I was invited by my colleague here, karen stone, who has done an amazing job of continuing to tell the story and to kind of bring this story out from the darkness and into the light. A little bit about karen. The director of the news seems division of saint marys countys government. She oversees three sites in that county, is responsible for strategic planning, fundraising, creating partnerships like this overseeing like this one, overseeing Museum Operations and more. This is exciting. Love this article she recently published an article about this disaster in American Civil War magazine potomac peril on the. Thank you for joining us on zoom this afternoon. Himn i am glad to tell people the story. The incident actually took place ago. , april 22, 155 years a great day for us to be talking about it, and there are a number of connections. Between our two institutions. The incident took place off of colts point, the site of one of my museums in maryland. That is why i am involved. It is nice to have you all oo,olved from up there, t the other side of the story in some ways. Host i will admit i had never heard of this before. Before i met you. And i have to say that, you know it is astounding that this story has not been really wellknown before because its proximity to washington and also its connection to some of the big events that were going on. I do not want to get too much into the story that you will but youjust a bit, know, this is a really important event that has been overshadowed by many other events occurring in april of 1865, including other maritime disasters. Karen that is exactly right. It kind of was a bad timing event for news coverage. There was so much else going on that was of more National Import then this was. Than this was. Remembering the men who lost their lives and doing something to honor them. Host we are going to get into our conversation. Our rind or reminder for those out there watching, if you are here and watching and enjoy these the deals, please like and share. That helps more people to see these videos. If more gets more people into the conversation. If you have any questions for myself or for karen, please drop them into the comments. We will get to those at the end of the presentation. At the end of our conversation, we will bring some of those comments in and answers those questions for you. With that being said, i want to turn over to karen to steer the ship, so to speak, for the next couple of minutes. I have some images im going to pull up. I am going to start a screen share, if i can successfully manage to do that. And here we go. All right. So, karen, take it away. Karen ok. Like i said, it was april 22, of thet was day 8 manhunt looking for John Wilkes Booth, who had killed Abraham Lincoln just a week before that on the 14th. Lincoln died the morning of the 15th. Waseastern theater war pretty much over. But they still needed to find food, and they were afraid of what would happen if he got into maryland. So, they were calling in troops from everywhere. This is the largest manhunt in the country up to that time. And they even pulled in vessels flotilla which had been instrumental in keeping washington, d. C. , safe at the time. The potomac in those days was not the quiet waters you see today. It was the front line of battle. There we go. [laughter] in the wordhe m potomac is where the incident took place and the secondo is the area where John Wilkes Booth was crossing the potomac. This was the front line of battle, the main lifeline out of c. , and the dividing line between two warring nations. People of st. Marys county it was the source of their livelihood and for these men their final resting place. Trade, communication, even marriages in the George Washington family had been focused on virginia for the folks in Southern Maryland forever. Thans a lot closer to them other parts of the state. It was easier to get to. It provided their livelihoods. It is where they finished, they worked, they toiled the waters, and they shared the waters with the virginians that so they shared sympathies. They knew each other. They went oystering together, they married each other. They did not care what was going on in the rest of the state of maryland. When federal troops came in and occupied maryland, the people along the potomac did not care. They did not want to be an fall. Life went on for them as usual. Continueddealings with virginia but now they have to be more cautious. Now it was illegal to trade with virginia. But they said they did not care. They kept doing it. And the troops that were stationed in the area new what was going on. They even knew in some cases who these men were that were spying and trading and carrying goods back and forth but they could not catch them. So, that was one of the reason the potomac flotilla was created. Now we can go to this picture. Ships of all kinds were brought it to the flotilla. The flotilla itself under command of the navy, but they took vessels from the locals and added them into the flotilla as needed in order to patrol the waters and to keep everything safe. Then, late in 1861 after the flotilla got started, the im convinced along the shores of the potomac there is not one in 20 true to the union. When lincoln was assassinated, Southern Maryland was the obvious place to look for booth and to focus the manhunt. Ats like i said, bo were added to the flotilla. The Quartermaster Department. Georgetown had to put a temporary hold on Freight Service due to the lack of vessels, because they had all been commandeered for use by the military. After the5 assassination, even