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| Rose and "Little Rose" at the Old Capitol Prison (1862) |
Maria Rosetta O'Neale, daughter of John O'Neale and Eliza Henrietta Hamilton, was born in 1813/1814 in Montgomery County, MD. She drowned on 1 Oct 1864 in the Cape Fear River, NC.
After being orphaned as children, Rose and her sister Ellen were invited to live with their aunt in Washington, DC about 1830. Their aunt, Mrs. Maria Ann Hill, ran a stylish boarding house at the Old Capitol building, and the girls met many important figures in the Washington area. Her olive skin "delicately flushed with color" earned her the nickname "Wild Rose."
In the 1830s, she met Robert Greenhow, a prominent doctor, lawyer and linguist from Virginia. Their courtship was well received by Washington society, including famed society matron Dolley Madison. They married in 1835 and had four daughters: Florence, Gertrude, Leila and Rose.
Due to Robert's work with the State Department, the family moved with him to Mexico City in 1850 and then to San Francisco, CA. In 1852 Rose returned East with her children. Robert died in a fatal accident in San Francisco in 1854.
ALSO KNOWN AS:
Wild Rose
Rebel Rose
After losing her husband, Rose became more sympathetic to the Confederate cause. She was strongly influenced by her friendship with U.S. Senator John C. Calhoun from South Carolina. Greenhow's loyalty to the Confederacy was noted by those with similar sympathies in Washington, and she was recruited as a spy. Her recruiter was U.S. Army captain Thomas Jordan, who had set up a pro-Southern spy network in Washington. He supplied her with a 26-symbol cipher for encoding messages.
After passing control of the espionage network to Greenhow, Jordan left the US Army, went South, and was commissioned as a captain in the Confederate Army. He continued to receive and evaluate her reports. Jordan appeared to be Greenhow's handler for the Confederate Secret Service during its formative phase.
On July 9 and July 16 of 1861, she passed secret messages to Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard containing critical information regarding Union military movements for what would be the First Battle of Bull Run, including the plans of General Irvin McDowell. Assisting in her conspiracy were pro-Confederate members of Congress, Union officers, her dentist, Aaron Van Camp, and his son and Confederate soldier, Eugene B. Van Camp. Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited her information with the Confederates securing victory at Manassas over the Union Army on July 21. After the battle she received the following telegram from Jordan:
After passing control of the espionage network to Greenhow, Jordan left the US Army, went South, and was commissioned as a captain in the Confederate Army. He continued to receive and evaluate her reports. Jordan appeared to be Greenhow's handler for the Confederate Secret Service during its formative phase.
On July 9 and July 16 of 1861, she passed secret messages to Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard containing critical information regarding Union military movements for what would be the First Battle of Bull Run, including the plans of General Irvin McDowell. Assisting in her conspiracy were pro-Confederate members of Congress, Union officers, her dentist, Aaron Van Camp, and his son and Confederate soldier, Eugene B. Van Camp. Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited her information with the Confederates securing victory at Manassas over the Union Army on July 21. After the battle she received the following telegram from Jordan:
"Our President and our General direct me to thank you. We rely upon you for further information. The Confederacy owes you a debt. (Signed)JORDAN, Adjutant-General."
Knowing she was suspected of spying for the Confederacy, she feared for her daughter Leila's safety. Leila was sent to Ohio to join her older sister Florence Greenhow Moore, whose husband Seymour Treadwell Moore had become a captain in the Union Army. (He was breveted a brigadier general in May 1865 for his services and achieved a rank of lieutenant colonel after the war in his army career.) Only "Little" Rose stayed in Washington with her mother.
Allan Pinkerton was made head of the recently formed Union Intelligence Service. One of his first orders was to watch Greenhow, because of her wide circle of contacts on both sides of the sectional split. Due to the activities of visitors, he arrested her and placed her under house arrest at her 16th Street residence. His agents traced other leaked information to Greenhow's home. While searching her house, Pinkerton and his men found extensive intelligence materials left from evidence she tried to burn, including scraps of coded messages, copies of what amounted to eight reports to Jordan over a month's time, and maps of Washington fortifications and notes on military movements.
The materials included numerous love letters from the abolitionist Republican U.S. Senator Henry Wilson from Massachusetts. She considered him her prize source, and said he gave her data on the "number of heavy guns and other artillery in the Washington defenses," but he likely knew far more from his work on the Military Affairs Committee. The seized Greenhow papers are now held by the National Archives and Records Administration, with some available on line.
