Assassination Trivia

[Eva Elisabeth]

I think the reason that made him suspicious was either cotton or his son (involved in "blockade running") or both...

[Dave Taylor]

Are you thinking of Zebulon Vance, the Confederate governor of North Carolina?

Vance was arrested on May 13th in Statesville, NC and arrived at the Old Captiol Prison on May 20th. He was one of several Confederate governors that were held at the Old Capitol including Georgia governor Joseph Brown and Virginia governor John Letcher. Letcher and Vance apparently shared a cell together. Vance was released on parole on July 6th.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Dave - while it's not the gentleman I am looking for it's a perfect match as for the bizarre name - you are a winner in any case!!
I try one more hint and post a photo - the gentleman had a very interesting biography.
   

[Dave Taylor]

Well you (and Bill) have got me stumped. I looked through the different inventories of people imprisoned at the Old Capitol Prison in D.C. but couldn't find anyone that fit the bill. Even my earlier guess of Zebulon Vance didn't quite fit because he was only imprisoned for about 2 months. I'm guessing your person was imprisoned somewhere outside of D.C.

Also, while I know it's not him, the picture you posted looks an awful lot like Lincoln's Attorney General Edward Bates.

[wpbinzel]

The gentleman in question in Eva's post probably spent his life wishing that his parents had named him "Zebulon."

[RJNorton]

Bill and Eva, do either of you know if this person has ever previously been mentioned on this forum?

[wpbinzel]

Bill and Eva, do either of you know if this person has ever previously been mentioned on this forum?

A good question, Roger. Off the top of my head, I did not recall seeing his name on this forum and a quick search did not produce any results, so I am going to say that he will be a new, and interesting, addition.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I checked forum as for your question, Roger, nope, not yet mentioned (and I second Bill that he makes an interesting addition!!!).

Hint: When Bill challenged me with this question and revealed the name, I knew I had heard/read it before but couldn't remember where. Now I found it - in "One War at a Time" (very good book) his nephew (same family name) was appointed Confederate commissioner to Russia in 1863.

[RJNorton]

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II?

[Dave Taylor]

I think you guys are referring to Gazaway Bugg Lamar.

Though I would disagree with Wikipedia's claim that he was arrested in connection to Lincoln's assassination. He, like the Confederate governors, seemed to have been arrested for treason charges connected to supporting the Confederacy.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well done, Roger and Dave!!

[wpbinzel]

Though I would disagree with Wikipedia's claim that he was arrested in connection to Lincoln's assassination. He, like the Confederate governors, seemed to have been arrested for treason charges connected to supporting the Confederacy.

Dave, while it was not my source, in this instance Wikipedia is correct. Gazaway Bugg Lamar’s arrest and incarceration were assassination-related. A man named “Lamar” (who was no doubt fictitious) was implicated in Lincoln’s assassination by Charles Dunham [see: Carman Cumming, Devil’s Game (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), p. 163, etc.]. Based on that “evidence,” Edwin Stanton ordered the arrest of Gazaway Lamar in Savannah on April 28, 1865. He was transported to Washington and imprisoned in Old Capitol Prison for three months. [Robert Neil Mathis, “The Ordeal of Confiscation: The Post-Civil War Trials of Gazaway Bugg Lamar,” The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 3, Fall 1979, p. 343.]

[Dave Taylor]

Thanks for the rest of the story, Bill. I didn't see any reference to him in the Evidence book and the newspaper articles about his imprisonment in Washington only made mention of his treasonous activities. I have a handwritten copy of Old Capitol records made by James O. Hall and he didn't include Lamarr so I assumed he didn't take his arrest to be connected to the assassination.

Coincidentally, my original guess of Zebulon Vance was partly connected to the assassination through a similar story as Lamarr. Vance hired George Sanders to run the blockade to export cotton from North Carolina. Vance's connection to Sanders and the group of Confederates in Montreal put him under suspicion of connection to Lincoln's death.

[wpbinzel]

I first ran across the name of Gazaway Bugg Lamar in law school, in connection with his Court of Claims case, and have always thought him to be an interesting character. This is what Robert Mathis wrote about him in 1979:

"The assassination of Lincoln led immediately to the next postwar tragedy for Lamar. The identity of those who were directly involved in the atrocity was quickly discovered, but in their minds of many bereaved Northerners the true instigation came from the Richmond government. It seemed natural for many to interpret the assassination as the result of a desperate eleventh-hour plot by the Confederate leaders to keep their hopes alive. A leading proponent of this view, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, zealously gathered evidence in an effort to document the complicity of Jefferson Davis and others in the plot. During the accumulation of this evidence, the name 'Lamar' appeared in the testimony of several individuals. As a result, on 28 April Stanton ordered his assistant secretary, Charles A. Dana, to arrest Gazaway Lamar. He explained: 'We have reason to believe that he was concerned in the death of Mr. Lincoln.' On the night of 28 April Lamar was, without forewarning, arrested and quickly transported eight hundred miles to Washington City. While Stanton's investigation continued, Lamar was confined, without any knowledge of his alleged crime and under very degrading conditions, for three months in Old Capitol Prison. Several times Lamar unsuccessfully applied for an interview with Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, to ascertain the reasons for his imprisonment. When friends approached the new president in Lamar's behalf, they found that he was 'strongly prejudiced' against the Georgian. To one of these persons Johnson curtly stated, 'Why they say he is as bad as Jeff Davis.'"
-- Mathis, pp. 342-3

[Eva Elisabeth]

Lamar is buried in Presbyterian Cemetery in Alexandria, VA - thanks to Bill who took this photo: