John Surratt

[JMadonna]

(05-18-2013 02:04 PM)John Stanton Wrote:  When Stringfellow blew his cover- did he do it on purpose? Was he ready to leave Washington, and he wanted the chase to be for him? It is difficult for me to think Stringfellow got careless.

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...another thought struck me. Are you aware that the South did have an Army - in hiding? Hiding in the Elmira Prison. IMO Surratt's mission was one part of an immense plan to free those men, and then led by Gen. E. G. Lee (in Canada), march out of Canada, link with the Copperheads, (if they could get anyone to respond

I believe that the story of Stringfellow refusing to drink a toast to Lincoln was an embellishment told by Stringfellow himself in later years to impress his audience. I too find it difficult to think that he would be so careless.

There was not much left of the Confederate operation by the time Lee arrived in January. IMO he got the position because he was a Virginian and a Lee. Since Virginia was all that was effectively left of the Confederacy the Lee family was assigned to keep the door open for the escape of the Confederate Hierarchy.