Did Surratt and Slater know about Harney's Mission?

[L Verge]

(04-18-2016 09:19 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  

(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

Are we trying to turn two boats into one here? The boat that was to be involved in the kidnap plot was a large, flat-bottomed boat capable of carrying a carriage (with wheels removed) and a number of men. Smoot, Brawner, Bateman (and probably lawyer Frederick Stone) knew that it was being held up King's Creek, which is several river miles from Dent's Meadow.

Thomas Jones had a rowboat to offer the fugitives at the foot of the banks above on Dent's Meadow. I believe Jones had his hired man out in that boat pretending to be fishing for several days as a cover for later use of the boat. April is shad running time in our area, and both the fish and its roe were valuable food stock. Yankee patrols would get used to seeing the boat and hopefully forget about it.

I'm not familiar with nautical terms, so I only know there are boats and ships. Not sure what a skiff is, but David Herold rowed an old-fashioned rowboat for two nights. When finally captured, he complained about his hands being sore, and they were covered with blisters.

BTW: Why would Booth go to the trouble and expense of acquiring that flat-bottomed boat and involving more people in his plans if he never intended to kidnap the President?