When the war broke out Elizabeth was tending to prisoners in Richmond. She would take them baskets of food, medicine, and books. Her relationship with the prisoners grew more everyday. She became so close to them that she helped some of them escape and venture out where they wanted to go. She soon gained their trust, and they started telling her information on Confederate troops. This important information was soon passed to Union commanders.
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Elizabeth's work soon grew to her being a pivotal commander of an efficient spy ring. This was an important code that ran all the way into the core of the Confederate chain of command. Elizabeth had many ways to get the code around. Her most used way to get the code around involved messages being sent in hollow eggs. Her spy network worked so well that it provided a lot of intelligence throughout the war. Since managing the spy ring costed her a lot of money, she did not have any money left at the end of the Civil War.
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After the civil war ended, Elizabeth had given all her money to the spy ring. She was trying to gain money from the government that she had lost. However, the government never gave her money, and she had no support from anyone. Then, Elizabeth turned to a wealthy family on the side of the Union to help her. They helped her and supported her until her death.
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