The Van Lew Cipher
:
1862
A Cipher Van Lew Used to Send Messages to Union Commanders
Elizabeth Van Lew (1818–1900) was a white American abolitionist and federal agent during the U.S. Civil War. Using a cipher such as this one, she sent coded messages that aided the Union cause, as they provided intelligence reports from her home-base in Richmond, Virginia. Lew helped Union prisoners escape from their captors and also worked with the abolitionists leading the Underground Railroad.
Elizabeth Van Lew Papers Collection
Manuscripts and Archives Division. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
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