Rose O'Neal Greenhow
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Confederate spy.
1817-1864
Rose O'Neal Greenhow was born in Montgomery County, Maryland in
1817. "Wild Rose", as she was called from a young age, was a leader
in Washington society, a passionate secessionist, and one of the
most renowned spies in the Civil War.
Among her accomplishments was the ten-word secret message she sent to
General Pierre G.T. Beauregard which ultimately caused him to win the
battle of Bull Run. She spied so successfully for the Confederacy
that Jefferson Davis credited her with winning the battle of
Manassas.
She was imprisoned for her efforts first in her own home and then in
the Old Capital Prison. Despite her confinement, Greenhow continued
getting messages to the Confederacy by means of cryptic notes which
traveled in unlikely places such as the inside of a woman's bun of
hair. After her second prison term, she was exiled to the Confederate
states where she was received warmly by President Jefferson Davis.
Her next mission was to tour Britain and France as a propagandist for
the Confederate cause. Two months after her arrival in London, her
memoirs were published and enjoyed a wide sale throughout the British
Isles. In Europe, Greenhow found a strong sympathy for the South,
especially among the ruling classes.
During the course of her travels she hobnobbed with many members of
the nobility. She was received at the court of Queen Victoria and
became engaged to the Second Earl Granville. In Paris, she was
received into the court of Napoleon III and was granted an audience
with the Emperor at the Tuileries.
In 1864, after a year abroad, she boarded the Condor, a British
blockade-runner which was to take her home. Just before reaching her
destination, the vessel ran aground at the mouth of the Cape Fear
River near Wilmington, North Carolina. In order to avoid the Union
gunboat that pursued her ship, Rose fled in rowboat, but never made
it to shore. Her little boat capsized and she was dragged down by the
weight of the gold she received in royalties for her book.
In October 1864, Rose was buried with full military honors in the
Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. Her coffin was wrapped in the
Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops. The marker for
her grave, a marble cross, bears the epitaph, "Mrs. Rose O'N.
Greenhow, a bearer of dispatchs to the Confederate Government."
