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Primary Sources

     Elizabeth Van Lew kept a diary. Her thoughts and quotes are included in it. Throughout her diary her beliefs for freedom for all were experressed various time. Her diary gives an insight into the thoughts going on in her mind. Both her fears and perserverence to go on are captured in this personal journal she kept. The picture to the left is her actual diary. However, the one that is sold in stores today is edited. 

     Elizabeth Van Lew died on September 25, 1900. She died in her family mansion was quickly buried in a family plot. It was not until 3 years later that her grave recieved a headstone. Colonel Paul Revere had been one of the Union prisoners she had helped escape. Paul Revere's relatives gifted the grave a headstone. 

 

The inscription says: 

 

“She risked everything that is dear to man—friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself, all for the one absorbing desire of her heart—that slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved."

     In Benjamin F. Butler's autobiography, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscence of Major-General Benj F. Butler, Benjamin mentions Elizabeth Van Lew in the following text: 

 

     "We arrived in New Orleans about five o'clock in the evening. As soon as my boat had come to anchor one of my confidential scouts came off to it. He had been at Richmond some weeks, and he brought me a letter from my correspondent there, Miss Van Lew. It stated that all the troops had gone from Richmond to Lee's army, relying upon that city being garrisoned by troops which had shortly before been sent down to North Carolina from there, and were expected back. But they had not yet returned. The Southern troops were expected very soon, so that the attack must be made at once." (Butler 640). 

     This the cipher ccde Elizabeth Van Lew created. This was found on the back of her watch. When sending messages to the Union and her fellow spymates, she used this cipher code. She sent her notes in eggs, baskets, clothes, shoes, and more to stay undetected. 

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