GDG- CSA and Lincoln

[Tom Ryan]

Rich,

	My pleasure.  I think you will find these books an enjoyable read.  By the way, the title of the other book I mentioned is "American Brutus:  John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies" by Michael W. Kauffman.  He will be speaking to our CW Round Table in March.  I have to get up to speed with his book by then.  

	I heard Steers and Kauffman speaking on the same panel on TV, and they have some differences of opinion on the subject of the assassination and Dr. Mudd's role.  

Tom Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
[mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of rbrinton at charter.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 8:07 PM
To: gettysburg at gdg.org
Subject: GDG- CSA and Lincoln


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


  TKS Tom - as usual, you add clarity with your posts - the books are on my list.

   Esteemed Member Tom Ryan posted :

 << Rich, 
 
	The best analysis of whether the Confederate government was targeting Lincoln 
was done by Tidwell, Hall and Gaddy in the book "Come Retribution:  The 
Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln."  Tidwell put out a 
sequel to this called "April '65:  Confederate Covert Action in the Amercian 
Civil War."  Tidwell and Gaddy are career intelligence officers  and Hall is a 
Lincoln assassination expert.  The story they weaved together, if not 
conclusive, is nonetheless fascinating.  If you have not read these books, that 
certainly is a good starting point. 
 
	Ed Steers in his books mentioned earlier makes the case that Dr. Mudd was 
acquainted with Booth prior to the assassination, and was likely  a facilitator 
of the so-called "Secret Line" down through Southern Maryland along which passed 
couriers and agents working for the Confederate government.  If Lincoln was 
captured alive, this would have been the route he would have been taken by his 
captors in order to get him into Confederate territory.  
 
	The bottom line here is that Mudd gave Booth medical care and a place to stay 
following the assassination which would implicate him at least on that score.  
Steers, if I recall correctly, also tries to make the point that Mudd was 
collaborating with Booth on the plot to kidnap the president.  His books are 
worth reading.  I believe a more recent author named Kaufman sees the picture 
differently, although I have not read his book nor can I recall the title.  
Nonetheless he and Steers do not see eye to eye on the Dr. Mudd side of the 
story. 
 
	The missing link in all of this is Secretery of State Benjamin who would have 
been controlling all of these activities from Richmond.  Absent his papers or 
testimoney, the researchers have had to rely on a lot of circumstantial 
evidence.  I think they have done a pretty good job of making a case that the 
Confederate government had a role to play in the Lincoln situation.  It is just 
not clear exactly what that role was. 
 
Tom Ryan >>
 

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