Did Surratt and Slater know about Harney's Mission?

[John Fazio]

(04-18-2016 06:43 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, John. Mary Surratt also asked the pickets guarding the road to Surrattsville how late they would be staying that night. Doesn't this indicate she knew the boat would not really be needed that night? (In other words she knew Booth's intended route.) Thus, I would think the boat was only for the kidnapping plan (yes, I realize you feel it didn't ever exist), and not the assassination plan. Thus, I am thinking Mary just wanted Smoot out of her house and lied to him about the boat in an effort to "hurry him on his way."

Roger:

Why should one preclude the other? I have no doubt that Mrs. Surratt knew Booth's intended escape route. Thus her question to the pickets. But why does a stop at the tavern for rifles, whiskey, field glasses, etc., preclude a continuation of the escape by crossing the Potomac in Smoot's skiff? Was Smoot's skiff the craft they used to cross from Dent's Meadow? Thomas A. Jones led them to it at Dent's Meadow. It was said to be waiting for them and to be 14 feet long. That's not very long for a boat. It certainly could have been Smoot's skiff; I really don't know. But I believe the likelihood that it was Smoot's skiff is greater than the likelihood that Mrs. Surratt shooed Smoot out of her boardinghouse on the 14th with a ***** and bull story about the use of the skiff that night. Conclusion: There is nothing to indicate that the skiff was to be used in a kidnapping plot. If it was used at all, it was used to facilitate the escape of Booth and Herold after the assassination.

John