more vessels were temporarily charted to aid in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, and that included the like diamond. The Black Diamond there were a total of 612 vessels chartered by the Quartermaster Department. The Black Diamond was the coal barge, one of those that have been running the canals earlier and was now needed by the flotilla. It was designed by John Erickson. Some of you civil war folks might know John Erickson is the man who designed the monitor. Very, very well known, very famous designer at the time, but he designed this coal barge, the Black Diamond with 120 feet long, capable of carrying 200 tons of freight. Was built at a founder in new york which is where the engines for the monitor were manufactured. Shipss one of four sister. Vesselsre four built at the same time. They were only six feet. Only required six feet of water. They were great to work on the potomac, to get up the creeks and all the little the Black Diamond was put into service in 1862. And the contract was to call freight between alexandria, washington, d. C. , and other ports up and down the river hire as needed. 140 a day. Was in total, over the course of her time with quartermaster, the company was paid 30,000, a hefty some. In those days. It was a hefty sum in those days. We skipped one. This is a coal barge, not exactly like the Black Diamond but close. It is a similar size. T is one of the places the Black Diamond went. You can see the large pile of coal transported up and down the river for use by the military. Wasthe Black Diamond woodlly iron hauled, not but similar in nation. , federal22, 1865 authorities were aware that John Wilkes Booth was in Southern Maryland. And was waiting to cross into virginia. , the assistant quartermaster at the alexandria depo put the Black Diamond into service with the potomac flotilla temporarily. He sent out of alexandria down to the naval depot at piney point, maryland, where they were picking up more specific orders to join the flotilla. They left piney point at 11 00 with orders in the vicinity of blackstone lighthouse, above the m in potomac and keep booth from crossing the river. They anchored for the night and 12 35 onset up about the morning of april 23. Booth was actually crossing the river at this exact time. He had left the shores of maryland, remember this is the hadnd attempt by him, he tried to my before but this was his second attempt, the night he was successful. He left the maryland shore after sundown on a flood tide, a very high tide, which may his crossing really rough, but he got over to the virginia shore sometime after midnight. It was right around the same time that all of this was happening on the river. Massachusetts was the other vessel. Ohn w. Pence. It is a little confusing, but this is the actual picture of , you so you can see how much bigger it is. Was aassachusetts steamer. She was being used by the quartermaster corps or Quartermaster Department as a troop transport vessel so she was on her way from alexandria in washington to see point, virginia, and then was going on to fort monroe. She was not capable of traveling in the chesapeake bay. She was able to go in the baby she was not suited for ocean travel. She got to fort monroe, the men would have gotten off of her and onto another vessel. They were all headed to new bern, north carolina. They were going to new bern because the soldiers on board had all recently been released from southern prison camps or convalescent hospitals in the north. And were going to return to their regiments to fulfill their terms of service for the end of the war. Left massachusetts alexandria at 5 p. M. On the 22. The soldiers were going to rejoin their regiments down in north carolina. 3rd regimen was trum the commander of troops on the seam repaired the veteran reserve corps was the last unit to be mustered out of the army and they were being used as escorts for troop transport, such as this or prisoner exchanges, that kind of thing. In a transport like this, when the men all came from different the veteran reserve Corps Officer was to organize the troops on board and to keep them under control since there were not a lot of officers keeping them there. So, as they were coming down the river, everything was going fine, they had gone about 60 miles or so out of washington, when suddenly, a strong wind began to blow causing the river to become rough. If any do have ever sailed on the potomac, you will understand what that means. The winds, fast and furious. They can change the weather and conditions in a heartbeat. Shortly before 1 a. M. , the massachusetts hit the anchor the Black Diamond, hitter on the port side near the boiler justaft of the wheelhouse opening up her hull to the water line. The wind had begun. The resulting waters were rough. So, that was probably part of the reason for the accident. Also, the navigational rules at the time ended up being partly to blame. The massachusetts was not blowing whistles and even though she had her the Black Diamond had just one light showing. It was possible massachusetts thought it was a sure light. We are not sure what happened but they got hit and they got hit hard. The men on the massachusetts were all sleeping. They were not part of the vote to doug, they were asleep. They were not part of the flotilla. There was this loud crash. They were all woken up by this large jewel. Large controlled. There were 300 men on board a time. Was stovehusetts bow and above the waterline pitch she was not thinking at that point, but it was a large enough hole to take five or six men