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

[Tom Ryan]

<<I am always interested in the theories of assassination.  I do know
that a document was uncovered not too long ago that suggested one of the
Lincoln conspirators knew of a Confederate attempt to burn the White
house.  That opens up a new line of investigation; albeit, one that must be
taken carefully in light of the possibility that an accomplice of Booth
would be privy to Confederate secret operations. But who knows who passed
through Mrs. Surrat's boarding house or what information they brought?

   Perhaps there is hope for some documents to emerge on the complicity of
the CSA in the assassination.  I am open to but skeptical of this
speculation on the CSA's involvement without that.>>

Even if there is no eventual proof of Confederate government complicity in a
plot to assassinate Lincoln, it seems to me that their role in promoting an
attempt by Booth to kidnap the president is sufficient cause to implicate
the Confederate authorities in the final outcome (assassination rather than
kidnaping) whether that was their original intent or not.

The question then becomes do the experts agree that Davis' government
sponsored the kidnaping effort, or is there significant doubt along these
lines.  It has been awhile since I have read all of the accounts, but seem
to recall that the evidence was pretty clear that the line of authority
regarding the kidnapping plot traced directly back to Richmond.

One example of this is Thomas Nelson Conrad's memoirs in which he details
his clandesine observation of the White House over a period of time to learn
the president's schedule for arrival and departure, and determine a
propitious time and method to kidnap him.  Conrad was at the time working
directly for Secretary of Defense James Seddon.  Conrad had moved into
Washington from his base on the Potomac.  Conrad frequently made his way
into the capital, and normally operated out of a safe-house only two blocks
from the War Department and White House.

Tom Ryan