Did Surratt and Slater know about Harney's Mission?

[L Verge]

(04-18-2016 12:05 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  

(04-18-2016 10:56 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(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?

Laurie:

The King's Creek boat was Smoot's boat, not a different one. The fact that Smoot's name is associated with it indicates, does it not, that this is the boat that he refers to in his 1908 pamphlet. That it was to be used incident to assassination rather than kidnapping may be deduced from his writings, as follows:

1. Surratt told Smoot that "...the need of the boat would be the consequence of an event of unprecedented magnitude in the history of the country, which would startle and astound the entire world."
2.Smoot turned the boat over to Atzerodt, who placed it in charge of Bateman, who took it up King's Creek. Three months passed without Smoot being paid for the boat.
3. Smoot went to the boardinghouse at 9:30 Friday night (14th). Mary informed him "that she was positive that the boat would be used that night, and that I would get my money in a day or two.
4. After Smoot learned of the assassination, he "understood the significance of Surratt's remark when he said that there was to be an event of unprecedented importance and magnitude take place. I understood why my boat was purchased and the use it was to be put to."
5. Smoot said that "...it was the intention of Booth , Atzerodt and Herold, to ride from Washington, after the shooting, to what was known as Lock Eleven farm, located near where King's Creek crosses the public road in Charles County, there turn their horses loose, and walk to the point on King's Creek where the boat was concealed, and cross the Potomac in it". (He adds that the route of escape was changed because of Booth's broken leg, which necessitated the trip to Dr. Mudd. He adds, further, that when Booth and Herold finally crossed the river, they did not use his boat, because of the change of plans, and were forced to "put up with the first boat they found at hand".

I conclude that Smoot's boat was to be used incident to the assassination, not kidnapping, which is consistent with all the other evidence and reason I offered in my presentation.

John

I am going to go back and read specifically where Smoot said "after the shooting." (I helped to edit and prepare that reprint for publication about five years ago.) It is my belief that Smoot was trying to wiggle his way out of being charged with conspiracy to murder if anyone thought he was offering the get-away car/boat. His book and self-vindication were written about forty years after the assassination. Smoot and Weichmann managed to have a way of shifting the limelight off of their actions.

What's your take on why monkey wrenches were stored at Surratt House, if not to remove the carriage wheels? Also, just as an aside, Smoot also got the name of the farm at King's Creek wrong. It was known as Loch Leven - not Loch Eleven, as John Stanton found out for us several years ago. Since he lived nearby, one would think he knew the correct name.

That is a very pretty area outside of Port Tobacco. We used to go there to what is now the Goose Bay Marina to put my son-in-law's boat in. You can still see the serene countryside, and it is watched over by the home of one of the wealthiest men in Charles County at the time of the assassination - Barnes Compton, who held the most or the second most slaves in the county in 1860, I've been told. He also married into the wealthy Sothoron family of St. Mary's County, the head of which, Col. John Sothoron, had to run for his life and have his land confiscated when he shot a Union recruiter who trespassed on his land to recruit his slaves.

Compton was placed in Old Capitol Prison for less than a week during the Inquisition following the assassination. He went on to have a very fruitful political career. I have always thought that Barnes Compton should be one who deserves further study. The Sothoron family that he married into is part of my ancestry, so you would think I should have done more -- too old and too tired now. Large slaveholder before the war and popular politician afterwards should tell us something. This is a good biographical link to read more about this almost-forgotten man:

http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/spe...edbio.html