The Montreal Link

[Barry Sheehy]

Hi Everyone. Roger, thanks for inviting me to join, and Ed, thanks for help and guidance. Let me tell you about the evolution of the book Montreal: City of Secrets. It began in Savannah when I was working on a book series “Civil War Savannah.” (See civilwarsavanah.org)
I discovered several beautiful and haunting statues in the city at important Civil War sites and cemeteries. I was so taken with them that I used pictures of two of them for the covers of Immortal City and Brokers, Bankers and Bay Lane. I asked about the origins of these statues and to my surprise they were sculpted at the Montreal Marble Works by artist Robert Reid. These statues were commissioned during the lean years of Reconstruction and sourcing them from far away Montreal made as much sense as sourcing them from the moon. I knew there had to be a story behind this and what a story it turned out to be.
Over the course of five years, I discovered deep links between Montreal. Savannah and the larger Confederacy. I soon became familiar with the Confederate Secret Service (CSS) apparatus in Canada, much of it centered in Montreal, which was British North America’s business and banking capital. It took time, but I was eventually able to piece together and sketch the CSS organization in Canada in some detail, including names, roles, reporting relationships, and finances. I then stumbled upon an incredible find, the Notman Collection of contemporary Montreal photographs held by McCord Museum. What I found is arguably the largest repository of CSS photographs anywhere in one place. Confederate operatives felt so comfortable in Montreal that most of them went to Notman’s Studio on Bleury Street in Old Montreal to have photographs taken, using their own names, something they often obfuscated when registering at hotels. Even the Museum did not know the treasure trove they were sitting on.
So, this became the first construct of my book: a history of the CSS in Montreal accompanied by a cornucopia of lush contemporary photographs. Then the story took an unexpected twist which turned a simple project into a complicated one. Involving far greater reputational risk I began looking up the names of CSS operatives in St. Lawrence Hall’s (SLH) registers at the Canadian National Archives and the newly available guest books for Barnett’s Museum in Niagara Falls. SLH was Montreal’s foremost hotel and Barnett’s Museum was visited by just about anyone who came to Niagara. I focused on a time period from June 1864 to April 1865 when CSS activities in Canada were at their peak. I soon discovered that the CSS were frequent guests at SLH and also turn up frequently at Barnett’s Museum. This confirmed my research regarding the CSS in Canada. So Far so good. The Confederates used SLH as an unofficial headquarters and meeting place and also dominated the nearby Donegana Hotel. The charming, big-spending southerners were soon welcome in the upper crust of Montreal—which was a very pro secesh town. They also effectively controlled several Canadian banks by virtue of their significant deposits.
Things got complicated when John Wilkes Booth enters the picture. I don’t think, based on ample evidence, that there is much doubt that the Lincoln assassination, which began as a kidnapping plot, had its genesis in Montreal. My first concern was keeping Booth from running off with my book. In retrospect, this concern may have resulted in underplaying this side of the story, something I hope to rectify in a new paper. The other twist in the story was the number of American bankers, business tycoons, and arms dealers who turn up in Montreal at SLH, rubbing elbows with key members of the CSS. And it doesn’t end there. Also in Montreal was a small army of senior War and Treasury Department officials, many of whom reported directly to Stanton and Chase. Much of Chase’s presidential committee was present in Montreal. Senior Democrats and Republicans were also in Canada, including a number of Lincoln’s bitterest enemies. This was arguably the largest concentration of American power and influence outside of the United States in the 19th century.
Barry
PS. There is a CSS officer in Montreal named Taylor. He was very active. Never could figure out who he was.