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L Verge · (This post was last modified: 06-10-2017 07:23 PM by L Verge.)

(06-09-2017 09:58 PM)SSlater Wrote:
(06-09-2017 10:49 AM)RJNorton Wrote:
(06-09-2017 10:42 AM)L Verge Wrote: That said, does anyone remember the date of the mysterious man (very likely Stringfellow) being led out of D.C. and into Southern Maryland with the assistance of (again, very likely) Mrs. Surratt? Would that help pinpoint anything?

Laurie, Art Loux has this happening on April 1.

The escapee on April 1 was Stringfellow. The proof here is the fact that he was Captured on the "Secret Line", imprisoned and escaped again. He went on down to the Potomac and Thomas Jones put him across.

It appears that everyone participating in this theme is in agreement. The topic is too big to be run alone. Thanx all!

Here is what we have now. By early March 1865, the South was fully aware that they were losing the War and needed some sort of a drastic event to alter that event. The Army could not do it, so they needed to destroy the leadership. Several different acts were brought up. One was attributed to Booth. He was going to capture Lincoln and carry him South, and a Peace Treaty negotiated. This was his attempt to get Lincoln on March 17th. That failed! That was a "SWEET" Plan.(grab Lincoln, negotiate a Peace, Lincoln goes home - no one gets hurt)
Also beginning in early March there were plans by others to kill Lincoln. We don't know whether or not Davis conceived the idea to "Blow up the White House," or he heard it from someone else. Anyway, he sent Stringfellow to Washington work out the details. As we know he did just that. It was a complex plan that needed the Explosive people, the Army (Mosby), and probably the "New York Mob".
Even though Booth's plan failed, he was their "boots on the ground" in Washington. He had to be a participant in in all the plans. This is why Booth made his many trips to New York and other places.
All went well until Harney was captured. The plan came to a halt, but the "clock was running" on the Life of the Confederacy. There wasn't time to drop back and develop a new plan, they would live or die on this Plan. Booth jumped in to kill Lincoln, as the other plan would have done. He shot Lincoln . Amen!
Could I interest you in another "Save the South" plan? This is never discussed, but Gen. E. G. Lee was entrusted with a new plan - in Canada- to gather up Prison Escapees, and organize an Army and cross into the U.S. and fight their way south. Want to discuss this in aa separate Post?

If you want to discuss the prison escapes and raids, why not start earlier with Thomas Henry Hines? He went directly to Davis, Benjamin, and Seddon with his plans in early-1864.

PS Always hoped to find him on my family tree. That was my grandmother's maiden name on my father's southern Virginia/NC/KY tree.

(06-10-2017 02:01 PM)SSlater Wrote:
(06-10-2017 05:18 AM)RJNorton Wrote: Possibly I missed this, but have we determined where Stringfellow was on April 14? I am intrigued by his stay at the Kirkwood House --> this means two people were scouting Andrew Johnson's residence. Wasn't Stringfellow released after being captured on April 3? Could he have returned to Washington using a disguise/alias? Could he have been staying at the Kirkwood House at the same time George Atzerodt was? If he checked in before April 13 his name would not be on the register Dave T. posted.
RJ Stringfellow started South - on the "Secret Line" April 1 +/-.
stopped at the Tavern, got arrested twice and escaped both times, each time he was a little further South. I can't see any time here for him to return to D.C. - even overnight.
I calculated his time to reach the Potomac, and compared that to the weather given in the log books of the gunboats, Stringfellow crossed the same night that Booth did - with the help of Jones. Stringfellow went North on this same route, so he knew Jones was there and what his job was.

Do you know where in Southern Maryland he was arrested twice? How long was he detained each time? That's about a three-week stretch between leaving DC and crossing the Potomac at about the same time as Booth and Herold.

How could you determine exactly that Stringfellow was crossing the river at the same time as the fugitives? That appears to be an almost unbelievable coincidence. I assume you are talking about their first attempt to cross? Did Jones have an assembly line going that night? Do you think he had been hiding Stringfellow also?