In late April 1864 President Jefferson Davis ordered Jacob Thompson and Clement Clay, Jr. to proceed immediately to Canada as his special commissioners. While the mission of these two men remained unclear, it seems that they were to coordinate Confederate secret service activities from Canada, including plotting to release Confederate prisoners of war in the North, employing agents within the Northern states, and communicating with certain parties within the United States, particularly Northern Copperheads, about the possibility of a truce or peace negotiations. One of the agents reputed to be hired by the two was the actor John Wilkes Booth, who in 1865 would assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Both Thompson and Clay spent much of the rest of their lives attempted to disassociate themselves from any involvement whatsoever with Booth.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.