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Rose O'Neal Greenhow (1813– October 1, 1864) was a famous Confederate spy during the American Civil War. A socialite in Washington, D.C., during the period before the war, she moved in important political circles and cultivated friendships with presidents, generals, senators, and high-ranking military officers including John C. Calhoun and James Buchanan. She used her connections to pass along key military information to the Confederacy at the start of the war. In early 1861, she was given control of a pro-Southern spy network in Washington, D.C., by her handler, Thomas Jordan, then a captain in the Confederate Army. She was credited by Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, with ensuring the South's victory at the First Battle of Bull Run in late July 1861. The government found that information was being leaked and the trail led to Rose Greenhow's residence. Greenhow was subject to house arrest; found to have continued her activities, in 1862 after an espionage hearing, she, with her daughter "Little Rose", was imprisoned for nearly five months in Washington, D.C. Deported to the Confederacy, she traveled to Richmond, Virginia, and began new tasks. Running the blockade, she sailed to Europe to represent the Confederacy on a diplomatic mission to France and Britain from 1863 to 1864. In 1863, she also wrote and published her memoir in London, which was popular in Britain. After her returning ship ran aground in 1864 off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina, she drowned when her rowboat overturned as she tried to escape a Union gunboat. She was honored with a Confederate military funeral. In 1993, the women's auxiliary of the Sons of Confederate Veterans changed its name to the Order of the Confederate Rose in Greenhow's honor, following publicity about her exploits in a TV movie the previous year. Early life She was born in 1813 as Maria Rosetta O'Neale on a small plantation in Montgomery County, Maryland, northwest of Washington, D.C. (Note: The biographical note on Greenhow at the National Archives and Records Administration, which holds a collection of her papers, says that O'Neal was born in 1817 in Port Tobacco, Maryland, but it is unclear what the documentation is for this.) She was the third of five daughters of John O'Neale, a planter and slaveholder, and his wife Eliza Henrietta Hamilton, who were Catholic. Called Rose as a child, O'Neal was the third born and close to her next older sister, Ellen (Mary Eleanor) and the final "e" was dropped off the family name in Rose's early childhood. Their father died in 1817, murdered by his black valet. His widow, Eliza O'Neal, had four daughters to support and a cash-poor farm. After being orphaned as children, Greenhow and her sister Ellen were invited to live with their aunt in Washington, D.C., around the year 1830. Their aunt, Mrs. Maria Ann Hill, ran a stylish boarding house at the Old Capitol Building (later the Old Capitol Prison) 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 Jr., a prominent doctor, lawyer, and linguist from Virginia. Their courtship was well received by Washington society, including famed society matron Dolley Madison. In 1833, Greenhow's sister Ellen O'Neal married Dolley's nephew James Madison Cutts. In 1856, their daughter Adele Cutts married the widower Stephen A. Douglas, the senator from Illinois. Marriage and family In 1835, Rose married Dr. Robert Greenhow Jr. with Dolley's blessing, and by the 1850s had long been an established socialite in the capital. Robert Greenhow worked at the U.S. Department of State. Robert's step-sister, Mary Greenhow Lee, would visit him and Greenhow and the two women became close friends.The Greenhows had four daughters: Florence, Gertrude, Leila, and Rose. Their youngest child was named Rose O'Neal Greenhow (her middle name being her mother's maiden), and was nicknamed "Little Rose". In 1871, Little Rose married Army officer William P. Duvall. They were the parents of two children, son William (died 1874) and daughter Lee, who later took the name Mary and was the wife of Louis Eugene Marié. The Duvalls divorced in 1899.Robert's work with the State Department prompted the family to move with him to Mexico City in 1850 and then to San Francisco, California. In 1852, Greenhow returned East with her children, a journey of months, giving birth to her last daughter in 1853. Her husband died in an accident in San Francisco in 1854. Being a widow did not disrupt Greenhow's popularity in the capital. A short time later, their oldest child Florence married Seymour Treadwell Moore, a West Point graduate, career army officer, and Mexican War veteran. The couple moved west to Ohio. Confederate spy After losing her husband, Greenhow became more sympathetic to the Confederate cause. Greenhow was an advocate for secession and "preserving the Southern way of life," including slavery. 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, Greenhow 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, courier Betty Duvall, and her dentist, Aaron Van Camp, as well as his son who was also a Confederate soldier, Eugene B. Van Camp. Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited Greenhow's 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." She became known as "Rebel Rose" for her work for the South. Capture and prison Knowing she was suspected of spying for the Confederacy, Greenhow feared for her remaining daughters' 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 se.... Discover the Rebel Rose popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rebel Rose books.