Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

by James L. Swanson

  Before the year was out, artists had memorialized Lincoln’s assassin in wax and in heroically sized oil paintings. A poster for “Terry’s Panorama of the War!” advertised “a stupendous work of art” that depicted “startling, terrible and bloody scenes” fresh from the “carnival of treason” by the celebrated artist H. L. Tyng of Boston. The ad promised the viewer a series of paintings, each one seven feet wide and fifteen to twenty feet tall. “Assassination of Lincoln! And Secretary Seward! Life-Size Portrait of Booth, The Assassin!”—all for the modest admission fee of 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children.

  Another art exhibition, “Col. Orr’s Grand Museum,” outdid even Terry’s Panorama. “The Assassination!” screamed the headline of a poster advertising a traveling wax museum of murder. The sculptor, “Sig. Vanodi the greatest living worker in wax,” boasted the broadside, had created life-size figures of “President Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Secretary Seward and Booth and Payne, the Assassins!” The exhibitor gave potential customers fair warning: “The figures have now been com-pleted—under the magic touch of the Artist, they spring into an existence almost real … so natural, perfect and life like, that as we gaze upon the assassins we shudder, lest again some fiendish deed be enacted.” Orr constructed a replica of the president’s box, seated the wax Lincolns in it, and positioned the assassin behind them: “Booth,” the poster promised, “is made to preserve the precise attitude in which he leveled his weapon at the head of the president and fired the murderous shot.” Additional wax tableaux depicted the capture of Herold and the shooting of Booth.

  The mythologizing of Lincoln’s assassin continued in the years ahead. In 1868, Dunbar Hylton published a 108-page poem about him, “The Præsidicide.” The same year, in New Orleans, a publisher released a sympathetic piece of sheet music—“Our Brutus”—emblazoned with a handsome, full-page lithograph of the assassin. Soon a myth arose that the man killed at Garrett’s farm was not John Wilkes Booth, and that the actor had escaped and fled to the American West, where he lived under a false name. The truth that Booth had died near Port Royal, Virginia, on April 26, 1865, could not suppress the bizarre stories. By the close of the ninteenth century, several men had claimed to be Booth. A lawyer named Finis Bates claimed that the assassin was his client, and in 1903 he published a wildly popular book titled The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth. When this false Booth died, allegedly by his own hand, his mummy was exhibited for years at traveling carnivals. It survives to this day, hidden in a private collection. In 1937, a woman wrote a preposterous book claiming that Booth had survived the night at Garrett’s farm, lived a secret life, and fathered a child. The proof? Why, the author was the assassin’s granddaughter, of course.

  The survival myth of John Wilkes Booth, roaming across the land, evokes the traditional fate of the damned, of a cursed spirit who can find no rest. There is no doubt that Booth was the man who died at Garrett’s farm. But America’s first assassin, who took Father Abraham in his prime, who left a nation bereft, and who robbed us of the rest of the story, haunts us still.

  John Wilkes Booth did not get what he wanted. Yes, he did enjoy a singular success: he killed Abraham Lincoln. But in every other way, Booth was a failure. He did not prolong the Civil War, inspire the South to fight on, or overturn the verdict of the battlefield, or of free elections. Nor did he confound emancipation, resuscitate slavery, or save the dying antebellum civilization of the Old South. Booth failed to overthrow the federal government by assassinating its highest officials. Indeed, he failed to murder two of the three men he had marked for death on that “moody, tearful night.” He did not become an American hero, but he elevated Lincoln to the American pantheon. And, in his greatest failure, Booth did not survive the manhunt. His was not a suicide mission. He wanted desperately to live, to escape, to bask in the fame and glory he was sure would be his. He got his fame, but at the price of his life. But he lived long enough to recognize his failures, and endure the public condemnation of his act. When he leaped to the stage and shouted “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” he must have thought that his immortality as a Southern patriot was sealed. But his last words survive as his true epitaph: “Useless, useless.”

  History in wax tableaux of assassination.

  Booth may have died at Garrett’s farm, but from that burning barn the assassin’s malevolent spirit arose to linger over the land for more than a century. When marauding night riders wearing masks and white robes rose up against Reconstruction, Booth rode with them, murmuring “this country was formed for the white, not the black man.” When men with burning crosses and rope nooses terrorized generations, the spirit of Booth stood by, scorning “nigger suffrage.” And when an eloquent man stepped onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel the day after he gave one of the greatest speeches of his life, a vengeful Booth was there, muttering, “that is the last speech he will ever give.”

  If Booth could return today to the scene of his crime and visit, as almost one million Americans do every year, the basement museum at Ford’s Theatre, he might conclude, from what he found there, that it was, once again, April 14, 1865. Here he would find, preserved in a condition as immaculate as the day he last touched them, protected in climate-controlled, shatterproof glass display cases, the prized relics of the assassination: The original door to the president’s box, its peephole still luring curious eyes; the wood music stand he used to bar the door; his revolvers and knives; the Spencer carbine that he and David Herold picked up during their midnight run to Surratt’s tavern; his whistle and keys; the photos of his sweethearts; and his notorious pocket calendar diary, its pages still open, as if awaiting a final entry.

