An Intersting Day

[L Verge]

Surratt House staff had been working on a special group tour for over a month, but we were not sure exactly who would be on the tour until Thursday, when Secret Service agents arrived to look over the property. We knew that it would not be the POTUS because he is out west somewhere -- and because the inspection was not that intense.

However, we were told to expect 53 people from the Department of Homeland Security with two (black) vans of escort from the Secret Service as well as more agents on-site on Friday, more on the bus, and also an escort from both the Prince George's County Police Department and the Charles County Sheriff's Office.

They had requested a half-hour presentation on-site at the James O. Hall Research Center, followed by a drive-by only of the sites that Booth visited in Southern Maryland. They would not go into Virginia.

Lindsey Horn gave the PowerPoint presentation - opening with my bullet points as to the significance of Lincoln's assassination related to modern Homeland Security: 1) The Civil War was the biggest test related to homeland security that our country has faced to date. 2) The threat came from within and from U.S. citizens. 3) It was a war fought by civilians as well as the military on both sides. 4) The war ended with a conspiracy that has yet to be addressed to everyone's satisfaction 150 years later. 5) How extensive was that conspiracy?

The group did not want to tour the historic house because of the time element, so Lindsey (still in her hoop skirts) then hopped on their bus and spent the next three hours on the escape route. Upon their return, the tour head decided he wanted to see the inside of the historic house and take some photos.

Just who were these people? The tour head was Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and the group was composed of staff and advisers (lots of high-ranking military). A very nice group of people.

Lindsey earned high praise and was very pleased with herself because the group asked only two questions that she could not answer: When did Mary Lincoln die? (She did not know the exact date, so just said about twenty years later.) And, what rank did JAG Joseph Holt hold? I'll make that question a trivia piece because we have never seen photos of him in military garb. Anybody know the answer?

[RJNorton]

(05-09-2015 12:06 PM)L Verge Wrote:  However, we were told to expect 53 people from the Department of Homeland Security

See if there is a guy who looks like this:

[Gene C]

I'm glad you posted the picture of him smiling

Way to go Lindsey!
I feel safer now.

[RJNorton]

(05-09-2015 12:06 PM)L Verge Wrote:  And, what rank did JAG Joseph Holt hold? I'll make that question a trivia piece because we have never seen photos of him in military garb. Anybody know the answer?

It was Brigadier General (according to Wikipedia).

[Eva Elisabeth]

Laurie, I bet their interest aroused when they found the assassination books and conference papers in my searched baggage...

[Thomas Kearney]

Kudos to the Surratt House. Lindsey just a quick FYI, Mary Lincoln died at her sister's home in Springfield on July 16, 1882 after collapsing which led to a coma.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Yes, especially kudos to Lindsey!!! She had already impressed me before.

[L Verge]

(05-09-2015 12:43 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(05-09-2015 12:06 PM)L Verge Wrote:  However, we were told to expect 53 people from the Department of Homeland Security

See if there is a guy who looks like this:

Well, it's not Secretary Jeh Johnson. Isn't that the man on Scorpion?

[RJNorton]

(05-09-2015 05:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Isn't that the man on Scorpion?

Laurie, yes. Vicki and I started watching the show last fall, and it soon became part of our weekly "must watch" list.

[L Verge]

I should have mentioned that Secretary Johnson believes that he has ties to Southern Maryland. He is African American, and his mother's maiden name was "Edelin." From what the family can tell, that is the name taken by the family after emancipation and was likely tied to the "Edelen" family that had owned them in either southern Prince George's or northwestern Charles County, Maryland. The Edelens were known secessionists during the Civil War in this area.

On Friday, he noticed "Edelen Acres" on a sign in front of a house near Bryantown Tavern, and that brought up his conversation with Lindsey. Proof again, that one cannot escape history - especially assassination-related history.

[HerbS]

KUDOS-to everyone at the Surratt House!