KINFOLKS
by Evelyn Flood
My fascination with Civil War times began when I was about
9 years old. My maternal grandmother was a schoolteacher and
I guess that is why we had so many books in our attic at
home.
There were sets of Nancy Drew Mysteries, CurlyTops,
Carolyn Keene, and many more books I do not recall.
We had enough books that we set up a library in our cellar so that
the neighborhood kids could come and check out books and return them.
My sister, being ill with rheumatic fever, was the librarian.
We even placed little pockets in the books and had return cards where
records were kept so that the books would be returned on time.
Just like in a real library
I wanted to be a librarian and was in heaven when I got to help
a librarian in Morgan,Utah(one of the places we lived in our travels
in the Western United States)
I recall that my favorite set of all the books in our attic was
called "The Romance Of The Civil War" told in story form by
letters written between sweethearts, husbands and wives.
They wrote about their loneliness, their times in battle and just
about everything that passed between sweethearts and husbands
and wives.
I was only 9 years old and could not read very well. But, oh, how I
tried reading that set of books.
We moved away when I was about ten and had to leave all of our
wonderful books. I vowed to find that set of books someday when
I grew up and to read them again.
But, alas, I have never found that blue set of books.
This lead to my reading books on the Civil War times in America,
my favorite time frame.
And "Gone With The Wind" of course became my favorite movie
of all time.
Vivian Leigh became my favorite actress and I could still
watch that movie over and over again.
My daughters loved the movie too.
One of my grand daughters is named Tara, after that movie.
In my clay and ceramic business I use the name "Terra", which means
red earth----the earth of Atlanta, Georgia.
I can just picture myself living in that time.
One of the women I read about was Rose O'Neal Greenhow.
Since my children are related to the Greenhaw families (originally
spelled Greenhow), I wanted to write a story about her.
Rose O'Neal was born in 1817 in Montgomery County, Maryland.
She was a leader in Washington Society and a passionate secessionist.
She was a smuggler of messages for the Confederacy.
Passing information was easy at the beginning of the war as there
were many connections between Northern and Southern families and
families traveled back and forth.
These women smugglers were good at evading pickets and thought of
every possible means to hide the messages they were carrying.
One favorite place was in their babies "diapers" as the women
pushed their buggies to visit.
Messages were hidden underneath their long hair rolled in buns.
Secret messages were sent to General Pierre G.T. Beauregard (CSA)
which helped him win the Battle of Manassas.
Rose O'Neal Greenhow became part of a notorious Confederate
spy ring in Washington, DC.
At the start of the war, Greenhow and her Southern friends were
placed under surveillance by Pinkerton Detective Agents.
There was a Television movie made some time back, starring
Christopher Reve,the actor who is now paralyzed due to an injury
while riding in horse jumping competition.
The movie was called "The Rose and the Jackal."
In this movie, Christopher Reve played Allen Pinkerton, the founder
of the Pinkerton Detective Agency
Rose Greenhow had warm relations with prominent people on the
Union side. She was the aunt of Stephen Douglas's wife.
At 44 years of age she was placed under house arrest on the
23 August 1861.
It was rightfully suspected that she had passed on vital information
about Union troop movement before the battle of Bull Run.
Her home in Washington, DC was jokingly called "Fort Greenhow".
Rose had married Robert Greenhow, born in 1800.
Robert Greenhow had died in 1854.
Robert was the son of Robert Greenhow and Ann Wills Cole.
Rose's children were:
Florence Greenhow who married a Treadwell Moore;
Gertrude Greenhow who died in 1861;
Leila Greenhow and
Rose "Little Rose" Greenhow born 1852.
Federal authorities subjected Rose and her women friends staying at her
home, to round-the-clock guards.
The women were not allowed newspapers; their mail was censored
and only immediate family was allowed to visit.
Despite these precautions, the women managed to gather information and
pass it on to couriers.
As a result, Rose Greenhow and her daughter,Little Rose,
were taken to cells in the Old Capitol Prison where they were held from
January to May 1862.
After her release she was given a homecoming in Richmond, Virginia
and Jefferson Davis praised her for her key role in the Battle
of Bull Run, a Confederate victory.
Rose Greenhow continued her intelligence work and in August 1863 went
to Europe on a Confederate mission for Jefferson Davis.
She was
presented to Napoleon III and Queen Victoria.
She remained in Europe for a year
She even published a book "My Imprisonment and the First Year of
Abolition Rule at Washington" to help the Rebel cause.
She received royalties for her book and had approximately $2,000
worth of gold on her return trip to America.
In fact, it was the gold that indirectly led to her death from
drowning when her small rowboat capsized, the gold weighing her
down
On her return trip she boarded the Condor, a British blockade-runner
which was to take her home. She was smuggling both gold and secret
documents for the Confederacy when Federal patrols spotted her ship
near the shore off Wilmington,North Carolina.
Greenhow and two other agents were set off in a rowboat and tried to
reach land to avoid capture but their rowboat capsized and they
drowned.
Hundreds came to mourn at her funeral in October 1864. She became a
Confederate martyr, a woman who gave her life for her country.
She is buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, North Carolina.
Rose O'Neal Greenhow's diary covering the period 5 August 1863 to
10 August 1864, is in the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh,
North Carolina and describes her mission to Britian and France.
Her tombstone reads:
"Mrs. Rose O.N. Greenhow, A Bearer of Dispatches
To The Confederate Government."
It is a nice stone with a square cross at the top.
Have not tried to trace her remaining children but it would be very
interesting to see how their lives turned out.
The end
Evelyn Flood
Write me
Rkinfolks@aol.com
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