Whatever Happened to “Little Rose”?

DBF

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It’s January 18, 1862 and eight year old “Little Rose” was going to a new home. She had been living with her mother at 16th and K Streets in Washington D.C.. and now mother and daughter are being moved. The authorities gave them two hours to pack whatever they needed. They are no longer under house arrest - this is their new address:

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The Old Capital Prison
Washington, D.C.
(United States Public Domain)

It was said that when Little Rose walked into the prison she immediately looked sweetly upon the guards and said:

“You have got one of the hardest little rebels here that you ever saw.” {1}

* * *​

Thus began the life of Little Rose the youngest daughter born April 3, 1853 to Dr. Robert Greenhow and his wife, a future well known and successful Confederate spy, Rose O’Neal Greenhow. She was the last of four daughters among the nine total children born to the Greenhow’s. Her sisters, born years before Little Rose, were Florence Virginia (1836-1892); Gertude (1838-1861); Lelia (1840-1886) and between the years of Lelia and Little Rose two sisters Hannah and Alice and 2 brothers Robert Jr. and Morgan died as infants or as very young children. Sadly Dr. Greenhow would never live to see his daughter’s first birthday. Life was not going to be easy for Little Rose. Within a few days of turning eight years old the nation was engaged in a Civil War and Little Rose’s life would change forever. Within nine months after the first shot at Fort Sumter she was sharing a cell with her mother. They would live at the Old Capital Prison until their release on June 2, 1862.

* * *

How much did this little girl know about the actions of her mother?

Little Rose was said to have been quite a charmer and an astute child. She listened as the adults talked of war and politics. She was becoming “her mother’s daughter” and was emerging as a little rebel. Before she went to bed, if her mother was entertaining guests, Little Rose would sing to the delight of all her favorite lullaby - “Old Abe’s Lament” -

“Jeff Davis is Coming, Oh! dear! Oh! dear,
Jeff Davis is Coming, Oh! dear;
I dare not stir out for I feel very queer

Jeff Davis is Coming, Oh! dear.” {5}

She was not shy at that tender age to voice how much she hated those “Yankees”.

* * *​

Allan Pinkerton first came to the Greenhow home in August 23rd of 1861. Little Rose was in the garden when the agents arrived and started screaming: “Mother has been arrested!” {1}. This search and questioning was happening as Little Rose was sitting up in a tree, kicking the two agents who tried to grabbed her and pull her down to quiet her screams. At this point - mother and daughter were under house arrest - and the guards that came to visit were there to stay.

There seems to be some that believe Little Rose may have been an accomplice in her mother’s spy ring. As the little girl was playing in the garden visitors would come to call. Little Rose, as on cue, would greet them with a smile and then be handed a paper wrapped candy. She called a warm good-bye and “thank you” as politely as she could while she handed them a slip of paper hidden in her dress. Then it was a run to her mother to show her the candy she had been given. Little Rose ate the candy - her mother took the paper wrapping which of course was a coded message. Her mother even had a special nick-name for her daughter - “Little Bird” - just like messenger birds carrying news to and fro.

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Mother & Daughter 1862
Capital Prison
(United States Public Domain)

It all ended on that winter’s day in January when their new home became the Capital Prison, or did it? Although times were tough for the mother-daughter as they suffered from hunger and illness, they still managed to communicate with spies and a Confederate flag was seen one day fluttering from their window.

The Greenhow’s were eventually sent back to Richmond where Little Rose got to meet Jefferson Davis and visit the soldiers. Soon they would be headed to Europe.

* * *
Rose Greenhow knew she was a known spy and feared for her daughter’s safety. She thought it best to take Little Rose with her when she was sent to Europe as a courier for the Confederate cause. Running blockades they made their way to Paris where her mother left her young daughter into the care of the sisters at Sacred Hearts Convent. This was the start of her official education. By August 1864 her mother returned from her various visits to diplomats and rulers in Europe to say goodbye to her daughter. Little Rose now eleven years old did not want to stay in Paris nevertheless, Rose Greenhow was not about to take the little girl back in the middle of the war. They said their fond farewells and Rose left to return home.

Tragically she never saw her mother again. On August 19, 1864 her mother left for the United States. Sadly on October 1st the ship she was on ran aground along the Southern coast when Union vessels gave chase. Although she managed to get off the ship and safely into a smaller boat, she drowned as it was reported she was carrying "extra weight - all in gold" she had collected from her time in Europe. For Little Rose in Paris she was now an orphan and away from her home.

* * *
She remained in Paris until 1870 returning to live with her sister Florence and her husband Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General Seymour Treadmill Moore. You read that right - Rose O’Neal Greenhow’s son-in-law was a union general and a graduate of West Point (1847).

It was here that Rose Greenhow married Lieutenant William Penn Duvall. The Newport, Rhode Island wedding was celebrated on November 30, 1871. The divorce was recorded in 1897. The parents of one daughter Mary Lee (1872-1939) were not meant to be as a couple. Rose found him to be a “severe disciplinarian” forcing Rose to leave him and for a time she was employed as a stage actress. He sued for divorce on the grounds of desertion claiming abandonment. He married again in 1902.

Rose returned to France where she retired from the public life. She became devout in her faith returning to the Sacred Hearts Convent. She died at fifty-seven on September 11, 1910 and is buried “somewhere in France”.

* * *
While searching through Rose O’Neal Greenhow’s papers there was found this note among her effects. It is written to her daughter “Little Rose”:

“You have shared the hardships and indignity of my prison life, my darling; and suffered all that evil which a vulgar despotism could inflict. Let the memory of that period never pass from your mind; Else you may be inclined to forget how merciful Providence has been in seizing us from such a people.

Rose O’N Greenhow”
{1}


* * *​


Sources
1. https://gazette665.com/2017/06/30/little-rose-greenhow-the-famous-spys-daughter/
2.
https://www.geni.com/people/Rose-Duvall/6000000010799588534
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1772/rose-o_neal-greenhow
4. https://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2016/10/28/how-confederate-womans-dc-home-became-union-prison
5. https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/161
Wikipedia: Rose O’Neal Greenhow/Old Capital Prison
 
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Fantastic Story.
 
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