David Gaddy

[L Verge]

What a nice tribute, Bill. I said much the same thing in a sympathy card that I sent to Mrs. Gaddy. Dave gave a lot of talks to various groups about the Confederate Secret Service, which was his specialty, and he was a vital partner in the trio who opened many eyes (and even some closed minds) to the history of and importance of understanding the Confederate espionage system and the implications of its involvement in the Lincoln assassination. That Secret Service knowledge - coupled with his professional career in the field with the Department of Defense and experience with cryptology - made him especially valuable while the three searched for and defended evidence of top Confederate involvement in at least the early stages of plotting.

That said, however, Dave was sometimes the forgotten member of that trio (perhaps because he was still working in the U.S. espionage field at the time?) while other historians were bantering the book's worth. And much of that banter was based on "none of those authors are trained historians..." Maybe that's why the material that was uncovered is so important. It was gathered by men working for a living in the field that they were investigating. Each of the three had very strong backgrounds in investigations and underground activities over a combined total of about 100 years of training and real-life experiences in those fields. That should not be taken likely.

John Stanton was kind enough to send Dave's obituary from the Tappahannock newspaper. I will send it to Roger in hopes that it can be posted here.