From the Fredericksburg Free Lance, 10/4/1900, p. 2, c. 3

Miss Van Lew’s Will.

The most interesting feature about the will of the late Miss Elizabeth L. Van Lew, whose espying services for the Union cause made her a conspicuous figure, was the bequest of her manuscripts. These she gives to Mr. John Philip Reynolds, of Boston. There manuscripts are known to contain a history of Miss Van Lew’s life, and especially that part connected with the war. In these papers she tells how she assisted the escaping prisoners from Libby to elude arrest and get through the Confederate lines. She also tells in them some of her narrow escapes in being detected by the Southern officials in communicating with General Grant and other Federal commanders, who were then hovering around the capital of the Confederacy. Among these Van Lew papers, too, are some interesting letters written her by Generals Grant and Ben Butler, mostly, it is believed, acknowledging the valuable services rendered the Union cause by Miss Van Lew. Mr. Reynolds, of Boston, to whom the deceased bequeaths this manuscript, was one of her best friends.

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