John Surratt's real parents?

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Tom,

Did Mary even KNOW that AL was going to Ford's that night? Even JWB did not find out till the afternoon of Apr 14.... Good Friday. Mary had spent most of the day in church, no?

I think the released Confederate prisoners would have probably tried to go to Mexico or South America. Some CSA officials did try to emigrate there after the war. But I'm not sure the release of CSA prisoners would have been the main goal after Apr 14...as Eva pointed out a prisoner exchange at that point was moot. The point would have been get better terms for the South...to negotiate for independence even at that late hour. To nullify Appomattox.



Hi Eva-

I want to address the issue of the Catholic sacrament of Penance. Like so many other teachings of Catholicism, it is so grossly misunderstood even within the Church that all I can do is shake my head in disbelief. No one who approaches the sacrament believing that it's a license to commit any sin over and over because they are confident of forgiveness is truly penitent, which means they are guilty of presumption. The priest always advises the penitent person that the person must TRULY be intending to reject the sin involved. In the last line of the Act of Contrition we are required to say "[i]I firmly resolve, with the help of your Grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to SIN NO MORE.[/i]" So any one who makes that vow within the confessional without truly meaning it is in fact not forgiven at all, and is putting his/her own soul in mortal danger by presumption of God's mercy.

Sorry for the theology rant, but as a practicing and believing Catholic it makes me crazy when Catholics like the ones Eva spoke of deliberately misrepresent the Faith to others. Catholics have enough PR problems as it is!

I completely agree with Laurie. Surratt was not a casual Catholic. Unlike Christians who fall for their own propaganda and sin in God's name, Surratt knew that premeditated, cold blooded murder-even in the commission of what she believed was a valid cause- was unlikely to be winked at in the confessional...let alone by God. One of the reasons I have questioned her(murder conspiracy) guilt is certain statements made by Father Wiggett, Surratt's confessor, after the execution. He administered the Last Rites and heard her confession. She not only re-affirmed her innocence, she swore it upon the Host(the Eucharist). If she was lying, one of her final acts on Earth was blasphemy, something a deeply religious person facing eternity is highly unlikely to do. Without violating the seal of the confessional, Wiggett always insisted upon Surratt's innocence instead of simply remaining silent-as he likely would have done if she'd admitted culpability.