Aiken

[Christine]

Who is Potter? Fold3 has the Turner Baker papers, so if anybody wants me to check for anybody else's files, let me know. They are pretty straightforward and easy to find (under Civil War, Subervision Investigations.)

What would Baker gain by accusing Aiken? I'm not sure - Aiken was working for Seward as a spy in the months before Manassas, so could he have simply been jealous? Or, as Laurie thinks, (which I'm inclined to also believe) was Frederick really 'double dipping' and playing both sides?

Aiken had correspondence with Seward in the fall of 1862, after he was supposedly arrested by order of McClellan (where would I find McClellan's papers and records to see if there is proof of that?)

But that still doesn't answer why the Military Tribunal (made up of Union Generals) would have allowed him to argue the case if he were known as an outright Confederate spy. After all, they weren't real thrilled with Reverdy, and all he had done was argue that it wasn't necessary to require loyalty pledges.

So, to those who know the testimony, did they ever attack Frederick as a spy? Weren't spies often hung? Why would he escape that fate unless there was some question about whose side he was on?

I checked the indexes on both Baker and Turner and here are the Porter, Potter cases:

(Baker) Porter, CP - Deserter; (Turner) Porter, GA, citizen, confined at Ft. Lafayette; Porter, Jack, citizen, arrested for disloyalty; Porter, Nicholas, confined in Old Capitol Prison; Potter, Noel J, charged with discouraging enlistments; Porter, P A; Col, concerning prisoners at Ft. McHenry; Porter, Joseph, citizen, in relation to premises at Key West; Porter, L F, confined at Prison ship at Alexa.; Potter, James D, major, E J Allen's report in case of; Porter, Andrew, General, charged with dining with a rebel - what! The Provost Marshall General of the Army of the Potomac (McClellan's 2nd in command during the Peninsula.) When they charged Frederick with spying. The very idea! In the words of our very own Laurie Verge "somebody has some 'splaining to do"

more from Turner Papers: Potter, Henry, citizen, papers in the case of; Potter, John, papers in the case of; Porter, Edward, seizure of trunk; Porter, George U, prisoner, confined at Ft. Layfayette;

you can also find an index of the Turner Baker papers on lincolnarchives