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Miss Lizzie's War

The Double Life of Southern Belle Spy Elizabeth Van Lew

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

As the Civil War ground on, an underground Unionist movement flourished in the heart of the

Confederacy, led by an unlikely leader. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy and well connected member of Richmond's elite, risked everything to help save the Union, skillfully directing this clandestine group and becoming General Ulysses S. Grant's spy in Richmond. Surrounded by a cadre of "slaves" secretly freed and working with her at the risk of their lives—and hers—Lizzie becomes a pivotal character in the narrative that reveals the complexity and horror of war and the possibility of ultimate redemption.

Based on an incredible true story, Lizzie's War revolves around a number of elements: the intrigue involved in Elizabeth's double life, her scheme to plant a former slave as her spy in the Jefferson Davis home, her secret romance with a Union prisoner, the dangerous work and conspiracies entailed in running a spy network for the Federal Government in the Confederate capital, terrifying flights to freedom engineered by Elizabeth for escaped prisoners and slaves, and ongoing Confederate surveillance, investigations and arrests of Unionists.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 5, 2012
      In 1843, Elizabeth Van Lew, a prominent society woman in Richmond, Va., freed her family’s nine slaves and used her inheritance to also buy and free their relatives. When the Civil War began, she visited Union soldiers at the Richmond prison, bringing them food and supplies, and helping some escape. In the Confederacy, she led an underground Unionist movement, serving as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s spy and placing freed slave Mary Bowser as a spy in the home of Jefferson Davis. Agonito, author of the historical novel Buffalo Calf Road Woman: The Story of a Warrior at Little Big Horn, questionably blends fact and fiction about Van Lew (whose story has been told in a previous book and TV movie ), noting, “as a novelist I have, of course, taken liberties and imagined scenes to enhance dramatic effect.” In order to connect Van Lew with the battlefront, the author introduces the fictitious Maj. Allen Lee Rockwell, who serves as a romantic interest before he returns to battle. She also admits to introducing a group of fictional slaves who escape to Van Lew’s care, all raising the question of whether this account of a woman of rare courage should be considered a historical account at all. Map. Agent: Winifred Golden, Castiglia Agency.

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Languages

  • English

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