Booth's Denial of Foreknowledge of the Attack on Seward

[John Fazio]

Clarence:

There is strong evidence that many more federal officeholders were targeted for assassination on the night of April 14, 1865, in Washington and on the train to Burlington, New Jersey, than Lincoln, Johnson and Seward. See Decapitating the Union, pp. 255-258 for evidence of the attack on Stanton; pp. 258-260 for evidence of the attack on Grant. See also the May 10, 1865, letter from the Union agent in Paris in which he quotes the Confederate agent "Johnston", who said that if everything had gone according to plan, 15 Yankees would be dead, not one (pp. 260, 262, 328, 330, 341, 372) and see the T.I.O.S. letter in which the writer speaks of one assassin assigned to each member of Lincoln's cabinet (pp. 256. 262, 323, 351, 372).

I am happy to tell you that Decapitating the Union received five-star reviews from 57 of 62 reviewers at its Amazon entry. Inasmuch as you clearly have an interest in the subject, and are a digger rather than a superficial scholar, may I recommend it to you? McPherson told me that he loved the book because it was loaded with detail and that "I am a detail man".

John C. Fazio