Mary Van Lew Research Papers

Mary was truly a stunningly smart, intelligent, and brave person. Her name was Mary Jane when she was born. It’s not known when she was born, but it was a bit of time before May 17, 1846. It is documented of her being baptized on that date at St. John’s Episcopal in Richmond, Virginia. Mary has been believed to have been born in the late 1830s or early 1840s. Mary was no ordinary child mind you. She got delivered into slavery at a very, very young age. She got sold to a caring and kind slave owner named Mrs. Eliza Van Lew. When Mary was still at a young age, Mrs. Van Lew found out that Mary had intelligence that was above-average. That isn't the amazing part about her though. She was special because she had an extremely excellent photographic

Eliza Van Lew was an ordinary slave owner, Mrs. Van Lew was also the mother of a very well known Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew. Elizabeth had two other siblings. She had a sister and a brother. Her sister’s name was Anna Van Lew. Her brother’s name was John Newton Van Lew. It was Elizabeth who freed Mary and the rest of the Van Lew slaves after the death of her father, John Van Lew. She also equipped the slaves with a substantial education where Mary learned how to read and write. When all the other slaves got sent to go to the local school, Elizabeth Van Lew took interest in Mary and decided to take her to a Quaker school in Philadelphia, where she got a full education. When Mary finished her extensive education, she set off to be a

Under this simple and overlooked disguise, Mary was able to see the secret information intended only for the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The people in the Confederate felt that there was no need to guard their conversations in boundaries of the residence. Since they thought that she was illiterate, there was absolutely no effort to keep Mary from seeing the secret documents. Thanks to this illusion, Mary was able to collect confidential information at all times. Whether she was dusting the offices or clearing away dishes during a meeting, Mary Bowser was always on the lookout for information to help the Union.
A local bakery man, Thomas McNiven, contributed to supply the Confederate White House with baked goods and pastries. He served as a part of Elizabeth Van Lew's spy network. They were able to exchange valuable information from Mary when he delivered to the White House each evening. Like most Union spies during the war, all records of Mary's work were eradicated by the War Department to protect her from being uncovered. Because of this, very little accurate information has been revealed about