Was there an assassin on Grant's train?

[Thomas Thorne]

[quote='Wild Bill' pid='48087' dateline='1432659734']


But Harney was intercepted, probably accidentally, by elements of the 8th Illinois Cavalry at Burke's Station outside DC and the mule carrying 50 lbs of black powder in two kegs got roughed up in the fight and half of the load was scattered along the road. The existence of such a cargo would have gone around the military and civilian population of DC in a flash and become the talk of the town. Booth surely would have heard of the incident.
Telegraphy was high tech for the 1860s and not many knew its mysteries unless one had worked on the railroads before the war. I know we had to learn Morse Code when I was a Boy Scout (in the days before the controversy over gay scoutmasters--ours was a defense attorney, and believe me, we needed him!), but I can testify that sending and receiving a message at full speed is no easy task to master. There could have been a telegrapher with Mosby's men, but I bet not. This was a flying column, not a headquarters unit--one with a telegrapher or a portable handset, a box to send a message and a 10-12 foot pole to access a line. A real telegraphic unit usually travelled by wagon in the Civil War, not like Joseph bayed with a minimum of equipment.
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One of the mysteries of the "Come Retribution" thesis is how if Harney and his explosives were captured and we postulate "the existence of such a cargo would have gone around the military and civilian population of DC in a flash and become the talk of the town. Booth surely would have heard of the incident." we have no evidence this included Union military or civilian authorities. They would not have had to rely on the inventions of Charles Dunham and friends and dubious ancient intimacies of JWB with sundry Virginia commands to prove the General Conspiracy.

The Come Retributionists must deal with the shock of Mrs Clement Clay being told that Northern political elites as early as June 1865 dismissed the notion of Confederate involvement. What evidence do we have of the Union officer who was supposedly aware of the Harney plot ever communicated this knowledge to his superiors after the assassination knowing they believed Jefferson Davis complicit in the crime and would welcome any and all evidence of guilt?

Tom