Blood on the Moon

by Edward , Jr. Steers

  Above, The farmhouse of Richard Garrett, c. 1935. The last stop for Booth and Herold. The house collapsed by 1939 and today the site is located in the median strip of U.S. Highway 301. (Surratt House and Museum Library.) Below, Old Capitol Prison and its wooden annex, Carroll Prison. Nearly everyone arrested under suspicion of being involved in the assassination of Lincoln was held in Old Capitol Prison. Mary Surratt and Samuel Mudd were held here before being transferred to the Washington Arsenal. From a stereoview, c. 1866. (Author’s collection.)

  Officers’ quarters, Fort Lesley J. McNair, 1984. Surviving part of the original Washington Arsenal. The trial was held on the third floor of this building. (Photograph by the author.)

  Woodcut engraving showing the transfer of conspirators to the Old Penitentiary at the Washington Arsenal. Engraving inaccurately depicts Mary Surratt wearing a hood. She was never hooded. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. (Author’s collection.)

  The military commission that sat in judgment of the conspirators together with the prosecution team. Left to right: Colonel David R. Clendenin, Colonel Charles Tomkins, General Thomas M. Harris, General Albion Howe, Colonel James A. Ekin, General Lew Wallace, General David Hunter (president), General August V. Kautz, General Robert S. Foster, John A. Bingham, Colonel Henry L. Burnett, and Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt. (Library of Congress.)

  Hanging of the conspirators on July 7, 1865. Photograph by Alexander Gardner. Left to right: Mary E. Surratt, Lewis Powell, David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerodt. (Library of Congress.)

  The deathbed scene in the Petersen house. Photographer Julius Ulke, a boarder in the Petersen house took this haunting photograph, minutes after Lincoln’s body was removed. (Courtesy of Richard Sloan.)

  Sketch of the death bed scene in the Petersen house from Harper’s Weekly, May 6, 1865. (National Park Service.)

  A fragile memorial to the slain president. A cross set among dessicated leaves under a glass dome forms a memorial altar popular in Victorian America. From an E. & H.T. Anthony stereo card produced shortly after Lincoln’s death. (Author’s collection.)

  The only known photograph of Lincoln lying in state. The casket rests in the rotunda beneath the dome of New York’s City Hall. The photograph was discovered in 1952 in the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield, Illinois. Photograph by Jeremiah Gurney Jr. (Illinois State Historical Society.)

  The Lincoln funeral car draped in mourning cloth as it sat in the U.S. Military Railroad yards in Alexandria, Virginia. Two members of the Veteran Reserve Corps stand guard. (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Commerce.)

  The hearse used by the city of Springfield for its funeral procession. The hearse was lent to Springfield for Lincoln’s funeral by the city of St. Louis. (Illinois State Historical Society.)

  Funeral services held in the East Room of the White House on April 19. All of the windows, mirrors and chandeliers were draped in black silk. From a contemporary print, Harper’s Weekly, April 20, 1865. (Author’s collection.)

  The funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln on its way to the U.S. Capitol as it marches up Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress.)

  The public vault in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. The bodies of Abraham Lincoln and his son Willie Lincoln were placed in this public vault at the time of the Springfield funeral. The six civilians are members of the Springfield community charged with establishing a final burial place for Lincoln and his family. From a carte de visite photograph. (Author’s collection.)

  The recognition was instantaneous and mutual. On being asked why he seemed so affected, the negro immediately answered: “Why at’s the man wot cut Massa Seward,” and moving for a moment uneasily and with his eyes intently fixed on the prisoner he continued: “I does’t want to stay here no how.”

  Major Seward [William H. Seward, youngest son of William Seward] and sister [Francis “Fanny” Seward] were sent to identify him this morning and did so completely. His identification is absolute, and he is now a prisoner on board a monitor. All of the circumstances connected with his arrest and detention are of the most marvelous character.

  The detectives would not have been at the house but for the fidelity of a freedman, a poor colored woman, and the merest accident divested him of his well assumed character of a poor laborer.45

  Two important points are gleaned from this account. The first is Powell’s ability to deal effectively with the detectives’ questioning, which runs counter to his characterization as a “dull-witted” person. One must assume that Powell went to Mary Surratt’s house not knowing detectives would be there and was caught off guard in an anxious moment. Despite this, Powell produced a cover story that was as good as could be expected under the circumstances.

