| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Elizabeth R. Varon. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. Pp. xi, 317. $30.00.
The topic of female espionage captivated attention during and after the Civil War, giving rise to contemporary stories as well as historical accounts. Typically those female spies who have received the most attention have shared an element of theatricality, whether Pauline Cushman, who acted on stage, or Belle Boyd and Rose O'Neal Greenhow, who tended toward self-dramatization. In some ways the view of Elizabeth Van Lew, a prominent Richmond native who provided information to the Union army, has been a variant: for years the popular depiction of Van Lew cast her as a woman who affected an eccentric, slightly daft demeanor as "Crazy Bet" to cover her tracks as a spy. In this rendition, Van Lew outfoxed Richmonders through her performances.	1
In a fast-paced, lively account based on extensive research, Elizabeth R. Varon challenges this popular image of Van Lew. In its place she substitutes a nuanced biography of a southern lady whose heart lay with the Union and a war against slavery. In Varon's account, Van Lew was less the daring spy, so beloved of popular fiction, and more the careful leader of a ring of northern sympathizers who aided the Union in various ways.	2
Varon introduces Van Lew's Civil War activities with a detailed discussion of the latter's background and upbringing. Her father, John Van Lew, while hailing from Long Island, New York, was a successful hardware merchant in Richmond. Her mother, Eliza Baker Van Lew, was the daughter of a Philadelphia mayor who was a prominent supporter of antislavery there. Despite northern origins, the Van Lews blended well into Richmond society and owned slaves as well as a luxurious mansion in the elite Church Hill neighborhood.	. . .

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