More spies-

On Friday I posted a blog on the just Rose Greenhow, as spy for the Confederacy who lived in Washington DC. 

Today’s post is about a spy who lived in Richmond VA, the capital of the South, and passed information along to the North.  Her name was Elizabeth Van Lew.

Crazy Bet as she was known, because of her strange way of dressing (like a modern day bag lady) and acted (she talked and sang to herself as she walked down the street), was very persuasive or maybe people just thought she was harmless and it was easier to give in than to argue with her.  She was able to get admittance to the prisons where officers were being held in the city on the pretext of taking them food and helping the sick.  She would go away with the secret compartment of her basket filled with papers and notes.  She sometimes took fruit that had been hollowed out and stuffed with messages for the prisoners. 

Her parents were prominent citizens of the city, and she had been educated in the North.  She learned more than her parents expected, coming away with a hate for slavery, and an interest in politics.  She didn’t want to see the country spit.  Try as she did she was never able to convince her father to free their slaves, but when he died, she did talk her mother into not only setting them free before the War, but sending one of the girls north to be educated.  When Mary returned South, the conflict was threatening and the South had established Richmond as their capital.  Elizabeth got Mary a job in the capitol, cleaning.  There weren’t many people less noticed than a cleaning woman, especially a black cleaning woman.

Elizabeth’s circle of spies were nearly all slaves, freed and still enslaved.  The gave her information and helped her pass that information to Generals Butler and Grant throughout the war.   The only sign that anyone suspected that she was involved was when POW’s would escape and her house would be searched.  No one was ever found–because they never found her hidden room on the top floor of the huge house her parents left her, where she hid those missing .

Miss Van Lew was never able to get the pention she so deserved from the Federal government but she had the respect of the families of the men she helped free in Richmond.  Her grave is adorned with a boulder from Boston, and a plaque giving her thanks for her work.  It was raised and paid for by those families.

And some spied

There were many men, women and children who “spied” for their causes.  Of course we’re talking about the women here, so I will just say that it was common for the everyday citizen to pass information on to the soldiers of his favorite army, but not all made it a vocation.

We will never know all the women who spied (and probably not the men either) because the smart ones didn’t leave any evidence of their endeavors.  But there were some who were so active and so visible that there are government document, as well as their own diaries, letters, and often cryptic notes left behind, thought many were destroyed. 

One of the most visible spy for the Southern cause was Rose Greenhow.  Her deceased husband had been a diplomat and was stationed in Washington.  Because Rose loved the social life of the city, she stayed and continued to entertain the politicians, and officers in the army.  When war broke out she took advantage of her popularity and gathered information, using other women to pass that information to the Southern generals.  They hid tightly rolled coded messages in hems of clothing, hidden pockets in their undergarments, and even in the piles of hair on their heads.  Women were seldom stopped, and never searched, they were virtually free to do as they like.  But Rose’s activities were know by those in command and she was watched, even spied on by some of those who attended her social events.  The soldiers raided her home at one point, only to find nothing.  She had been forewarned and had gotten rid of all her incriminating documents. 

The government was frustrated.  They needed to find her code key to prove that she did use one.  She was put under house arrest along with several of the women who helped her, but it didn’t stop her from sending out messages, much to the embarrassment of the government, she sent on to a Washington newspaper telling them about her incarceration.  They moved her to the Capital Prison with her young daughter, and she still defied the authorities by cutting a hole in the floor of her room and passing food and information to the officers in the “cells” below her.  Her key code was found in her corset when she died, still in prison.

Next post will be about a major female spy for the North.

Some fought

Yes, some women fought beside their men-folk, taking up the slack when they were wounded or overwhelmed.  One woman (that I’ve read about) died next to her husband.

But there were those who took it a step further.  They dressed the part, changed their names and joined the armies, both in the North and the South.  Many served for years without being found out, some only after confessing, as Jennie Hodges (served as Albert Cashier) who told all in 1913. 

Loreta Velazquez fought and was promoted to Lt. as Harry Buford.    

These are just a few of the brave women who for their own reasons choose the life of a soldier.  There are many other stories found in letters and diaries of those who knew and fought with them.  A “soldier” wounded and found to be a woman when treated; a women found out when she gave birth to a child; and the grave dug up in Shilo National Military Park in the mid 1900’s.  The bodies of nine soldiers were found, and one of them was a woman, shot in the chest and buried without ceremony.

First they were wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters–then nurses

Yes, the women of the Civil War era were related to the soldiers who left to fight, on either side of the war, and those who were able followed their men.  They continued to feed, clean and nurse their men folk.

There were women who carried food and water to the battle field for their men, some carried ammunition and some stopped and picked up an abandon weapon and used it.  Many stopped to nurse the wounded. 