  The second revealing statement in the paper’s account explains why the military detectives went to the Surratt house intent on arresting the inhabitants: “The detectives would not have been at the house but for the fidelity of a freedman, a poor colored woman. …” This “freedman” was Susan Mahoney Jackson, a Black woman who had been hired by Mary Surratt just three weeks earlier. According to her testimony during the trial of John Surratt two years later, Mrs. Jackson was taken to General Augur’s headquarters where she was questioned. She told of seeing John Surratt earlier that day at the boardinghouse, a clear contradiction of Mary Surratt’s claim that her son was in Canada.46 In fact, her son was in Elmira, New York, on a mission for Confederate general Edwin G. Lee.47 Mrs. Jackson’s statement, however, gave the detectives further cause to look with suspicion on Mary Surratt and her house.

  Mary was called into the front parlor where she was asked if she knew the man who had come to her door or had ever seen him before. Did she ask him to dig a drain for her? She seemed alarmed and, raising her arm in the air, declared, “Before God, sir, I do not know this man, and I have not seen him before, and I did not hire him to come and dig a gutter for me.”48 Her denial bode poorly for Powell and for herself. The fact that Lewis Powell sought out Mary Surratt’s house of all places in the District suggested that she could offer him safe haven. She said that she did not recognize him when in fact he had been a visitor and boarder in her house. The authorities believed she was trying to cover up something more serious. Certainly her daughter Anna and Miss Fitzpatrick had known Lewis Powell from his visits with the two ladies. Mary would also deny knowing Davy Herold although he too had been a visitor to her house on more than one occasion. To deny knowing Powell only added more water to Mary’s sinking ship. Lewis Powell and the four ladies were taken into custody to General Augur’s headquarters.

  Perhaps the least known of the accused conspirators was Edman Spangler. Spangler worked as a carpenter and stagehand for John Ford and was a longtime friend of Booth. He had worked as a carpenter on the Booth home in Bel Air in 1853. Spangler, along with several other members of John Ford’s staff, was taken into custody on the morning of Saturday, April 15. Spangler gave a statement that said little more than that he was well acquainted with Booth, that he had been asked by Booth to hold his horse in the alley behind the theater, and that he passed the job on to “Peanuts” Burroughs because he had work to do. Spangler also told his interrogators that he saw a man run out the rear door of the theater a few minutes after he heard a shot. Spangler was released on Saturday only to be arrested again on Monday, April 17, and taken to the Old Capitol Prison, where he had the dubious distinction of being the first of the soon-to-be indicted conspirators to be arrested and jailed. The jail records list him simply as “accomplice.”

  On Monday, April 24, Dr. Samuel Mudd was taken into custody at his home near Beantown and transported to Washington where he was placed in the Old Capitol Prison along with the other conspirators. In less than eight days the government had rounded up several hundred individuals and, culling through them, winnowed it down to ten persons believed to be directly involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Of the ten, seven were now in prison: Ed
man Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and Samuel Mudd. Of the three still at large, two would be in custody within forty-eight hours. Only John Surratt Jr. would make his escape, but only for a little over a year. He would be arrested in Italy, escape a second time, and be recaptured at Alexandria, Egypt. Returning to the United States, Surratt would stand trial in a civil court. The jury would be unable to reach a verdict and Surratt would be released.

  The government had moved swiftly and with a certain degree of success. But still at large was the nation’s number one fugitive. General Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the Middle Military Division encompassing the District of Columbia, Maryland, and the border counties of Virginia, issued a special broadside appealing “to the Colored people.” Hancock reminded Blacks that Lincoln was assassinated “simply and solely because he was your friend.” He appealed to them: “Go forth and watch, and listen, and inquire, and search, and pray, by day and by night, until you have succeeded in dragging this monstrous and bloody criminal from his hiding place.”49 It was asking a great deal.

