Blood on the Moon
Page 47
42. Mudd Wells statement. See also Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:216.
43. Ibid.
14. Here in Despair
1. Statement of Electus Thomas, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 6, frames 0376–0379.
2. Herold statement.
3. Statement of Ausy [Oswell] Swann, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 6, frame 0227.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:300.
7. At least 132 local Charles County men went south to serve in the Confederate military. See Daniel D. Hartzler, Marylanders in the Confederacy (Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1986).
8. On June 20, 1861, one hundred Federal troops landed at Chapel Point and made their way to Cox’s house three and half miles inland. They searched the house and grounds for weapons but finding none, returned to Washington. Port Tobacco Times, June 20, 1861.
9. Cox had owned thirty-seven slaves in 1860. See Eighth Census of the United States, Slave Schedules (Maryland), NARA, RG 29, M-653, reel 484.
10. Statement of Ausy [Oswell] Swann, NARA, M-599, reel 6, frame 0227.
11. Endorsement of William Norris, chief of the Signal Bureau (Confederate States of America), “Thomas A. Jones Application for Membership in the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Maryland,” C.S.A. Maryland Records, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland.
12. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth.
13. Ibid, pp. 40, 43.
14. Ibid, p. 65.
15. Ibid, p. 67.
16. Ibid, p. 73.
17. Ibid, p. 74.
18. Ibid, p. 77.
19. Ibid, p. 78.
20. Booth shaved off his moustache at the Mudd house. See Mudd Wells statement, frame 0218. Also, William Rollins when shown a photograph of Booth remarked that it was the same man he saw cross the Rappahannock River on April 24, “except that his moustache was off.” See statement of William Rollins, NARA, M-599, reel 6, frame 0079.
21. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, pp. 81–82.
22. Baltimore Clipper, morning edition, April 15, 1865.
23. Turner, Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, p. 119.
24. William Shakespeare, King Lear, 3.2.57–60.
25. Turner, Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, p. 120.
26. Oscar A. Kinchen, Confederate Operations in Canada and the North (North Quincy, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1970), pp. 208–9.
27. Baltimore Clipper, April 21, 1865, p. 1, col. 1.
28. Ibid, p. l, col. 2.
29. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, p. 93.
30. Jones writes in his memoir that he put Booth and Herold on the river on “Friday.” This would be Friday, April 21. See Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, p. 98. Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy, in Come Retribution, also place the date of the river crossing on April 21 (p. 454). Booth, however, gives the date of his river crossing as Thursday, April 20. Booth prepared a handwritten calendar in the memorandum book that he carried with him and used as a diary. The calendar runs from Monday, April 17, through Sunday, June 18. Booth has crossed out each day beginning with April 17 and ending with April 25, the day before his death. The block for Thursday, April 20, is marked with the notation “on Poto**.” The block for Friday, April 21, is marked with the notation “Swamp,” presumably referring to the mouth of the Nanjemoy River where Booth and Herold spent the day after failing in their first attempt to cross the river. The block for Saturday, April 22, is marked with the notation “Poto***.” The author accepts Booth’s notations as the authority in describing his movements.
31. Moonrise was at 2:02 A.M. The phase of the moon was a waning crescent with 31 percent illumination.
32. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, pp. 106–7.
33. Ibid, pp. 109–10.
34. Ibid, p. 110.
15. The Roundup
1. In his unpublished confession, Atzerodt stated that during a meeting at the Herndon House on Friday evening, April 14, Booth had said he was going to kill the president and that Wood (Lewis Powell) was going to murder the secretary of state.
2. Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, July 10, 1865, p. 1, col. 6.
3. Testimony of James Kelleher, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:507–8.
4. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:395. See also 1:396.
5. Testimony of Washington Briscoe, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:402.
6. Testimony of John Greenawalt, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:341–52.
7. Edward Steers Jr. and James O. Hall, The Escape and Capture of George Atzerodt (Clinton, Md.: Surratt Society, 1980). Washington Daily National Intelligencer, July 10, 1865, p. 1, col. 4 (hereafter referred to as the Washington Intelligencer). See also Laurie Verge, ed., “George Andrew Atzerodt,” Surratt Courier 6, no. 11 (1981), 5–6.
