Part 9 (1/2)
But although she had many such escapes and her as so keen that it was a powerful weapon in any eency, yet as the conflict between the North and the South deepened the need of caution became more necessary than ever, for Confederate spies were everywhere In her half-destroyed diary which for many ain the writer emphasizes her fear of discovery She says:
”If you spoke in your parlor or chaes and beds Visitors apparently friendly were treacherous Unionists lived ever in a reign of terror I was afraid even to pass the prison; I have had occasion to stop near it when I dared not look up at the s I have turned to speak to a friend and found a detective ataround the columns and pillars of the back portico Once I went to Jefferson Davis himself to see if we could not obtain some protection His private Secretary told e Gibbs had succeeded Todd as keeper of the prisoners; so perilous had our situation become that we took hireat protection Such was our life--such was freedom in the Confederacy I speak what I know” The diary also tells of Mrs Van Lew's increasing dread of arrest, dear, delicate, loyal lady--for that was constantly spoken of, and reported on the street, while soed
Another summer ca to a close in the terrible winter of 1863-4 The Union arainst the Confederates, to be beaten back at Fredericksburg and at Chancellorsville In June and July of 1863 Lee began a second invasion of the North, but was defeated at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania In July, 1863, Vicksburg and Port Hudson were captured and the Mississippi River was in Union hands, but in the following autumn the Confederates of the West defeated the Union ara, after which General Grant took coa, and so with alternate hope and despair on both sides the hideous ent on
Through cipher despatches ”Crazy Bet” learned of an intended attempt of Federal officers to escape from Libby Prison, and at once a room in the Van Lew mansion was made ready to secrete them if they achieved their purpose The roo parlors, and dark blankets were hung over its s; beds were ht kept burning day and night in readiness for their possible arrival
Meanwhile the prisoners in the Libby, desperate because of the horrible conditions in the buildings where they were quartered, were busily constructing a tunnel which ran from the back part of the cellar called ”Rat-hell” to the prison yard The as carried on under the direction of Colonel Rose, and his frenzied assistants worked like deriht and life of the outer world At last the tunnel was ready With quivering excitereat adventure added to their exhaustion, the men ere to make their escape, one after another disappeared in the carefully guarded hole leading froreat sewer, and thence into the prison yard Of this little company of adventurous men eleven Colonels, seven Majors, thirty-two Captains, and fifty-nine Lieutenants escaped before the daring raid was discovered The news spread like wild-fire through the ranks of the prisoners ere still in the building and a those on duty Ie to re-capture the refugees and bring them back, and as a result, between fifty and sixty of theain imprisoned in the squalid cells of the Libby
Just at that time John Van Lew, Betty's brother, was conscripted into the Confederate arh unfit for military duty because of his delicate health, he was at once sent to Camp Lee As he was a keen sympathizer with his sister's Union interests, as soon as he was sent to the Confederate camp he deserted and fled to the home of a family who lived on the outskirts of the city, ere both Union sympathizers and friends of his sister's They hid hi for his escape froht of the escape of the Federal prisoners frouard was set over every exit fro escape impossible Here was a difficult situation!
Betty Van Le that some way out of the dilemma must be found; for the house where her brother was secreted would surely be searched for the escaped refugees, and it would go hard with those ere concealing hi a deserter
With quick wit she immediately presented herself at General Winder's office, where she used her diploeneral was entirely convinced of John Van Lew's unfit physical condition for military service, and promised to make every effort toward his exeeneral took hiiment, and ”the Union sympathizer never wore a Confederate uniforreat panic day he stood, a figurehead guard at the door of a government department At last, in 1864, when even General Winder could not longer protect hiain, and served with the Federal Army until after the fall of Richmond”
Meanwhile the old Van Lew house, in its capacity of Secret Service station, was a hive of industry, which was carried on with such smooth and silent secrecy that no one kneent on in its great rooitients of the Federal Government on secretat her post by day and by night After all members of her household were safely locked in their rooht, the Spy would creep down, barefooted, to the big library with its ornamented iron fireplace On either side of this fireplace were two coluure of a lion Possibly by accident--probably by design, one of these figures was loosened so that it could be raised like a box-lid, and in the darkness of the night the swift, silent figure of the Spy would steal into the big rooe in cipher into the cavity beneath the figure and cautiously creep aith never a creaking board to reveal her co
With equal caution and swift dexterity, early the next ro servant would steal into the roo Into every corner of the roo eyes, then he would slip over to the fireplace, lift the lion, draw out the cipher e, place it sometimes in hischores were done he would be seen plodding down the dusty road leading to the fars he carried Well had the Spy trained her ers!
