An update on research of interest.

[RJNorton]

The "New York Crowd" approved all that was to be done.

From the beginning I have had trouble grasping the makeup/goals of the "New York Crowd." Although I have not read Dixie Reckoning I did read what the late Rick Stelnick wrote for the Surratt Courier. My memory is that Stelnick's theory was Booth was not assigned to kill Lincoln. Rather Lincoln was to be kidnapped by Booth on Easter Sunday. The New York crowd was shocked and angered that Booth acted on his own and killed Lincoln two days before the kidnap was to take place. If memory serves me I think Stelnick felt Booth was escaping Washington as much from fear of what the New York crowd would do to him as what the federal government would do.

John, in your research, it sounds like you would reject Stelnick's theory because you feel the New York Crowd knew of the plan to bomb the White House. Am I saying your feelings correctly?