Greenback Saloon.

[Jim Garrett]

I think Peter and Grillo were partners. Peter is always in the forefront because he was working on the 14th and served Booth. I believe therre was an excellent article in the Surratt Courier a couple of years back that I will try to dig out. I believe he was a member of the Marine band at the time of the assassination.

[STS Lincolnite]

(09-24-2014 07:23 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  I think Peter and Grillo were partners. Peter is always in the forefront because he was working on the 14th and served Booth. I believe therre was an excellent article in the Surratt Courier a couple of years back that I will try to dig out. I believe he was a member of the Marine band at the time of the assassination.

Jim, I beleive that is correct. I think I remember reading that in one of Taltavul's statements in "The Evidence". I will check when I get home from work tonight.

[L Verge]

Grillo and Taltavul were partners after December of 1864. Taltavul had a restaurant at 561 8th Street near the Navy Yard and evidently lived above the restaurant because the City Directory for 1864 lists that as a restaurant and then has (HO) after it, meaning "house."

Grillo was also a member of the Marine Band, and the band was stationed at the Marine Barracks which is very near to the Navy Yard and Herold's and Taltavul's homes. Davy Herold was friends with many of the band members, and there is a record of Weichmann first meeting Davy at Surratt Tavern when Davy showed up with a contingent of the band, which was playing here for a local election. The members of the Marine Band also moonlighted in the Ford's Theatre orchestra.

Joan Chaconas also found a large advertisement for the Green Back (spelled that way in ad) on page 290 of the 1864 Directory. It appears to be mainly an advertisement placed by Moses Stamstag for his Ale Vault at 285 Pennsylvania Avenue at the corner of Tenth Street. The ad lists Stamstag's product as available also at the "Green Back 1st door above Ford's." Stamstag's "domicile" is listed at 306 H Street.

[loetar44]

Brian Anderson’s “Ford’s Theatre” (2014), p. 55:

“…. Like the theater , the Star Saloon closed after Lincoln’s assassination. Over the next 75 years, the former Star Saloon housed a tailor, a hot water heater store, a manicurist, a typewriter company, and a factory. During World War I, it was a military recruiting station. The building was torn down in 1930 to create a parking lot. Today, the façade of the Star Saloon has been reconstructed, while the interior contains offices for National Park Service employees.”

Nothing about the Greenback Saloon ....

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[Jim Garrett]

It would have been really neat if when Ford's was restored to the 1860's appearance that they had the forethought to use the first floor space of the Star as any space other than HVAC and mechanical. It's such a waste of space.

[MajGenl.Meade]

FWIW whitehousehistory.org agrees that the Greenback "flanked" the theatre on the opposite side to the Star:

"Ford’s Theatre was flanked by bars, restaurants, and similar commercial houses. These included both the Star Saloon, a dram shop adjacent to the theater that would play a significant role in the Lincoln assassination, and the Greenback Saloon. Lincoln’s coachman, Francis Burke, and his miscreant bodyguard, John F. Parker, as well as his murderer, John Wilkes Booth, all had drinks at the Star the night of Lincoln’s assassination. James P. Ferguson, owner of the Greenback Saloon that flanked Ford’s on the opposite side, witnessed the assassination from the audience".

[L Verge]

There was a question as to the address number for the Greenback. It just dawned on me that someone at work said that James Swanson gives the address in one of the first pages of Manhunt. I have yet to check it out. Someone who has the book handy, please see if you can find it.

[RJNorton]

Laurie, it was 452 Tenth Street.

[Jim Garrett]

If my Friday afternoon, Scotch & Water brain serves me correctly, Grillo and Taltavul were both in the Marine Band and both partners in the Star Saloon. Many in the Marine band had second jobs. A few were members of Ford's orchestra.