Instructor: Beverly Eggert, a retired Beaufort County English teacher, served as the featured lecturer and program director for the Beaufort County History Center/Beaufort County Library lecture series. She also served as the program director and lecturer for the Santa Elena History Center in Beaufort and was a lecturer for the South Carolina Humanities Festival. Description: Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) was a prominent socialite who risked fortune and social standing to preserve the Union and oppose slavery. She became one of the Union’s most effective spymasters during the Civil War. Miss Lizzie organized and led an interracial spy ring in the heart of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Her network of spies played a vital role in the famous 1864 breakout from Libby Prison, where her agents helped 109 Union officers escape through a secret tunnel. Despite being ostracized by her community after the war, she remained a lifelong advocate for civil rights and women’s suffrage.