Saturday, 1 October 1864

Mrs. Rose O’Neal Greenhow is a relatively famous person of the War Between the States years, about whom relatively little is known. She was arrested on several occasions over the course of the war, on a number of charges or none at all. The actual offense of which she was suspected was espionage, but to try a woman on a capital charge would have brought on an inglorious uproar. She was deported several times to the South, and had finally gone on a mission to Europe garnering support for the Southern cause. She was returning this afternoon when her ship, the British blockade runner Condor, ran aground while being pursued by the USS Niphon outside New Inlet, North Carolina. Carrying papers and a reputed $2000 in British gold in a bag around her neck, she demanded to be put ashore in a small boat. The boat capsized in the surf and, pulled under by the gold, Mrs. Greenhow was drowned.

Another report: At the beginning of the war, Maryland native Rose O'Neal Greenhow lived in Washington, D.C., with her four children. Her deceased husband was wealthy and well connected in the capital, and Greenhow used her influence to aid the Southern cause. Working with Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Jordan, she established an elaborate spy network in Washington. The effectiveness of the operation was soon demonstrated when Greenhow received information concerning the movements of General Irvin McDowell's army shortly before the Battle of First Manassas in July 1861. A female courier carried messages from Greenhow to Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard at his Fairfax, Virginia, headquarters. Beauregard later testified that because of the gained intelligence, he requested extra troops from General Joseph Johnston's nearby command, helping the Confederates score a dramatic victory against the Yankees in the first major battle of the war. Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent Greenhow a letter of appreciation the day after the battle.

Federal authorities soon learned of the security leaks, and the trail led to Greenhow's residence. She was placed under house arrest, and other suspected female spies were soon arrested and joined her there. The house, nicknamed "Fort Greenhow," still managed to produce information for the Rebels. When her good friend, Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson, visited Greenhow, he carelessly provided important intelligence that Greenhow slipped to her operatives. After five months, she and her youngest daughter, "Little Rose," were transferred to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. She was incarcerated until June 1862, when she went into exile in the South.

Greenhow and Little Rose spent the next two years in England. Greenhow penned a memoir titled My Imprisonment and traveled to England and France, drumming up support for the Southern cause. She then decided to return to the Confederacy to contribute more directly to the war effort. Greenhow and her daughter were on board the British blockade-runner Condor when it was intercepted by the U.S.S. Niphon off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The Yankee ship ran Condor aground near Forth Fischer. Greenhow was carrying Confederate dispatches and $2,000 in gold. Insisting that she be taken ashore, she boarded a small lifeboat that overturned in the rough surf. The weight of the gold pulled her under, and her body washed ashore the next morning. Greenhow was given a hero's funeral and buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina, her body wrapped in the Confederate flag.

Naval report: The USS Niphon, under Acting Master Edmund Kemble, ran the British blockade runner Condor aground off New Inlet, North Carolina. The Niphon was prevented from destroying the steamer by intense fire from Fort Fisher. Among the passengers on board Condor was one of the most famous Confederate agents of the war, Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow. Mrs. Greenhow, fearful of being captured on the grounded runner with her important dispatches, set out in a boat for shore, but the craft overturned in the heavy surf. The crew managed to get ashore, but the woman, weighted down by $2,000 in British gold in a pouch around her neck, drowned.

Major General John G. Walker, CSA, reported to the Confederate States War Department that 10 sailors and marines under Captain W. F. Brown, CSMC, and Lieutenant Marcus J. Beebee, CSN, had disguised themselves as passengers on board the steamer Ike Davis and had captured her off Brazos, Texas. After overpowering the crew and imprisoning them below, the Confederates took Ike Davis into Matagorda Bay, Texas.

This morning at Peebles' Farm, Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lieutenant General A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Major General Gershom Mott’s division, the Yankees would resume their advance on the 2nd, capture Fort MacRae which was lightly defended, and extend their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles’ and Pegram’s Farms. With these limited successes, Meade will then suspend the offensive. A new line is entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram’s Farm.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederates battled at Athens and Huntsville in Alabama, then captured blockhouses at Carter’s Creek Station, Tennessee.

General Sterling Price’s Southerners fought near Union, Franklin, and Lake Springs in Missouri.