Reevaluation of the St. Albams Raiders

[SSlater]

This is a careful study of the St. Albans raid. If you are in agreement with the published story of the St. Albans Raid - don't read this. You won't like what I am saying.

After reading all that I have, on the Raid, I am changing my mind about the whole raid. I now believe that it was a criminal attack on an innocent Village in Northern Vermont.

1st off - the Confederacy did not approve or sponsor the raid. The raid was approved by C. C. Clay, Jr. (One of the Confederate Commissioners in Canada). Jacob Thompson (The other Commissioner) objected, and was thoroughly embarrassed buy the venture, yet took all the "heat" for what was done. He got fired from his job as Commissioner.

The Raiders claimed that they were punishing the North, for the atrocities they committed during similar Raids on Southern cities. I believe that the Federal Raids were intended to weaken the ability of the South to continue to wage war - of any kind. I will show that the St. Albans raid was a self-serving fiasco for the benefit of the Raiders.
Not one cent of the money stolen was ever turned over to the Confederate Government. The Northern raids were accomplished in a Military manner - everyone was in full uniform with the Stars and Stripes flying in full view etc. etc. At St. Albans no one was in ANY uniform, and there was no flag of any kind on display.

I am finding Lt. Bennett Young's plan of attack questionable. At 3 PM he waved his guns in the air and announced that the town has been captured. This simple, quiet, town had no idea of something like this occurring. Then other thugs popped up and put on, mavbe a hat, or a jacket, perhaps, and the war was on. It took awhile before the town began to resist. The "Destruction" of the town amounted to burning one shed. Woopie! That'll show them. Shouldn't Young have tested his "Greek Fire", before the Raid? It tells me that the "Burning" was to be a minor part of the Raid.

The Bank Robbing went off well. They even "nailed" a few Bank Customers for their weekly deposits of maybe $100.
It appears that the escape plan was to give all the money to Higbee , and his wife" and they would hide out, while the rest ran off to Canada, drawing the Americans away from Higbee. Unfortunately, not everyone handed over their "take", so a lot of the money was taken from the Raiders. (I will get back to this topic in a minute.)
This part of the "Escape" was done without the knowledge of the rest of the Raiders. I have read that Young lagged behind the rest of the troops, in order to put Higbee in safe hands. He had to Find the "unidentified woman" who was to take care of Higbee's wounds. I say that was his wife.

This was not a rare and strange caper for Higbee. He actually took $75,000 home from a raid he participated in on one of Quantrill's Raids. How did Mary Belle (Mrs. Higbee] get from Louiville , KY. to Montreal in a day or two - Was it via "SOUTHWEST, or did she fly UNITED? I say she was in St. Albans, at the time for the Raid. This meeting with Higbee was all in secret -no one else was there. WAS HE WOUNDED AI ALL? It is said he was smuggled into Canada, to the St. John the Baptiste Society and attended to by Dr. Montrose Pallen. To begin with, the Society is really the St. Jean Society which is a Political/Religious Society. They advocated Canada's separation from Great Briton , very much like the Confederate Plan to separate from the United States. And the National language would be French.
Dr. Pallen was actually a Botanist.. Was his care for Higbee "The application of Bug Spray and some fertilizer? ( there has to be an explanation for this, but I haven't found it )

Let's get to Sarah Slater's part in the Raiders adventure.

Sarah was the "Newbie" in the Secret Service office and had very little to do while she learned. So, one day the Boss stuck his head out of his Office and said "Who would like to go to Richmond?" Sarah, trying to fit in said "I"ll go!". There is no way in God's creation, that that man would send her out penniless. How much did she need? First she need a "Cover", she needed a "Widow's Garb" and a few bucks so as to eat etc. She got it and off she went. Before this came about, she had arrived in Canada with Rev. Cameron and Josephine Brown.(See St. Lawrence Hall Register for December 1864. See Dec. 10, 12, 17 for "A. Reynaud, Josephine Brown and the Good Reverend.) They didn't sign together as this would reveal their complicity.

We read that Sarah nursed the Raiders while in Jail. Hmmmm!
I read that the Raiders had food sent in from local restaurants, The guys had "comforting " visits from the certain local women. It is obvious that they had plenty of money to arrange this pleasure. Since Compatriot Higbee and his "believed wounds" were not in this jail, Mrs Higbee would have no need to associate with the likes of this crowd.

Lastly, who is the lady in the picture published by Headley? I would like to think that Sarah was the only LADY in the group and that the Raiders didn't have to "Explain" to anyone about their association with her. So they used Sarah's picture. As an aside, the picture of Sarah resembles the description provided by the Judge in her Divorce proceedings. (Small, Dark hair and eyes etc.)

I'm not happy or proud of putting it together. It is in opposition to almost all that I have believed about Sarah. If true, so be it!

Please feel free to question anything and ,please, tell me about your ideas.

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