  When the tourists who come here marvel at Booth’s implements of violence and death—none more popular than the Deringer pistol that killed President Lincoln—they usually neglect a less thrilling relic. Few visitors bend down, peer through the glass case at a little shelf set near the ground, and scrutinize a small, everyday object resting in its velvet-lined box. It is Booth’s pocket compass, more evocative of his desperate, twelve-day flight from the manhunt than any relic that survived him.

  This is the compass that guided him during his dangerous days on the run; that he and Thomas Jones cradled by candlelight as they plotted Booth’s course across the wide and black waters of the Potomac; that each day gave him hope as it pointed the way South to his final destination; that he played with on the Garrett lawn to the children’s delight; and that the detectives plundered from his pocket as he lay dying at Garrett’s farm. Today, almost a century and a half since the great chase for Lincoln’s killer began, its blued steel needle still dances on its spindle, still pointing the way South.

  Bibliography

  A NOTE ON SOURCES

  THE LITERATURE OF THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION IS VAST and I do not pretend to catalog it here. The complete bibliography, which no scholar has ever compiled, contains several thousand books and articles. Any attempt to cite them all, when I could never read them all, seemed pointless, and of little use to a reader who wanted to learn more. The bibliography that follows is hardly comprehensive and is, with a few exceptions, little more than a selective shelf list of books from my own library, and those which I consulted while researching and writing Manhunt. I used my best judgment to choose, and cite, the best sources. These are the few hundred books that I either liked the most, found the most helpful, or believed would be most interesting to readers who might use Manhunt as the starting point for their own pursuit of John Wilkes Booth. To begin that pursuit, I suggest a handful of titles.

  The best modern book on the Lincoln assassination is Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by Edward Steers Jr. In 1865, three different book publishers printed transcripts of the testimony from the conspiracy trial. Today, the only version that remains in print can be found in The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators, edited by Edward Steers Jr. In addition to printing a facsimile of Pitman’s one-volume transc
ript of the proceedings, Steers included essays on the conspirators and the military tribunal by himself and by Lincoln assassination specialists Joan Chaconas, Laurie Verge, Percy E. Martin, Terry Alford, and Burrus Carnahan. From these two books alone, one can gain a comprehensive understanding of the plots against Lincoln, the events of April 1865, the military tribunal, and the execution of the conspirators.

  Another essential reference is Trial of John H. Surratt in the Criminal Court for the District of Columbia, published in two volumes in 1867. This important and fascinating transcript includes material available nowhere else. Unfortunately, the Surratt volumes have never been reprinted, and are available only in the scarce and costly original edition. The most complete published transcript from the 1865 tribunal is Benjamin Perley Poore’s three-volume The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of the President. This set was reprinted some years ago, but the facsimile edition, like the original, is scarce.

  The best illustrated histories of the assassination are Twenty Days by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., and Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution by James L. Swanson and Daniel R. Weinberg. Twenty Days contains more than three hundred black-and-white photos of the people and places connected to the assassination and Lincoln’s funeral. Lincoln’s Assassins contains more than two hundred and fifty color plates of rare period prints, photographs, paintings, books, relics, newspapers, autographs, and documents related to the assassination, manhunt, trial, and execution.

  Classic works that have held up well include The Death of Lincoln by Clara Laughlin, Myths After Lincoln by Lloyd Lewis, and The Great American Myth by George Bryan. William Hanchett’s The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies is a splendid historiography of a century’s worth of alternative conspiracy theories. Thomas Reed Turner’s Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln is an outstanding account of how the American people mourned their fallen president.

  Essential—and my favorite—period accounts include George Alfred Townsend’s The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, published in 1865 just a few weeks after the manhunt was over; Thomas A. Jones’s 1893 memoir, J. Wilkes Booth, in which he described how he hid Booth and Herold in the pine thicket and then sent them across the Potomac; and, of course, Asia Booth Clarke’s incomparable remembrance of her brother, The Unlocked Book: A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by His Sister, written in secret and not published until 1938. All are scarce in their original editions, but they have been reprinted and are not difficult to obtain, and enjoy. The collected works of John Wilkes Booth, brief as they may be given the destruction of many of his letters and personal papers during the frenzied days of the manhunt, remained unavailable for more than a century until their 1997 publication in “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me”: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth, edited by John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper.

  The various publications of the Surratt Society, an organization of serious researchers, and not assassination apologists, are invaluable to students of Booth’s crime, and they include From War Department Files: Statements Made by the Alleged Lincoln Conspirators Under Examination, 1865; In Pursuit of…: Continuing Research in the Field of the Lincoln Assassination; The Lincoln Assassination: From the Pages of the Surratt Courier 1986–1999), published in two volumes; On the Way to Garrett’s Barn; and Abraham Lincoln Assassination Bibliography: A Compendium of Reference Materials, compiled by Blaine V. Houmes. This bibliography, a substantial book in itself, is the most complete guide ever published on the literature of the Lincoln assassination.

