{"id":204,"date":"2011-02-25T02:41:19","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T02:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/?p=204"},"modified":"2011-03-09T16:29:39","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T16:29:39","slug":"published-source-thomas-nelson-conrads-autobiography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/2011\/02\/25\/published-source-thomas-nelson-conrads-autobiography\/","title":{"rendered":"Published Source: Thomas Nelson Conrad’s Autobiography"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

I read Conrad’s 1892 autobiography “A Confederate Spy: A Story of the Civil War,” in order to get a sense of his activities during the Civil War.\u00a0 It is possible that Conrad may have confabulated or exaggerated certain aspects of his work in the Confederate Secret Service in order to make money gain attention.\u00a0 Therefore, it is impossible to treat his claims as fact.\u00a0\u00a0I will\u00a0attempt to find more reliable primary sources that can definitively confirm or debunk his claims before I use them in my research.<\/p>\n

The book deals exclusivly with his activities during the Civil War, and his life before and after the conflict is scarcely mentioned.\u00a0\u00a0Conrad tells the story of his wartime service chronologically beginning in the spring of 1861, and ending with the\u00a0capture and 1865 trials of\u00a0John Wilkes Booth’s accomplices in the assassination of President Lincoln.\u00a0 Although he\u00a0almost exclusivly writes\u00a0about his\u00a0personal experiences as a secret agent, he references\u00a0major events such as the\u00a0Lincoln assassination.\u00a0 He speculates that Booth was not killed after assassinating Lincoln and the United States Department of War\u00a0covered up the truth (p.99).\u00a0\u00a0Conrad’s claims are difficult to confirm or debunk because he declines to name many of\u00a0the individuals he collaborated with\u00a0during the war.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Chapter I he\u00a0states that\u00a0in the spring of 1861 he left his position as a schoolmaster in Georgetown to serve as a\u00a0chaplain and\u00a0scout\u00a0for Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart.\u00a0 He contends in the same chapter that in 1861, he planned to assassinate Union General Winfield Scott (p.7).\u00a0\u00a0 This plan was aborted when he was informed that \u201cRichmond peremptorily forbade such action\u201d (p.8).\u00a0 In Chapter IV, he tells the story of an alleged 1862 conference between Confederate officials and British diplomats.\u00a0 He claims this meeting was infiltrated by a Union spy, Col. William P. Wood (p.22-24).<\/p>\n

In Chapter V, he\u00a0tells how he convinced a friend working in the Union War Department to give him a copy of a sensitive document, and claims to have received it at the department headquarters in Washington (p.31-32).\u00a0 He claims in Chapter IX\u00a0that this same individual later gave him \u201ca letter of introduction from a staff officer\u2026as an army chaplain,\u201d which he used to gain access to Union General Ambrose Burnside’s camp (p.59).\u00a0 This led me to wonder whether there were a significant number of Confederate sympathizers in the Union military and government who acted as moles for the Confederacy.\u00a0 Considering Washington D.C.’s proximity to Virginia, this is a likely scenario.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chapter XIII is entirely devoted to the attmpted abduction of President Lincoln.\u00a0 He claims that throughout the war, \u201cschemes for capturing Mr. Lincoln and taking him to Richmond as a prisoner had been planned more than once,\u201d but \u201can open attempt was never made\u201d (p.69).\u00a0 Conrad indicates that the kidnapping was planned by Conrad, Daniel Mountjoy Cloud, and several other Confederate Secret Service agents, and Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon, who was initially opposed to the plot, ultimately approved it (p.70).\u00a0 He tells the story of how he and his accomplices monitored Lincoln for several weeks before they attempted to ambush his carriage and abduct him (p.70).\u00a0\u00a0Conrad claims that Lincoln was escorted the federal cavalry on the day they were scheduled to carry out the plot, which was aborted as a result (p.71).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conrad never\u00a0mentions that he knew Cloud before the war,\u00a0but he states\u00a0that “a college mate, who now sleeps beneath the sod of the Mississippi Valley and myself, were among the few perhaps, who not only scouted within our lines, but were frequently sent by President Davis and our general officers within the limits of the Union capital” (p.5).\u00a0 This quote most likely refers to Cloud, as he died in 1871 in Vicksburg, Mississippi.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Conrad’s claims\u00a0can be corroborated by primary sources such as letters or diaries by officials in the Confederate Army or Department of War, they would be a fitting addition to a tour guide\u2019s discussion of Cloud and Conrad at East College.\u00a0 The story of their plot to abduct President Lincoln would be especially fitting for this venue if it could be substantiated.\u00a0 I will attempt to locate the papers of Confederate Secretary of War Seddon, Cloud and Conrad, as well as other officers mentioned in the autobiography.\u00a0 I will also attempt to access the records of the Confederate Department of War.<\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/p>\n

Conrad, Thomas Nelson. A Confederate Spy.<\/em>\u00a0New York: J.S. Ogilive Publishing Company Company, of Rose Street, 1892.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read Conrad’s 1892 autobiography “A Confederate Spy: A Story of the Civil War,” in order to get a sense of his activities during the Civil War.\u00a0 It is possible that Conrad may have confabulated or exaggerated certain aspects of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-304pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}