Posted on 05/17/2025 6:41:12 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
From the National Intelligencer, May 16.
Of the testimony taken on Friday last there are portions to which the injunction of secrecy need not be applied, and hence we publish it to gratify the natural desire of the public to learn all that is proved against the prisoners on trial.
Henry Van Steinacker,
a witness for the prosecution, being duly sworn, testified as follows:
By Judge Advocate Holt -- Q. -- Have you or not for several years been in the military service of the so-called Confederate States? A. -- Yes, Sir, I have been.
Q. -- In what capacity? A. -- I was employed in the Topographical Department, ranking as an engineer officer, with the pay of an engineer officer.
Q. -- On whose staff? A. -- The staff of General Edward Johnson.
Q. -- Were you or not in the State of Virginia in the Summer of 1863, and at what point? A. -- When we came back from Pennsylvania, after the battle of Gettysburgh, I was ordered with another engineer lieutenant, who was very sick, to convey him to his home at Staunton, in the Valley of Virginia; and from there I took my way back to find the army again; and near Harrisonburgh, twenty-five miles from Staunton, at Swift Run Gap, I was overtaken by three citizens, with whom I got better acquainted, after having ridden awhile with them; and I found them out to belong to Maryland. The name of one was Booth, and the other one's name was Shepherd.
Q. -- Do you remember the features of Booth? A. -- I do not remember the features of all of them.
Q. -- Look at that photograph. (Handing to the witness a photograph of J. Wilkes Booth.) A. -- There is a resemblance,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 25, 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
Link to previous New York Times thread
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4317365/posts
The Trial of the Assassins: Testimony Taken in Secret Session Last Week – 2-11
From Washington – 11-12
Our National Wealth – 12
Editorial: The Reconstruction of Virginia – 12
Editorial: The Conspiracy – Extraordinary Disclosure – 12-13
Victor Emanuel and the Pope – 13
Who is President of the Confederacy – 13
A Sensible Conclusion – 13
President Lincoln’s Cabinet – 13
What do you think?
Do historians today say that Jefferson Davis put out a hit on Lincoln?
If not, then who did, and where did Boothe's money come from?
The William J. Cooper Jr. biography of Davis mentions the the assassination in several places. I will post a few quotations here.
“While in Charlotte, Davis learned that his great antagonist Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. All accounts agree that Davis voiced regret at Lincoln’s death. He also observed that Lincoln would have been more lenient on the South than his successor was likely to be.”
“In the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination and the concurrent plots against other high-ranking government officers, the War Department, with Secretary Stanton’s enthusiastic endorsement, claimed that Davis was intimately involved in the conspiracy that resulted in Lincoln’s murder as well as other failed intrigues. But the trials in late May of the assassin John Wilkes Booth’s immediate associates brought forward no new damning evidence. In subsequent investigations this supposedly crystal-clear certainty turned murky. A few officials clung to the theory of Davis’s responsibility, but most observers found the evidence flimsy, even fraudulent.”
“By autumn no responsible government official continued to believe that Davis had been involved with Lincoln’s murder . . .”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.