Blood on the Moon

by Edward , Jr. Steers

  Herold was an avid hunter and spent much of his free time chasing game birds throughout southern Maryland. His travels made him an expert in the geography of the region. This brought him into contact with the Surratt Tavern and John Surratt, and the two became good friends. When the Surratts moved to Washington in late 1864 Herold sometimes visited John at the boardinghouse on H Street. Booth needed a reliable guide and John Surratt knew just the man. There was no one who knew the back roads of southern Maryland better than Davey Herold.

  The final recruit to Booth’s inner circle came late in January, sometime around the twenty-first or twenty-second. He was a Confederate soldier whose most recent service had been with Mosby’s famous partisan rangers. Lewis Thornton Powell, alias Lewis Payne (Paine), has been characterized by nearly every author on the assassination as the “muscle” of the team. He stood six feet, two inches tall, weighed 175 pounds, and at the young age of twenty-one was considered a powerful man. Like Arnold and O’Laughlen, Powell had served in the Confederate army.37 At age seventeen he enlisted in Company I of the First Florida Infantry, known as the Jasper Hamilton Blues of Hamilton County, Florida. Powell served with the Army of Northern Virginia through its campaigns, culminating in the battle of Gettysburg. On July 2 he was wounded in the right wrist and taken prisoner. Removed to one of the army corps hospitals located at Gettysburg College, Powell served as a POW nurse during his recovery. While working at the corps hospital he met a young woman by the name of Margaret Branson.38 “Maggie” Branson was an ardent Confederate sympathizer who went to Gettysburg to care for the Confederate wounded. According to Powell biographer, Betty Ownsbey, an intimacy developed between Powell and Branson that would later cause Powell to find his way to the Branson home in Baltimore where he would meet John Surratt.39

  Powell eventually fled from the hospital in Gettysburg and tried to make his way back to the Second Florida. His travels took him to the home of a prominent Warrenton, Virginia, family named Payne. It was while resting at the Payne home that Powell made contact with members of Mosby’s Forty-third Battalion of Virginia Cavalry and was soon accepted as a member of that famous command. Powell’s name can be found on the muster rolls during 1863 and 1864. But on January 13, 1865, Powell is found riding into a Union encampment stationed at Fairfax Court House in Virginia. He had adopted the name of his Warrenton hosts and claimed to be a civilian refugee from Virginia. The provost marshal accepted Powell’s story and sent him on to Alexandria, Virginia, with a pass. At Alexandria, Powell took the oath of allegiance and was released from further custody by the Union authorities.40 Powell, now Lewis Paine,41 left Alexandria and headed to Baltimore and the home of Maggie Branson, his Gettysburg hospital companion. Here the plot thickens.

  On January 14, while Powell was on his way to Baltimore, John Surratt met with Thomas Harbin at Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland. The two men set out to buy a boat and see to its safe keeping in anticipation of using it to ferry the captured president across the Potomac River. They soon found a suitable boat in the possession of a local farmer named Richard Smoot. Smoot supplemented his income by ferrying passengers and contraband across the river.42 Surratt and Smoot struck a deal, and Surratt and Harbin turned the boat over to George Atzerodt for safe keeping. Booth’s recruitment of Surratt, Harbin, and Atzerodt was working out well. Having finished his business with Harbin and Atzerodt, Surratt returned to his mother’s Washington boardinghouse and picked up his fellow boarder, Louis Wiechmann, and traveled to Baltimore where the two men checked into a local hotel.

  During Surratt’s trial in 1867, Wiechmann recounted the details of this trip with Surratt to Baltimore. In his testimony Wiechmann told of Surratt’s having $300 in cash and telling him that he needed to meet with another man in the city on private business. Surratt did not or would not tell Wiechmann who the man was, but did tell him that he needed to see the man privately.43 The prosecution attempted to show through Wiechmann’s testimony that the man Surratt went to visit was Lewis Powell, alias Lewis Paine. It seems highly probable they were correct. Presumably Surratt had brought Powell living expenses to hold him over until called to Washington, which happened three weeks later.

