Album Notes

This CD won two national awards:
Storytelling World's Honor Award
Parents' Choice Recommended Award

About Elizabeth Van Lew:

Elizabeth Van Lew was a remarkable, daring woman. She lived in Richmond, Virginia, for most of her life. Although her father was a wealthy businessman who owned slaves, Elizabeth was passionately against the practice. Before the war broke out, she and her mother freed all the family slaves, and during the war her dedication to the cause of abolishing slavery led her to begin spying for the Union. General Ulysses S. Grant himself credited her with sending him extremely valuable information during the war.

This program is the story of how Elizabeth Van Lew became a spy. It is the story of how she smuggled messages into Libby Prison in a pot of food; how she saved her favorite horse, Chieftain, from soldiers; and how she hid escaped prisoners in her home and sent them to safety through her own underground railroad. Here also is the story of how she earned the nickname "Crazy Bet" when she began affecting dementia in order to avoid suspicion.

Much of the material in the show comes from the diary that Elizabeth kept all during the war and which she buried in her back yard when she feared it would be discovered.

About the performer, Lynn Ruehlmann

Lynn has been a professional storyteller for over 15 years, performing history, myths, folklore and personal stories in schools every other possible venue.