GDG- "Loose Bolts Sink....."

[Tom Ryan]

<<http://www.rootsweb.com/~tngreene/pbb005.html  provides additional details
on
the Bridge Burners which you may find interesting.>>

Seems to me that this proclamation signed by a Confederate colonel would be
hard to tie back directly to the Confederate government in general and
Secretary Benjamin in particular in a court of law following the war.
Unless there was documentation with Benjamin's fingerprints on it in the way
of a signature, it is unlikely that this could be used as evidence against
him.

The U.S. government apparently did not think the suppression of
pro-Unionists in East Tennessee was strong enough ammunition to bring
President Davis to trial after the war, so I think it unlikely that it would
have been the focus of a trial for Benjamin if he had been captured or chose
to return to the U.S.  Proof of involvement in an attempt to capture
President Lincoln that had gone bad and led to his assassination is another
matter altogether, however.

Tom Ryan