Visitor's Passes to Prisoners

[Susan Higginbotham]

I was at the National Archives yesterday looking through the Old Capitol Prison visitors' passes to see if there were visitors to Mary Surratt and the other boarding house ladies. I didn't find any, but I thought these passes, one to issued to Edwin Booth to visit his brother Junius, the other issued to Emma Offut to visit her brother-in-law John Lloyd, might be of interest. Apologies for the intrusion of my fingers--I didn't have those thingies to hold down the documents I was photographing:

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A couple of other fun facts I learned: Virginia Lomax, who later published a memoir of her stay in prison, is listed in the records as Mattie Virginia Lomax, and her profession is given as a schoolteacher. Catherine Virginia Baxley, who was imprisoned as a courier in January 1865 and whose dying son Mrs. Surratt is said to have nursed, initially gave the false name of Frances Parker when she was arrested.

[Dave Taylor]

Very cool stuff, Susan! Thank you so much for sharing. If I might ask about how many passes of this sort were in the collection?

[Susan Higginbotham]

I would guess about 75 or so from 1865. I went through them rather quickly, as I had just a few hours to sift through a bunch of things, and they're all just jumbled together in the file box, with no alphabetical ordering. Someone did note the names of the prisoner and the visitor on the outside of most of the folded passes.

[Dave Taylor]

Do you recall if there were other passes relating to assassination suspects? Or were these the only ones that jumped out at you? Also could you give me the specific collection name/# in case I want to go and look at them myself some day?

[Susan Higginbotham]

I didn't see any other names that jumped out at me. The passes are in Record Group 393, E 2131, Old Capitol Prison Visitors' Passes. They're referenced in volume IV, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of United States Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920. I'll send you a scan of the pages from the finding aid the archivist sent to me if you like.

There's some cool stuff from the prison there. There are reports showing the dates on which individual prisoners were released, transferred, or committed (2137, Morning Reports of Prisoners, Jan. 1864-September 1865, and 2130, Lists of Prisoners of State and War Committed and Released, March-Nov. 1865). I had been trying to find a release date for Anna Surratt, and was able to determine that she was released either on May 31 or June 1.

[Dave Taylor]

(10-11-2014 10:59 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I had been trying to find a release date for Anna Surratt, and was able to determine that she was released either on May 31 or June 1.

Thanks for the information, Susan.

Since the records you were looking at were morning reports, it is probable that Anna Surratt was released during the day of May 31st with the release being noted on the morning report for June 1st. I have a hand written copy of the committal/transfer/release logs that was transcribed by James O. Hall. Copies of those are in the James O Hall Research Center.

I assume that you were already well aware that Nora Fitzpatrick was arrested with the household, released, and then rearrested a couple days later. That information is also in the records.

You motivated me to pick up and reread parts of Virginia Lomax's book. I can just see Mrs. Surratt, imprisoned at the Old Capitol, caring for Mrs. Baxley's son during his illness and death. She also was probably one of the "few of us" who "were permitted to be present" at his funeral services in the prison's "lumber room".

[L Verge]

Mrs. Baxley herself is a very "interesting" lady. From the little bit that I know about her (and we do have a small file at the museum), she would have been one of those women who drove her guards and prison superintendents crazy. A Surratt Society member wrote an article about her and Mrs. Surratt's caring for her dying son many years ago for our Courier.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(10-11-2014 11:36 AM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  

(10-11-2014 10:59 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I had been trying to find a release date for Anna Surratt, and was able to determine that she was released either on May 31 or June 1.

Thanks for the information, Susan.

Since the records you were looking at were morning reports, it is probable that Anna Surratt was released during the day of May 31st with the release being noted on the morning report for June 1st. I have a hand written copy of the committal/transfer/release logs that was transcribed by James O. Hall. Copies of those are in the James O Hall Research Center.

I assume that you were already well aware that Nora Fitzpatrick was arrested with the household, released, and then rearrested a couple days later. That information is also in the records.

