Confederates in Montreal

   This is indeed part of the Confederate gang living in Montreal in 1864 - trying to supply the Southern Army and foment other various forms of subversion.
   These particular lads were involved in the Raid on St. Albans, which was, as the title suggests, an attack on the Vermont town near the border.
   This was counterproductive and led to the goodwill that they had been granted in Montreal to sour. It didn't help that John Wilkes Boothe, who visited Montreal three times in 1864, staying at the St. Lawrence Hall on St. James Street, went on to murder Abraham Lincoln.
   The slaying was one of the great tragedies in United States history. And led to that awful joke about "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
  Montrealers greeted these Southerners with open arms, apparently charmed and bedazzled by their Southern Hospitality. The Civil War greatly spread the use of drugs throughout North America. Opium was extremely popular among those combatants.
    Cocaine was also turned into powder form around that time. My theory is that Civil War vets brought cocaine to Montreal but I have no proof.