Dear Van Lew,                                                  2-9-1864

The prison break has happened! (The one at Libby Prison) When I heard our plan worked, I ran to Libby as fast as possible. I know you’re busy helping your brother, but I wanted to notify you because the prisoners need your help. I was able to help 4 soldiers by bringing them to William Rowdy’s house. He said he had a few extra rooms but that he can’t keep them there for too long. Hopefully this will be another success for the Van Lew spy network.

From the prisoners perspective this is how it went. They had been digging a hole in the prison wall since December, and they had dug three others before this one. The first one flooded, the second one led to a rat infested basement, and the third one was blocked by something. The “jailbirds” as they would say knew today was the right day to escape, so they had one person distract the guards while the others crawled out. They did this until all 109 of them were out. They said the tunnel was about 2ft by 2ft, dark and rat infested. Once they were out they all dispersed  into small groups. The 4 prisoners found me and said they had tried to go to your house but your servants wouldn’t let them in. The men also described what life in prison was like. They said, like you saw, that they barely had enough to eat, and the little sheet iron crackers the prison supplied them with were infested. The prison could barely supply enough beds for all of the prisoners, so some of them had to sleep on the floor. This is just more reason to break the rest out.

Ever since they found out, the Richmond/Virginia government has been really mad, so It’s best if we lay low for a while. 48 prisoners have been recaptured and 2 have passed. I believe some of the prisoners managed to get into your house. The press is writing all about how people escaped, and the police will probably suspect that you are behind this. Also, can you send me a letter once you know when you’re coming back. 

I don’t understand why war is so important for countries. Why can’t we skip the casualties and death and work it out in a civilized manner. If we want to be taken seriously in other circumstances we shouldn’t be tstuling with our own people. All this war has accomplished is making our country’s military weaker and killing millions of Americans. All of this is taking a toll on my mental health. For now I’m writing and reading To pass time and to calm my nerves. All of the stress of hiding people and hearing about death is making me anxious and nervous for myself. Sorry to make it about me, but I’m looking for ways to relieve stress since nothing is working, can you help?

Best,Lisa.