Research Paper On Maria Elizabeth Van Lew

Rose O’Neal Greenhow (confederate spy) Rose O’Neal Greenhow is friendly with the northern politicians like the Secretary of State and the Massachusetts Senator.

On July 1861, she sent reports about the Union’s plan to invade. Her information helped General P.G.T. Beauregard and the Confederate army to gain a victory in the First Battle of Bull Run. She was suspected by detective Allan Pinkerton and was soon arrested. Belle Boyd (confederate spy)

Maria Isabella “Belle” Boyd was born in the western part of Virginia in May 1844. People who support the Union filled her hometown, but her family believed in the Confederate cause.

Boyd started spying around 17 years old after shooting and killing a Union soldier for cursing at her and her mother.

Garfield and President Abraham Lincoln gave commendation to Pauline. She died of the overdose of drugs on December 2, 1893, in San Francisco. Elizabeth Van Lew (union spy)

Elizabeth Van Lew was born on October 25, 1818, in a slave-holding family in Richmond Virginia. She developed a strong attachment to antislavery in a Quaker school in Philadelphia.

Van Lew created an underground network with other Richmond Unionists hindering the Confederates. They gave comfort to captured Union soldiers and helped plan escapes. She gathered information on Confederate troop strengths and movement from Union prisoners and gave it to General Grant and Colonel George H Sharpe.

One of Van Lew’s best agent, Mary Bowser, was a slave. Van Lew placed Bowser in the household of Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Bowser pretended to be an unintelligent slave and had access to officials, documents, and secrets.

Her own society labeled her as a traitor and excluded her. Her work was included into the Military Intelligence Hall of fame. She died on September 25, 1900, in Richmond Virginia. Allan Pinkerton (union spy)

Allan Pinkerton was a Chicago detective hired to set up the first spying organization in

She ran away from her abusive father and disguised herself as Franklin Thompson.

The Second Michigan Infantry recruited Edmonds as a field nurse. She later volunteered to be a spy to become less exposed to her fellow soldiers.

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.

Edmonds was ordered to send mails to soldiers recovering in different hospitals in Washington and gather information on General Lee’s defenses and strategies.

Once, Edmonds was ordered to spy as a Confederate soldier. Another time, she was ordered to disguise as a southerner and uncover agents of the south. She disguised as Charles Mayberry once. She was highly respected, valued, depended by General Poe.

Less Known