The Lincoln Conspiracy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr.
*****************************************************************
* *
* Did John Wilkes Booth act alone in the assassination of *
* Abraham Lincoln or was he a pawn of higher-ups? *
* *
* Was the man shot at Garrett's farm and identified as John *
* Wilkes Booth actually Booth, or was he a substitute? *
* *
* Why was the existence of Booth's diary hidden until long *
* after the famous 1865 Conspiracy Trial, and when revealed, *
* why had 18 pages been cut? Who removed those 18 pages, and *
* when? *
* *
* A surprising collection of newly discovered (c. 1977), *
* unpublished, historical documents answers these and many *
* more questions, solving the most famous political *
* assassination mystery in American history. *
* *
*****************************************************************
--------------------------- Part 1 ------------------------------
The massive cover-up effort by government officials to prevent
the American public from ever learning the real truth about the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, suppressed evidence which
presumably had gone to the graves of those connected with the
murder conspiracy, is now [c. 1977] surfacing and answers many of
the questions still surrounding Lincoln's assassination.
-- Was there an organized government conspiracy to get rid of
Lincoln?
-- Why, despite countless threats and known plots, did the War
Department not provide Lincoln with adequate protection?
-- Why did so many invited guests refuse to accept Lincoln's
invitation to Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14?
-- Why was the President's single bodyguard absent from his post
during the murder, and never punished or even questioned?
-- Why were all the escape routes out of Washington closed except
the route Booth used?
-- Who, for hours after the murder, blacked out commercial
telegraph lines from Washington?
-- Why was the existence of Booth's diary hidden until long after
the famous 1865 Conspiracy Trial, and when revealed, why had 18
pages been cut out?
-- Who removed those 18 pages, why and when?
Traditional historical writers have perpetuated a cover-up by
*unquestioningly* relying on 1865 government data and documents
as if they were gospel. In writing this book, Balsiger and
Sellier have adopted the premise that official government
statements from that time might not be true. Instead, the
authors' approach to re-examining the Lincoln assassination was
to try to locate local private unpublished document collections
in the possession of the heirs of significant Lincoln era
decision makers. They reason that if official government
statements from that time are, in fact, true, then they can be
authenticated through papers in private collections.
The documents used by the authors to re-construct events that
took place before and after the assassination include secret
service documents, congressmen's diaries, old letters, book
manuscripts, deathbed confessions, secret cipher-coded messages,
and purported missing pages of the John Wilkes Booth diary.
Among the experts consulted during the writing of this book were:
1) Dr. Ray A. Neff, a professor at Indiana State University [c.
1977] and author of a scholarly book on Lincoln entitled *Wounded
in the House of Friends*.
2) Dr. Richard D. Mudd, grandson of Dr. Samuel Mudd who was
sentenced to life in prison as a Booth co-conspirator.
3) Theodore Roscoe, author of *Web of Conspiracy*, which suggests
that the Secret Service may have been indirectly involved in the
assassination.
Among the primary sources used in the writing of the book,
probably the most sensational and valuable document consists of
the missing Booth diary pages, discovered in 1974 by Americana
collector and appraiser Joseph Lynch. The authors acquired a full
transcript of the contents of the missing pages and had the
contents evaluated by historical experts, but have not [c. 1977]
been able to acquire copies of the actual pages to authenticate
the handwriting.
The recently discovered [c. 1977] pages from Booth's diary
delineate Booth's involvement in the conspiracy plot with trusted
Lincoln friends, Confederate leaders, War Department Secretary
Stanton, and northern businessmen.
In this book, the authors have attempted to re-construct as
accurately as possible the conspiracy events prior to the
assassination and during the following cover-up. What you are
about to read is a synopsis of their unraveling of the most
shocking political assassination in American history.
------------------------- End Part 1 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 2 ------------------------------
Normally, a state of war heightens and centralizes the power of
the ruling group. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton held a great
deal of power during the Civil War. "The War Secretary controlled
the nation's military news through the nationalization of the
wires. He also controlled the transportation system. Under his
direction... control over private citizens was almost complete...
