Bkthomas

While doing some research in to this group I came across a Wikipedia site that added Both Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and President Abraham Lincoln as Members (here is a link. ) this brings me to the Question of has anyone else heard of this and are there documents that may support this? any help would be great.

tjadams

No, I"ve never heard of them before. It will be interesting to see what members here
can add.

Patito de Hule

I would not be surprised if Lincoln and Grant were honorary members. The Red Strings were Southerners living in the South during the Civil War but who favored the North. They used a red string to identify themselves to one another. Albion Tourgee was aided by "Union men" while on campaign in the South. He had his protagonist, Col. Comfort Servosse, loosely based on his own life, friends with a Hero of America, Jehu Brown in his novel A Fools Errand.

The Red Strings were a sort of counterpart to the "Copperheads" in the North, except that they formed clubs especially in the mountains of Tennessee.

Patito de Hule

Here's a better reference to Albion Tourgee's work

A fool's errand, by one of the fools [A.W. Tourgée]. - Albion Winegar Tourgée - Google Books=
See in particular Citizens in Embryo and And all the World was in a Sea

This may not be the best source, but it's a book I've just finished.

Interesting period novel. The original has a picture of a foolscap on a bauble on the cover. The sequel, Bricks without Straw has an owl perched on a bauble. Symbolizing wisdom and folly.