in abreast and one of her two side wheels was damaged at the same time. So, the captain ordered all the men on board to meet in the strength keep thebow out of the water. And then the Black Diamond swung around the side and the captain thought she was a rescue vessel. So, he ordered his men to jump off massachusetts onto the Black Diamond, not realizing the Black Diamond was already sinking. In coming alongside, the Black Diamond smashed one of the massachusetts lifeboats leaving only one to help everyone. Steamer came along just about this time, too, and helped rescue people and get , and that wasoard the steamer and he got most of the rest of the people on board there were in the water and still alive. Many of the survivors were forced to remain in the water for three or more hours, clinging to bits of debris or anything that they could find that would keep them from sinking. The chief engineer on Black Diamond who survived recalled trying to pull one young man out of the water with a rope, but he was so she could not catch hold of the light. He later learned that was george w carter, a 16th connecticut drummer. Survivors recounted similar ting he slipped through the rope many times. Until betaine became clear it was no use. George holland. Here he is. T volunteer1s infantry, was one of the troops one of the first massachusetts on the massachusetts to jump on the Black Diamond. He realized he had jumped out of the frying plan into the fire. When he went up and said, is this all right . No, it is sinking. He thought the Black Diamond had hit bottom and he went that on the massachusetts and found three or four other men up the up there, and they all survived by climbing up and out of the water. The river was not all that deep at that point. T sank at 3. 5 fattest board. 3. 5 fathoms of water. 18, so low tide at 12 the water was going out and the water was not that deep at that time. About 150 men jumped off the massachusetts, ultimately 87 were lost by drowning. And the more that jumped from the Black Diamond, the faster she sang. They have less time to rescue some of these people. In spite of her damage is the massachusetts ended up traveling down to point lookout, maryland arriving there the next morning. She stayed on site near the wreck all might picking up as many survivors as possible. On her way down there, she passed another steamer, who is able to offload all the men from massachusetts, because she was was so badly damaged they did not want to lose any more men. At that point, they did a headcount, it was down to 65 men that were missing and it ultimately ended up being 87 that were lost. This vessel took the men all the way to norfolk. And they spent one night there and then they continued on to new bern, north carolina. Other vessels were sent to the area immediately to help recover bodies. Those that were recovered were off the alexandria. N there he alle at the next day armed with hooks and men who were search and retrieve bodies as many as possible. They recovered only 37 of the 87 bodies, and actually, there is a report in the paper from may 12 saying they have just retrieved the last of the bodies that they could find. Toit took almost two weeks get all of these bodies all of the potomac. They were just floating there in the meantime. Though the collision was reported in the paper immediately, all over the country. Little tiny articles. But then, as word got out about the bodies and all the rest in the investigation, booth was captured and killed. S funeral train hit the tracks that was going on his way. Exploded with the loss of 1400, 1500 lives . So, this loss of 87 men was just forgotten, and the men reported later there were a couple of nice articles written by survivors right after the turnofthecentury. They said they kept looking for articles and press about their incident, but it just never showed up. At the time, the quartermaster boatsment hired these privately. They were not considered part of the military. So the owners were paid, and it was their responsibility to pay the crew and captains and pilots. So there were no claims possible for some of these men. For pensions or anything like that. The unlisted men working on the Black Diamond and the soldiers being transported on the massachusetts got their pensions and things, but the men from the Quartermaster Department on the Black Diamond that had been members of the alexandria steam engine Fire Department were not eligible for pensions of any kind, and so, they were never given anything at all. Snd the contracts for both ship stated that war risk was to be borne by the United States but marine risk was bored by the owners. In this accident was considered marine risk. So, the government took no responsibility in any of this at all. Lee said from what he could learn the cause of the disaster was extreme carelessness of the pilot or master of the massachusetts. He called immediately for them to be arrested and for their licenses to be taken away. The actual inquiry into the incident was done by the third supervising district of inspectors of steam vessels. Which was just normal. That was procedure. There was nothing unusual about that at all. And they determined, after their investigation, that both pilots disregard the rules established for their governments and consequently their licenses were revoked. It was also their opinion that this lamentable loss of human life had been caused by the present system of [indiscernible] try to getice congress to change the rules on the life and signaling when traveling. Congress decided, no matter. It is good in the