Lincoln himself was denied the right to see telegrams that came
into the War Department in cipher to be decoded."
Moreover, Stanton was not noted for speaking well of Lincoln. He
had referred to him as "the original gorilla," a "long-armed
baboon," and as "that giraffe."
The authors, Balsiger and Sellier, state that a raid planned at
that time (1864) by Lincoln, Stanton, and others associated with
Lincoln's presidency gives evidence of an atmosphere of plotting
and distrust within that small group. The "Dahlgren Raid," as
planned by Lincoln, had as its ostensible purpose the freeing of
Federal prisoners being held in Richmond, Virginia, at that time
the capital of the confederacy. In addition, Lincoln wanted
posters to be placed everywhere along the path of the raid
promising amnesty to any confederates who would take the oath of
allegiance to the Union.
According to the authors, however, and unbeknownst to Lincoln,
the true purpose of the Dahlgren Raid was to assassinate
confederate president Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. Besides
Stanton, certain operatives of various special police forces,
including the newly formed secret service, were also aware of the
true nature of the plan. Prominent among these operatives was
"Col. Lafayette Baker, a man of highly questionable integrity,
[who] headed the North's National Detective Police (NDP), an
undercover, anti-subversive, spy organization under the direction
of Secretary of War Stanton."
The Dahlgren Raid failed and its leader, Colonel Dahlgren, was
killed. On his body, the confederates found two documents. One
document directed that Dahlgren and his soldiers were to free
federal prisoners being held near Richmond. "The second document,
unsigned, seemed to be an order: 'Once in the city [Richmond], it
must be destroyed, and Jeff Davis and cabinet killed.'"
When this news became widely known in the confederacy,
southerners were furious. "Gen. Robert E. Lee... officially asked
his Union counterpart, Gen. George Meade, if the Union's true
motives were contained in the papers."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The authors claim that John Wilkes Booth met with a Colonel
William A. Browning, secretary to future (2nd term) vice-
president Andrew Johnson during the summer of 1864. They claim
that Booth worked as a special envoy for secret peace
negotiations being attempted at the time. "Booth quietly made the
trip to Richmond with proper military passes issued by both Union
and Confederate governments." Unfortunately, while on his mission
in the south Booth saw proof that the Dahlgren Raid had had as
one of its goals the murder of Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.
Infuriated by what he had learned, Booth resigned from his
assignment as special envoy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Committee on the Conduct of the War research files. }
{ Dr. Richard D. Mudd Collection, Saginaw, MI }
{ }
{ Benedict, Michael Les, *A Compromise of Principle: The }
{ Politics of Radicalism* (W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1974) }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Michael O'Laughlin, }
{ April 27, 1865, originally in the Benn Pitman Collection, }
{ Cincinnati, OH Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Barbee, David Rankin, "The Murder of Mrs. Surratt" }
{ (Speech at the Emerson Institute, Washington, D.C., }
{ Feb. 25, 1950). Margaret K. Bearden Collection, }
{ Rochester, NY }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
------------------------- End Part 2 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 3 ------------------------------
Because the great drama of the Civil War takes center stage, most
people are not as aware that in "...1864, the Union was close to
dictatorship."
"All the elements were in motion: transportation and
communications were nationalized, the writ of *habeas corpus*
suspended. Military tribunals had replaced civilian trials...
Dictatorship was an evil lurking behind the scenes. [However] the
name of the would be dictator was not discernible to the public."
The previously mentioned National Detective Police (NDP)
constituted a force of 2,000 "detectives" which acted as a law
unto itself. Under the leadership of the already mentioned
Lafayette Baker, it operated without judicial constraint under
the direction of Secretary of War Stanton. "Baker held
authority... because a highly placed Lincoln cabinet official
[Stanton] had set in motion all machinery necessary to become
dictator of the nation."
"But first, Abraham Lincoln had to be removed from office."
During the summer of that year [1864], Lincoln faced mounting
dissension within his own political party. A powerful faction
within his party, known as the "Radical Republicans," did not
want Lincoln to seek re-election. That summer a group of them
introduced the Wade-Davis Bill to the 38th Congress.
