Wild Rose: Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy

By Ann Blackman

Book Overview

For sheer bravado and style, no woman in the North or South rivaled the Civil War heroine Rose O'Neale Greenhow. Fearless spy for the Confederacy, glittering Washington hostess, legendary beauty and lover, Rose Greenhow risked everything for the cause she valued more than life itself. In this superb portrait, biographer Ann Blackman tells the surprising true story of a unique woman in history.

"I am a Southern woman, born with revolutionary blood in my veins," Rose once declared-and that fiery spirit would plunge her into the center of power and the thick of adventure. Born into a slave-holding family, Rose moved to Washington, D.C., as a young woman and soon established herself as one of the capital's most charming and influential socialites, an intimate of John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and Dolley Madison.

She married well, bore eight children and buried five, and, at the height of the Gold Rush, accompanied her husband Robert Greenhow to San Francisco. Widowed after Robert died in a tragic accident, Rose became notorious in Washington for her daring-and numerous-love affairs.

But with the outbreak of the Civil War, everything changed. Overnight, Rose Greenhow, fashionable hostess, become Rose Greenhow, intrepid spy. As Blackman reveals, deadly accurate intelligence that Rose supplied to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard written in a fascinating code (the code duplicated in the background on the jacket of this book). Her message to Beauregard turned the tide in the first Battle of Bull Run, and was a brilliant piece of spycraft that eventually led to her arrest by Allan Pinkerton and imprisonment with her young daughter.

Indomitable, Rose regained her freedom and, as the war reached a crisis, journeyed to Europe to plead the Confederate cause at the royal courts of England and France.
Drawing on newly discovered diaries and a rich trove of contemporary accounts, Blackman has fashioned a thrilling, intimate narrative that reads like a novel. Wild Rose is an unforgettable rendering of an astonishing woman, a book that will stand with the finest Civil War biographies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812970454
• ISBN13: 9780812970456
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Fascinating Addition to Civil War Literature

This is a delightful book, and in many ways: 1. It describes the life of a wonderfully interesting lady who didn't stay just home and make babies. 2. It gives a picture of Washington D.C. as it existed at the time of the Civil War. This picture is in two parts: a. the physical aspects, the filth, smell, and how life was lived, and b. the way Washington worked then (and now) power, money and sex. 3. It is based on new information -- her diary, originally thought to have been written in code, but in fact just very poor penmanship. The story starts with a message sent to Gen. P.G.T Beauregard to give him an week's notice of when the Union Army would attack Manassas (Bull Run). He used this information to order reinforcements that enabled him to defeat the yankees. Through the course of the war Rose would be caught, imprisoned (without habeas corpus to even know the charges against her). She was exiled to the South, where she was sent by President Davis to France and England to try to get them to assist the South. This is a fascinating book. All the more so because it is true. Rose was a character born long before her time.

Wild Rose

Wild Rose with its great research by the author adds a rarely publized subject to the many civil war books and should go down as one of the most interesting. The research is fabulous and is used to paint a picture of the times thru the eyes of a politically active "idealist" leading to spying,prison, and eventually - her DEATH. For civil war history buffs(such as me) it has great qualilty and for those not into history, it is a story that could be repeated many times in the future.

I can't believe I never knew this stuff!

Maybe I'd heard of Rose Greenhow somewhere, but I certainly never knew anything about her amazing life in Washington before the Civil War, hob-nobbing with presidents, crossing the Isthmus of Panama, listening to John Calhoun's rants about Northern abolitionists and nursing him on his deathbed. Author Blackman paints a shocking portrait of the capital as a center of slavery, elitism and provincial thinking; muddy streets strewn with garbage and the story of a runaway presidential carriage. You can smell the city through her writing. Blackman's discovery of Rose's diary brings the woman to life. Who could imagine her arguing with Napoleon III or taking tea with Thomas Carlyle? The lively writing and careful attention to every detail make this book an illuminating exposition of American history.

Best read all summer!

Loved this book! Civil War Washington came to life with stories of walking along the Avenue & excursions to the market, plus the grit we didn't learn in school about slave cages not far from the Capitol. Blackman reveals Rose Greenhow's life in amazing detail-from the books Rose read to anecdotes from her personal diary. At the same time, Blackman explains the context of the period, the rising tension in the nation's capital & the complexity of Washington's intertwining political & social scenes. Beautifully written & packed with historical detail, this is definitely the best read of the summer.

Couldn't sleep till I finished it!

This is one of the greatest true-life stories I've ever read. In fact, it's one of the best stories, period. I got my copy the day it came out, started reading after dinner and could not put the book down. I finished it before dawn. From the suspense of the opening chapter with a young woman crossing enemy lines until Rose's tragic death on her race for home, the detail and drama just kept me riveted. It's amazing that a 19th century woman could have so many adventures and accomplish so much at a time when women weren't even taken seriously, except to have babies and look after their husbands. I nominate Wild Rose for best history/biography of the year!