Born in Port Tobacco, Maryland, as a teenager Rose O’Neal moved from her family’s Maryland farm to her aunt’s fashionable boardinghouse in Washington, DC. Personable, intelligent, and outgoing, she adapted easily to the social scene of the capital, and people in Washington’s highest circles opened their doors to her.
At the age of 26, Rose disappointed an army of suitors by marrying 43-year-old Dr. Robert Greenhow, a wealthy and learned man with whom she had four daughters. In 1850, the couple left Washington and traveled west to pursue the promise of great financial gain. Instead, an injury led to the early death of Dr. Greenhow in San Francisco.
A popular Washington widow and hostess when the Civil War began, Mrs. Greenhow moved easily in the social circles of the nation’s capital. Among her friends were presidents, senators, high-ranking military officers, and less important people from all walks of life. One of her closest companions had been John C. Calhoun, whose political instruction engendered Rose’s loyalty to Southern interests.
