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An update on research of interest.
11-18-2016, 09:20 PM (This post was last modified: 11-18-2016 09:25 PM by SSlater.)
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RE: An update on research of interest.
This is a report on Harney - after the war.
The search for Thomas F. Harney after he left Elmira - is/was no easy task. The search process was made infinitely more difficult by those who recorded his enlistment and Service details. Their penmanship is unreadable. Harney was sometimes referred to as T. F. Harney or S. F. Harney, or T. Harney and various other titles. I had to examine them all.
When Harney was captured in 1862 he was interviewed and one of the questions was "Were you ever married and have children?". His answer was "None". The interviewer deduced that "He was never married". I don't agree. It was Harney's skillful way of avoiding an answer to an unskilled interviewer. I learned - Harney dose not always tell the truth. It is OK to remember what he said but look for a more definitive answer.
Keeping all this in mind, let me tell you what I have found. I assure you, I am still looking.
On August 22, 1865, Thomas Hearny (Note that spelling) enlisted in the U. S. Army at Camp Bailey, Maryland. (PS. That spelling does not appear anywhere else in my search.) Was this "Our" Harney? If you Google "Camp Bailey", you get "Annapolis Parole Camp, Maryland. (I have never seen this reference before this.)
Here is my educated guess. Harney was released from Elmira on 7 July 1865 and started South. He headed for the D.C. area because he knew there was a cache of explosives there, waiting for him to pick-them-up. I have no idea whether they were in Washington, hidden by Stringfellow, or hidden by Booth, or he stashed them near Arundel Tavern, in Fairfax County. (As you know, no one had any explosives with them when captured.)
A very important aspect of this mission, that is rarely discussed, was the fact that Confederacy was desperate for this drastic act had to be successful, by mid-April, or the Confederacy would be defeated. Thus, Stringfellow met with Davis, then left for Washington. Mosby got new orders, that took precedence over all else he was doing. Booth was involved as a junior participant. The "New York Crowd" approved all that was to be done. The Plan was BIG. Harney was to "pull it off".
Back to Harney and the Army. Why would he reenlist? He believed he was SAFE, in the Army. or did he just want a job? This was the only life he knew. I can show you where he was, almost every day from before 1850, to after 1855, in the Army. He needed to "make a living".
I'm sure there will be more. I will report, as I find it. Please give me your comments, I need your help.

Correction: second to last line "1850 to 1865". Sorry!
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RE: An update on research of interest. - SSlater - 11-18-2016 09:20 PM

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