You motivated me to pick up and reread parts of Virginia Lomax's book. I can just see Mrs. Surratt, imprisoned at the Old Capitol, caring for Mrs. Baxley's son during his illness and death. She also was probably one of the "few of us" who "were permitted to be present" at his funeral services in the prison's "lumber room".

Colonel Colby also has Mrs. Surratt attending William Baxley's funeral: "She was accompanied to the cemetery in the same carriage by Mrs. Surratt (who was afterward hanged for complicity with President Lincolns assassination), and a couple of guards detailed for the purpose."

http://www.civilwarhome.com/oldcapitolprison.htm

One thing I realized when I was working on the timelines for all of this, though, is that Miss Lomax wasn't actually a witness to some of the events she recounts in her memoir, and the memoir gives the impression she was in prison much longer than she actually was. William Baxley, for instance, died on April 22, five days before Miss Lomax was imprisoned, so her account of his death is secondhand. Mrs. Baxley in her diary doesn't mention Mrs. Surratt's presence at her son's deathbed, although her presence at the funeral suggests to me that she was probably there when he died, or at least was there to help his grieving mother afterward. Miss Lomax also claims that Anna Surratt and Nora were released when the trial began, but Nora wasn't released until May 22, the day she gave her testimony for the prosecution, and Anna wasn't released until May 31. Miss Lomax was released well before either young woman--on May 2--so I suspect parts of her memoir were actually based on the recollections of others, possibly her friends the Greens.

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(10-11-2014 11:52 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Mrs. Baxley herself is a very "interesting" lady. From the little bit that I know about her (and we do have a small file at the museum), she would have been one of those women who drove her guards and prison superintendents crazy. A Surratt Society member wrote an article about her and Mrs. Surratt's caring for her dying son many years ago for our Courier.

The file is on its way to me! I've been trying to figure out when she died. The last I can find of her is from 1867, when General Lee wrote a letter to her (she was then in Baltimore) in reference to a donation he had made to a group called the Southern Orphan Association, of which Mrs. Baxley was the corresponding secretary. Evidently at this point the association had split into two factions, each claiming to represent the group, and General Lee had sent his donation to the wrong faction (in Mrs. Baxley's view).

She doesn't turn up in the 1870 census or in any city directories that I've found. I thought for a while that she might have remarried, but it turns out she wasn't free to, as she had received a divorce from bed and board from her husband, Joshua Baxley, in 1860 (in essence, a legal separation) as opposed to an absolute divorce. He didn't die until many years later.

[L Verge]

Can't wait to see what you find. I only remember the little pieces about her son and her harassment of the Old Capitol guards.

[BettyO]

Fantastic finds, Susan! What great stuff. It's always so exciting to me when someone finds something new regarding the assassination/conspirators....thanks so very much for sharing!

[Susan Higginbotham]

(10-11-2014 02:44 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Fantastic finds, Susan! What great stuff. It's always so exciting to me when someone finds something new regarding the assassination/conspirators....thanks so very much for sharing!

Thanks!

[Gene C]

What is her connection to the conspiracy?

[Susan Higginbotham]

(10-12-2014 05:57 PM)Gene C Wrote:  What is her connection to the conspiracy?

Whose, Baxley's? None direct that I know of, except that she had been imprisoned in the Old Capitol in January 1865 and was still there when Mary Surratt and the other ladies in her household were arrested.

Baxley was, however, in Canada in the fall of 1864 (her son, who was in Richmond following a prisoner exchange, attempted to get permission from the Confederate authorities to visit her there), which raises the interesting question of whom she might have met when she was there.

[L Verge]

That's what I have often wondered about Mrs. Baxley, Susan. She appears to be just the weird kind of character that the authorities would write off as being too bizarre to be of any use. An excellent cover for clandestine activities. That is pure "wishing" on my part, however.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(10-13-2014 11:39 AM)L Verge Wrote:  That's what I have often wondered about Mrs. Baxley, Susan. She appears to be just the weird kind of character that the authorities would write off as being too bizarre to be of any use. An excellent cover for clandestine activities. That is pure "wishing" on my part, however.

It certainly worked well enough for Elizabeth Van Lew!