Elizabeth Blair Lee was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 woman who lived through the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, and wrote hundreds of letters describing the events of the times to her husband, Samuel Philips Lee.

Biography

She was born in Kentucky to Francis Preston Blair

Francis Preston Blair

Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was an American journalist and politician.-Biography:Blair was born at Abingdon, Virginia. He moved to Kentucky, graduated from Transylvania University in 1811, took to journalism, and was a contributor to Amos Kendall's paper, the Argus, at Frankfort...

 and Eliza Violet Gist Blair. She was the sister of Montgomery Blair

Montgomery Blair

Montgomery Blair , the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown, was a politician and lawyer from Maryland...

, Jessup Blair, and Francis Preston Blair, Jr.

Francis Preston Blair, Jr.

Francis Preston Blair, Jr. was an American politician and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and he was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President in 1868.-Early life and career:Blair was born in...

 When the family moved to "Blair House" across the street from the White House, the President, Vice-President and Cabinet members were frequent guests. Elizabeth's best friend was President Jackson's young niece who was serving as First Lady for her uncle, whose wife had died. Elizabeth lived in the White House one winter because of her health problems from dampness at Blair House.

According to one version of the story, Elizabeth was present with her father when they chanced upon the silver-flecked spring which would inspire the name of the family's summer home in what would eventually become Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

. The spring site is memorialized at Silver Spring's Acorn Park

Acorn Park

Acorn Park is a urban park in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, which features an acorn-shaped gazebo and an artificial grotto. The site is historically significant as it is thought to be the location of the "mica-flecked spring" that in 1840 inspired Francis Preston Blair to name his estate...

 though the water source was disrupted in the 1950's.

She married Rear Adm. Samuel Phillips Lee

Samuel Phillips Lee

Samuel Phillips Lee was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy. He commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 4 September 1862 to 12 October 1864. His flagship was Philadelphia.-Life and career:...

, a US Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 commander in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the Civil War. Her letters to her husband, who was away for long periods as commander of the USS Philadelphia

USS Philadelphia (1861)

The third USS Philadelphia was the flagship of Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee when he commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the American Civil War....

, describe wartime life in her homes of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 and Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

, during the war. Elizabeth was the mother of Blair Lee, a US senator from Maryland.