Pinkerton supervised visitors to Greenhow's house and moved other suspected Southern sympathizers into it, giving rise to the nickname Fort Greenhow. He was pleased to oversee the visitors and messages, as it gave him more control of the Southern flow of information. While messages continued to be sent to Jordan, he discounted them after Pinkerton mounted his control.
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| Allan Pinkerton |
The materials included numerous love letters from the abolitionist Republican U.S. Senator Henry Wilson from Massachusetts. She considered him her prize source, and said he gave her data on the "number of heavy guns and other artillery in the Washington defenses," but he likely knew far more from his work on the Military Affairs Committee. The seized Greenhow papers are now held by the National Archives and Records Administration, with some available on line.
Pinkerton supervised visitors to Greenhow's house and moved other suspected Southern sympathizers into it, giving rise to the nickname Fort Greenhow. He was pleased to oversee the visitors and messages, as it gave him more control of the Southern flow of information. While messages continued to be sent to Jordan, he discounted them after Pinkerton mounted his control.
When a letter from Greenhow to Seward was publicized that complained of her treatment, there was Northern criticism for what was perceived as too lenient treatment of a spy. Pinkerton transferred Greenhow on January 18, 1862 to Old Capitol Prison, shutting down "Fort Greenhow." So many political prisoners were detained that a two-man commission was set up to review their cases at what were called espionage hearings. Greenhow was never subjected to trial. Her youngest daughter, "Little" Rose, then eight years old, was permitted to stay with her.
Greenhow continued to pass along messages while imprisoned. Passers-by could see Rose's window from the street. Historians believe that the position of the blinds and number of candles burning in the window had special meaning to the "little birdies" passing by. Another account lists her prison room facing the prison yard "so that she could not see or be seen" and "every effort was made to keep Mrs. Greenhow away from the windows." Greenhow also, on one occasion, flew the Confederate Flag from her prison window.
On 31 May 1862, Greenhow was released without trial (with her daughter), on condition she stay within Confederate boundaries. After they were escorted to Fortress Monroe at Hampton Bay, she and her daughter went on to Richmond, Virginia, where Greenhow was hailed by Southerners as a heroine. President Jefferson Davis welcomed her return and enlisted her as a courier to Europe. Greenhow ran the blockade and, from 1863 to 1864, traveled through France and Britain on a diplomatic mission building support for the Confederacy with the aristocrats.
Greenhow continued to pass along messages while imprisoned. Passers-by could see Rose's window from the street. Historians believe that the position of the blinds and number of candles burning in the window had special meaning to the "little birdies" passing by. Another account lists her prison room facing the prison yard "so that she could not see or be seen" and "every effort was made to keep Mrs. Greenhow away from the windows." Greenhow also, on one occasion, flew the Confederate Flag from her prison window.
On 31 May 1862, Greenhow was released without trial (with her daughter), on condition she stay within Confederate boundaries. After they were escorted to Fortress Monroe at Hampton Bay, she and her daughter went on to Richmond, Virginia, where Greenhow was hailed by Southerners as a heroine. President Jefferson Davis welcomed her return and enlisted her as a courier to Europe. Greenhow ran the blockade and, from 1863 to 1864, traveled through France and Britain on a diplomatic mission building support for the Confederacy with the aristocrats.
Two months after arriving in London, Greenhow wrote her memoir, titled My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington. She published it that year in London and it sold well in Britain.
On 19 Aug 1864, Greenhow left Europe to return to the Confederacy, carrying dispatches. She traveled on the Condor, a British blockade runner. On 1 Oct 1864, the Condor ran aground at the mouth of the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, NC, while being pursued by a Union gunboat, USS Niphon. Fearing capture and reimprisonment, Greenhow fled the grounded ship by rowboat. A wave capsized the rowboat, and Greenhow drowned. She was weighed down by $2,000 worth of gold sewn into her underclothes and hung around her neck, returns from her memoir royalties.
When Greenhow's body was recovered from the water near Wilmington, searchers found a small notebook and a copy of her book hidden on her. Inside the book was a note meant for her daughter, Little Rose. She was honored with a military funeral in Wilmington, NC, and the Ladies Memorial Association, in 1888, marked her grave with a cross that read "Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow. A Bearer of Dispatches to the Confederate Government."
When Greenhow's body was recovered from the water near Wilmington, searchers found a small notebook and a copy of her book hidden on her. Inside the book was a note meant for her daughter, Little Rose. She was honored with a military funeral in Wilmington, NC, and the Ladies Memorial Association, in 1888, marked her grave with a cross that read "Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow. A Bearer of Dispatches to the Confederate Government."
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