8. Testimony of Hartman Richter, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:515.
9. Testimony of John Caldwell, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:148–49.
10. Statement of Lucinda Metz, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 3, frames 0579–0580.
11. Records of the Judge Advocate General’s Office (Army), Court-Martial Case File, NARA, RG 153, MM 2513. The author is indebted to Dr. Thomas P. Lowry for providing a copy of this file.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Statement of William Gaither, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 3, frames 0548–0553.
15. Ibid.
16. Statement of Robert Kinder, NARA, M-599, reel 4, frames 0161–0162.
17. Testimony of Hezekiah Metz, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:353.
18. Among those at dinner who testified at the conspiracy trial were Hezekiah Metz and the brothers James and Somerset Leamon. See Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:353–57. 2:501–6.
19. Testimony of Somerset Lamon [Leamon], in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:502.
20. Testimony of Hartman Richter, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:516.
21. Statement of James W. Purdom, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 2, frames 0227–0229.
22. Statement of Frank O’Daniel, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 455, frames 0835–0838.
23. Statement of George G. Lindsley, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 2, frames 0233–0234.
24. Statement of Solomon Townsend, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 455, frames 0565–0566.
25. Statement of Zachariah W. Gemmill, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 2, frames 1014–10019.
26. Benjamin B. Hough to Edward D. Townsend, December 20, 1865, NARA, M-619, reel 458, frames 0162–0170.
27. Testimony of John W. Wharton, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 3:340.
28. Percy E. Martin, “The Hookstown Connection,” Surratt Courier 5, no. 7 (July 1980), pp. 5–6.
29. Memorial of James L. McPhail, Voltaire Randall, and Eaton Horner, in John B. Horner, Lincoln’s Songbird (Gettysburg, Pa.: Horner Enterprises, 1991), pp. 37–48.
30. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:99.
31. Percy E. Martin, “Surprising Speed in the Identification of Two Baltimore Conspirators,” in In Pursuit of. . ., ed. Verge, p. 167.
32. Baltimore Clipper, April 19, 1865, p. 1, col. 5.
33. See testimony of Eaton G. Horner, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:423–35.
34. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:435.
35. Baltimore American, Monday, July 10, 1865, p. 1, col. 3
36. Statement of Samuel Bland Arnold, RG 94, M-619, reel 458, frames 0305–0312; and Baltimore American, “Statement of Arnold on His Arrest,” January 19, 1869, p. 1, col. 1. The Dr. Garland mentioned in the note has not been identified.
37. Arnold, Memoirs, p. 9.
38. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 3:382.
39. The statement appeared in an Evening Star article titled, “Tragic Memories.” McDevitt thought he received the tip from the actor John McCullough but McCullough has since been shown to have been in Canada at the time and not in Washington. McDevitt received a tip from someone, but the person’s identity remains unknown at present. Washington Evening Star, April 14, 1894. The article also appeared in the Indianapolis News, Ap
ril 14, 1894.
40. A.C. Richards to Louis J. Wiechmann, April 29, 1898, reproduced in Wiechmann, True History, p. 177.
41. Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:87.
42. Ibid, 3:386.
43. Wiechmann, True History, p. 178.
44. Testimony of W.H. Smith, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:14.
45. Baltimore Clipper, April 20, 1865, p. 1, col. 5.
46. Trial of John H. Surratt, 1:162.
47. Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy, Come Retribution, p. 430.
48. Testimony of W.H. Smith, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 2:15.
49. Hancock’s broadside, dated April 24, 1865, is found in Letters Received, Secretary of War, NARA, RG 107, file 5160 (no. 1882).
16. Virginia at Last!
1. Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy, Come Retribution, p. 457.
2. Ibid, p. 456.
3. Verge, ed., War Department Files, p. 2.
4. The farm was owned by Peregrine Davis but was farmed by his son-in-law John J. Hughes. Herold reveals in his statement that he knew both Davis and Hughes and hunted the property. See Herold statement, in Verge, ed., War Department Files, pp. 1–21. See also Tidwell, Gaddy, and Hall, Come Retribution, pp. 454–57.
5. James O. Hall, personal communication.
6. Verge, ed., War Department Files, p. 11.
7. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, pp. 109–10.
