Pledging her loyalty to the North at the risk of her life when her native Virginia secedes, Quaker-educated aristocrat Elizabeth Van Lew uses her innate skills for gathering military intelligence to help construct the Richmond underground and orchestrate escapes from the infamous Confederate Libby Prison. Born to slave-holding aristocracy in Richmond, Virginia, and educated by northern Quakers, Elizabeth Van Lew was a paradox of her time. When her native state seceded in April 1861, Van Lew's convictions compelled her to defy the new Confederate regime. Pledging her loyalty to the Lincoln White House, her courage in clandestine combat would never waver, even as her actions threatened not only her reputation but also her life. Van Lew's skills in gathering military intelligence were unparalleled in ingenuity. Even as the deprivations of war broke the bonds of polite society, she evaded detection, repurposing common household items to conceal coded information critical to the Union campaign adn enlisting unlikely messengers - enslaved, incarcerated, and free - under the guise of humanitarian aid. Her efforts helped to construct the Richmond Underground and orchestrated escapes from the infamous Confederate Libby Prison. The reach of her spy ring was vast - from clerks in the Confederate War and Navy departments to the very home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.