Aiken

[Christine]

So, I just found in Baker's files a report on dear Freddie. I'm wondering if I should believe all of it?

Baker's claims:

"arrested him for destroying papers in Beauregard's headquarters at Manassas, pretending to be a detective acting under orders of Gen'l McClellan.

arrested him under orders of Gen'l McClellan as a spy while the army was in the Peninsula

arrested him for being concerned with Smith who kept a hotel at Point Lookout and who was in arrest for smuggling. Smith made affidavit that Aiken represented himself to be a detective, and promised that Smith should not be prosecuted for smuggling if he would give him a receipt for his board amounting to $60.00. (I do have another source about this - the arrest of Smith's wife and son)

represented himself falsely at the National Hotel, Washington, as a Government Detective

at Mannassas Baker took papers from him by force; official reports from Gen'l Evans, Bonham, and others to Beauregard."

This report begs a couple of questions: Why would Baker have been in Beauregard's headquarters at Mannassas?

Why would McClellan have Aiken stump for his election in the 1864 election if he really had him arrested in 1862 and believed he was a spy?

And the biggie: Why would the Military Tribunal not have attacked Aiken as disloyal during the trial and refused to allow him to defend Mary? I haven't read all of the trial testimony, but was he ever personally attacked (not his lawyering, but his politics?)

So, do I believe Baker, or not? I would LOVE your comments.