"Adam was first, then came Eve,
R-S or was it T-U-V?
Sing at night; sing in the morning Dance all day, but noon is best
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday pie,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday cry.
Check the clock!
Not much time!"
If you had been living in Richmond, Virginia in 1862, you might have seen a short, raggad, middle-aged woman in a scandelous array of strange clothing skipping down the street singing a seemingly pointless little ditty like the one above. "There goes Crazy Bet!" People would whisper as she skipped by gaily swinging a basket of books or such. Yes, that crazy Elizabeth Van Lew, bringing books, of all things, to the Union soldiers at Libby prison.
But little did the people of Richmond know what Miss Van Lew was about those days.
Elizabeth Van Lew was a spy.
You see, making people believe she was mental was what she wanted to do. A forty-five year old woman in a raggad calico dress and an extravagant, pompous flowered hat singing rhymes was not a likely victim for suspicion. People mostly tried to ignore her or avoid her. Meanwhile, Van Lew was developing her own, carefully guarded code and sending important information to Union generals throgh trusted individuals. Ordinary people such as store clerks, shoemakers, and servants formed her secret network. False bottom trays, hollwed-out soles of shoes, and books hid her secrets. And the strange litle dittys she could be heard singing in the streets held messages as well. In the case of the one above:
"First comes Adam then comes Eve,
R-S or was it T-U-V?"
Adam Eve-r-s. Adam Evers. Whoever this message was picked up by was to meet a man named Adam Evers in the pie shop or bakery on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
"Dance all day, but noon is best
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday pie"
How clever is that? And she was in the right spot to spy on the Confederates. Yep. The capitol of the Confederate States of America.
Many people in Richmond regarded Van Lew a traitor to the Southern Cause. She lived a very lonely life and died nearly penniless in 1900. Relatives of some of the former Libby prisoners shehad helped, including descendants of Paul Revere, raised money for her headstone. On it were inscribed these words:
She risked nearly everything that was dear to man -
Friends, fortune, comfort, health, life iteself -
All for one absorbing desire of her heart -
That slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved.
5 comments:
Yah, I remember reading about her once, she was cool. In our first version of the movie, weren't you suppose to be her? Because, she's old and ugly, you aren't!
Yeah, I remember that. But how dare you say she's old and ugly! Elizabeth Van Lew rocks!
That's a cool story. Gosh, I think I'd probably be too self-consious to act like I was mental...
i am with Elisabeth on that one! i had read about her but the book didnt tell me so much. just to let you know i really enjoy having friends that are up on there history... it makes me feel smart!
You're smart, Vivian.
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