The Wade-Davis Bill was "...a version of postwar reconstruction
diametrically opposed to the President's proposal." Lincoln
favored a "soft" peace plan, "designed to bind up the nation's
wounds with all possible speed so that the nation could move
forward and leave the events of the tragic war behind." Since the
president had the right to pardon, Lincoln reasoned that he could
offer a general amnesty to all who would take a loyalty oath to
the Union.
However, "under the Radicals' Wade-Davis Bill each seceded state
was to be treated as a conquered country... [The Radicals were]
demanding Rebel property be confiscated and proposed that the
conquered South should be considered a prize of war." [B.R. --
Thus, a *lot* of money was at stake in the argument.]
This was a tough time for Lincoln. He was up for re-election and
it was the general opinion that there was little chance of his
being re-elected. The war was dragging on and the casualties were
multiplying. In addition to the dissent within his own political
party, there was the constant threat of assassination. During
that summer of 1864, there were incessant rumors of assassination
plots.
The authors assert that during that summer of 1864, in Maryland,
"...a group of planters had gathered to discuss ways of ending
atrocities [by Federal troops] in the counties of Prince Georges,
St. Marys, and Charles. Among the Maryland planters were Patrick
C. Martin... Dr. William Queen, and Dr. Samuel Mudd." The authors
contend that at this meeting a plot to kidnap Lincoln was
discussed and that it was suggested that John Wilkes Booth would
be a good person to bring in on the plot.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Benedict, Michael Les, *A Compromise of Principle: The }
{ Politics of Radicalism* (W.W. Norton & Co. New York, 1974) }
{ }
{ Lamon, Ward Hill, *Recollections of Abraham Lincoln* }
{ (University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1895) }
{ }
{ Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M. *History of American Presidential }
{ Elections, Vol. II, 1848-1896 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1971) }
------------------------- End Part 3 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 4 ------------------------------
"Near the end of September, 1864, Patrick Martin [, organizer of
the previously mentioned southern Maryland planter's meeting,]
met with John Wilkes Booth." As a result of this meeting, "Booth
received instructions to meet [Confederate agents] Clement Clay
and Jacob Thompson in Montreal." Booth arrived in Montreal on
October 17th or 18th of 1864.
John Wilkes Booth is a shadowy historical figure. While
ostensibly an actor, he is known to have smuggled medicines and
other contraband into the south. For example, at one time Booth
"obtained 1,000 ounces of valuable quinine, hid the contraband
medicine in a trunk, and sent it by blockade runner to Richmond."
Booth was also involved with other smugglers from that time,
including Confederate courier John Surratt and a childhood friend
named Michael O'Laughlin. One of the front operations they used
for their activities was the Chaffey Company at 178 1/2 Water
Street in New York. Another key figure operating out of this
address "was Lafayette Baker [head of the previously mentioned
National Detective Police (NDP)] who began using Chaffey's in
July."
Instead of turning in confiscated contraband to the military
commissary, Baker began using the Chaffey Company to sell it
to interested buyers. This was especially true for cotton which
had risen from 10 cents/pound to $1.00/pound. "A single bale was
now worth more than $1,000, and a seized shipment of several
bales could be quietly sold for a tidy sum. At the rate Baker was
making deposits, his account would hit $150,000 by the end of the
year."
While in Montreal, Booth was recruited by Confederate agents Clay
and Thompson to organize the kidnapping of Abraham Lincoln. John
H. Surratt, Jr. was suggested to Booth as a good man to help in
his organizing efforts. When Booth returned to Washington,
"$12,499.28 had been transferred from the Bank of Montreal to
Booth's account at the Chaffey Company in New York. This was, to
the penny, what Daniel Watson, a Tennessee cotton speculator, had
deposited in the Bank of Montreal on July 4 for some unknown
reason."
"Booth wrote in his diary, 'I am to find and send North 15 men
whom I trust. The messenger brings me $20,000 in gold to recruit
them. I'm to start at once.'" It is somewhat suspicious that "the
messenger who brought the gold was connected with the Union's
Judge Advocate General's Office."