  Forty-five miles south of the Old Capitol Prison in a small pine thicket, John Wilkes Booth rested, ignorant of the roundup that was taking place all around him. He would eventually read about the arrest of his seven friends. While he would write many revealing things in his little memorandum book, he would say nothing about his companions now facing a hangman for his act. They were not his worry. His only worry now was the river that separated him from Virginia and safety.

  Part Three

  The End

  I have too great a soul to die like a criminal.

  John Wilkes Booth

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Virginia at Last!

  To night I try to escape these bloodhounds once more. Who, who can read his fate. God’s will be done.

  John Wilkes Booth

  Night sounds travel far over water. Whispers seem to glide through the air and strengthen as they slip across the surface. The two men sat in the small boat afraid to speak, uncertain what ears might be listening off in the darkness. The only sound was that of the water as it gently lapped against the sides of the boat. Booth sat hunched over in the stern peering into the black distance trying to pick out some object that would tell him where they were. It was less than three miles across the river at the narrowest point from where they set out. The wind was blowing out of the northwest and helped them along, but the tide was against them for most of the way.1

  Neither the wind nor the tide caused the two men to veer suddenly off their course; it was most likely a Union gunboat. As they approached the Virginia shore they were suddenly startled to see a large shadow rising up out of the water. It was a ship. A Yankee ship. Anchored just offshore in a direct line with their boat and their destination at Machodoc Creek was the USS Juniper.2 Herold quickly veered the skiff upriver, desperately working to move out of the vision and earshot of the gunboat’s watch.

  The two men had come perilously close to running into the Union ship. Had they been sighted it would have been over for sure. Booth’s luck was still holding out. Hours later an exhausted Herold pulled the skiff into the mouth of Nanjemoy Creek some six miles up river. After hours of struggling against current and wind they were back on the Maryland side not far from where they started several hours earlier. It was too late to attempt another crossing this night. Besides, the two men were exhausted after hours on the river. They would slip into the mouth of the Nanjemoy and come ashore on its eastern bank at a place called Indiantown. It was a large farm owned by Peregrine Davis and farmed by his son-in-law John J. Hughes. Davy Herold knew the area well. He had hunted the land on many occasions and had become friends with the owner.

  On the day after his arrest Herold was questioned by Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt and his assistant, John A. Bingham, on board the monitor Montauk. He managed to evade most of the questions and give the impression that he was nothing more than an innocent bystander in Booth’s conspiracy. But in answer to one of the questions about his habit of hunting in southern Maryland, he revealed his extensive knowledge of the area while describing his visits there. He told his interrogator that he frequented Charles County, often stopping at Peregrine Davis’s farm. Herold had been in the habit of visiting there for the past five or six years.3

  Hunting was a passion with Herold. Every fall he would take two or three months and hunt the fields of Charles County in search of partridge. The area around Nanjemoy creek was among the most beautiful in all of southern Maryland. The tidal waters were lined with grasses of many varieties. Joe Pye weed filled the landscape with its tall purple flowerheads that were a favorite of wild bees. Dozens of species of waterfowl habited the area. It was easy to lose oneself in the serenity of the surrounding countryside. But not this day.

  Davis’s farm was a favorite stop during Herold’s hunting visits. Now he would visit the farm one last time. It was early morning on Friday, April 21, when the two men came ashore and made their way to Hughes’s house. A century later, in an interview with historian James O. Hall, George Hughes, the grandson of John J. Hughes, would tell of the family tradition surrounding that visit. Booth and Herold did go into the Hughes house.4 But, it was too dangerous for them to stay in the house overnight. The area was swarming with Federal troops. Hughes gave them food and drink; then he let them hide out on the property until they could retry the river.5 For some reason they did not try to cross Friday night, or if they did try, they again aborted their attempt. Perhaps gunboats were still in the area patrolling the river. The next opportunity came on Saturday, April 22. Herold continued his story: “That night, at sundown, we crossed the mouth of Nanjemoy Creek, passed within 300 yards of a gunboat, and landed at Mathias Point [Virginia].”6

