Mary Greenhow Lee

Mary Greenhow Lee

Stewart Bell Jr. Archives of Handley Regional Library

Quick Facts

Significance:

Civil War Diarist

Place of Birth:

Richmond, Virginia

Date of Birth:

September 19, 1819

Place of Death:

Baltimore, Maryland

Date of Death:

May 25, 1907

Place of Burial:

Winchester, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Mount Hebron Cemetery

Mary Greenhow Lee's journal about the Civil War in Winchester, Virginia included important details about civilian life and military actions in the war-torn city. Pro-Unionists later referred to her as a "Devil's Diarist" because of her defiant support of the Confederacy. 

Upper Class Childhood

Mary Greenhow was born in Richmond, Virginia. She was the daughter of Robert Greenhow, a Virginia assemblyman, mayor of Richmond, and businessman, and his second wife, Mary Lorraine Charlton Greenhow of Yorktown.

She grew up in an octagonal two-story brick home that took up the better part of the block facing the state capitol. Mary's upbringing was filled with luxury and comfort. The year Mary was born, her father paid taxes on twelve enslaved people to help run this large urban home. Robert Greenhow built a successful mercantile firm and amassed as many as twenty-one city lots and abundant farmland in surrounding Henrico County.

In addition to her family's wealth, Mary grew up in the presence of some of the most important men in city, state, and national government. Mary's older brother James Washington Greenhow became a lawyer. Her older half-brother, Robert Greenhow Jr., was a trained doctor but worked for the US State Department during Andrew Jackson's presidency. Robert introduced Mary to the workings of government. Robert's wife, the future Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow, took Mary to social events where she flirted with Martin Van Buren's son and drank afternoon tea with Dolley Madison. 

Winchester & Civil War

Mary married her distant cousin Hugh Holmes Lee in 1843. They moved to Winchester Hugh where worked as a lawyer until his death in 1856. The widowed Mary continued to live with Hugh's two unmarried sisters and several of their children. When Virginia seceded in April of 1861, Mary enslaved at least five laborers to manage her large house in downtown Winchester. 

As Winchester changed numerous times, Mary turned her home into a boardinghouse for Confederate officers but refused to socialize or entertain US officers. She collected contraband supplies such as socks, shoes, and food for Confederate soldiers. She also helped care for wounded soldiers when Winchester's hotels and churches were turned into makeshift hospitals. These acts were documented in her private journal and reveal how everyday civilians actively participated in the war. 

Defiant Secessionist

US General Philip Sheridan exiled Mary from Winchester in February 1865. She relocated to Baltimore, Maryland and operated three successive boardinghouses. Mary served as an officer of the Baltimore Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and organization which promoted the Lost Cause myth after the war. After her death in 1907 her body was returned to Winchester for internment. A Baltimore tax collector calculated that Mary owned no taxable wealth at the end of her life, a drastic difference compared to her childhood. Nevertheless, one of the most valuable items she left behind was the Civil War journal, which continues to impress historians.