Louis Weichmann

[Pamela]

Yes, thanks, Betty for that file. I've read most of it and it's fascinating beyond the article about plots to kidnap Lincoln discussed in 1864. Southern belles seen in the streets wearing outdated finery and either barefoot or feet wrapped in rags, reminiscent of Scarlett O'Hara making an ensemble out of Tara's velvet curtains. Wealthy families reduced to living in garrets, almost starving and doing labor that had only been fit for slaves before the war. And that was a year before Lee's surrender! I also enjoyed a story about Lee in which he was sarcastically referred to as "the great patriot and hero", in which he turned down an offer of money ($60,000) to purchase a mansion in Richmond and asked that the money be spent on his soldiers, thereby increasing his popularity with his men and the sesesh population. In reality, he and his wife believed they'd lose the house anyway and would be wiser to wait in case they won the war and were offered more and with union money. The Senate debates about slave soldiers was interesting, too.