8. Statement of Elizabeth Quesenberry, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 5, frames 0557–0559. Hereafter referred to as Quesenberry statement.
9. Statement of William Bryant, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 4, frames 0095–0097.
10. Quesenberry statement.
11. Statement of Richard Stuart, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 6, frames 0205–211. Hereafter referred to as Stuart statement.
12. Stuart had a full house on April 24. In addition to himself and his wife, Julia Calvert Stuart, were nine other family members including two Confederate officers: Captain S. Tuberville Stuart (son-in-law) and Major Robert W. Hunter (future son-in-law).
13. Stuart statement, frame 0205–0206.
14. Ibid, frame 0207.
15. Ibid, frame 0209.
16. Ibid, frames 0207–0208.
17. Statement of William Lucas, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 5, frames 0144–0147.
18. Ibid, frame 0146.
19. Ibid.
20. Statement of William Lucas, NARA, M-599, reel 5, frames 0144–0147.
21. Edward Steers Jr., The Escape and Capture of John Wilkes Booth (Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 1983), p. 51.
22. Booth actually wrote two notes to Stuart. The first enclosed five dollars in payment for the food Stuart gave Booth and Herold. Booth had second thoughts and, returning the note to his memorandum book, wrote a second one reducing the amount to two dollars and fifty cents. The first note was recovered with the memorandum book while the second note was recovered from Stuart. The two notes supported Stuart’s contention that he did not help Booth in any substantive way except to give him food.
23. According to William Rollins, it was closer to noon when the wagon drove up to the dock. See statement of William Rollins, NARA, M-599, reel 6, frame 0079.
24. Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy, Come Retribution, p. 464.
25. Tidwell, April ‘65, p. 190.
26. Statement of William Rollins, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 6, frame 0079.
27. Statement of Willie Jett, NARA, RG 153, M-599, reel 4, frames 0086–0099. Hereafter referred to as statement of Jett.
28. Tidwell, Gaddy, and Hall, Come Retribution, p. 461.
29. Testimony of Willie Jett, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:308–12.
30. Statement of Jett.
31. Tidwell, Gaddy, and Hall, Come Retribution, p. 465.
32. Ibid.
33. Tidwell, Gaddy, and Hall, Come Retribution, p. 467.
34. Sunset occurred at 6:54 P.M. on April 24, 1865, and twilight ended at 7:22 P.M. See Astronomical Charts, U.S. Naval Observatory.
35. Statement of Jett.
17. The Cavalry Arrives
1. See statement of Luther B. Baker, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 455, frames 0665–0686.
2. Statement of Jett.
3. Richard Baynham Garrett, “A Chapter of Unwritten History,” ed. Betsy Fleet, The Virginia Magazine 71, no. 4 (October 1963): 392.
4. Ibid, p. 393.
5. OR, ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 3, p. 937.
6. Statement of James Owens. See Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy, Come Retribution, p. 468.
7. 7. OR, series 1, vol. 46, pt. 1, p. 1317.
8. 8. Lafayette C. Baker, History of the United States Secret Service (Philadelphia: published by L.C. Baker, 1867). Hereafter referred to as Baker, Secret Service.
9. Baker, Secret Service, p. 198.
10. Ibid.
11. Charles H. Crane to Thomas A. McParlin (Medical Department, Army of the Potomac), April 22, 1865. Private collection.
12. Gutman and Gutman, John Wilkes Booth Himself, p. 31.
13. Doherty was still a lieutenant at the time referred to by Schneider and did not receive his commission appointing him captain until after the incident at Garrett’s farm.
14. NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 456, frame 0286.
15. Edward Steers Jr., “Otto Eisenschiml, Samuel Mudd and the ̰Switched’ Photograph” Lincoln Herald 100, no. 4 (winter 1998): pp. 167–80; and James O. Hall, “Dr. Mudd and Booth’s Photograph,” Surratt Courier 23, no. 8 (1998): 3–9.
16. Statement of Luther B. Baker, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 455, frames 0665–0686. Hereafter referred to as statement of Luther B. Baker.
17. This statement by Rollins is additional proof that the photograph he was shown by Baker was of a man with a moustache.
18. Statement of William Rollins, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 457, frames 0550–0561.
19. Report of Edward P. Doherty, OR, ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 1, p. 317–22. Hereafter referred to as Report of Edward P. Doherty.
20. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
21. According to Lucinda Holloway, Mrs. Garrett’s sister and a boarder at the Garrett house, Booth had asked Jack Garrett to take him to Guinea Station, not Orange County Court House, which Garrett agreed to do the next day. See Lucinda Holloway, “The Capture and Death of John Wilkes Booth,” in Francis Wilson, John Wilkes Booth (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1929), pp. 209–17.
22. Statement of John M. Garrett, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 457, frames 0500–0525.
23. Report of Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty.
24. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
25. Report of Edward P. Doherty.
26. Ibid. See also statement of Luther B. Baker.
18. Tell Mother I Die for My Country
1. Statement of Sergeant Andrew Wendell, Company E, Sixteenth New York Cavalry, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 456, frames 0248–0257.
2. The new moon occurred on April 25 at 9:13 A.M. On the early morning of April 26 it was a waxing crescent with only 2 percent illumination.
3. Statement of Boston Corbett, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 456, frames 0253–0262.
4. Testimony of Luther B. Baker, in Trial of John H. Surratt, 1:318.
5. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
6. Statement of Boston Corbett.
7. Ibid.
8. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
9. Betsy Fleet, ed., “A Chapter of Unwritten History. Richard Baynham Garrett’s Account of the Flight and Death of John Wilkes Booth,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 71, no. 4 (October 1963), 387–407.
10. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
11. Statement of Everton J. Conger, NARA, RG 94, M-619, reel 455, frames 0691–0703. Hereafter referred to as statement of Everton J. Conger.
12. Ibid.
13. A.M. Gone to “Dear Mary,” May 15, 1865, copy in author’s collection. The letter reads in part, “I was in Washington & Georgetown again to day. Had a long talk with the Sergeant who shot Booth the Assassin ... fired only one shot, at the distance of about twelve feet.”
1
4. Statement of Boston Corbett.
15. Statement of Everton J. Conger.
16. Testimony of Sergeant Boston Corbett, in Poore, Conspiracy Trial, 1:326.
17. Autopsy report of Janvier Woodward, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861–1865), 4 vols. (Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1875), vol. 4, p. 452.
18. Statement of Everton J. Conger. Baker claimed in his statement that he was the one who listened to Booth’s admission. See statement of Luther B. Baker.
19. Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser, May 1, 1865, p. 2, col. 3.
20. For an excellent review of those who looked on Lincoln’s death as a good thing see John M. Barr, “The Tyrannicide’s Reception: Responses in Texas to Lincoln’s Assassination,” Lincoln Herald 91, no. 2 (summer 1989): 58–64.
21. John Parker Hale was an ardent abolitionist. According to Asia, Booth sent Lucy a valentine on February 14, 1865. See Rhodehamel and Taper, eds., Right or Wrong, p. 135 n. 4. See also p. 139 n. 1 for the poem.
22. Fleet, “Unwritten History,” p. 400.
23. Statement of Luther B. Baker.
24. Telegrams Collected by the Office of the Secretary of War (unbound) 1860–1870, NARA, RG 107, reel 337, frame 1581.
25. Basler, ed., Collected Works, 4:269.
19. To Remove the Stain of Innocent Blood from the Land
1. John H. Surratt Jr. was in Canada where friends were hiding him from the U.S. and Canadian authorities. He would remain at large until November 26, 1866, when he was arrested at Alexandria, Egypt, and returned to the United States on February 19, 1867, to stand trial in a civil court.
2. Robert R. Arreola, Angela R. Brown, Isabella Ord, and Norman Minnear, “Federal Criminal Conspiracy,” American Criminal Law Review (winter 1997): 617–44.
3. Ibid., p. 618.
4. Ibid, pp. 619–20.
5. United States Criminal Code, chap. 18, sec. 371.
6. The original of this document is in a private collection. A xerographic copy is in the author’s files. The original draft is on War Department stationery, which has been crossed out and “Executive Chamber” written in its place. The entire document is in the handwriting of Stanton. A xerographic copy of the order is reproduced in Edward Steers Jr., “To Remove the Stain of Innocent Blood From the Land,” Lincolnian 1, no. 2 (November-December 1982): 4—5.