woman called “Wild Rose” or “Rebel Rose” was born in Maryland. When you think of a spy you probably think of a man. During the 1800’s, men were seen as the only gender to have the capability to be bold and manipulative enough to gain such secretive information. Rose had all of those endowed on her except that she was not a man but a woman. She earned the role of one of the most acclaimed spies in the history of the Civil War for her work.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

Margaret, commonly known as Peggy, Eaton was not the average women in the mid-1800s. Her flirtatious and outgoing character was against all norms in this era. If it had not been for Rachel Jackson’s own tainted reputation, President Andrew Jackson might not have been so supportive of his Secretary of War’s wife, Peggy Eaton. Due to alleged rumors and an inconvenient death, Peggy would become known as “the woman who started the war”. Margaret Eaton, a musician and dancer, had been raised in a boarding house that was frequently visited by Washington politicians.

Read More
236 Words | 1 Pages

“Robert E. Lee (1807-70) served as a military officer in the U.S. Army, a West Point commandant and the amazing general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War 1861-1865. In June 1861, Lee gained command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would lead for the rest of the war. Lee and his army achieved great success during the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863 Lee invaded the North only to be defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat a near blowout, Lee continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of battles in Virginia in 1864-1865 before he finally surrendered

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

She devoted four decades of her life to women’s causes, even though she had little education, a disabled husband for most of that time, six children, and worked, with jobs including being an author and a schoolteacher. She fought for the right for women to vote, which she believed would improve all women’s lives. She viewed the way women were treated as, more or less, slaves. Which at the time, would have been quite close to what women really were, they slaved over kitchens and homes all day, only to do the same thing the next day. Abigail is remembered as one of the nation’s leading suffragettes, even though he only worked primarily in the West.

Read More
379 Words | 2 Pages

Prior to reading Elizabeth Keckley’s Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, I anticipated I would be reading about a woman in slavery with an unhappy past. I did not expect her story to end in a positive way. My expectations were to read of a woman bound in slavery that wrote memoirs of her saddened life and that life would continue until the day she died. I expected her to leave the home of a master and possibly become a maid or cook in the White House. I did not envision her becoming as successful as she did, her story far exceeded my expectations.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

The purpose of the speech was to pressure Congress into passing a legislation that would give women the right to vote in the United States of America. She delivered the address in November 1917, in Washington, DC with the

Read More
1762 Words | 8 Pages

During the Civil War, women spies were very successful at their jobs for a great deal of reasons. They were perfect for the role of spy because women were easily trusted and viewed as non-threatening by soldiers who, would often let their guard down around them. Men didn’t expect women would get involved in such a dangerous job, so women spies often went undetected during the early part of the Civil War. Women often gathered information about the enemy’s plans, troop size, fortifications and supplies on scraps of paper or fabric and then sewed them into their blouses or rolled them into their hair. If they were to smuggle goods such as morphine, ammunition or weapons, they often attached them to the frame of their hoop skirts or hid them in baskets and inside dolls.

Read More
606 Words | 3 Pages

Justin Lau (Wingkit) Professor Rogers History 100AC 29 September 2015 Response Paper: “The Women Is as Bad as the Men- Women 's Participation in the Inner Civil War.” , “General Benjamin Butler and the threat of Sexual Violence during the American Civil War”, “General Butler and the Women” and “The Other Side of the Freedom” A lot of North Carolina women showed uncooperative actions on the disorderliness by participating the protest in order to maintain their communities and social orders. These women would prefer to join the conflict that separated state and community rather than being its victims. Thus, their loyalties to husbands and sons, and strong determination of protecting their own property prompted them to disregard the female’s conventional behaviors.

Read More

More about Elizabeth Van Lew's Southern Lady, Yankee Spy

Related Topics

Open Document