ocean, the rivers, and the lakes. So there were not many lights on the Black Diamond as there might have been. Was notsachusetts required to blow their whistles coming through channels. It might have been avoided. We really just dont know. And we dont have the reports that led to that decision. That is one of those papers ever like to find to find out what their arguments were. We do not know the names of the pilots in that kind of thing. So we really just dont know. Four of the members of the Black Diamond crew that were lost for civilian employees at the steam fire house in alexandria. Then they were given military honors and buried of the federal cemetery in alexandria, which was the cemetery, First Military cemetery ever inaugurated. That was kind of nice. They have a nice marker there. Most of them did not get pensions. Most of them went on, they would never recover. If you do not have a body, it is hard to claim a pension. If you are woman and you lost your son, it is hard to claim that you were dependent on them. So, these people were just in a mess. Absolutely in a mess. We do not have the complete list. I have 31 names of the 87. But it is really hard to come up with their names. Because they did not all come from a single place. They came from all over the place. They represented 2530 different regiments. Many of them had been at the battle of plymouth and captured and put in andersonville. They were released from andersonville in december 1864, went to camp parole where they were nursed by clara barton. And then got on the massachusetts and were drawn. And were drowned. This is a beautiful incident. There were 13 members of the the connecticut, seven of 13 were all drowned and lost. Again, only 37 of the bodies were recovered. So people just did not have, even the opportunity to bury their people. The Black Diamond still sits. Here she sank, we think pin in 1867 permission was given to a man from new jersey to go you wanted to salvage the iron and sell it but we do not know if he ever did. The massachusetts was discharged june 10 and became embroiled in a legal battle over the cost of repairs. Pentzsas one brother and he approved the repairs but by the time they were done, his brother was holding a lien against the ship. He tried to get the Second Brother to pay for the repairs and a became msn method ended up being all of the one brother. Just became a mess. Then it went into private service and then we lose track of it. We do not really know what happened to it. But it was, like we said, 155 years ago today that all of this happened. And these men gave theirs lives in the service of their country. People always say, no one else died. Heres 87 men that died during the manhunt. They were not pursuing them. They were hoping to catch them before they crossed. They gave their lives nonetheless. Its nice that we can remember this again now and bring it back to peoples attention. We are not able to have our event this weekend, when we would be doing the replaying and all that. This is a Good Alternative for us today. Some ofou talk about the efforts to remember this event . We talked a little bit about how it is forgotten in terms of the aftermath of the lincoln assassination. How is the event remembered locally . How does it get passed down to the point where we where you and others are reviving the memory of it . It started with us at the fivem three years ago years ago now. One of our volunteers happened to know about this event. He just came to the museum in 2015 and said, we need to do this thing. I found this shipwreck we need to commemorate. I came on board a couple years after that. Decided,bout it and this is a thing we need to do. Its important. The first year, we did the ceremony. Out on the island itself. The incident happened within a mile of blackstone island, perhaps in view of the white house. The first year, we went out to the island. Military sendoff with the navy support. They are right by us. It was there flotilla, it was their river. They came with us. This would have been our third year of the event. Last year, it was a two day event. Exhibits including you guys. It ties in some nicely. There mustve been people from this incident, families that letters to or sent Claire Barton saying, can you help me . We dont know what happened. That was a very good tiein. We read the names of the deceased. You were able to speak about the importance of the missing Soldiers Office. Year, we were going to have speak. He has an interesting way of looking at this from the medical side. He was wondering if perhaps fewer men would have drowned and suffered if they had been in better health. I dont think he is kicking Claire Barton to the curb. They spent all that time in andersonville and were just recovering. They werent in the best of health. It wasnt like they were hearty 20yearolds. They had hard times. We might have lost fewer of them. We are hoping he will come next year to tell us his theories about that. Theres a lot of questions, including the blame. I think the board was correct. It belongs on both sides. Think about it. The Black Diamond was supposed to be on watch. Where is everybody . Why wasnt there enough people on board that were awake and paying attention . Maybe they couldnt do anything about it. I dont know. It makes you think. Yeah. A lot of mystery. Said that the you booth crossed the river that same evening . Yes. He tried on the 21st. Thomas jones pushed the boat in the river and said, farewell. Hope you get there. He didnt make it. He ran to the gunboat jupiter. The jupiter report its position. Another