  On March 14, Surratt sent a telegram to his contact in Baltimore, David Preston Parr, a china dealer, to send Powell to Washington. Parr was another of the many people in Surratt’s address book who worked as a Confederate agent. His Baltimore china shop was a Confederate mail drop.44 It is likely that Surratt actually met with Parr and turned the $300 over to him with instructions to take care of Powell until further notice.45 It is also likely that the $300 Surratt carried was given to him by Booth from the funds the actor had deposited in Jay Cooke’s bank following his visit to Montreal in October.

  Powell soon arrived at Mrs. Surratt’s boardinghouse where he used the alias of the Reverend Wood. Booth was now convening his team in anticipation of his first strike. Booth was intent on abducting Lincoln from the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre. Booth had called the team together to familiarize them with his plan and the layout of the theater. He had reserved the two presidential boxes, numbers 7 and 8, for the March 15 evening performance, ostensibly to treat his friends to an evening at the theater while making sure to point out several details of the layout.46

  Following the play on the fifteenth, the group adjourned to Gautier’s restaurant located a short distance from the theater on Pennsylvania Avenue between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets. Here Booth, Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt, Arnold, and O’Laughlen met in a private room to throw down oysters and discuss capturing Lincoln. Though less than seven months had passed since Booth first began pulling his team together, there was dissension in the ranks. Arnold and O’Laughlen were making noises about pulling out. Plans had been dragging too slowly to suit them. The talk centered on taking action and taking it soon before word leaked out about their plans. Too much alcohol led to arguments. Harsh words were exchanged.

  In 1870 in a lecture given at the Montgomery County Court House in Rockville, Maryland, John Surratt told his entranced audience about that night: “Some hard words and even threats passed between [Booth] and some of the party. Four of us arose, one saying, ‘If I understand you to intimate anything more than the capture of Mr. Lincoln I for one will bid you goodbye.’ Everyone expressed the same opinion. We all arose and commenced putting our hats on. Booth perceiving probably that he had gone too far, asked pardon saying that he ‘had drank too much champagne.’ After some difficulty everything was amicably arranged and we separated at 5 o’clock in the morning.”47

  Surratt was being disingenuous. That violence might accompany their capture plan was understood by most. Although not a part of their plan, killing Lincoln was always a possibility. Despite the differences of opinion about the operation to capture the president, the team was still intact as evidenced by what occurred just two days later. Its failure ultimately resulted in a shift in plans.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A Shift in Plans

  The hour has come when I must change my plan. Many ... will blame me for what I am about to do, but posterity, I am sure, will justify me.

  John Wilkes Booth

  Two days after the all-night meeting at Gautier’s restaurant, Booth stopped by Ford’s Theatre. His fame as a star performer produced a regular stream of mail from admirers. A portion of this mail was addressed to Booth, in care of Ford’s Theatre. Booth had no permanent or “home” address simply because he had no permanent home. For all of his fame, his name cannot be found among any of the standard records of the period. Born in Maryland, he regularly listed himself as being from Baltimore, yet he is not found among any Baltimore or Maryland records of the period. His name is not in any of the Baltimore city directories of the day, nor even the 1860 census for Maryland. There is no birth certificate and no death certificate.1 Booth’s home was wherever he happened to be at any given moment. John Ford’s Theatre was, in some ways, Booth’s home. The Ford brothers were good friends of Booth and beli
eved him to be a bright and personable character who was admired by nearly everyone who knew him.

  Stopping by the theater on the morning of the seventeenth, Booth apparently learned that Lincoln was scheduled to visit a group of convalescing soldiers at the Campbell Hospital located at the far end of Seventh Street near the District line.2 Members of the Washington Theatre’s stock company were scheduled to perform a play by the title of Still Waters Run Deep, for the soldiers at the hospital. Here was the very opportunity Booth had been waiting for. The stretch of road leading to the hospital was rural and lightly traveled. It was close to the Eastern Branch River Bridge that led into Maryland. Within minutes of snatching Lincoln, Booth and his cohorts could be across the river heading for southern Maryland. It seemed like a godsend to Booth. He quickly sent word to each of the men to come at once to a restaurant located near the hospital. They soon arrived: Arnold, O’Laughlen, Powell, Atzerodt, Herold, and Surratt. Booth’s network worked perfectly. Despite their differences over strategy, they were all still in the game.

