Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Washington Socialite and Confederate Spy

Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a leader in Washington society, a passionate secessionist and one of the most renowned spies in the War Between the States.  Among her accomplishments was a secret message she sent to General P.T. Beauregard which ultimately caused him to win the battle of Bull Run.  She was so successful as a spy 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 in Washington, D.C.  Despite her confinement, Rose 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 being paroled and agreeing to never return to Washington, Rose toured Britain and France as a propagandist for the Confederate cause.  Her memoirs were published and brought in large sales to be used to the benefit of the Confederacy.  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 a 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 Oakdale Cemetery.  Her coffin was wrapped in the Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops.  The marker for her grave, bears the epitaph, "Mrs. Rose O'N. Greenhow, a bearer of dispatches to the Confederate Government."