boat was going by and also mentioned having seen jupiter at that point. Booth talks about the mouth of the river. We put that altogether. He ends up back on the maryland shore and injured. Im not sure if he mentions it again in his diary. Thomas jones finds out from his brotherinlaw that he greeted booth on the virginia side the morning of the 23rd. Booth told him he had gotten there just a few hours before. He is out on the river at the same time this is happening . Thats crazy. Not very far away. He doesnt read about this at all, i take it. It sounds like it probably made a lot of noise. I think so. He mightve heard it. Other boats respond and pull away from where he was crossing . We dont know that either. Ive been working on this for two years. I have an eight inch stack of documents. Theres a lot more for me to look at. Read the death logs of the jupiter. Maybe they mention something. Maybe they heard an odd noise in the night. I dont know. You never know when you will come across a little bits of information that we do elsewhere. Is an incredible story. Ofope that doing these kinds like you did for American Civil War magazine, spreading the awareness of the story. Its a really compelling story. Its one of these marilyn civil war stories that i think is known more regionally but should be better known across the state. Its fascinating. Life in the borderlands between union and confederacy and the kinship between those on the union side and the confederate side, the smuggling. Ultimately, that all plays into this whole drama. As you mentioned, the jones family, existing booth and crossing. These people all have these connections on both sides of the river. Their loyalties are very divided. Theres a reason that there is a flotilla on this river before booth ever tried to cross. Absolutely. There were batteries up and down the virginia shoreline in the early days. The first thing they had to do was clear the batteries. Transportation in and out of washington had to stop. That was not good. We needed the river to move through. It had to be opened up. You couldnt open it and go away. Everybody would leave. Yeah. I was really bummed out. , with the many things pandemic situation, its a sad time. Troubling times. Thell mourn the loss of things we were looking forward to in the spring. I have to say, high on my list is the commemoration for the Black Diamond disaster. Last year, i had the opportunity to participate in the ceremony. It was incredible. Just the opportunity to be in this place, this beautiful place, a beautiful weekend, stunning, to be on the water, to not be far from where this disaster took place and all this history happen. The ceremony itself was incredibly moving. You do a great job of paying tribute to these men. They come as you said, paid the ultimate sacrifice, the price for their country. It is just so sad that over a century and a half, they have been mostly forgotten. I think its incredible what you are doing to bring that story to light. It is so incredibly important to remember these people. Just what we do at the missing soldiers museum. Trying to remember all these unknown soldiers, they were forgotten during the war. They disappeared. Their families have no idea what happened to them. We remember them. We remember the families and what that lost meant to the families, to the country, and ultimately how we repair the country after all of this. There are so many unhealed wounds. About what clare barton did . The camp was set up as a receiving camp where people came to checkin and get sent on to wherever they were going. They were tens of thousands of people there. She was there that same spring. At the camp. Living in washington when the civil war breaks out. We commemorate her. Her apartment building, her boarding house. Shes there when the war breaks out. She becomes a volunteer really fork or. A nurse on the battlefield. An angel of the battlefield. , allto maryland, virginia the way down to south carolina. Career iser nursing pretty much at an end. Her civil war career is at an end. The conflict is drawing to a close. The military did not have the need for her anymore. She found a use elsewhere. With all of these prisoners who were being brought brat back to union control. Shes horrified by what she is seeing. These men are coming in looking like human skeletons. They are skin and bones. They are ravaged by disease, insects, lice. Conditions are atrocious. Menhears stories from these , fromhese men coming back prison camps, shes horrified to find out how many men never came back. Thiss the source interaction with prisoners of war who are returning is respiration for starting the missing Soldiers Office. She knows how many of these families, those soldiers went into prisons that were never heard from again. Needound that there was a and she stepped in to try to fill it. Thats how the missing Soldiers Office gets started. She was actually on the lincoln assassination connection, she was in washington when booth assassinated lincoln. She was coming back from camp parole, was fully starting up her efforts with the missing Soldiers Office at her boarding house on 7th street and d. C. Shes coming back from calling on a friend that evening when she learns that the president has been shot. She learns that lincoln has passed away from his injuries. Its one of the most moving entries in her diary. She starts off with, no one knows what to do. Those moments. We are living through one of those moments right now. What do you do in a National Tragedy . In her nexthers step. She has to find all of these missing