Food for Thought

[L Verge]

I'm sorry, but this is not what I was "taught" was a Garibaldi jacket -- first, I thought that Garibaldi was known for his red shirts, not jackets, and they were popular with women. The Butterick pattern for the boy's so-called Garibaldi is more like what I would suspect. The photo above is more like what I have in mind, but somewhere I have seen reference to the jacket having a belt at the waistline. I sure hope I'm not crazy.

Sandy's photo of Surratt on page 105 shows him in his Papal Zouave uniform and states that he wore it in Elmira. 'Tain't so. He did not have that uniform until he escaped from Canada and headed to England and then down the continent until seeking final sanctuary with the Pope's forces under a false name. As I stated earlier, he was arrested in that uniform, escaped, finally captured in Egypt and brought back to D.C. in that uniform. To top it all off, the verso of that CDV says that it was taken by Matthew Brady (probably in his D.C. studio).

I'm at work again today and found an answer to Mike's question about the 14-page Booth letter. Here's what I replied to him:

"I’m at work yet again, so I have access to books. Hanchett gives a synopsis of the letter, which is definitely the “To Whom It May Concern” letter that was left with Asia, but intended for her husband. Hanchett credits Mr. Hall with finding it in the Attorney General’s files at the Archives. He says it was dated in August of 1864, which would put it at just about the time that the kidnap thoughts began to form. Three months later, Booth was in Southern Maryland and meeting Dr. Queen and Dr. Mudd.

"I also searched the huge The Evidence book and found the verbatim transcription of the letter that was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 19, 1865. In that book, the entire letter takes up two-and-a-half pages. Perhaps the handwritten original is 14-pages long? Mr. Hall is credited again with finding it in 1977, over a hundred years after it was thought to be missing."