  After nine days of running and hiding Booth and Herold had finally reached Virginia. It was still a dangerous situation, but the river had put them out of direct reach of the searching authorities. When Thomas Jones had handed Booth the small-boxed compass, he pointed the course to Machodoc Creek on the Virginia side. Holding his candle close to the face of the compass Jones told Booth to seek out a Mrs. Quesenberry. “If you tell her you come from me I think she will take care of you,” he told Booth.7

  Elizabeth Quesenberry was another of the Confederate faithful who served the cause. She lived in a small house located on the inlet where Machodoc Creek emptied into the Potomac River. When Booth and Herold reached the Virginia shore early Sunday morning on the twenty-third, they missed their intended target. Aiming for Machodoc Creek, they landed at Gambo Creek located a mile upriver from the mouth of Machodoc Creek.

  Pulling the boat ashore, Herold helped Booth hobble to a safe spot in the underbrush. Here he would wait while Herold tried to find Mrs. Quesenberry and obtain her help. Elizabeth Quesenberry was a thirty-nine–year-old widow who lived with three minor daughters. Herold made his way to Quesenberry’s house at approximately one o’clock on Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Quesenberry was not at home when Herold arrived, and he asked one of the young daughters if she could be sent for. After nearly an hour she finally appeared. Mrs. Quesenberry later told her story to the authorities. It was the same story others had claimed they were told. Herold told her he and his brother were escaped prisoners of war and that his brother had broken his leg in a horsefall. Could she furnish them with a wagon? She refused. It isn’t clear just how much of Mrs. Quesenberry’s statement is truthful. Booth and Herold were among friendly sympathizers. They had no need to lie about their circumstances. Jones had told Booth to expect help, and he got it. Mrs. Quesenberry sent for Thomas Harbin and Joseph Baden. Harbin arrived at Mrs. Quesenberry’s around three o’clock and agreed to take the two men off of her hands. She gave Harbin food for the two men and sent him off in the direction of Gambo Creek.8 Harbin was well acquainted with Booth, of course, having been introduced to him at the Bryantown Tavern by Dr. Mudd. The introduction would now pay off handsomely for Booth. Without Harbin’s help,
the two men would have been stranded on the Virginia shore.

  Booth told Harbin they wanted to go to Dr. Stuart’s house. Stuart was living at his second home, located fifteen miles inland from his plantation-style mansion on the Potomac River. He called the summer home Cleydael after an ancestral home in Belgium. Booth and Herold would need horses. Harbin sent for one of his subordinates, William Bryant. Bryant brought two horses with him and agreed to take the men to Stuart’s house.9

  A few weeks after she helped Booth and Herold, Mrs. Quesenberry was arrested and taken to Washington. Although never jailed, she was interrogated and gave a statement. Toward the end of the statement she said, “I did not report it [Booth and Herold’s visit] to any government officer as I had no opportunity to do so. I heard that after they left Dr. Stewart’s [sic] they had crossed the Rappahannock at Port Royal and that soldiers were in pursuit.”10 The Confederate grapevine was still intact and functioning well. Mrs. Quesenberry was being fed news at regular intervals thanks to Thomas Harbin and his camp of agents.

  Bryant, with Booth and Herold in tow, arrived at Cleydael shortly after dark, around eight o’clock according to a statement later made by Stuart.11 Stuart admitted to seeing the two men along with William Bryant and a “Mr. Crisman.” Herold was dismounted and, as usual, did all the talking. He told Stuart they had come from Maryland and needed accommodations for the night. Stuart told Herold it would be impossible to provide them lodging. His house was full up with his immediate family and other guests.12 He had no spare room for the strangers. Herold then told Stuart that the other man, his brother, had a broken leg and needed aid. He told Stuart “that Dr. Mudd had recommended him.” Stuart was curt: “I said that nobody was authorized to recommend anybody to me.”13 Stuart was suspicious. He must have known about the assassination, and from the extensive network that existed in King George County, must have known that Booth and Herold would be headed across the river. Stuart revealed as much in his statement when he said: “The man with the broken leg said very little; he did not say who he was; they kept urging me so that at last I said ‘I do not want to know anything about you.’. . . He pressed me saying ‘If you will listen to the circumstances of the case, you will be able to do it.’”14