Lincoln Conspiracy

[YankeeSergeant]

Mosby

Mosby actually was commisioned. I don't believe Quantrill was or possibly that his commission was revoked. As Jeff points out, He wasn't popular amongst official confederate army structure and MOsby, from what I've read of the man would be loathe to co-operate with someone of Quantrill's nature. I would think

[Mayerling]

I agree with the assessment. I prefer to think that John Mosby had sufficient character and taste to keep his distance from the likes of William Clarke Quantrill.

Jeff

[jmenges]

Photo supposedly of "Boston" Corbett

Hi all,

The Kansas Historical Society has a photograph in it's collection purported to be Thomas 'Boston' Corbett which I have never seen before (1st photo).

To me this looks nothing like the man who appears in all the other known photographs of Corbett (2nd Photo, also in the collection).

Item Number: 222147
Call Number: B Corbett, Boston
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 222147




Item Number: 239
Call Number: B Corbett, Boston *2
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 239




JM

[Mayerling]

To be honest I can't see any resemblance either. The part is not in the center of the hair. The expression of the face of Corbett in picture two is that vague self-satisfied smile he always seems to have. The expression in the newly found picture shows a man who is somewhat surprised in his expression. Also the new fellow is something of a dandy in how he trimmed his beard and moustache (not like Corbett's, by the way), and in his clothing. I might be mistaken but his hair "looks" curlier, but it may be a different hair-wave. Of course, once he got out of the military Boston might have started to dress up again. Hard to say. If he liked to be a fancy dude his weird self-castration act before the war (when he was "tempted" by some prostitutes) doesn't make much sense.

Jeff

[Ginger]

By the way, my favorite cartoon of Lincoln in this affair showed him opening a luggage car door on the train to get down, wearing (I think) the Scotch cap disguise, and being scared by a cat!

You're thinking of the one by Adalbert Volck:



As a child, I used to have an illustrated history of the war that reprinted a large number of Volck's cartoons. The man was absolutely ferocious in a way that no modern political cartoonist would ever attempt.

The nightmarish "Comedy of Death" is IMHO the best of the lot, even if relatively little-known:



Edit: To the best of my ability to tell, Lincoln's puppets are Simon Cameron, Sec'y of War (hanging from the wall by the window); Benjamin Butler (in back, slumped on floor); George McClellan (on horse by Lincoln's foot); Winfield Scott (in wheelchair); John C. Fremont (mounted figure to left); and (possibly) Gideon Welles, Sec'y of the Navy, (with the huge beard).

[Mayerling]

You're thinking of the one by Adalbert Volck:



As a child, I used to have an illustrated history of the war that reprinted a large number of Volck's cartoons. The man was absolutely ferocious in a way that no modern political cartoonist would ever attempt.

The nightmarish "Comedy of Death" is IMHO the best of the lot, even if relatively little-known:



Edit: To the best of my ability to tell, Lincoln's puppets are Simon Cameron, Sec'y of War (hanging from the wall by the window); Benjamin Butler (in back, slumped on floor); George McClellan (on horse by Lincoln's foot); Winfield Scott (in wheelchair); John C. Fremont (mounted figure to left); and (possibly) Gideon Welles, Sec'y of the Navy, (with the huge beard).

It was a far different age from the present one regarding cartoons - more "hit 'em below the belt" approach. Thomas Nast, in attacking the Tweed Ring, demonstrated a nasty (no pun intended) view of the Roman Catholic Church - possibly due to the support Tammany had with Irish immigrants In one cartoon Tweed (who was a State Senator) sponsored a bill that would have enabled Catholic and other religious schools to have the advantage of free textbooks like the public schools. The result is a clever but questionable cartoon by Nast that is still shown about "the new River Ganges". One sees these plucky but defiant children on the banks of a river with their backs to a mountain that has no passageway up. The water is full of "crocodiles" heading in their direction, and the "crocodiles" are actually Roman Catholic cardinals - their miters looking like the heads of the reptiles while they float towards the students. In the background Tweed, Governor Hoffman, and members of the "Ring" watch without any qualms.

Volck (a southern newspaper cartoonist) was not the only one who attacked Lincoln. Northern Democratic newspapers (like the New York Herald) suggested all things that would damage him - one showed him as an African-American figure (which was not socially acceptable in any politician of national stature in the 1850s and 1860s. Sir John Tenniel (of "Alice in Wonderland" / "Through the Looking Glass" fame, drew cartoons in "Punch", and attacked Lincoln.

By the way, the man in the theater box watching Lincoln on stage seems to be Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. Your guesses about the other smaller figures appear to be correct.

Jeff

[Ginger]

By the way, the man in the theater box watching Lincoln on stage seems to be Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase.

You're right about that, I'm sure. I tend to wonder if the 'dead' puppet to the right is perhaps Elmer Ellsworth, still on the stage even in death.

[Mayerling]

It does look like the unfortunate Ellsworth, the first Union "martyr" in the war. The Lincolns looked at Ellsworth as though he was an adopted son. Ironically his death was not only the first personal disaster they suffered in the war, but it was repeated within a number of months by the death of Colonel Edward Baker at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, a botched affair in the autumn of 1861. Baker, a former Senator from Oregon, was a close friend of the Lincolns for many years, and they had named their deceased son Edward for Baker.

By the way, apparently the town of Alexandria, Va did not see Ellsworth the way the North did. They put up a plaque for Jackson, the owner of the boarding house that the Confederate flag was flying from when Ellsworth made his rash decision to tear it down. Jackson was the one who shot Ellsworth, and was shot to death in his term (and bayonetted as well) by a Northern soldier accompanying Ellsworth. The plaque honored Jackson for defending his property from armed invaders or somthing negative like that. I don't know if that plaque is still there.

