Events of April 1, 1865

[wpbinzel]

(09-29-2014 05:47 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I believe that there is a reference to Stringfellow being assisted in some way by the Surratts; but the mind will not regurgitate the facts right now. Stringfellow should be one of the sections in the Tidwell Papers at the Hall Research Center.

According to Come Retribution, Jefferson Davis solicited Stringfellow for materials for Davis' memoirs in 1880. Included in what Stringfellow provided was the sentence: "Leaving the City of Washington [on April 1] by the aid of a person whose name is linked with in the history of these last dark days, I went some twelve miles the first evening." [p. 412] It is referenced that is the distance to Surratt's Tavern. General Tidwell et al mention that Booth left town the same day. According to Louis Weichmann, Mrs. Surratt made a trip to the Tavern on April 1 and returned in a buggy driven by her brother, Zadoc. On April 2, Weichmann asked Powell to borrow a horse to take Zadoc home; Powell refused and Zadoc had to walk back to his home in Prince George's County.

I only know about the Surratt connection because you wrote an article from Mr. Hall's research for the September 1999 Surratt Courier entitled "Could it have been Mrs. Surratt?", raising the questions of: (1) was she the "person" that Stringfellow referenced?, and (2) did she make the trip to vouch for Stringfellow to John Lloyd?