St. Peter's or Horsehead? Is the Stage Route the Answer?

[Rick Smith]

From Laurie:

"Gen. Tidwell also pointed out that, on April 24 (two days before Booth was killed), he and Col. Mosby were within 25 miles of each other - both interested in getting to Orange Court House, Virginia. Like Rick, he also mentioned other Confederates who were known to have visited the Garretts while Booth was there - not just Ruggles, Bainbridge, and Jett. He suggests that they were part of a protective screen thrown up around Booth and Herold. Could they also have been a disposal squad to "take care" of Booth if necessary?"


Laurie,

Yes, there is no question, in my mind at least, that what we see here is that there were a large number of Confederate operatives looking for Booth and once found, they were to act as a screen for Booth, first as a means of protection and extraction, secondarily as a means of eliminating Booth should that become necessary.

In our book on Thomas Harbin, Bill Richter and I posit that once Harbin saw that Booth was in no mood to wait his turn to be moved, he passed the word that Booth had become a loose canon and issued the order to eliminate him if the Yankees got too close. This is, of course, speculation, but I hope that it is what Mr. Hall would call, "Logical speculation."

Rick