The Condor arrived opposite the mouth of the river on the night of September 30, but as she crept up the river, the pilot saw an object about 200 yards from shore which he thought was an enemy vessel, and he swerved his course and ran his vessel on New Inlet Bar. The object was the Night Hawk, a blockade runner which had been run down the previous night, and the Condor might have completed the trip in safety. Mrs. Greenhow and her party begged the captain to send them ashore in a boat, as this seemed the only chance of escape from a second arrest as a spy. The captain acceded to her request, and the boat put off. It capsized, however, and Mrs. Greenhow, weighted by her clothing and a quantity of golden sovereigns, was drowned a few yards from land.
Her body washed ashore the next day and was found by Mr. Thomas E. Taylor, who afterwards took it to Wilmington. She was laid out in the Seamen's Bethel, beautiful in death as she had been in life. She was wrapped in the Confederate flag and with full honors of war interred in Oakdale Cemetery, where a small cross bearing her name may be seen to this day.
After the funeral her personal effects and the articles she had brought with her from abroad were sold at public auction. It was said that an English countess or duchess had an interest in the speculation and was to have shared the profits.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the Word."
[2] The Banshee and a few other blockade runners mentioned in this book as escaping capture were later either captured or stranded.
[3] Returned to England.
[4] Mr. Craig has since died.
[5] There are no formal records available to verify this.