[Lechmere]

Necessary reading

[Mayerling]

The book on Quantrill that I have is "Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre" by Thomas Goodrich (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991). I also have the complete Time-Life series on the Civil War, which has Quantrill's story in a volume regarding guerilla and irregular operations (such as the Andrews or "the General" raid that was the basis of a Walt Disney film and of Keaton's comedy classic "The General".

I have no single volume on Mosby, so thanks for the recommendation. I am curious that Eugene McCarthy wrote the introduction. Was he related to "the Grey Ghost"? I recently learned, by the way, that in his later years he frequently visited and talked to a young George Patton.

Jeff

[Lechmere]

Mosby made his peace with the Yankees and was a reconstructed rebel.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) was one of Quantrill's men as was Roster Cogburn (John Wayne). They had a certain glamour, unlike the dour Red Legs, Jayhawkers, scallywags and carpetbaggers.
The early Tobey Maguire film 'Ride with the Devil' is an excellent portrayal of Border Ruffian life.

Confederate Partisan Act in Missouri, 17th July 1862

I. For the more effectual annoyance of the enemy upon our rivers and in our mountains and woods all citizens of this district who are not conscripted are called upon to organize themselves into independent companies of mounted men or infantry, as they prefer, arming themselves and to serve in that part of the district to which they belong.

II. When as many as 10 men come together for this purpose they may organize by electing a captain, 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, and will at once commence operations against the enemy without waiting for special instructions. Their duty will be to cut off Federal pickets, scouts, foraging parties and trains and to kill pilots and others on gunboats and transports, attacking them day and night and using the greatest vigour in their movements. As soon as the company attains the strength required by law it will proceed to elect the other officers to which it is entitled. All such organizations will be reported to their headquarters as soon as practicable. they will receive pay and allowances for subsistence and forage for the time actually in the field, as established by the affidavits of their captains.

III. These companies will be governed in all respects by the same regulations as other troops. Captains will be held responsible for the good conduct and efficiency of their men and will report to these headquarters from time to time.

[jmenges]

The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) was one of Quantrill's men as was Roster Cogburn (John Wayne). They had a certain glamour, unlike the dour Red Legs, Jayhawkers, scallywags and carpetbaggers.
The early Tobey Maguire film 'Ride with the Devil' is an excellent portrayal of Border Ruffian life.

I'm sure you realize that the films you mention above are fictional and any glamour that infested the Border Ruffians left them when the director said "cut". 'Ride with the Devil' has more holes in it than Quantrill and Bill Anderson combined. Maybe, hopefully, you were strictly referring to Hollywood's portrayals of most Missouri outlaws being glamorous rather than describing the real monsters as such?

I would recommend reading 'Jennison's Jayhawkers', 'Civil War on the Western Border', and if you can pick up William E Connelly's bio of Quantrill. Jeff mentioned 'Bloody Dawn', which is also a good one.

Just the other day I visited the memorial stone in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence for 150+ unarmed men and boys that Quantrill's men so glamorously murdered one morning.





Well known midwestern newspaper editor John Speer had half of his family wiped out when his children were shot and their house was set on fire. They never found his son Robert's body.





I have no idea where the little boy in the first photo came from. I only noticed him after the film was developed.

JM

[Lechmere]

That's a bit spooky

There were atrocities on both sides.
The Federals enacted a scorched earth policy in several counties on the Missouri side and there was the incident when the female relatives of rebel sympathisers were locked up in a prison that collapsed and many died. The trouble started in Missouri when Federal militia fired on a crowd of civilians - as happened in Baltimore.

There is no doubt that in fictional portrayals the Rebs had the glamour - which passed on to the James-Younger gang.
Jesse James the most glamorous outlaw in the West.
I doubt his real life was that glamorous but that is besides the point - the films are based on earlier folklore.
More remarkable in that they lost and the losers don't write the history. Hence the reason for the Lawrence raid gets airbrushed out.

[jmenges]

Hi Ed,

The trouble started in pre-Civil War Kansas well before the Federal militia shootings at Camp Jackson, and Pro-slavery settlers from Missouri instigated all of the early violence that ultimately led to John Brown and his men's retaliation on Potawatomi creek. While violence ratcheted up on on both sides over that decade and the scorched earth policy during the Civil War displaced all of the border counties in western Missouri (whose effects can still be seen today in that the area continues to be sparsely populated), I see the southern and southern leaning states as starting the hostilities that eventually led to war.

My opinion on the movies is that (1940's-50's) Hollywood portrayals of the Kansas-Missouri conflicts starred actors playing confederates as the protagonists was born out of the mythologizing of the Jesse James gang during their lifetimes. They (the southern outlaws and border ruffians) may have lost the battle on the field but they won in the public relations department, leaving a trove of (mostly fictional) action-packed newspaper articles and pamphlets that Hollywood was eager to exploit. So action packed and romantic were the outlaws that Hollywood could easily ignore the fact that their "heroes" rose from loose knit bands of drunken, racist hillbillies. Of course they'll leave out the Lawrence massacre when their money made from capitalizing on upsurge of interest in the rural life that occurred in America after WWII (simpler times, no black folks, no agitation, etc).

A movie illustrating this lily white bred twist on history in American film is 1940's 'Santa Fe Trail' starring Raymond Massey as John Brown, who as the villain is portrayed as a total lunatic due to his affection for African-Americans. Thank God Ronald Reagan, as George Custer, is there to save the day at Harper's Ferry.

JM

[Steve S]

I'm sure some of the early Raiders on both sides had the best of motives...But if they were THAT dedicated,they could have gone off to join regular units rather than taking the loot and slaughter option...........