Surratt Courier

[Rick Smith]

(07-19-2019 08:36 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(07-19-2019 07:57 PM)Steve Wrote:  I just received the August 2019 Surratt Courier in the mail and I really want to commend Rick Smith's article, an updated reprint of his earlier October 2007 on the James Owens statement. I wasn't a member of the Surratt Society when it was originally printed and am glad to get a chance to read it now. (Even if I had been a member of the Society then, I was in Iraq then, so I might have missed it anyway.)

I wasn't aware of the 01 May 1865 memorandum by M. A. Clancey about Owens and his testimony.

I'm just adding a note of appreciation to Steve, whose locating Old Capitol Prison death and burial records spurred Rick to update his original article from 2007. I also suggested to Rick that he writes so well that he should be contributing more articles to the Courier... He is really a very good, all-around historian on the Civil War era. And, when he joins forces with his team of Wild Bill Richter and Bill Binzel, that triumvirate will set your brain a-spinning.

Laurie, Steve, Dennis,

Thank you all for your very generous words regarding the follow up article to the Owens Statement.

As Laurie said, the catalyst for the follow up was Steve's finding of the Owens death and burial record. That was an amazing find and brought conclusion to James Owens' story. Before this, there was only a very short, terse line in Come Retribution observing that Owens never came out of the Old Capitol alive. Well done, Steve.

Laurie also mentioned Bill Binzel and Bill Richter, my good friends, mentors and outstanding researchers and historians. We all have an interest, perhaps I should say a passion, for the Confederate underground network, secret service and all those operating on the periphery of the Lincoln assassination drama. The article is theirs as much as it is mine and in this particular case, Bill Binzel should have been credited as co-author, but he humbly refused. As I said in my author's note, the article would not have been published had it not been for Bill's input.

Before I close, it would be most remiss of me if I did not give credit to Laurie, who has, for the last 40 years, been the face, heart and soul of Surratt House and as such has inspired those of us who are privileged to serve as docents to keep alive the history of the Surratt House and the family whose name it bears. She has occasionally threatened retirement during the last few years, which leaves Bill and I with a difficult decision; if she goes, do we go too?