  Booth sent Herold off in a buggy to Surratt’s tavern in Surrattsville with the necessary paraphernalia that would be needed for the journey south—all except the food and liquor. Booth had sent those on to Dr. Mudd’s house two weeks before.3 Herold carried two double-barreled shotguns, two Spencer carbines, a pistol, ammunition, a knife, a length of rope, and a monkey wrench.4 The weapons’ usefulness was obvious. The rope would come in handy to string across the road to unseat any cavalry that might try to follow them: perhaps amateurish, but possibly effective. Even if such a booby trap failed to work, its mere discovery would force pursuing cavalry to negotiate the trail with caution, thus slowing them down. The wrench would be used to remove the wheels of the president’s carriage so it could be safely secured on the boat used to ferry it across the river.

  The plan was to overtake the president’s carriage, capture Lincoln, and dispose of the driver. With the president secure, the captors would make a dash for the Eastern Branch of the Potomac River and, crossing over into Maryland, make a run through Prince George’s and Charles Counties to the Potomac. In his Rockville lecture Surratt explained the plan:

  One day we received information that the President would visit the Seventh Street Hospital for the purpose of being present at an entertainment to be given for the benefit of the wounded soldiers. The report only reached us about three quarters of an hour before the time appointed, but so perfect was our communication that we were instantly in our saddles on the way to the hospital. This was between one and two o’clock in the afternoon. It was our intention to seize the carriage, which was drawn by a splendid pair of horses, and to have one of the men mount the box and drive direct for southern Maryland via Benning’s bridge.5 We felt confident that all the cavalry in the city could never overhaul us. We were all mounted on swift horses, besides having a thorough knowledge of the country; it was determined to abandon the carriage after passing the city limits. Upon the suddenness of the blow and the celerity of our movements we depended for success. By the time the alarm could have been given and horses saddled, we would have been on our way through southern Maryland towards the Potomac River.6

  Booth told the others to wait while he rode over to the hospital to check things out. If they were to be successful they would need to have their timing down pat. A member of the cast scheduled to perform at the hospital was E.L. Davenport, a good friend of Booth. Booth arrived at the hospital and, finding his friend, pulled Davenport aside. What of the president? Davenport told Booth that the president had changed his plans at the last minute and was not expected to show up.7 Booth was crestfallen. He returned to where the men were waiting with the bad news. The plan now aborted, the men returned to the city angered and with some trepidation as to possibly having been discovered. What if word had leaked and the president had been warned? Forewarned, the military would be looking for them. They were needlessly concerned. Their plot had not been discovered. Lincoln had simply changed his schedule at the last minute at the invitation of Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton. The Philadelphia Inquirer carried a story the following day explaining:

  A Rebel flag captured at Fort Anderson by the One-Hundred and Fortieth Indiana Volunteers was to-day presented to Governor Morton of that state in front of the National Hotel. A large crowd of people were in attendance.

  Governor Morton made a brief speech in which he congratulated his auditors on the speedy end of the Rebellion, and concluded by introducing President Lincoln whose purity and patriotism, he said, where confessed by all, even among the most virulent agitators (applause).

  The President addressed the assemblage.8

  Although Lincoln was scheduled to appear at the performance at Campbell Hospital, he felt obligated to accompany Governor Morton to his meeting with the 140th Indiana Volunteers. Ironically, the meeting took place at the National Hotel where Booth was living at the time. Lincoln used the opportunity of the flag presentation to discuss the latest effort of the Confederacy to employ small numbers of slaves to fight in the Confederate army. In his Rockville lecture, John Surratt described the ending of the aborted capture scheme with a little pun: “To our great disappointment, however, the President was not there [on the road leading from the Campbell Hospital] but one of the government officials—Mr. Chase, if I mistake not.9 We did not disturb him, as we wanted a bigger chase than he could have afforded us.”10 Surratt appears to have embellished his story. Chase was not on the road to Washington and neither were Surratt and the others. They were still at the restaurant waiting for Booth11

  Surratt concluded his lecture by stating, “It was our last attempt.” This may have been what Surratt wanted people to think to deflect any conclusion that his agreement to participate in Booth’s conspiracy to capture Lincoln was totally separate from the conspiracy to assassinate him. But even John Surratt must have been aware that any attempt to capture the president of the United States was likely to result in the loss of life, not the least of which could have been the president’s. Whether he believed it or not, Surratt, as were all of Booth’s accomplices, stuck to his scheme to the very end. It was a “tar baby” from which none of them could pull away.

