Some Strange activities associated with Elmira.

[L Verge]

The book that I referred to above is entitled This Awful Drama: Gen. Edwin Gray Lee, C.S.A. and His Family by Alexandra Lee Levin - 1987.

Other than that, I recommend Fred Hatch's latest book that has been out for about a year - John Surratt: Rebel, Lincoln Conspirator, Fugitive. It is very detailed about all the comings and goings of young Surratt and is heavy with citations, bibliography, etc. Gen. E.G. Lee is mentioned numerous times. From what I gathered through a brief search of Fred's references to Gen. Lee,

-- Gen. Lee and his wife arrived in Montreal and checked into the St. Lawrence Hall on March 6, 1865 - two days before Surratt arrived.
-- Lee had a letter from Judah Benjamin to Jacob Thompson, basically telling Thompson that his cover has been blown and that he is to hand over his duties to Gen. Lee.
-- Thompson didn't react fast enough, so another urgent message came ordering Thompson to pretty much "get out of Dodge." Thompson really was upset at this point.
-- He replied on April 9, refusing to turn over $30,000 that he would keep to secure his safety.
-- Thompson and a William Cleary finally departed on April 11, bound for Halifax and thus to Europe.
-- Gen. Lee summoned Surratt to infiltrate the Elmira prison camp, and Surratt arrived in the town on April 12, registering at the Brainard Hotel.
-- On April 13, Surratt bribed a guard at the prison and gained entry in order to make drawings of the camp's layout.

Gen. Lee kept a diary. Has anyone read it?

Roger - in reference to your post that the judge would not allow Lee's orders to be admitted in the 1867 trial, I can't find any mention of that in Fred's book. However, he does show how the prosecution objected to nearly everything that the defense brought up in examining Lee as a witness and that those objections were sustained -- therefore, very little information came from the General, himself.