soldiers. To try to shore up and finalize for so many families what this war meant, this war that their sons and brothers and family members became martyrs to this cause for. She feels that connection to lincoln as well. Never met him personally. He gave approval for his work for her work. You mentioned the connection to the families who come to the missing Soldiers Office. That is something we have tried to look into. We havent found anything yet. Aroundnately, everything this disaster is mired in of security. Theres not a lot of great information. Connect with. L to its depressing, sad. Thats 87 people. This is not a minor accident. Is it theious deadliest accident on the Potomac River . Do we know . It probably is. We went looking for the rack wreck underwater last summer. I was appalled by how many shipwrecks there actually have been on the potomac. Its amazing. This is probably one of the worst. Ok. We have a question from the comments. How many were on board . Soldierswere about 300 on the massachusetts. Captain holmes was on charge of them. There was pilots. We dont know how many other crew. Theree Black Diamond were 20 people. The cremaster says it was a captain and a crew of 10. Im going with 11. We will go with the official report. Famously over exaggerating newspapers in the civil war era. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Great already wrote this magazine article. What do you think is the future for this story . What does the museum intend to do . What do you intend to do . A couple of things. I will write a pamphlet of some kind that we can sell that goes into more of the histories of each of the 87 men. The 301i have so far and everyone i cannot on to it. Make it more of a story. It was an 8000 word story in the magazine. I have twice that much. I would like to do that. Ultimately, maybe a book. In the meantime, more can clearly, we are working with new portrayal. We have gotten permission from them to put up a civil war trail marker for the for the Black Diamond. Shout out for drew gruber. We love him. We do too. I dont know how many of you have seen the marker for the to the disaster. Thats a cemetery in the country. Thats also in the county. Nice stone marker that was paid for by congress. We are looking at ways we can get congress to put up a marker for our guys, too. Thats in the works. Drew knows a guy that knows a guy. In the immediate future, we hope we will have the civil war trails marker up onsite. Thats really exciting. We are glad about that. If you are out there watching, weve been having a good audience, thank you for tuning in. Hope you have been enjoying this conversation so far. If you are, like and share the video. If you have any questions for karen about this disaster, about any other topics related to her work, please leave us a comment. We will get to those in just a bit. If you want to support these videos, become a member or donate to the museum. You can find that link in the comments right now. Time, while we are making plans for when we can travel again, what can viewers out there expect if they come down to st. Marys county and want to seize see some of your museums . We have a lot down there. The civil war, a huge civil war trail in st. Marys county. We have point lookout, lots of sites have Different Things that happened. Crazy stories about the one man that voted for Abraham Lincoln in the election, he was run out of town. Theres all kinds of things down there. We have 3. 5lf sites right now. The main museum is where this incident took place. It tells the story of the founding of maryland as well. Landing of the 1634 the first settlers that founded maryland. We have the Lighthouse Museum and historical park. That is one of john donahues many lighthouses in maryland. Built in 1836. The first on the potomac. You can still climb up it. Thats a lot of fun. Theres a Marine History Museum down there, too. We have the great africanamerican schoolhouse. It served from 1890 to 1940. Process of getting the old jail museum, which is a. Reat old mid19th century jail full of Great Stories about things that happened with our sheriffs department. His field the Sheriff Department in the country. Founded in 1637. We are just about out of time. I want to thank you so much for coming on and sharing your stories. This was great. Really enjoyed it. Everyone out there, go find that magazine article. I think andrew shared it. Its an incredible story. And whatk diamond happened on april 22, 1865 and london for John Wilkes Booth. Karen and her team to integrate job of making sure that that story continues to be known. Learn more about the people and events that shaped the civil war and reconstruction every saturday at 6 00 eastern, only on American History tv. Here on cspan three. Tv,his is American History covering history cspan style with lectures, interviews, and discussions with authors, historians, and teachers. 48 hours, all weekend, every weekend, only on cspan3. Up next on the presidency, Matthew Costello talks about his new book. We hear about the ways that americans remembered and celebrated George Washington in the 19th century. He talked about the freed and enslaved people in mount vernon helped to shape the historical narrative about him. Historian. O is a good evening everyone. The house historical association, i would like to welcome our friends joining us by cspan and those who are here with us tonight who are the really smart people in washington, d. C. , because you have chosen to be here above the nationals baseball game and above the televised president ial debate tonight