While she was still working as nanny for the Willis children during the day, at night she wrote down her experiences. In January 1861, her experiences were finally published as a book called "Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl, written by herself." After the American Civil War had started in April 1861, she went to Alexandria, Virginia. There she helped black people who had just escaped from slavery. She spent her last years in Washington, D.C. where she lived together with her daughter.