Lincoln's Lady Spymaster: The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War

by Gerri Willis

Overview

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In this gripping Civil War history, Fox Business's Gerri Willis charts the making of a spymaster genius.

Wealthy Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew had it all. Money, charm, wit—the most elegant mansion in Richmond.

So why risk everything to become a Union spy?

The answer was simple: freedom. Right in the heart of the Confederate capital, Elizabeth played the society lady while building a secret espionage network of slaves, Unionists, and prisoners of war.

It would cost her almost everything. Flouting society’s expectations for women, Elizabeth infiltrated prisons and defied public opinion. Her story is filled with vivid personalities, including:

• Assassin John Wilkes Booth
• Washington socialite and Southern spy Rose Greenhow
• Prison escape artist Thomas Rose
• Cavalry hero Ulrich Dahlgren
• Black spy Mary Bowser who infiltrated the Confederate White House

From grave robbery to a bold voyage across enemy lines, Elizabeth’s escapades only grew more daring. But it paid off.

By the war’s end, she had agents in both the Confederate War Department and the Richmond White House, and her couriers provided General Ulysses S. Grant with crucial, daily intelligence for his final assault.

With extensive and fresh research, Gerri Willis uncovers the Southern abolitionist heroine that the Lost Cause buried—an unbelievable tale of one woman’s courage, resistance, and liberation. Heartfelt, thrilling, and inspiring, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster restores a forgotten hero to her rightful place as an American icon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063333666
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Gerri Willis is an award-winning journalist, television personality, podcast host, and author. Currently a correspondent and anchor for Fox Business, she was the host of two long-running shows for CNN, and an editor and reporter for SmartMoney, Crain's New York Business, and others. Her journalism earned the prestigious midcareer Knight-Bagehot Fellowship from the Columbia Journalism School. A breast cancer survivor, Gerri received the Susan G. Komen Image Award for her efforts in supporting cancer research. Gerri, her husband David Evans (a fellow Bagehot alumnus), and their poodle puppy, Rufus, divide their time among NY, MA, and SC.  

Editorial Reviews

Gerri Willis’ masterful Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster will have you glued to the incredible true story of Elizabeth Van Lew, the Southern belle turned Union spy. If you thought you knew the most interesting stories of the American Civil War, you didn’t—until now. — Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength

Antebellum hoop skirts and coming-out parties juxtaposed with the dark scenes—down the street, families inspected and sold by slave traders. Gerri Willis takes us deep inside the history of the Civil War through the eyes of Elizabeth Van Lew, genteel but fierce, whose life takes an irresistible and dangerous turn as ‘Lincoln’s lady spymaster.’ It is shocking that this story—as captivating as it is historically consequential—was under wraps in the archives for so long. Elizabeth is not unlike Gerri in her courage and tenacity, and she seems to have chosen Willis personally to tell us her story. — Martha MacCallum, New York Times bestselling author of Unknown Valor

Buckle up! Espionage, courage, and resilience are all woven into this true-life history of forgotten Civil War spy, Elizabeth Van Lew. Gerri Willis takes us on an emotional adventure as she recounts the details of this fascinating woman's life and career. Elizabeth risked it all to change the course of history, and every American should know her story.  — Alison Levine, New York Times bestselling author of On the Edge

Just when we thought the American Civil War had little new to offer, along comes Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis, a masterful study of Elizabeth Van Lew, a loyal Southerner who operated a highly successful Union intelligence network right under the nose of the Confederate government in Richmond. With a keen eye for historical detail, Willis spins a yarn with enough real-life colorful characters and cloak-and-dagger twists to make even Ian Fleming blush. — William B. Feis, author of Grant’s Secret Service

Willis draws on Van Lew’s published diary, a biography of Van Lew, and biographies of Civil War figures to create a brisk, well-populated chronicle of her subject’s perilous work. A fresh look at Civil War history. — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Tells Lew’s story with the panache of a novelist, making this work readable and accessible while still carefully researched and documented.”

Library Journal

Willis draws on Van Lew’s published diary, a biography of Van Lew, and biographies of Civil War figures to create a brisk, well-populated chronicle of her subject’s perilous work. A fresh look at Civil War history.”

Kirkus Reviews

2025-03-21
An unlikely spy.

Reporter and podcast host Willis recounts the life of the intrepid Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900), who mounted a successful spy ring from her home in the Confederate stronghold of Richmond, Virginia. Born into wealth and privilege in a family with Northern roots, she was a Union sympathizer, and though her family owned slaves, she opposed slavery. Raised to be a Southern belle, she was transformed by war “from a serious but directionless young woman into an iron-willed spymaster.” In the early days of the conflict, she and her mother risked threats to their lives to help imprisoned wounded Union soldiers. Those prisoners of war passed on to her information, overheard from their guards, about Rebel troop movements. Books she lent the men came back with secret notes and encoded messages that she relayed to Union commanders. Her efforts were augmented by a ring of like-minded civilians, including her own Black servants, German anti-slavery business owners, and other Union sympathizers whom she learned about when the Confederate government penned them together in prison. These secret activists worked to gather and pass on intelligence and to smuggle Union soldiers across enemy lines. While the soldiers waited to escape, she hid them on the third floor of her Richmond mansion. Van Lew proved a wily spy, even using a cipher to convert letters into numerical code—a cipher she kept for the rest of her life. When Ulysses S. Grant became president, he rewarded her invaluable aid by naming her to the remunerative position of Richmond’s postmaster. Willis draws on Van Lew’s published diary, a biography of Van Lew, and biographies of Civil War figures to create a brisk, well-populated chronicle of her subject’s perilous work.

A fresh look at Civil War history.

Kirkus Reviews