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Come Retribution:
The Confederate Secret
Service and the Assassination of Lincoln
by William A. Tidwell, 1988
Former CIA officer
William Tidwell was a resident of King George County when he became
interested in the Lincoln assassination. This sparked several years
of research in which he analyzed the facts of the case from the
viewpoint of an intelligence officer, with the assistance of James O.
Hall and David Gaddy of the Surratt Society. In his two books,
Come Retribution and the later April 1865
he makes a persuasive and near-irrefutable case for the
involvement of the Confederate secret service apparatus in the
original Lincoln kidnapping plot or plots and makes a plausible, if
not fully persuasive case for their involvement in the assassination
itself. What flaws the latter argument is that by the time Booth
decided to change course from kidnapping to assassination, Lee had
already surrendered at Appomattox, the CS government was in exile and
disarray since the fall of Richmond, and it is unlikely that they
could have directed much of anything. Therefore, the evidence seems
to point to Booth deciding to take matters into his own hands, but
used much of the escape route apparatus that had been set up for the
original kidnapping plot. If those who had been in on the original
kidnapping plot abetted him in his escape, they probably did so in
hope that he would either get away or be killed in the attempt,
rather than reveal the details of the original kidnapping plot, which
could implicate a large number of people.
Pages
460-461:
"That was the
situation on the afternoon of 23 April when Thomas Harbin watched
Booth and Herold ride off with old William Bryant, headed for
Cleydael, the summer home of Dr. Richard H. Stuart. Most of what
happened at Cleydael is known from the statement of Dr. Stuart,
made on 6 May at Old Capitol Prison to William Wood. Bryant
brought Booth and Herold to Dr. Stuart's about eight o'clock. It
was already dark. The man with the crutches sat on the horses
while the others did the talking. He told Dr. Stuart that they
were Marylanders. His brother had a broken leg, which had been set
in Maryland by "Dr. Mudd", who had referred them to him for
further medical aid. He pleaded with Dr. Stuart to put them up for
the night. Dr. Stuart stated that he flatly refused to help, that
he did not know Dr. Mudd, he was a physician and not a surgeon,
and his house was too full to accommodate more people. He did
offer them food, and they came in to eat. At some point in the
discussion, Dr. Stuart was told that his visitors want to "go to
Mosby" and needed transportation to Fredericksburg. Dr. Stuart
responded by saying, "Mosby has surrendered you will have to get
your paroles." He did tell them that he had a neighbor with a
wagon they might hire. This neighbor was William Lucas, a free
black. Bryant took them on to the nearby Lucas cabin and left them
there.
As far as it went, Dr.
Stuart's account is probably accurate. It is generally supported
by the statement of William Bryant. Even so, a close look at Dr.
Stuart's statement is rewarding. He told Wood he was suspicious of
his two visitors because he had heard on Tuesday 18 April, about
the Lincoln assassination. The date tells us that the clandestine
apparatus in Virginia had learned quickly about the assassination.
Further, Dr. Stuart knew on 23 April that Mosby had "surrendered."
this is not quite the right word. Actually, Mosby disbanded his
organization at Salem, Virginia on 21 April. What is important is
the speed with which this news reached Dr. Stuart from that
distance. It must have come from someone who was there.
Major Robert Hunter was
at the Stuart home, courting Margaret Stuart, when Booth and
Herold came on 23 April. Major Hunter was interviewed after the
war....."
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