Talk:Rebecca Salome Foster

Cited facts are incorrect
Pres. Lincoln did not have a general John Armstrong Foster as a member of his cabinet. He may have served in the administration, but I can't find documentation about him. A noted General John G. Foster died in 1874 and was from another state. This article needs more research on who this man was. If he was a NY politician, he should also appear in related databases, but I haven't found him yet. Even if early sources were incorrect, we have to provide accurate data now, and not repeat mythic accounts.Parkwells (talk) 17:49, 19 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Arthur Henry's lengthy "Editorial: The Tombs Angel", The Outlook, Volume 72, Outlook Company, 1902, pp. 163 - 165, has numerous errors. The man who was a member of the Military Commission that tried the conspirators in the assassination of Lincoln was Brigadier General Robert S. Foster of Indianapolis, IN, who resigned from the Army in Sept. 1865. The John Armstrong Foster of this article was born in Schoharie, NY. He must have moved to NYC with his parents, as they are listed first on the tombstone at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where he and later his wife Rebecca were also buried. I have not come across any evidence that he served in Lincoln's administration. Much seems to be myth formed in his own and his wife's lifetimes.Parkwells (talk) 02:05, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Corrected data about John A. Foster
Found a photo of him and facts about his career at a website maintained by a retail store that deals in military artifacts. He was not promoted to the brevet rank of brigadier general until Sept. 1865. (Brevetting is a kind of honorary promotion made to many officers after the end of the war.) Added this material. Parkwells (talk) 19:36, 20 June 2019 (UTC)