The Pinks by Chris Enss

Author:Chris Enss [Enss, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2017-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Allan Pinkerton, chief of McClellan’s Secret Service, with his men near Cumberland Landing, Virginia Courtesy of the National Archives, photo no. 522914

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency had a number of offices, one each in Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, and Cincinnati. Kate was assigned the Ohio office, not far from McClellan’s division. Posing as a Southern belle, she traveled to Virginia and Tennessee, frequenting social events with genuine Southern ladies who were married or engaged to Rebel soldiers. These belles would often share details their significant others told them about where and when the Confederate Army was moving. Such information was passed along to McClellan and Pinkerton.35

Later during the month of May, Kate and a handful of other operatives were meeting with Pinkerton at his Washington office on I Street when a prominent leader in the capital told them about a woman who was suspected of being a Confederate spy.36

According to Pinkerton’s memoirs, the lady was Rose Greenhow, a Southern woman of “pronounced Rebel proclivities, and who had been unsparing in her denunciation of the ‘Abolition North,’ and who had openly declared that instead of loving and worshipping the old flag of the Stars and Stripes, she saw in it only the symbol of murder, plunder, oppression, and shame.” Pinkerton planned to utilize all the agents in his employ to combat the influential spy. Kate’s assignment in the battle was key, and evolved as the investigation played out.37

Now a widow, Rose Greenhow had been born in 1814 on a farm in Montgomery County, Maryland. When she was thirteen, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Washington. Her relatives were close, with a number of people who were advocates of slavery and states’ rights. As she grew older, she adopted their viewpoint and became not only a supporter of the Confederate cause, but also a spokesperson for the rebellion. At the age of twenty-one, she met and married Washington’s most eligible and well-respected bachelor, Dr. Robert Greenhow. Her new husband’s position, combined with her beauty, refined manners, and congenial personality, catapulted her to the top of the social scene. Rose was as cunning and smart as she was attractive, and focused on cultivating friendships with the leading figures in the city.38

She was well acquainted with James Buchanan, northern Democrats, and Southern sympathizers. In 1856 she had encouraged Buchanan to run for the presidency, and helped to raise funds and voters needed for him to receive the nomination. Rose was good friends with political leaders such as senators William H. Seward of New York, Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. Her association with army leaders, politicians, and the affluent earned her a reputation as the woman ambitious legislators needed to know to get anything accomplished in government.39

When Abraham Lincoln was elected to office in 1860, Rose’s influence dwindled to nothing. Furious that a Republican and antislavery activist was now in the White House, she decided to rail against the system. Seven states seceded from the Union, and the majority of the Southern supporters left the capital.

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