These women of the Civil War weren’t the first to venture into the line of fire.  Known as “vivandieres” they often wore a “uniform” to disguise them for the fighting men on the line, they’ve existed in Europe and nearly every modern war.  Their uniform of course changes according to the style of the day, and country.  Though these ladies existed in the Civil War, this wasn’t the only part they played.

The North had a nursing organization.  It was still hard for the women who worked to take care of the men wounded and sick.  The government wasn’t very helpful in the way of supplies nor money for supplies, so the women who did the work had to use whatever means they could to obtain cooperation.  There is a story about a head nurse at a field camp who stole the camp commanders whiskey and wouldn’t return it until he provided what was needed.

The South didn’t have organized nursing units but they had local women volunteer to house and tend to the wounded. 

Everywhere there was a battle, schools, Churches, businesses as well as homes were used as hospitals. 

Clara Barton

Clothing, and linens were used as bandages, being prepared by these devoted women who also made quilts, and knitted socks for the soldiers.  The women (especially in the South) had to deal with food, and medicine shortages.  Trampled fields, and butchered stock told of shortages to come. 

But being providers, supporters, and nurses wasn’t the only fields where women were found.  More next time.

The Women of the South

What was different between the North and South?  We all know that the South was different in many ways, but are we really aware of those ways? 

In the North farms were family affairs; though there were some of these small farms in the South most farming was done on large plantations. and even the family farms had additional man power from slavery.  Of course, the plantations were the biggest slave owners.  And how did this effect the lives of their women?

There was no equally of the sexes in the South.  Women were “taken” care of, and told what their men-folk thought and therefore, what they should think.  Many of the journals, letters, and diaries that were left behind say as much.  A woman would express their own thoughts in writing and quickly disavow what they’d written saying that their husband, father, brother, etc. says differently and is of course, correct.

Many of the citizens in the South were “professionals” as well as plantation owners, working in political, law, or medical offices.  They hired the “little” people to take care of their needs; the blacksmiths, grocers, haberdasheries, and millinery shops were the working folk, and even they owned slaves to lessen their burden.  Their women only had to call, ask, or order to have things done for them.  To get a better view of the life lived by a political wife, read Mary B. Chestnut’s journal (its available at any of the on-line book stores) and the book written that covers the background surrounding her and that era. 

This easy way of life didn’t prepare the Souther Belle for the coming war and the loss of provisions that came with it.  Some weeped and wailed in the streets as their men marched to war, while other (no better off, but better fortified) scorned them openly.  These women would soon find out what it meant to run a store, or a plantation, to provide for a family and a stable of slaves.  The troubling letters to their soldiers were one of causes of desertion, another was seeing what it meant to be in real danger, but more on that later.

Women often followed the armies (both North and South) and did for their men as they could; cleaning, mending, washing clothes, cooking and tending to their illnesses and wounds.  But some went even further. 

In my mind the women in both the North, and South were the real soldiers of that war.  They were brave, maybe especially those who stayed at home and tried to find food, clothing and shelter for those they were suddenly responsible for, but they all fought with brave hearts.

The Women of the North

Although both the north and south were governed by the same central congressional body, they had very different views on what that meant.

In the north there was little conflict with the government, nothing more than the usual grumbling.  But the South did have what they saw as a problem.  Their Representatives and Senators argued for what they preceived as their right to own slaves, and trade with foreign powers, to make their own rules and govern themselves without the Federal law telling them what to do.

How does this effect the women?  To a great degree the north was organized.  The Sanitation Commission organized the women in the north to provide food, clothing, and odds and ends to the new army.  They set up long tables at train stops and feed the army on the move.  The North had a Christian organization that held services at the various army training camps, and passed out religious tracts, and Bibles.  These groups as well as the smaller gatherings of neighbors who knitted and sewed, tore and rolled bandages, and wrote letters to their men folk provided an outlet for the need to help for these women. 

One of their largest tasks was to carry on the business of trading, farming and providing for the family left behind.  The Northern women were better prepared to do this.  The liberation movement (not called that back then) had begun in the North with women taking on more equal tasks next to their husbands, and fathers.  This change was born out of necessity.  The work had to be shared by the entire family.  Many taboos for women were abolished along with slavery in the North.

When the war started there was a need for those who could, to care for the sick and wounded.  The North had an organized nursing community.  Though the women had to fight for funds and supplies, they at least had the government to fight with and to eventually comply. 

But nursing was just one of the areas where women from both sides added their influence.  More on those later.  And more on the differences between the Northern and Southern women’s problems.

And there’s the research–

The research never ends.  You can never learn everything, every aspect of the era. 