  Returning to the city, the unnerved band of conspirators soon split up, going their separate ways. Surratt went on to Richmond to meet with Secretary of State Judah p. Benjamin on courier business that took him to Canada.12 Powell headed for the Branson boardinghouse in Baltimore where he had been holed up earlier and where John Surratt had found him two months before. Arnold and O’Laughlen returned to their homes in Baltimore.13 Atzerodt and Herold remained in Washington. Booth returned to Ford’s Theatre on March 18 in a benefit performance for his friend John McCullough, playing Pescara in The Apostate.14 On the twenty-first he was off to New York.15 By the twenty-seventh he was back in Washington.16

  The precise moment when Booth decided to change his plan of capture to one of assassination is not clear. Booth’s capture operation was still an option in his mind as late as March 27 when he telegraphed Michael O’Laughlen to come to Washington immediately, “Get word to Sam. Come on, with or without him, Wednesday morning. We sell that day sure. Don’t fail.”17 Booth’s plans for this occasion never materialized. Still, Booth’s telegram to O’Laughlen marks March 27 as the boundary for capture while April 14 marked the boundary for murder. At some point during these seventeen days, Booth decided to murder Lincoln. The precise day the plan changed is not clear, but sometime before April 14 Booth visited the home of William Seward and chatted with a household maid.18 Was Booth casing the home in anticipation of assigning Powell the task of killing Seward?

  It is also not clear why Booth went to New York following the aborted capture attempt, but New York was a focal point for Confederate clandestine activity in the northeast. A clue may be found in a statement by George Atzerodt. While held prisoner at the Washington Arsenal (Old Washington Penitentiary), Atzerodt was visited by Maryland provost marshal James McPhail and Atzerodt’s
brother-in-law John L. Smith.19 During the visit Smith copied down a statement by Atzerodt20 that contained several important revelations, including the following: “Booth said he had met a party in N. York who would get the Prest. certain. They were going to mine the end of Pres. House, next to War Dept. They knew an entrance to accomplish it through. Spoke about getting the friends of the Prest. to get up an entertainment & they would mix in it, have a serenade &c & thus get at the Prest. & party. These were understood to be projects. Booth said if he did not get him quick the N. York crowd would. Booth knew the New York party apparently by a sign. He saw Booth give some kind of sign to two parties on the Avenue who he said were from New York.”21

  Clearly Booth had a New York connection and a New York interest, but who and what is uncertain. The authors of Come Retribution proposed a clue to this possible connection. It came in the person of a man named Roderick D. Watson. Watson was a member of the Charles County gentry. What brought him to New York after the outbreak of the war was the Confederate underground. Watson became known to local Federal officials for his underground activities that included blockade running.22 He was probably well acquainted with Patrick C. Martin, the man who put Booth in contact with Samuel Mudd. At least one record has survived that links Watson directly to John Surratt. A letter dated March 19, 1865, fits closely into Booth’s visit to New York and into his plans to capture Lincoln. Watson had written to Surratt asking him to come to New York on important business. What business is not known. Booth also telegraphed Louis Wiechmann, Surratt’s friend and a boarder at Mrs. Surratt’s boardinghouse, asking for a “number and street” address. Surratt must have understood what Booth wanted and sent him the address of the Herndon house located on the corner of Ninth and F Streets, just around from Ford’s Theatre. Booth needed the address to give to Lewis Powell who was currently in New York with him and would travel to Washington and check into the Herndon house where he would await Booth’s final instructions.23 His business in New York completed, Booth returned to Washington on March 25 and checked into the National Hotel. There were exactly nineteen days left before the target day.