What the history books don’t tell you is that John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate intelligence officer working on a plot to kidnap Lincoln so he could be taken to Richmond and held for ransom to free all the Confederate prisoners being held in a massive camp outside Chicago. This plot involved coordination with Col. John S. Mosby, who was to provide escort while crossing into Virginia from Maryland. Because Booth’s cabal had been penetrated by numerous double agents working for the Union War Department, the kidnap was easily foiled by changing Lincoln’s itinerary. Immediately afterwards, Booth was lured to New York City and. pitched the assasinaton and promised assistance getting away. Booth had the passcode to get over the bridge, otherwise he would have not been able to flee south at night.
