ion to stop near it
when I dared not look up at the windows. I have turned to speak to a
friend and found a detective at my elbow. Strange faces could
sometimes be seen peeping around the columns and pillars of the back
portico.... Once I went to Jefferson Davis himself to see if we could
not obtain some protection.... His private Secretary told me I had
better apply to the Mayor.... Captain George Gibbs had succeeded Todd
as keeper of the prisoners; so perilous had our situation become that
we took him and his family to board with us. They were certainly a
great protection.... Such was our life--such was freedom in the
Confederacy. I speak what I know." The diary also tells of Mrs. Van
Lew's increasing dread of arrest, dear, delicate, loyal lady--for that
was constantly spoken of, and reported on the street, while some never
hesitated to say she should be hanged.

Another summer came and wore away, and the third year of the war was
drawing to a close in the terrible winter of 1863-4. The Union army in
the East had twice advanced against the Confederates, to be beaten
back at Fredericksburg and at Chancellorsville. In June and July of
1863 Lee began a second invasion of the North, but was defeated at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In July, 1863, Vicksburg and Port Hudson
were captured and the Mississippi River was in Union hands, but in the
following autumn the Confederates of the West defeated the Union army
at Chickamauga, after which General Grant took command and was
victorious near Chattanooga, and so with alternate hope and despair on
both sides the hideous war went on.

Through cipher despatches "Crazy Bet" learned of an intended attempt
of Federal officers to escape from Libby Prison, and at once a room
in the Van Lew mansion was made ready to secrete them if they achieved
their purpose. The room was at the end of one of the big parlors, and
dark blankets were hung over its windows; beds were made ready for
exhausted occupants, and a low light kept burning day and night in
readiness for their possible arrival.

Meanwhile the prisoners in the Libby, desperate because of the
horrible conditions in the buildings where they were quartered, were
busily constructing a tunnel which ran from the back part of the
cellar called "Rat-Hell" to the prison yard. The work was carried on
under the direction of Colonel Rose, and his frenzied assistants
worked like demons, determined to cut their way through the walls of
that grim