A Different Viewpoint of Lew Powell's Character

[Ed Steers]

(07-15-2012 06:36 AM)BettyO Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 04:30 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I have several questions for you folks who know much more than myself. The possible role of Mosby being somehow connected to the assassination is a very weak area (knowledge-wise for me).

Here are my questions:

1. Was it Mosby who sent Harney on his "explosives" mission?

2. Did Booth know of the failure of Harney's mission?

3. If he did, could this be considered another motivating factor in the timing of the assassination because the failure took place only a few days before Booth acted?

Great question, Roger!

According to Come Retribution:

"On 1 April, a small team, including Thomas E. 'Frank' Harney, an explosives expert, was sent to Colonel Mosby with instructions to infiltrate the team into Washington. Mosby organized a special task force to carry out this mission and sent the men to raid near Burke, Virginia, near Washington, as a cover for the infiltration. There on 10 April, 1865,
unaware that Lee had surrendered the day before, the force was surprised by Union cavalry and Harney was captured. The Mosby raid was so unusual that it was clear that Harney was intended for some very important assignment. One could surmise that it was something as important to the Confederacy as blowing up the White House during a meeting of war leaders."

To further quote Messrs. Hall, Tidwell and Gaddy:

"This surmise moreover, is supported by two pieces of evidence. Lewis Thornton Powell...had scouted the White House and its surroundings earlier in the year - clearly with a view to learning if action could be taken against President Lincoln. More important, however, it was learned that George Atzerodt...had made a statement that was preserved by his defense lawyer to the effect that the group had discussed blowing up the White House when a number of high officials were inside."

The authors surmised that apparently JWB DID not know that Harney had been captured and went on with HIS mission, as he saw it....

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Let's remember that one of the more crucial pieces of evidence in support of the Harney mission is the statement by Confederate Private Snyder who went to Colonel Edward Hastings the day after Richmond fell and told Hastings that an explosive expert had left the Torpedo Bureau on a mission to harm the President. Snyder worked at the Torpedo Bureau and certainly knew Harney although he did not give Hastings Harney's name as he wouldn't. Snyder felt the war was all but over and any such action would be unwarranted. It is Snyder's statement that most supports the theory that Harney was on his way to the White House. I think this is the crucial link to Harney and his supposed mission.

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I'm still not sure how to post. That statement re Snyder was mine. Ed Steers