Harney, and his Story

[Dave Taylor]

I do not discuss Harney when I give the escape route tour. Although it is hard to believe, the 12 hours go by really fast and I usually have barely enough time to get in all the important stuff about Booth and his plot. There's just not enough time to get into the other plots against Lincoln.

I also think it's likely a matter of personal preference. I, personally, have yet to be convinced that the Confederate government had any real involvement with John Wilkes Booth. In this way Harney and Booth are not really connected other than their shared goal of assassination, in my mind. I openly discuss the few connections that Booth had with the Confederacy (his trip to Montreal, John Surratt's life as a courier, etc.) but I am always honest with the bus group that there is no smoking gun between the two.