Sarah Slater's death certificate

[John Fazio]

SSlater, Laurie, et al.:

A few comments:

1. Your comments suggest that Booth and Surratt were no longer working with a common purpose, if they had ever done so. My view is that that conclusion is inconsistent with their prior history together (the recruitment of Atzerodt, the Jack Cade affair, the Gautier's restaurant meeting, etc.), inconsistent with Surratt stopping in New York to see Booth on his way to Montreal (April 4), inconsistent with Booth's notifying Surratt in Montreal that "our" plans had changed and that Surratt was to return to Washington "immediately", inconsistent with Surratt telegraphing Booth in New York from Elmira and learning that he had already left for Washington, and inconsistent with Ste. Marie's Affidavit in which he said that Surratt had told him that he and Booth had killed Lincoln, "the n-----'s friend".

2. My understanding is that Gen E. G. Lee was sent to Canada as a replacement for Jacob Thompson, because the Confederate leadership, especially Benjamin, was thoroughly dissatisfied with Thompson's performance as head of the Canadian Cabinet, especially as it related to terror plots and the Northwest Confederacy conspiracy. I know nothing of a plan to create a new Confederate army. There may be something to it, but it strikes me as unrealistic. At this stage, another army, even if it could be created, offered no hope for the Confederacy, but multiple assassinations did.

3. I read J. Marshall Crawford as saying that Harney was captured on the 9th, not the 10th. The difference is important, because the earlier date provides more time for Booth to be notified of the failure of the mission and for him to notify Surratt, which he did, the beginning of the week (probably the 10th, Monday).

4. If Atzerodt was told by Booth on the 8th that if he, Booth, didn't get Lincoln quick, the New York crowd would, it suggests that Booth had already made up his mind to kill, indeed that he had long since intended it, rather than deciding to do it at a later date.

5. As for the "liars", please see pp. 357-363 of Decapitating.

6. Of course Elmira is in New York, but recall the rest of Ste. Marie's Affidavit as to what Surratt had told him: He said that Surratt had told him that at the time of the assassination, he was in New York prepared to fly, which means, of course, that he knew what was coming, not that it came as a surprise to him. That, in turn, means that he and Booth were still working with a common purpose, does it not?

7. If Ste. Marie told the truth in his Affidavit, then he lied on the stand in Surratt's trial, when he said that Surratt had told him he was in Washington on the 14th and left that night, by train, in disguise. If that was a lie, are we not compelled to conclude that his counsel, Pierrepont, Carrington, et al., knowingly used perjured testimony? Do you think they would do that?

John