Rose O’Neale Greenhow was an ambitious Washington hostess and Southern sympathizer who used a secret code to supply military secrets to Confederate generals before the disastrous Union defeat at Bull Run, Va. In “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy”, Karen Abbott captures the spy-novel quality of Van Lew’s life, along with the undercover lives of three other famous Civil War-era women. Not only did she hide Northern soldiers in a secret room on the top floor of her mansion but she also passed messages to Union prisoners by using a hidden compartment in a chafing dish, employed a special cipher to send messages to agents in Washington, D.C., about Confederate troop movements and wore disguises to accomplish her espionage work. A wealthy society woman living in Richmond, Va., during the Civil War, Van Lew engaged in extensive undercover work for the Union - right under the noses of the Confederacy. The story of Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Lew almost defies belief.
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