~ Women Of The Confederacy ~
"I was never a Secessionist, for I quietly adopted father's views on political subjects without meddling with them. But even father went over with his State, and when so many outrages were committed by the fanatical leaders of the North, though he regretted the Union, said, "Fight to the death for our liberty." I say so, too. I want to fight until we win the cause so many have died for. I don't believe in Secession, but I do in Liberty. I want the South to conquer, dictate its own terms, and go back to the Union, for I believe that, apart, inevitable ruin awaits both. It is a rope of sand, this Confederacy, founded on the doctrine of Secession, and will not last many years - not five. The North cannot subdue us. We are too determined to be free. They have no right to confiscate our property to pay debts they themselves have incurred. Death as a nation, rather than Union on such terms. We will have our rights secured on so firm a basis that it can never be shaken. If by power of overwhelming numbers they conquer us, it will be a barren victory over a desolate land. "
~ Secessionist Bow ~
A sign of the times. Many of the young Confederate women wore Secessionist Bows as a sign of support for the soldiers much like the Yellow Ribbons of the Vietnam era ...an interesting political (and more than political) statement...
" Instead of friends, I see in Washington only mortal enemies. Instead of loving the old flag of the stars and stripes, I see in it only the symbol of murder, plunder, oppression, and shame."
Rose O'neal Greenhow
Confederate Spy
Rose O'neal Greenhow
Confederate Spy
Born in Port Tobbaco, Maryland, as a teenager O'Neal moved from her family's Maryland farm to her aunt's fashionable boardinghouse in Washington, D.C. Personable, intelligent, and outgoing, she adapted easily to the social scene of the capital, and people in Washington's highest circles opened their doors to her. Regarded as a beautiful, ambitious, seductive woman, she disappointed an army of suitors by marrying Dr. Robert Greenhow, an influential, learned man under whose tutelage she flourished and to whom she bore 4 daughters.
Among her friends were presidents, senators, high-ranking military officers, and less important people from all walks of life, many of whom played knowing or unknowing roles in the espionage ring she organized in 1861. One of her closest companions had been John C. Calhoun, whose political instruction sealed Rose's identification with and loyalty to Southern interests.
A widow when war broke out, Greenhow immediately used her contacts and talents to provide Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard with information resulting in the Union rout at First Bull Run.
Suspected of espionage and imprisoned Aug. 1861, she continued gathering and forwarding information vital to Confederate operations. News of her activities brought publicity and tremendous popularity among Southern sympathizers. After being brought to trial in spring 1862, Greenhow was deported to Richmond, where cheering crowds greeted her.
That summer Jefferson Davis sent her to Europe as a courier. She stayed there collecting diplomatic intelligence and writing her memoirs until recalled in 1864, apparently bearing dispatches urgent to the Confederacy. Sailing on the blockade runner Condor, she reached the mouth of the Cape Fear River just outside Wilmington, N.C., when a Union ship gave chase, forcing the Condor aground on a sandbar early on the morning of 1 Oct. Greenhow, fearing capture and re-imprisonment, persuaded the captain to send her and 2 companions ashore in a lifeboat, but in stormy seas the small vessel overturned. Rose drowned, dragged down by the $2,000 in gold she carried. Her body was found and identified a few days later and buried with honors in Wilmington.
Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricia L. Faust
Among her friends were presidents, senators, high-ranking military officers, and less important people from all walks of life, many of whom played knowing or unknowing roles in the espionage ring she organized in 1861. One of her closest companions had been John C. Calhoun, whose political instruction sealed Rose's identification with and loyalty to Southern interests.
A widow when war broke out, Greenhow immediately used her contacts and talents to provide Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard with information resulting in the Union rout at First Bull Run.
Suspected of espionage and imprisoned Aug. 1861, she continued gathering and forwarding information vital to Confederate operations. News of her activities brought publicity and tremendous popularity among Southern sympathizers. After being brought to trial in spring 1862, Greenhow was deported to Richmond, where cheering crowds greeted her.
That summer Jefferson Davis sent her to Europe as a courier. She stayed there collecting diplomatic intelligence and writing her memoirs until recalled in 1864, apparently bearing dispatches urgent to the Confederacy. Sailing on the blockade runner Condor, she reached the mouth of the Cape Fear River just outside Wilmington, N.C., when a Union ship gave chase, forcing the Condor aground on a sandbar early on the morning of 1 Oct. Greenhow, fearing capture and re-imprisonment, persuaded the captain to send her and 2 companions ashore in a lifeboat, but in stormy seas the small vessel overturned. Rose drowned, dragged down by the $2,000 in gold she carried. Her body was found and identified a few days later and buried with honors in Wilmington.
Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricia L. Faust