prison to the light and life of the outer world. At last the
tunnel was ready. With quivering excitement over their great adventure
added to their exhaustion, the men who were to make their escape, one
after another disappeared in the carefully guarded hole leading from
the cellar of the prison into a great sewer, and thence into the
prison yard. Of this little company of adventurous men eleven
Colonels, seven Majors, thirty-two Captains, and fifty-nine
Lieutenants escaped before the daring raid was discovered. The news
spread like wild-fire through the ranks of the prisoners who were
still in the building and among those on duty. Immediately every
effort was made by those in charge to re-capture the refugees and
bring them back, and as a result, between fifty and sixty of them were
once again imprisoned in the squalid cells of the Libby.

Just at that time John Van Lew, Betty's brother, was conscripted into
the Confederate army, and although unfit for military duty because of
his delicate health, he was at once sent to Camp Lee. As he was a keen
sympathizer with his sister's Union interests, as soon as he was sent
to the Confederate camp he deserted and fled to the home of a family
who lived on the outskirts of the city, who were both Union
sympathizers and friends of his sister's. They hid him carefully, and
Betty at once came to aid in planning for his escape from the city.
Unfortunately it was the night of the escape of the Federal prisoners
from the Libby, so a doubly strong guard was set over every exit from
Richmond, making escape impossible. Here was a difficult situation!
Betty Van Lew knew that some way out of the dilemma must be found; for
the house where her brother was secreted would surely be searched for
the escaped refugees, and it would go hard with those who were
concealing him if they were discovered harboring a deserter.

With quick wit she immediately presented herself at General Winder's
office, where she used her diplomatic powers so successfully that the
general was entirely convinced of John Van Lew's unfit physical
condition for military service, and promised to make every effort
toward his exemption. When all efforts proved unavailing, the general
took him into his own regiment, and "the Union sympathizer never wore
a Confederate uniform, and only once shouldered a Confederate musket,
when on a great panic day he stood, a figurehead guard at the door of
a government department. At last, in 1