Okla-homey
8/23/2007, 06:45 AM
August 23, 1861: Rose Greenhow is arrested
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/22756/2000298771845689294_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000298771845689294)
Rose O'Neal Greenhow
146 years ago today, Allen Pinkerton, head of the newly formed secret service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow under house arrest in Washington, D.C.
Greenhow was a wealthy widow living in Washington at the outbreak of the war. She was well connected in the capital and was especially close with Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. The Maryland native was openly committed to the Southern cause, and she soon formed a substantial spy network.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/22559/2001930846899106306_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001930846899106306)
Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. He was pro-North to be sure, but he couldn't keep his mouth shut when in the presence of the charming Greenhow. She of course took advantage of that fact. Wilson survivied the war and later was elected as the 18th Vice President of the United States when U.S. Grant was elected President.
Greenhow's operation quickly paid dividends for the Confederacy. One of her operatives provided key information to Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard concerning the deployment of General Irwin McDowell's US troops before the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas in July 1861.
Beauregard later testified that this dispatch, along with further information provided by Greenhow herself, was instrumental in Beauregard's decision to request additional troops. The move led to a decisive victory by Slaveocracy forces.
It did not take the Federals long to track down the leaks in Washington. Pinkerton placed Greenhow under house arrest, and he soon confined other suspected women in her home. It's worth noting, she was never charged with a crime. These arrests occured after the President suspended the writ of habeaus corpus as a measure to help put down the Rebellion.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/21764/2000248369913919654_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000248369913919654)
Alan Pinkerton. Pinkerton was a Chicagoan who had earned his spurs as a railroad detective. He earned Lincoln's trust when he helepd the president-elect to safely enter Washington enroute to his inauguration through hostile territory and numerous death threats. Pinkerton was known as "the Eye." That is probably the origin of the term "private eye" for a private investigator. Pinkerton had a serious shortcoming however. He tended to inflate the numbers of Cornfed troops he reported to US military leadership after forays into their territory. That led to missed opportunities by US generals, especially during George McClellan's Peninsular Campaign in eastern Virginia early in the war.
However, Greenhow was undeterred. She was allowed visitors, including Senator Wilson, and was able to continue funneling information to the Confederates. Frustrated, Pinkerton finally confined Greenhow and her daughter to the Old Capitol Prison for five months in early 1862.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/22473/2000206229652983182_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000206229652983182)
Greenhow and her daughter in prison during 1862.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/26636/2000219089748299201_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000219089748299201)
Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand. Taken during one of the Saviour of the Nation's trips to the front lines. This was shot near Antietam, MD.
In June 1862, Greenhow and her daughter, "Little Rose," were released and exiled to the "land ob cotton."
After arriving in Dixie, Greenhow traveled to England and France to drum up support for the Southern cause, and she penned her memoirs while abroad.
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/24252/2000256459106547938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000256459106547938)
Greenhow attempting to re-enter the Confederacy after her time abroad. She didn't make it.
She returned to the Confederacy in September 1864, but a US Navy vessel ran her blockade runner ship aground off the North Carolina coast near Wilmington. Weighted down by a substantial amount of gold sewed in the linings of her undergarments, when Greenhow's lifeboat overturned in the surf, she drowned. her daughter was okay because she was safe in a Paris convent school.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/23905/2000223897111878541_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000223897111878541)
Greenhow's grave in Wilmington NC. She's still considered a heroine by a lot of Southerners.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/24817/2000272419869331281_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000272419869331281)
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/22756/2000298771845689294_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000298771845689294)
Rose O'Neal Greenhow
146 years ago today, Allen Pinkerton, head of the newly formed secret service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow under house arrest in Washington, D.C.
Greenhow was a wealthy widow living in Washington at the outbreak of the war. She was well connected in the capital and was especially close with Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. The Maryland native was openly committed to the Southern cause, and she soon formed a substantial spy network.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/22559/2001930846899106306_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001930846899106306)
Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. He was pro-North to be sure, but he couldn't keep his mouth shut when in the presence of the charming Greenhow. She of course took advantage of that fact. Wilson survivied the war and later was elected as the 18th Vice President of the United States when U.S. Grant was elected President.
Greenhow's operation quickly paid dividends for the Confederacy. One of her operatives provided key information to Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard concerning the deployment of General Irwin McDowell's US troops before the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas in July 1861.
Beauregard later testified that this dispatch, along with further information provided by Greenhow herself, was instrumental in Beauregard's decision to request additional troops. The move led to a decisive victory by Slaveocracy forces.
It did not take the Federals long to track down the leaks in Washington. Pinkerton placed Greenhow under house arrest, and he soon confined other suspected women in her home. It's worth noting, she was never charged with a crime. These arrests occured after the President suspended the writ of habeaus corpus as a measure to help put down the Rebellion.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/21764/2000248369913919654_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000248369913919654)
Alan Pinkerton. Pinkerton was a Chicagoan who had earned his spurs as a railroad detective. He earned Lincoln's trust when he helepd the president-elect to safely enter Washington enroute to his inauguration through hostile territory and numerous death threats. Pinkerton was known as "the Eye." That is probably the origin of the term "private eye" for a private investigator. Pinkerton had a serious shortcoming however. He tended to inflate the numbers of Cornfed troops he reported to US military leadership after forays into their territory. That led to missed opportunities by US generals, especially during George McClellan's Peninsular Campaign in eastern Virginia early in the war.
However, Greenhow was undeterred. She was allowed visitors, including Senator Wilson, and was able to continue funneling information to the Confederates. Frustrated, Pinkerton finally confined Greenhow and her daughter to the Old Capitol Prison for five months in early 1862.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/22473/2000206229652983182_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000206229652983182)
Greenhow and her daughter in prison during 1862.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/26636/2000219089748299201_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000219089748299201)
Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand. Taken during one of the Saviour of the Nation's trips to the front lines. This was shot near Antietam, MD.
In June 1862, Greenhow and her daughter, "Little Rose," were released and exiled to the "land ob cotton."
After arriving in Dixie, Greenhow traveled to England and France to drum up support for the Southern cause, and she penned her memoirs while abroad.
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/24252/2000256459106547938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000256459106547938)
Greenhow attempting to re-enter the Confederacy after her time abroad. She didn't make it.
She returned to the Confederacy in September 1864, but a US Navy vessel ran her blockade runner ship aground off the North Carolina coast near Wilmington. Weighted down by a substantial amount of gold sewed in the linings of her undergarments, when Greenhow's lifeboat overturned in the surf, she drowned. her daughter was okay because she was safe in a Paris convent school.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/23905/2000223897111878541_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000223897111878541)
Greenhow's grave in Wilmington NC. She's still considered a heroine by a lot of Southerners.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/24817/2000272419869331281_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000272419869331281)