Death
In September 1864, Greenhow left Europe to return to the Confederate States, carrying dispatches. She traveled on the Condor, a British blockade runner. On October 1, 1864, the Condor ran aground at the mouth of the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, North Carolina, while begin pursued by a Union gunboat, USS Niphon. Fearing capture and reimprisonment, Greenhow fled the grounded ship by rowboat. A wave capsized the rowboat, and Greenhow, weighed down with $2,000 worth of gold in a bag around her neck from her memoir royalties intended for the Confederate treasury, drowned.
When Greenhow's body was recovered from the water near Wilmington, North Carolina, searchers found a copy of her book "Imprisonment" hidden on her person. Inside the book was a note meant for her daughter, Little Rose, which read:
London, Nov 1st 1863 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'Neal Greenhow.
Read more about this topic: Rose O'Neal Greenhow
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