Thomas Harbin

[Laurie Verge]

One spelling correction: Drop the "t" from Pliney's last name if attempting research on E. Pliney BRYAN. Those of you who receive the Surratt Courier may remember a short article on Bryan which we carried several months ago. He was born and raised at Bryan Hall, which once stood about a mile from Surratt House (as the crow flies).

My question for John Stanton is how much use Bryan made of his camp on the Quesenberry farm? He was arrested (along with Rose Greenhow and others) in the spring of 1862 and held in Old Capitol Prison until July of that year. There are letters from Gen. Robert E. Lee to CSA Secretary of War Seddon in February and March of 1863 complaining that one of his best scouts (Bryan) had been sent to General Beauregard in Charleston without Lee's knowledge. Bryan contracted yellow fever while in Charleston and died there in 1864.

This timeline would suggest that Pliney spent little time gathering intelligence and such along the Potomac. Did someone else step in to run the camp on or near the Quesenberry farm?