Events of April 1, 1865

[wpbinzel]

In reading Mr. Loux’s book over the weekend, I was reminded of question that first come to mind when I read Come Retribution some years ago. It’s authors and Mr. Loux both point out that on Saturday, April 1, 1865: (1) John Surratt and Sarah Slater left Richmond for Canada (by way of Washington and New York); (2) J.W. Booth left Washington, telling “George Atzerodt he was going to Canada” [CR, p. 416]; and (3) Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, “who was probably the most trusted and effective scout in the Army of Northern Virginia” [CR, p. 411], and who had been sent to Washington personally by Jefferson Davis in early March on an undercover intelligence mission, “suddenly” left Washington. Stringfellow had spent weeks developing a cover as a dentist, but appears to have abruptly abandoned his mission. Of further interest is that this is about the same time that Thomas F. Harney set out for Washington “to mine the Executive Mansion to kill Lincoln and others.” [CR, p. 418] According to Mr. Loux, when Surratt and Slater arrived in New York on April 5, they inquired at Edwin Booth’s house for J.W. Booth, but were told that he had left for Boston [JWB Day by Day, p. 207].

At the ever-present danger of suggesting more conspiracy than may have actually existed, has anyone come across (or done) research on why both J.W. Booth and Stringfellow abruptly left Washington on April 1, 1865? Is there a connection between the two? Likewise, is the departure of either or both connected to the Surratt and Slater mission and/or the Harney mission? Sometimes coincidences are only that, but this one suggests that there may have been a connection between the departures and the missions.