Come retribution : the Confederate secret service and the assassination of Lincoln / William A. Tidwell with James O. Hall and David Winfred Gaddy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tidwell, William A.

Contributor:

Hall, James O.

Gaddy, David Winfred.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination.

Lincoln, Abraham.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.

Assassination.

Intelligence service--Confederate States of America--History.

Intelligence service.

History.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Secret service.

United States.

Secret service.

Physical Description:

xv, 510 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [1988]

Summary:

This is the first book to explore the Confederate Secret Service's link to the death of Abraham Lincoln. Investigating the assassination from their perspective as career intelligence officers, William A. Tidwell and David Winfred Gaddy, joined by James O. Hall, one of the leading authorities on the assassination, find and follow the clues, interpret the clandestine evidence, and draw well-founded conclusions. Their groundbreaking work uncovers evidence with the specialized scrutiny that is unique to researchers of their profession.

Many Confederates believed that Abraham Lincoln himself was the sponsor of the Union army's heavy destruction of the South. With John Wilkes Booth as its agent, the Confederate Secret Service devised a plan of reprisal -- to seize President Lincoln, hold him hostage, and bring the warweary North to capitulation. The code word for this stratagem was "Come Retribution."

But when Booth was stymied, the Secret Service took another course. They conspired to bomb the White House during a conference of senior Union officials. But this plot also failed. Next, the Confederates devised for Confederate forces to abandon Richmond and Petersburg and to link up with General Joseph E. Johnston in the South before General Grant's forces were prepared to move. This plan was thwarted, however, when Grant took Richmond. By April 9, 1865, Lee was forced to surrender.

Yet the willful, ardent Booth, smarting from the South's loss of the war, took decisive action at Ford's Theatre during that spring night in 1865.

Contents:

Introduction: The Logic Trail 3

Part 1 The Confederate Intelligence Machinery

1. The Intelligence Problems of the Confederacy 33

2. The Virginia Connection 51

3. The Secret Signal Corps 80

4. Tactical Intelligence in the Army of Northern Virginia 105

5. Prisoners of War and the Protection of Richmond 115

6. Partisans and Irregular Warfare 132

7. The "Department of Dirty Tricks" and the Secret Service 155

8. Confederate Operations in Canada 171

9. The Beginnings of Central Intelligence 212

Part 2 Using the Machinery against President Lincoln

10. Portents 225

11. Dahlgren's Raid and Its Aftermath 241

12. Enter John Wilkes Booth 253

Part 3 A Desperate Plan to Win the War

No Holds Barred

13. Development of a Plan 271

14. Organization in Virginia 299

15. The Action Team 328

16. Come Retribution 346

17. Complication and Frustration 379

18. Countdown 403

19. Getting Away 427

20. The Final Curtain 454

21. Paroled at Ashland 480.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0878053476

0878053484

OCLC:

17549337