A native of Maryland, Rose Greenhow was a prominent antebellum society hostess in Washington, D. C.; she counted politicians such as James Buchanan, John C. Calhoun, William H. Seward, and Jefferson Davis among her friends and had familial ties to James and Dolley Madison, Stephen Douglas, John Tyler, and George Washington. In 1861, Greenhow developed a network of Confederate agents which provided intelligence to General P. G. T. Beauregard. She and her spy ring were credited by Jefferson Davis with ensuring the southern victory at the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. Arrested by Allan Pinkerton on August 23, 1861, she and her youngest daughter were imprisoned in their home and the Old Capitol Prison for more than nine months before being released to the south in June 1862. Although Mrs. Greenhow had proclaimed vehemently that she desired a public trial, this request was never granted because of concerns that she would reveal her high-ranking sources. The Confederate government dispatched Rose Greenhow on a diplomatic/propaganda mission to Europe in the summer of 1863, where she published her memoirs and was granted a private audience with Napoleon III. Rose Greenhow drowned off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina while attempting to run the blockade following her European sojourn and was buried with full military honors by the Confederacy.
Mrs. Greenhow speaks for the Virginia Center for Civil War studies
At the International Spy Museum for the launch of "Wild Rose: Civil War Spy"
In Beauregard Parish, Louisiana
Mrs. Greenhow speaks for the Virginia Center for Civil War studies
First-person interpreter Emily Lapisardi portrays Rose Greenhow in a presentation drawn from primary sources including Greenhow's memoirs and correspondence, bringing her vividly and realistically to life through her own words. Emily is also the editor of Rose Greenhow's My Imprisonment: An Annotated Edition, which debuted as the highest-ranking new release in Amazon.com's U. S. Civil War Women's History category in the spring of 2021.
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She has portrayed Rose Greenhow at a range of venues including the International Spy Museum, Manassas Museum System, Manassas National Battlefield Park, the Lomas Center (Gettysburg, PA), Petersburg National Battlefield Park, the Virginia Tech Civil War Weekend, the Society for Women and the Civil War's 2022 conference, the Surratt Society's annual dinner, book launch events with author Ann Blackman for her biography Wild Rose: Civil War Spy, and for numerous historical societies, reenactments, and round tables.
Other recent speaking engagements include Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, NC (Greenhow's gravesite), the American Civil War Museum at Appomattox, C. S. S. Neuse Interpretive Center (Kinston, NC), National Civil War Museum (Harrisburg, PA), Seward House Museum, the 1860s Civilian Celebration (Capon Springs, WV), and the Civil War Lecture series at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. She has presented for numerous Civil War Round Tables including: the Cape Fear Civil War Round Table (Wilmington, NC), Dan Sickles Civil War Round Table, Louisville Civil War Roundtable (KY), Austin Civil War Round Table, New Orleans Civil War Round Table, Butler County Civil War Round Table (PA), Wayne County Civil War Round Table (Wooster, OH), Ulster County Civil War Round Table (Kingston, NY), and the Central Pennsylvania Civil War Round Table.​​
Advance Praise
for Rose Greenhow's My Imprisonment: An Annotated Edition
“Meticulously, and in fascinating detail, Emily Lapisardi has annotated the memoir of one of the most controversial figures of the Civil War. Rose Greenhow—Confederate spy, provocateur, consummate name-dropper and social climber—lived a brief but tumultuous life, and Lapisardi puts it into thorough and proper context.”
— Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
“This edition, edited by Emily Lapisardi, is a valuable resource and should be part of any serious library of the Civil War. Greenhow had a distinctly political mind during an era where women were not encouraged to engage in political issues, especially during times of war. Lapisardi provides the context that Greenhow assumed her contemporary reader understood: the identification of the ‘who, what, when, where’ of 19th century Washington is critical in understanding the significance of Rose Greenhow and her espionage activities historically.”
--Janet Elizabeth Croon, editor of The War Outside My Window: the Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865
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Click here to read Emily Lapisardi's interview on the Emerging Civil War Blog.