Thomas Harbin

[SSlater]

(06-28-2013 08:17 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  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?

Laurie. Pliney Bryan's camp was his Base Camp. He slept there, ate there, etc. but "penetrated the Union" to find intelligence of any worth. He communicated directly with Major Watson, in Maryland, probably to find out when it was safe to cross the river. He and Gen. Lee may have had plans for more skullduggery, but Pliney was transferred south, suddenly and contrary to Lee's wishes - that may have ruined a Grand Plan. (Lee didn't have the "Pull", that he had later in the war.
IMO - Someone in the South remembered Pliney's Camp and got the idea that the South had an entitlement to the space where Pliney's Camp was. Then in Jan 1865, a Navy Partisan Ranger "Band" was allowed to set up a camp here. If not on the exact site of Pliney's Camp, it was very close by. Their Camp was mid-way between Cawood, (Up river) and Brogden (Down river). The Navy guys were a happy go lucky group, and their activities attracted the attention of the Federal Navy. Thus, the hampered the activities of Cawood and Brogden. These two guys protested to Richmond, and the Navy Crew was moved away.
You know who E. P. Bryan was, and who was William Bryan (Booth's escort to Cleydael). This gives me a problem when we refer only to "Bryan". They both lived near here. E.P. had a small cabin, while William had the farm with horses, etc. When Oldroyd walked this area in 1907 +/-, he visited "Bryan's overgrown Cabin Site", while he was near "the Gambo Creek Bridge". The Navy would have camped here, to have access to the Potomac for their boats, and the Boonies - where they could hide the boats.
Does that answer your question? E.P. moved out, to spy, and the navy moved-in in 1865. In between there was no formal spy-site.
To encourage some thought, Did Jones send Booth to the Gambo Creek bridge, to be found by the Navy? Jones would not have known that the Navy was pulled out, for cause. This is ragged - I hope I told you what you need.