Will the real Thomas F. Harney, PLEASE STAND UP!

[SSlater]

(06-23-2016 04:50 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I am still confused over whether the plan to bomb the White House was a Northern plot or a Southern plot. Atzerodt states it was a Northern plot. Whereas Snyder's statement to Ripley implies that the Harney mission was a Southern plan. This makes me wonder if Mr. Stelnick were right all along - that there were officials in Richmond (such as Benjamin) actually working with the "Northern crowd." If this were true, Booth may have told Atzerodt that the Northerners were behind the plot and left out the part that Southerners were going to carry it out. If powerful Northerners were actually working with powerful Southerners to kill Lincoln, did Booth know it?

IMO most members of the Northern crowd were powerful men involved in the cotton trade. Some of these men were good friends of Lincoln. Cotton prices became so inflated due to the war that some of these men made a ton of money in the futures market. This would be fine if they were "long" cotton, but they stayed long cotton "too long" and didn't short cotton when the price dropped like a rock. As the war wore down, they began losing so much money that they wanted another President whom they thought would rev up the war again, thus increasing cotton prices and recouping their losses. This theory would have it that Lincoln was targeted for financial reasons as prolonging the war would benefit the traders as cotton futures rose.

So is it possible the Harney plan was actually a combined Northern and Southern plot?

RJ's Question. That is a fair question.
In my opinion, it was a nonpolitical plot by selfish moneymakers, both North and South.
The Southerners were not able to sell cotton because of the blockade. The northerners had a surplus of food. so, they worked out a trade "Food for Cotton". Nothing wrong with that, and the program was approved. Everyone accepted it - then Lincoln shut them down. Both North and South were displeased. Up to this point, I believe the South had no plan to Kill Lincoln. (Some may have wanted to, but it was not Approved).
Now the South could see that they were being beaten. They didn't want to surrender, they wanted a negotiated peace.(and keep their slaves). Someone, North or South, came up with the idea - maybe not government people, but wealthy traders - lets get rid of Lincoln and continue the war. The Northerners were not concerned with who got killed, their children were safe, because of the "Hire a substitute system", the South wanted SLAVES. Suppose, they would provide an assassin, if the North agreed to let him escape - or some such plan.
This was a plan between a losing Army and moneymakers.
I do believe that Harney was approved by the South. Unless, he was a good liar, and told Major Boyle and Mosby that Davis had approved his mission. (Does this make sense?)

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(06-23-2016 10:45 AM)Gene C Wrote:  

(06-23-2016 09:08 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I'm referring to Judah Benjamin, who lived quite well in exile -- either with some Confederate gold or some backing from financiers. We have yet to find the golden thread of evidence that can tie both North and South together on this issue, but research from Hall et al., Stelnick, and our own John Fazio sure leads one to think along those lines.

P.S. Wasn't one of Mr. Lincoln's sisters-in-law part of the cotton deals?

I have a different opinion Laurie.
My knowledge of Judah Benjamin is based upon the book Judah Benjamin which I thought was pretty good.
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...h+benjamin

He remade his fortune with his legal practice in England, and literally wrote the book on maritime law.

There really wasn't that much confederate gold. The Confederate Gov't was basically bankrupt by the beginning of 1865. They couldn't buy weapons, food or even pay their soldiers, and no one would lend them any money. Inflation was rampant. This based on A Rebel War Clerks Diary by John Jones. Paper Confederate money was almost worthless. Also by the end of the war, much of Europe was making arrangements for another source of cotton, so the south no longer had much of an economic leverage.

Gene. From what I have read - Mr. Benjamin took very good care of Mr. Benjamin. He had money that he had never spent before.
When Benjamin left Richmond, he was wearing a new coat, that he had made, it had extra pockets, which were all filled with gold. (true story) His letter to Thompson, which was delivered by E. G. Lee, that told Thompson how to dispense the gold he was holding - keep some to get escaped prisoners to get to Richmond, keep some for you to get to Richmond, etc., and send the rest to Fraiser-Trenhome, to be put in my private account. And they did. I don't know how much, it was all shown in Pounds and "Hay-pennies".
There is a new book out, "A Rebel and a Rose". It's about moving Confederate gold to Canada, and also about where he left some along the way.
Somewhere, I read that in the last days of the Confederacy, Jeff Davis was very sick, and Benjamin ran the government. He began all his letters with "The President directs me to have you ....." So, he got his way about everything, unopposed.
There are other stories about, all the Confederate Officials went to "Niagara-on-the-Lake" (a city in Canada) to get their last paychecks, including Jeff Davis. and Generals, congressman, etc. - everyone>) John.