John Wilkes Booth met with "Mercy Street" regular Frank Stringfellow on tonight's episode. The prospect of Booth being Booth as early as Aug 1862 at a Union Army hospital in Alexandria is irresistible.

It is fascinating that contemporary Civil War dramatizations are more biased toward the Union than the the pre WW2 Civil War dramas were toward the Confederacy.

Has anyone besides me seen the only "Our Gang/Little Rascals" feature film "General Spanky"-1936 -In which Spanky assumed the duties of a Confederate officer as he and his playmates helped the South?

Tom

(02-14-2016 11:53 PM)Thomas Thorne Wrote:  John Wilkes Booth met with "Mercy Street" regular Frank Stringfellow on tonight's episode. The prospect of Booth being Booth as early as Aug 1862 at a Union Army hospital in Alexandria is irresistible.

It is fascinating that contemporary Civil War dramatizations are more biased toward the Union than the the pre WW2 Civil War dramas were toward the Confederacy.

Has anyone besides me seen the only "Our Gang/Little Rascals" feature film "General Spanky"-1936 -In which Spanky assumed the duties of a Confederate officer as he and his playmates helped the South?


Tom:

Never saw it.

Frank Stringfellow is an interesting fellow. He was almost certainly involved in the assassination.

John

Tom

Quote:Has anyone besides me seen the only "Our Gang/Little Rascals" feature film "General Spanky"-1936 -In which Spanky assumed the duties of a Confederate officer as he and his playmates helped the South?

Love it - as I do anything with the Little Rascals/Our Gang! The soundtrack is wonderful - wish I had a copy of that. I have a copy of the movie on DVD -

Lets not forget the 3 Stooges in 'Uncivil Warriors'

Stringfellow MAY have been involved in the assassination in some minor way, but, he left Washington before the 14th, so he wasn't there for the big show. He tells us about his trip down through southern Maryland, in "Stringfellow of the 4th" - so with captures and escapes and similar delays, he crossed the Potomac on the same night that Booth did, with guidance from Tom Jones. (That would account for Jones' being without a boat handy, for Johnny boy,)

(02-19-2016 02:00 PM)SSlater Wrote:  Stringfellow MAY have been involved in the assassination in some minor way, but, he left Washington before the 14th, so he wasn't there for the big show. He tells us about his trip down through southern Maryland, in "Stringfellow of the 4th" - so with captures and escapes and similar delays, he crossed the Potomac on the same night that Booth did, with guidance from Tom Jones. (That would account for Jones' being without a boat handy, for Johnny boy,)

A little more thinking about Stringfellow, and I think he was working with Harney. The timing is good. He might have been the agent who would provide the powder to Harney, so when Harney got arrested, Stringfellow was not needed. As I recall, Harney's cover story was that he was to meet with a diplomat from another country, and convince him to throw in some support for the South. I doubt that he was "qualified" to accomplish that. (A school teacher doing international diplomacy? I'm not faulting the Teachers, they just don't have the training.) But he could find the explosives and the Canisters that Harney would need.