The old er bodies than could be concealed under the recu roof, between the all of the garret and the tiles, was a long, narrow room, which was probably built at the order of Betty Van Lew, that she h the war gossip was rife concerning the Van Lews and their movements, and there were -place, but this could never be proved Besides those whoht had planned it, only one other person knew of the existence of that garret roohtened to tell what she had seen in an unexpected moment
[Illustration: MISS VAN LEW BRINGING FOOD TO THE UNION SOLDIER IN THE SECRET ROOM]
Betty Van Lew's niece was visiting in the old house during the blackest period of the struggle between the North and South She was a little girl, and her bu restlessly in bed on a hot night, she opened her door in order to get soh the other end of the dark hall, carrying so in her hand With equal stealth the curious child followed the creeping figure up through the dark, silent house into the garret--saw a hand reach behind an old chest of drawers standing against the wall in the garret, and with utter amaze saw a black hole in the wall yawn before her eyes There stood her aunt before the opening of the wall, shading with cautious hand the candle she carried, while facing her stood a gaunt, hollow-eyed, bearded reedy hand for the food on the plate The h the darkness back of the older woer on her lip, and ran away before he had a chance to realize that she was flesh and blood and not an apparition Panting, she ran swiftly down the long staircase and, with her heart beating fast fro herself on the bed and buried her head in the pillows, lying there for a long ti to breathe, for fear of being discovered, she stole out of bed again, opened her door, and once h the silent mansion, this time alone In a moment she stood outside the place where the hole in the wall had opened before her a her mouth close to the partition she called softly to the soldier, and presently a deep voice told her how to press the spring and open the secret door Then, a shi+vering but deter chashted at the sound of his own voice, and years afterward she remembered how he had looked as he said:
”My! what a spanking you would have got if your aunt had turned around!” She did not dare to stand there talking to hih to realize that there , and that if the secret roo unhappiness to her aunt So in a very few ure flitted silently, swiftly down-stairs again, and no one knew until years later of that ht excursion of hers--or of the secret roohly searched more than once
The winter of 1863-4 was one full of tense situations and of many alarms for both Confederates and Unionists In February, after the daring escape of the Federal officers fro and old to the defense of the city
The enemy made a movement to attack the city on the east side, but were driven back Again on the 29th of theto call men to service The city battalions responded, while General Wilcox ordered all h, and all who could bear ar a raid on Rich of taking Richmond, Gen Wade Ha three hundred and fifty prisoners, killing and wounding e number of horses”
Then came an event for which the Federal sympathizers, and especially those in the Union Secret Service, had prepared with all the caution and secrecy possible, trying to perfect every detail to such a degree that failure would be impossible To release all Federal prisoners in Richmond--this was but a part of the audacious scheme in which Betty Van Lew and a Union syuise, played an important part
On the 28th of February, 1864, Col Ulric Dahlgren left Stevensburg with a coi At Hanovertown he crossed with his men, all dressed in Confederate uniforet into Richmond by stealth Unfortunately their h the woods near the road at Old Church, in their disguise, a party of Confederates in ambush opened fire on theroes, and killed poor little crippled Dahlgren, a s officer, who ”rode with crutches strapped to his saddle, and with an artificial leg in the stirrup, as he had lost a limb a few months before His death was as patriotic as was his desperate atteer band rode into the ambush--there was a volley of shots fro colonel fell froed to escape, but ren's pocket was found an order to all of his men and officers To the officers he said:
”We will have a desperate fight, but stand up to it When it does come, all will be well We hope to release the prisoners fro seen them fairly well started, ill cross Jaes after us, and exhorting the released prisoners to destroy and burn the hateful city, and do not allow the rebel leader Davis and his traitorous crew to escape”
To his guides and runners he said:
”Be prepared with oaku that can be used by the rebels Shoot horses and cattle, destroy the railroads and the canal, burn the city, leave only the hospitals, and kill Jeff Davis and his Cabinet”
A dangerous plan indeed! Small wonder that when its details became known in their diabolical cruelty, the people of Rich of the prisoners; but this was not heeded by the officials, who had a saner judgren had lost his life in a daring atteed by Betty Van Lew and the so-called Quaker Bit by bit the reasons for its failure filtered through to the Spy, chief of which was the treachery of Dahlgren's guide, by which the forces of the raiders, after separating in two parts for the attack, lost each other and were never able to unite