Mrs. Rose 0'Neal Greenhow, a zealous and trusted friend of the Confederacy, lived in Washington at the opening of the war. It was she who, on July 10, 1861, sent the famous cipher message to Beauregard, "Order issued for McDowell to move on Manassas to-night." Acting on this, Beauregard promptly arranged his army for the expected attack, while Johnson and "Stonewall" Jackson hastened from the Valley to aid in repelling the Federal advance. Mrs. Greenhow’s secret-service work was cut short on August 28th, when Allan Pinkerton, the Federal detective, arrested her and put her under military guard at her home, 898 Sixteenth Street Afterward she was transferred to tile Old Capitol Prison. She remained there until April, 1862. On June 2d, after pledging her word not to come north of the Potomac until the war was over, Mrs. Greenhow was escorted beyond the lines of the Union army and set at liberty. It was later discovered that she had, even while in prison, corresponded extensively with Colonel Thomas Jordan, of General Beauregard's staff.
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