  The Surratt Courier, the monthly publication of the Surratt Society, and the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination, published three times a year by Frederick Hatch, contain valuable articles, book reviews, and news.

  Finally, two recent books on Lincoln’s assassination, American Brutus: The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracies by Michael Kauffman and The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy by Thomas Goodrich are wonderfully exhaustive compilations of assassination information.

  In addition to the printed sources collected in this essay, and in the bibliography that follows, the original War Department and other government papers connected to the investigation of the Lincoln assassination, the manhunt, the trial of the conspirators, and the distribution of the rewards make up an essential archive. Unfortunately, this collection, which reposes at the National Archives, has never been published. Many of the documents are available in microfilm. The most important sources—the records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, are in Record Group 153, and bear the name “Investigation and Trial Papers Relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln.” Among historians, they are more commonly known as the “Lincoln Assassination Suspects File.” They are available on sixteen reels of microfilm called Microcopy-599, or M-599. Another important collection of documents, related chiefly to the various applications for shares of the reward money, are held in Record Group 94, records of the Adjutant General’s Office. These materials are available on four reels of microfilm called Micro-copy-619, or M-619, on reels 455 through 458. For the convenience of readers who do not own microfilm readers or do not wish to spend hundreds of dollars on twenty or more rolls of microfilm, I have, throughout the chapter notes, cited works where the microfilmed documents have been reprinted for easy reference.

  Abott, A. Abott. The Assassination and Death of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, at Washington, on the 14th of April, 1865. New York: American News Company, 1865.

  Archer, Mrs. M.A. Echoes: Volume First. Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood & Co., 1867.

  Arnold, Isaac N. Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: John B. Bachelder, 1869.

  Arnold, Samuel Bland. Defense and Prison Experiences of a Lincoln Conspirator. Hattiesburg, Mississippi: The Book Farm, 1940.

  Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1987.

  Baker, Lafayette C. The Secret Service in the Late War. Philadelphia: 1867.

  Basler, Roy P. The Lincoln Legend: A Study in Changing Conceptions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935.

  Basler, Roy P., ed. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1953. Eight volumes plus index and supplements.

  Bates, David Homer. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office. New York: The Century Co., 1907.

  Bates, Finis L. Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth. Memphis, Tennessee: Finis L. Bates, 1907.

  Beale, Howard K., ed. The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, vol. 4 of the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933.

  ———. Diary of Gideon Welles. New York: W. W. Norton, 1960. 3 volumes.

  Beall, John. Trial of John Y. Beall, as a Spy and Guerreillero, by Military Commission. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1865.

  Benham, William Burton. Life of Osborn H. Oldroyd: Founder and Collector of Lincoln Mementos. Washington, D.C.: privately printed, 1927.

  Bernstein, Iver. The New York City Draft Riots. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

  Bingham, John Armor. Trial of the Conspirators for the Assassination of President Lincoln, s. c. Argument of John A. Bingham, Special Judge Advocate. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1865.

  Bishop, Jim. The Day Lincoln Was Shot. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.

  Blake, Mortimer. Human Depravity John Wilkes Booth: A Sermon Occassioned by the Assassination of President Lincoln, and Delivered in the Winslow Congregational Church, Taunton, Massachusetts on Sunday Evening, April 23, 1865, by the Pastor. Champlain: privately printed at the Moorsfield Press, 1925.

  Blue, Frederick J. Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1987.

  Bohn, Casimir. Bohn’s Hand-Book of Washington. Washington, D.C.: Casimir Bohn, [1856].

  Booth, John Wilkes. Wilkes Booth’s Private Confession of the Murder of President Lincoln and His Terrible Oath o
f Vengeance: Furnished by an Escaped Confederate. London: Newsagents’ Publishing Company, 1865.

  Borreson, Ralph. When Lincoln Died. New York: Appleton-Century, 1965.

  Boyd, Andrew. Abraham Lincoln, Foully Assassinated April 14, 1865. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell, Printer, 1868.

  ———. Boyd’s Washington and Georgetown Directory: 1864. Washington,

  D.C.: Hudson Taylor, 1863.

  ———. A Memorial Lincoln Bibliography: Being an Account of Books, Eulogies, Sermons, Portraits, Engravings, Medals, etc., Published upon Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, Assassinated Good Friday, April 14, 1865. Albany, New York: Andrew Boyd, Directory Publisher, 1870.

  Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. New York: Blelock & Company, 1865.

  Braver, Adam. Mr. Lincoln’s Wars: A Novel in Thirteen Stories. New York: William Morrow, 2003.

  Brenner, Walter C. The Ford Theatre Lincoln Assassination Playbills. Philadelphia: privately printed, 1937.

  Brooks, Noah. Washington in Lincoln’s Time. New York: The Century Co., 1895.

  Brooks, Stewart M. Our Murdered Presidents: The Medical Story. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., 1966.

  Brown, George William. Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861. Baltimore: N. Murray, 1887.

  Browning, Orville Hickman. The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning. Edited with Introduction and Notes by Theodore Calvin Pease and James G. Randall. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1925–[33]. 2 vols.