Author to discuss Confederate raid on Johnson’s Island prison, sign copies of book

Toward the end of the Civil War, the Confederate Army couldn’t sustain success in battles, so Confederate leaders considered some more creative tactics.

One of them was a daring strategy in 1864 to mount commando-style raids from Canada into the northern United States.

Taking advantage of the undefended border, rebels hit targets along the Great Lakes, where growing antiwar sentiment was an election-year problem for the Abraham Lincoln administration.

Among the most significant of these raids was an attempt by a Virginia planter turned Confederate agent named John Yates Beall to liberate 2,700 Confederate officers held at the Johnson's Island prison camp on Johnson’s Island, which today is connected to the Marblehead Peninsula by a causeway, on Lake Erie.

In his book, “Confederates from Canada,” Ralph Lindeman, tells the story of this raid and the soldiers involved. The book was published in October by McFarland & Co. Publishers.

Lindeman will speak about his book and sign copies that will be for sale on Sunday, June 23, at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. The event is from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the museum auditorium.

Admission is free.

Lindeman is a former trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. He later worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., where he covered the White House and Congress for Bloomberg News.