"Guarding the Lincoln Conspirators" article

[Linda Anderson]

Ed Isaacs sent me this article that he wrote for the History Channel Magazine about the Civil War diary of his great-great grandfather, Sergeant George E. Dixon.

http://rogerjnorton.com/magazine.pdf

Ed writes how he was doing research on George Dixon when he found that George's regiment "was in charge of the Lincoln conspirators during their trial and execution." Through a genealogy website, Ed contacted a distant cousin who had George's Civil War diary which she then sent to Ed. Upon reading the diary, Ed found that, "On page 27, George listed the names of the Lincoln conspirators to be hanged on July 7, 1865, along with the names of the guards, executioners, and prisoner cell numbers.

"This is the first known documentation found to list the names of the guards and their duties guarding the prisoners."

Congratulations, Ed, on your article and on tracking down such a valuable part of history!