There are many facts, dates, and figures that are important to the Civil War student, including me.  But my research centers on the effect the war had on the ordinary citizen.  How they reacted.  What they lost, and what they did about the loses.  The women of the era especially were put under special strain.  But more about them later.

Much of my research comes from books.  I have stacks of books, but a lot comes from the Internet too.  In future posts I’ll give more details on some of the things I’ve learned. 

I’ve been asked on several occasions to do talks.  I’ve done a talk on Civil War Woman (how they coped, and how they served as spies, soldiers, nurses, etc), the Harrisburg city during the Civil War (especially mid 1863), and I’ve researched religion and the effects it had on the armies, but had to postpone that particular talk. 

Even when I’m writing a novel its important that certain aspects be researched in detail.  Many things I think are a “given”, but I find that they are not.  For instance, bicycles.   In the mid-1800’s they didn’t have peddles, nor chains, they were propelled by the rider pushing with both feet and “gliding” on the rough roads.  And that’s just one item.  Clothing; how they were made, where they were bought: medicine; how it was administered, where it was obtained and how: farming; how it was carried on with the men left: slavery and slaves: did they plan to revolt as was feared in the south.  Yes there are many questions.

Terms and words cannot be taken for granted.  I have a very thick book on the English language through the ages.  Which lists in very small print every word, term, and phrase I’ve checked, telling me when and how that term was used.  It’s been a great resource.

I hope that the research I do is reflected in my talks and writing.

What about the writing part?

I’ve been posting a lot about the Civil War Era, but not a lot on the writing part of the “Civil War Writer”.

Of course for the writer thing, you can check out the pages on my current novels, and I’ll be adding reviews, and other information as it become available.  Or you can check out the pages on my web site that tells you where and how to purchase these books as they become available… But enough of the sales pitch.

Writing about any era or even a place that you’re not familiar with first hand can be a challenge.  It involves a lot of research, and with the regression into the past, that research is very important and doesn’t stop with the history, but also has to encompass the present.  Why?  To make the connection believable to the people of today that read the book. 

For instance, a fiction writer is permitted to use literary license, and fabricate places, buildings, events, and of course people but (and this is a big but) these “fabrications” have to blend, and fit into the history, and actual location (unless the entire town is a fabrication).  Placing my novels in the Civil War era does place limits on me, limits that I welcome because when done correctly, it helps to bring the past alive.  The more accuracy in the historical facts, the realer the fiction becomes.

in future posts I’ll expond on some of the things that inspire the novels that I’ve written and am writing.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or comments.

Interrupting Things that go BOOM!

And not usually in the night.  Or so I’ve read.  The Civil War was fought in daylight.  I’m guessing that’s because they didn’t have night vision goggles.  Sound reasonable?

Many things about the battles and fighting were “reasonable” and dictated by common sense. 

They traveled by foot, camped in fields under tents, even in winter.  Though in winter both armies would establish shannie towns with makeshift cabins built into earth banks, or against huge rocks, they would have stoves and sleeping quarters.  During winter, the battle grounds were quiet while both armies tried to rest their men and prepare them for the spring fighting.

It gave the generals time to have ammunition; gun powder, musket balls, bullets, cannon balls, cannons, and rifles shipped to them.  Time to repair telegraph and railroad lines, bridges, and roads.  Time to stock up on food, to drill and to pray.

Yes, pray.  Both sides of the battling armies were staunch believers in the Almighty.  Not always the same Almighty, but it’s believed that upwards of 80% of both armies were baptized Christians.  There were camp meetings held in and around the camps (both Union and Confederate).  Bibles were passed out as well as tracts, at least in the North.  The southern population didn’t have the printing presses to handled the job so the soldiers would have reading groups, where one man would read from his or a borrowed Bible and the passages would be discussed.

Both side of the Civil War had chaplain’s, and both had officers, including top ranking generals, who were avid church goers.  There were battles interrupted by the Sabbath, this being agreed on by both sides.  And there were events of kindness that more than any sermon showed the effects of that religious background.

                                              Can you think of any?       

Gettyburg is never over.

I’m in the middle of writing a series of novels that begin mid 1863 and extend through several years.  The first book being at the time of this great battle.  But it’s not a story about that battle, but instead its a story about some of the people who lived in and near Harrisburg, PA at that time.  The things they saw, and did.  The things they may have felt.  How they survived and fought on.  Some of the things that we don’t think about that happen in our daily lives and in the lives around us.  The same tragedies and problems that we experience even today.

The series is called The Susquehanna Six (the same title as the first novel).  And at this point they are not published, but I’m having a great time writing them.  Its and exciting piece of work, and with two down and four to go a big job.