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[Gene C]

(05-13-2013 02:06 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  It could have been Oldroyd, or perhaps another of the early assassination historians. This sort of thing frequently happens: someone says something and it becomes Gospel and is followed mindlessly by a long train of secondary authority. The business about Herold accompanying Powell is another such myth. As is the business about "kidnapping". Stop and think about it for a minute, objectively: Do we really believe that Davis, Benjamin, Seddon, Breckenridge, Thompson, Cleary, Clay, Holcombe, Tucker, Sanders, Martin, all the other Canadian Cabinet members and all the other politically and militarily savvy Confederate leaders, listened to a harebrained, madcap scheme about kidnapping the President and holding him for something that was already being done, since January, 1865, namely prisoner exchange, from a 26-year old actor who knew nothing of politics or military science, and said: "Wow. What a great idea, John. Go for it!. I wonder why we didn't think of that."

John

Actually John, that doesn't sound any more harebrained than some of the other stupid things the government does ( like Fast and Furious)
It could have gone down like this: John, you go ahead and kidnap Lincoln, and we'll support you along our courier route and with Mosby's troops. Of coarse, like the Mission Impossible Team, should you or any member of your team be caught, we will deny all knowledge of your activities. (We may even decide once you get started, to withdraw all military aid, like we did in the 61-62' Bay of Pigs/Cuban Crisis) And should Lincoln get killed during the kidnapping attempt, that would just be too bad.


(But I agree with you....)