Mudd, Surratt and Harbin

[L Verge]

(02-10-2016 07:49 PM)SSlater Wrote:  I am at a big disadvantage, now, since all my resources are in boxes in storage. So, I can't quote a source, but many of the "agents" in lower Maryland and Northern Virginia were in-laws. So, it is next to impossible to determine who was "Boss". Tom Jones' brag - that he was the Chief Agent North of the Potomac -can't stand up to research. I have read the Harbin hired Jones to "help out". When Jones put Booth in the boat, he sent Booth to a Bridge, and told him "I think Mrs. Quesenberry, will help you." He didn't know who was supposed to pick him up. All of this doesn't impress me as describing an organized functioning secret service.

I'd be very interested in knowing your source for the "Harbin hired Jones to 'help out' statement. I never remember reading or hearing Hall, Tidwell, and Gaddy mention such a thing. And, if you lived in Southern Maryland or the Northern Neck of Virginia at that time, you couldn't swing a cat without hitting people who were all inter-related. Except in the case of the Mudds, it was generally assumed that if one member of an "extended" family disliked Mr. Lincoln and Union policies in general, they all did -- so help a Confederate when you can.

By the time Jones was able to get Booth and Herold into that boat, I'm quite certain that he had no idea as to who was going to pick them up on the other side. Union troops had Confederate agents heading in every direction - even putting many of them in custody. Jones could be 90% sure, however, that the troops
probably didn't know about the widow lady, Mrs. Quesenberry, who had been available throughout the war "to give assistance as needed."

Certainly, the underground was probably floundering in 1865, especially after the fall of Richmond; but I'm pretty sure that those who were still available worked with the best sources and resources that they had. In April, that meant Jones, Harbin, Baden, likely some of Mosby's men, and others that we will never hear about.