I appreciate any light you can shed on this.
It's a fun story for sure. Well. Maybe "fun" isn't the word. You know what I'm trying to say. An
intriguing story.
From the
Richmond Sentinel
January 26, 1865
Conveying Intelligence to the Enemy
Samuel Ruth, Superintendent of the Richmond and Fredericksburg {Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac} Railroad; Hugh Silva of King George, and John H. Timberlake, a policeman of Fredericksburg, were on Monday committed to Castle Thunder, on the charge of being regularly engaged in carrying information to the enemy. The parties have as yet had no examination, owing to the absence of a witness upon whom the authorities mainly rely, and therefore nothing is known of the evidence upon which they were arrested.
Mr. Ruth has been long and favorably known in this city as a most efficient railroad officer, and a respectable, prudent and cautions man. His friends are slow to believe him guilty, not only because of his previous good character, but because of his peculiar and remarkable caution and reticence, and a most marked disposition to mind only his own business.
The authorities expect to prove by one Mrs. Dade, of King George, that Ruth, Timberlake and Silva have long been leagued together and engaged in running a regular mail to the Yankees on the Potomac.
At the request of the police authorities, we forbore to mention this case before.
From the
Richmond Whig
January 26, 1865
Arrested on a Charge of Treason
It frequently happens that the ends of justice may be defeated by the premature publication of facts connected with an arrest. This was believed to be the case when Samuel Ruth, Superintendent of the Fredericksburg R. R. Co. {Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR}, was taken into custody, and the authorities requested that for the present nothing should be said about the matter by the press. This request, we regret to say, has been disregarded by some of the city papers. Information obtained by some of the detective police led to the belief that Mr. Ruth had for a long time taken advantage of his position as Superintendent of the Richmond & Fredericksburg Railroad to convey important information to the enemy; and on Monday evening he was arrested on this charge and committed to Castle Thunder. John H. Timberlake, a policeman of Fredericksburg, and Hugh W. Silver, a resident of King George, who had been previously arrested on the same charge, were also committed to the Castle. The Government depend upon the testimony of Mrs. Dade, of King George, and upon circumstantial evidence, to make out a case against the parties. Mr. Ruth's friends, among whom are many gentlemen of influence, believe Mr. Ruth to be innocent. The authorities are, however, fully satisfied of his guilt. His case will be examined so soon as Mrs. Dade can be gotton to the city.
From the
Richmond Sentinel
January 30, 1865
Mr. Ruth's Case
Mrs. Dade, of King George county, who is the principal witness on the part of the Government against Mr. Samuel Ruth, Superintendent of the Fredericksburg railroad {Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR}, having arrived in this city Saturday evening, Mr. Ruth will have an examination before Commissioner Sidney S. Baxter, this morning. It will be recollected he is charged with communicating contraband information to the enemy.
From the
Richmond Dispatch
February 2, 1865
Discharged and Recommitted
Before Commissioner H. Sands yesterday, the cases of Samuel Ruth, charged with treason, and John Hancock, suspected of being a spy, were brought up and disposed of. Hancock was committed to the county jail for examination before Judge Halyburton; but Mr. Ruth was discharged, there being no evidence adduced sufficient to warrant his further detention.
OR 1 Vol. 46 Part 4 Page 544
Applewood, Caroline [County]
March 8, 1865 -- 3 a.m.
Colonel Ewell
Assistant Adjutant-General
Colonel,
Early yesterday morning one of my scouts reported the enemy in Fredericksburg. I went to ascertain the truth of the report. I proceeded to Fredericksburg, passing by Hamilton's Crossing {A station on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR 5 miles south of Fredericksburg.}. At the crossing they burnt everything of value, some thirty cars, seventeen of which were loaded with tobacco. The bridge over the Massaponax was also burned. No other injury to the road. They captured fifty-six mules and burned the wagons. All the colored drivers but one went with them. In the city they took and carried off some 500 boxes of tobacco. The provost-marshal (Captain Doggett), with most of his men, escaped. The expedition consisted of two gun-boats and five transports, conveying one brigade of infantry, under the command of Brigadier-General Roberts, and one regiment of cavalry, commanded by Colonel Sumner.
General Roberts informed Mr. Slaughter (the mayor) that the expedition was fitted out by General Grant to break up the illicit trade in tobacco, which he had heard was carried on in Fredericksburg, and which he was determined to break up. They left at 5 o'clock this afternoon, and proceeded down the river. I left the city at 7 o'clock, and am now at home on my way to camp.
Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
L. W. Allen
Captain, Co. F, 24th Virginia Cavalry
Comdg. at Taylorsville
From the
Richmond Dispatch
March 9, 1865
A commercial Transaction
For some days past parties in this city have been sending large quantities of manufactured tobacco hence to Fredericksburg. Report said that this tobacco was to be traded with the Yankees for bacon, and that General Singleton was the prime mover in the arrangement, this being the business that brought him again to Richmond. It was transported to Hamilton's crossing by rail, and thence hauled to Fredericksburg, five miles distant, in wagons. The Yankees were expected to come up in vessels to Fredericksburg, bring bacon, and carry off the tobacco.
On Monday last, two hundred thousand pounds of tobacco had been sent up the Fredericksburg railroad {Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR}, forty thousand pounds of which had been hauled to Fredericksburg and stored in a warehouse on the Rappahannock, convenient for shipping, and the other hundred and sixty thousand pounds was in thirty-one box railroad cars at Hamilton's crossing. The enemy came up to Fredericksburg in gunboats on Monday night, but brought no bacon that we have been able to hear of. Their first step was to send a part of cavalry to Hamilton's crossing, who set fire to and destroyed all the cars and all the tobacco there. This party also burnt the bridge over the Massaponax creek, a short distance this side of Hamilton's crossing.
There are two reports as to what was done with the tobacco in Fredericksburg -- one, that the enemy carried it off; the other, that they set fire to the warehouse and destroyed both house and tobacco. It is ascertained that they burned the wagons (five in number) employed in hauling the tobacco from Hamilton's to Fredericksburg, and carried off the teams. So ends one of the most brilliant schemes of our latter-day speculators. The only thing to be seriously regretted about the business is the loss by the Fredericksburg Railroad Company of the thirty-one valuable freight cars. We presume the company would not have risked its property by leaving it at so exposed a point as Hamilton's crossing unless they had felt satisfied that some understanding had been come to with the enemy that it would not be molested.
The common report was, that the enemy would interfere neither with the road nor the tobacco while this bacon tobacco traffic was going on. The whole thing seemed ridiculous enough, it must be admitted; but there can, at the present time, be no report so absurd as not to find believers. The loss of the tobacco is a small matter. There is much more of the article still left in Richmond than either Government or people know what to do with.
Bringing the