Mosby's Men in Southern Maryland

[BettyO]

(07-29-2012 06:24 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I need some help with further investigating something that Gen Tidwell mentioned in Come Retribution and April '65. On April 15, 1865, the day after the assassination, there was a minor skirmish in St. Mary's County, Maryland, between a troop of Mosby's men and a small Union force. The skirmish occurred near a plantation known as The Plains, which had been turned into a "government farm" during the war after being confiscated from the family of John H. Sothoron.

Col. Sothoron made Northern newspapers in October of 1863, when Union recruiters sailed up the Patuxent River to his plantation and began herding his slaves out of the fields towards the ship. Col. Sothoron and his son, Webster, confronted the recruiters (two of them were black soldiers), and a Lt. Eben White fired at Webster. Fortunately, the gunpowder did not ignite. However, Lt. White then charged at Webster with his bayonet. Col. Sothoron fired and killed the lieutenant.

As a result, both the Colonel and his son had to flee to Virginia and later Canada. Mrs. Sothoron and her children were placed under house arrest and allowed to starve. They were finally sent to live with relatives, and the house and farm were confiscated to serve as a government farm - meaning that contraband from Virginia were brought there to be housed and to work the farm for food and tobacco to serve the Union. During that period, much of the house was ransacked and farm implements broken.

Sothoron returned in 1866 to face trial for the murder of Lt. White, and was immediately declared "not guilty." He then set about trying to recover his losses - a fight that would last into the 1870s and 1880s without success.

This has always fascinated me because the Sothoron family is part of my maternal grandfather's clan -- yes, friends, more of my family stories.

Back to the original reason for posting, however. I would like to know more about how and why some of Mosby's men were in St. Mary's County, Maryland, at the time of the assassination - several hundred miles from their normal base of operations. It certainly seems to be one more factor to suggest that the Confederate command knew of the assassination before it happened. BUT, it also makes me believe that Mosby's forces were sent to another route of escape for Booth -- one that might lead him out into the Patuxent or the Wicomico Rivers and then into the Potomac. About 15-20 miles from The Plains was the small village of Chaptico that had been a blockade runners' port during the war. The Wicomico also flows into the Potomac at Allen's Fresh - an area that Rick Smith believes Booth and Herold frequented during their stay in the pine thicket.

Was it possible that both Charles and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland were prepared to assist the assassin? When Thomas Jones got the opportunity to get the fugitives across the Potomac, it was because word was out that two men (Harbin and Baden likely) had been seen on the river in St. Mary's County. This sent the troops out of town long enough to get the real fugitives on the river.

What I'm getting at is: Was Booth's base of support in the lower counties of Southern Maryland more widespread than we thought? Was Davey Herold in that area for a few days before the assassination getting the word spread to be on the ready? Were Mosby's men stationed near a point of exit via St. Mary's County to assist while civilian personnel in the Secret Line from Prince George's to Charles Counties were assigned to assist at that exit route?

Sorry for turning this into a lengthy "chapter" in the never-ending quest for more knowledge, but I would really like to know what brought Mosby's men to my section of Maryland at a very critical moment.

Fascinating, story - and you've brought up some very valid points, Laurie. Powell was one of five men recruited from Mosby to work, as Powell told General Payne before he left, on a "Maryland expedition." One wonders if this was a part of this venue. The other five men supposedly backed down. But I would think that Mosby knew of exactly what was going on with his men. Makes perfect sense to me.