action at Mount Zion Church on July 3 and 6; the Berryville Wagon Raid on August 13; the Raid on Merritt's Cavalry Division in September; the Mansassas Gap Railroad Raid on October 3–7; the Greenback Raid on October 14; the Valley Pike Raid on October 25; and the Rout of Blazer's Command on November 17. This last raid proved to be a turning point for Powell. Union Army Lieutenant Richard R. Blazer was a noted Native American fighter who had been sent to destroy Mosby's Rangers. Instead, Blazer's unit was routed and Blazer captured. Powell and three others were given the privilege of taking Blazer to prison in Richmond, Virginia, in late November. Powell's visit to Richmond changed him. He returned to Warrenton morose and introspective. Historian Michael W. Kauffman argues that Powell saw a Baltimore acquaintance in Richmond, and that turned his thoughts back to the time he had spent in September 1863, romancing Margaret Branson and her sister, Mary, at the Branson boarding house. Powell biographer Betty Ownsbey, however, argues that his Richmond trip made him aware that the Confederate cause was lost, and his depression was caused by his desire to get out of the fighting. Several other historians claim that the Confederate Secret Service had already recruited him into its ranks during the previous year—with Mosby's consent—and that Powell's moodiness came from moral misgivings he had as he contemplated being sent north to assist with various kidnap plots against Abraham Lincoln. Involvement in conspiracy Recruitment It is known that Powell deserted on January 1, 1865. He made his way to Richmond, where he sold his horse and purchased a ticket on a train headed for Alexandria. On January 13, he entered the Union Army's lines at Alexandria, claimed to be a civilian refugee, and—under the name "Lewis Payne"—took an oath of allegiance to the United States. On January 14, Powell arrived in Baltimore and checked into Miller's Hotel. He made contact with the Bransons, and soon took up residence in their boarding house again. He used the name "Lewis Payne", and the Bransons introduced him to David Preston Parr, a merchant whose china shop was used for meetings, as a mail drop, and as a safe house for Confederate agents and spies. Over the next few weeks, Powell met frequently with Parr, a Confederate Secret Service agent. The same day that Powell arrived in Baltimore, John