Booth Aided by Mosby

[Rick Smith]

Am I wrong in guessing that, while Harney was Mosby's primary mission, the Gray Ghost could easily switch to working with Booth once Harney was captured? Since he had formed a pattern of calling his troops into the Northern Neck previously, why could he not have sent a small contingent (Jett, et al) further north to assist in getting Booth farther into the State of Virginia and deeper south?

Assuming that someone higher up had been involved in the plot, and given that the Confederate underground had been well established in the Northern Neck and Southern Maryland for four years, what makes it so difficult to surmise that Mosby and the underground had been ready for such action throughout the last year of the war? Operatives could have been moving in the shadows with no one stupid enough to put plans down on paper to be found on a corpse a la Dahlgren. They just stood ready and went into action once they heard of the assassination.

Sorry, John, but I still believe that the skirmish in St. Mary's County right after the assassination involved a small force of Mosby's men who were trying to locate Booth so that they could assist him in getting across the Potomac - probably via the Wicomico River somewhere around Chaptico or Allen's Fresh.

I agree with you, Laurie. I think elements of Mosby's command, Co. G under the command of Lt. Garland Smith crossed the Potomac and headed to the north to look for Booth & to screen him if found.