The Flimsy Case Against Mary Surratt

[L Verge]

(01-15-2019 11:05 AM)GustD45 Wrote:  MIke, remember that decision you've cited came years after the Military Comission. In my opinion, Stanton did believe there was a larger plot involving the Confederacy which gave him the impetus to argue for a trial by Military Court. Was he wrong? I don't think he was. Stanton believed through the trial he would uncover a connection. Obviously one wasn't found nor did it prove one existed, but this does not mean he was trying to cover up anything. Edwin Stanton did what he thought was right under the existing circumstances.

I agree, even though I would prefer to have Milligan on my side today. There was no precedence for a crime of murder against a sitting President; there was still a war going on; certainly my first instinct as a citizen of the Union would be to blame it on the Confederacy (or at least some of its followers). Stanton was a very smart man, imo, whether you like his style or not. Put down this new problem as quickly as possible was the logical way to go.

My secondary thought is that perhaps the first assumption that it was a Confederate conspiracy was and has been correct all along. Yep, folks, this Southern lady is one of those who believes that theory to a good extent - even before Come Retribution was published. I don't carry the Confederate command's participation as far as the assassination, but as for a general conspiracy, you bet your tutu. By the fall of 1864, desperation would make me think of alternative measures.

And, we can carry this one step further - even if the conspiracy did not generate out of Richmond, we have some grounds to point to Maryland and its very upset planter class as willing to support anything that might turn the tide (or get revenge).

Those folks would include the Surratts, the Mudds, the underground movement, and thousands of citizens whose names we have never seen in print. These people would comprise the "enemy belligerents" that we need to consider, and in many respects may have been part of the "vicarious liability" component of conspiracy (which we have not mentioned here so far).

I'm sorry, but it just seems logical that, under such immediate and chaotic circumstances, a military court was what was needed.