Rose Greenhow: Mother, Socialite, SPY! Quiz

Answer: Dolley Madison

Rose was four when her father died. At first it appeared he passed away due to injuries of an accident, but later his own personal slave was convicted for killing him during a fit of rage. This gave Rose negative feelings towards indentured servants and slaves for the rest of her life.

She and her sisters moved to Washington, D.C. and lived in a boardinghouse in the middle of the city. They quickly became integrated into the busy social world thanks to politicians they met and women in the elite circles. One of those was Dolley Madison, who highly approved of the O'Neal girls, and whose nephew married Rose's sister.

Answer: California

The family went to Mexico City for a short time as part of Robert's job. Rose lobbied that their next move be overseas, to Italy, but the gold rush in California required them to settle in that state. Rose missed Washington, D.C. and spent time traveling back and forth across the country. Robert, unfortunately, fell off a sidewalk in San Francisco in 1854 and his injured leg became terribly infected.

He died of gangrene. Rose, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time, stayed there permanently.

She continued a fast rise through the social circles there, albeit a widow.

Answer: John C. Calhoun

Rose considered John C. Calhoun "the best and wisest men of the century". He was a proponent of slavery and helped cement her eventual decision to side with the Confederacy. This also helped her later to make the acquaintance of high ranking Confederate personnel who persuaded her to be a spy and to help pass information from Washington, D.C. to the battlefields.

When Calhoun died in 1850, Rose was by his bedside.

Answer: First Battle of Bull Run

Rose Greenhow obtained secretive missives and even a map that all related to Union movements prior to the Battle of Manassas. Many later suspected this information was given as part of romantic liaisons she formed. Rose coded a note about U.S. General McDowell's proposed troop advancement and timing and sent it to the front lines.

The Confederacy credited her with helping win the First Battle of Bull Run.

Answer: In her hair bun

Rose would put a coded message in a small silk purse and roll it up in Bettie's long hair in the center of her bun. Bettie would then dress as a peasant girl in a calico dress and ride in a simple farm wagon. Upon reaching the Confederate lines, she would meet the appropriate staff, unwind her hair, and hand over the letter.

Answer: Morse code

Not only did Rose use Morse code with the slats of her window blinds, she also utilized a symbolic cipher (like that in "The Gold Bug" by Edgar Allan Poe) in letters slipped out of the house with friends or servants. She also had her young daughter go outside and pretend to call aloud to friends. In actuality, the words were verbal cues for her immediate spy ring.

Answer: Her daughter, "Little Rose"

Rose stayed in the Old Capitol Prison for five months. She had her eight year old daughter, Rose, with her the whole time. Ironically, this building was the same structure that held the boardinghouse where she lived when she first moved to the city. On at least one occasion, she was known to have flown the Confederate flag from her prison window.

Answer: Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis told Rose that he considered her a "hero" for the South. He asked that she go to Europe and spend time in Great Britain and France. Her mission was to drum up support for the South who was beginning to feel the pinch of the war years.

Answer: A memoir

While traveling across Europe, Rose authored a memoir called "My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington". The book sales did very well in Europe. It described the risks she took for the Confederacy and the role of women and social classes in that era.

Answer: Drowning

Rose was on a blockade runner sailing back into the southern part of the USA. The ship was almost at port when it ran aground near Wilmington NC. Against the captain's advice, Rose jumped into a small rowboat and tried to get to shore to avoid potential U.S. Navy patrols.

The waves were rough and the small rowboat with Rose and two sailors capsized. Rose, weighted down with $2,000 worth of gold for the Confederacy, drowned. She was given a large funeral and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in North Carolina.