An Intersting Day

[L Verge]

Surratt House staff had been working on a special group tour for over a month, but we were not sure exactly who would be on the tour until Thursday, when Secret Service agents arrived to look over the property. We knew that it would not be the POTUS because he is out west somewhere -- and because the inspection was not that intense.

However, we were told to expect 53 people from the Department of Homeland Security with two (black) vans of escort from the Secret Service as well as more agents on-site on Friday, more on the bus, and also an escort from both the Prince George's County Police Department and the Charles County Sheriff's Office.

They had requested a half-hour presentation on-site at the James O. Hall Research Center, followed by a drive-by only of the sites that Booth visited in Southern Maryland. They would not go into Virginia.

Lindsey Horn gave the PowerPoint presentation - opening with my bullet points as to the significance of Lincoln's assassination related to modern Homeland Security: 1) The Civil War was the biggest test related to homeland security that our country has faced to date. 2) The threat came from within and from U.S. citizens. 3) It was a war fought by civilians as well as the military on both sides. 4) The war ended with a conspiracy that has yet to be addressed to everyone's satisfaction 150 years later. 5) How extensive was that conspiracy?

The group did not want to tour the historic house because of the time element, so Lindsey (still in her hoop skirts) then hopped on their bus and spent the next three hours on the escape route. Upon their return, the tour head decided he wanted to see the inside of the historic house and take some photos.

Just who were these people? The tour head was Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and the group was composed of staff and advisers (lots of high-ranking military). A very nice group of people.

Lindsey earned high praise and was very pleased with herself because the group asked only two questions that she could not answer: When did Mary Lincoln die? (She did not know the exact date, so just said about twenty years later.) And, what rank did JAG Joseph Holt hold? I'll make that question a trivia piece because we have never seen photos of him in military garb. Anybody know the answer?