"Stump the Yankee"

[J. Beckert]

Rebels 36.5
Yankee 23.5


Good morning and welcome back to another installment of Stump the Yankee. After a wicked winter, we're enjoying a seasonable and cool spring here in the North. I don't know what it's like down South, but it's time to turn the heat up...

It's become exceedingly difficult to post questions in the trivia categories. The forum is filled with experts. We have a History Professor, an expert on Powell, Seward, Lincoln and two guys who even know where everyone is buried and the provenance and location of many relics. That makes it tough for a ham & egger like me to pull one over. So I decided to remain competitive, I too had to become an expert in a specialized area.

I've recently found something I've long overlooked. An old publication that probably contains every known fact about a certain place associated with the assassination story. After reading it from cover to cover, I'm happy to share with you that I now consider myself an expert on the Surratt Tavern.

First, I pondered what I knew about the tavern. A Confederate safe house, mail drop and popular place for Rebels to gather and complain about the Yankees - but what was it like in 1865? This little gold mine has told me everything I need to know and I'm ready to run up and throw a bomb right through the front window of Rebel HQ! I realize that with this question I'm walking the tightrope, plank and the fine line between decorum and depravity, but if I can pull this off, it's going to make one of my fellow experts on the Surratt Tavern madder than a wet hornet! Let's see how this goes.

The answer will require detailed responses in 5 categories. Here it is.

The Surratt Tavern was a busy place. Between late 1852 and early 1853, name, in detail and amounts, 5 items that were purchased for sale there.

Because of the extreme difficulty involved, this question will be worth 10 points.