And how fared it with the Federal Spy during those hours of anguish for all true Southerners? Betty Van Lew, who had been in close touch with the Union generals, had for some time foreseen the coming climax of the four years' struggle, and weeks earlier she had sent north to General Butler for a huge American flag, eighteen feet long by nine wide, which in some unknown way was successfully carried into Richmond without detection by the picket guard, and safely secreted in the hidden chamber under the Van Lew roof. And now General Lee had surrendered. Virginia was again to be a State of the Union; came a messenger fleet of foot, cautious of address, bringing breathless tidings to the Spy: "Your house is to be burned--the Confederate soldiers say so. What can you do to prevent it?" Even as she listened to his excited words, Betty Van Lew's heart was throbbing with joyful excitement, despite the uproar in the city from the constant explosion of shells, the sound of the blowing up of gun-boats in the harbor, and of the powder magazines, which was shaking the foundations of the city, as red flames leaped across the black sky. Even then there was in the heart of the Spy a wild exultation. "Oh, army of my country, how glorious was your welcome!" she exclaims in her diary. She heard the news that her home was about to be burned. With head erect and flashing eyes she went out alone and stood on the white-pillared portico, a fearless little figure, defying the mob who were gathering to destroy the old mansion which was so dear to her. "I know you--and you--and you!" she cried out, calling them each by name, and pointing at one after another. "General Grant will be in this city within an hour; if this house is harmed your house shall be burned by noon!" At the fearless words, one by one they turned, muttering, and slunk away, and the Van Lew house was neither burned nor harmed in any way. The Union troops were coming near now, marching to the center of the city. As the long, dusty line of men in blue swung into Main Street, Betty Van Lew ran up to the secret room under the garret roof, drew out the great flag for which she had sent in anticipation of this day, and when the Union soldiers marched past the historic old mansion, the Stars and Stripes were waving proudly over its portico. The Confederacy was no more!