In addition to the kidnap plot that Booth was involved with,
"another highly secret plot was developing inside the government
in Washington... A hint of the Northern plot was turned up by NDP
operatives." Members of Lincoln's own party, including Radical
Republicans were plotting to "have him kidnapped and kept out of
sight until fake charges... [were] arranged to impeach him."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Brennan, John C., "General Bradley T. Johnson's Plan to }
{ Abduct President Lincoln," Chronicles of St. Mary's County }
{ Historical Society, (Leonardtown, MD) Vol. 22, Nov. 1974 }
{ }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of }
{ Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd }
{ E. Risvold, (Alfred E. Knopf, New York, 1975) }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Clarke, Asia Booth, *The Unlocked Book: A Memoir of John }
{ Wilkes Booth* (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1938) }
{ }
{ Gray, Clayton, *Conspiracy in Canada* (L'Atelier Press, }
{ Montreal, 1957) }
{ }
{ Peterson, T.B., *The Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators* }
{ (T.B. Peterson and Brothers, Philadelphia, 1865) }
------------------------- End Part 4 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 5 ------------------------------
On November 8, 1864, Abraham Lincoln received 55 percent of the
popular vote and was returned to office. One of the things which
helped him win re-election was that the Union army had won timely
victories. He was also helped by the military vote itself. He
received 116,887 military ballots as compared to 33,748 cast for
the Democratic candidate McClellan. "Lincoln had pressured
commanders to furlough soldiers home in time for the election."
Around this time, the National Detective Police (NDP) had made
progress in its investigations into possible kidnap plots against
Lincoln. "The secret police had also discovered [John Wilkes]
Booth's involvement." The authors mention a Confederate Major
Marsh Frye who they claim was a double agent. They claim also
that Booth's wife had been working with this Major Frye as a spy
and courier for the Confederacy but that she was unaware that
Frye was in reality an agent for the Union.
Another informant cultivated by the NDP at the time was one
"James William Boyd, prisoner of war... [who had] been a captain
in the Rebel secret service." The authors mention in passing that
this Captain Boyd had the same initials as John Wilkes Booth.
[B.R. So at this point we have a lot of loose threads. It will be
interesting to see where they lead.]
According to the authors, Booth also met with John Surratt around
this time. "Booth's diary claimed they joined together and began
recruiting men for the [planned] kidnapping."
In the Fall of 1864, Booth made a trip to Richmond where he met
with one Judah Benjamin, a British lawyer, Confederate Vice
President Alexander Stephens, and Jefferson Davis, President of
the Confederacy. "Out of this meeting came detailed instructions
for Booth. An order for $70,000, 'drawn on a friendly bank,' was
also handed the actor."
"Though on opposite sides of a civil war, the Northern
speculators and the Confederate politicians had a common
commodity problem. The speculators needed cotton. The south
needed meat. The Union's blockade prevented cotton from leaving
the South." After the 1864 election, Booth met with banker-
financier Jay Cooke at the Astor House in New York. Cooke's
brother Henry was also in attendance and spoke highly of the
aforementioned Judah Benjamin. This was a curious circumstance in
that Mr. Benjamin was one of the top men in the Confederacy
whereas Cooke was one of the bankers financing the Union side in
the war. Also in attendance at the meeting were "Thurlow Weed,
Samuel Noble, a New York Cotton broker, and Radical Republican
Zachariah Chandler, Michigan senator."
"In his diary Booth later recorded, 'Each and every one asserted
that he had dealings with the Confederate States and would
continue to whenever possible.'"
According to the authors, the link between most or all of these
groups was economic. Due to the Union blockade of the
Confederacy, the South, northern speculators, and the British
were all suffering. Because the South could not export its
cotton, mills in Britain and France were shutting down. The
blockade also cut off Northern moneymen from lucrative
investments in the cotton trade.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendents. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
{ }
{ Baker, Lafayette C., *History of the United States Secret }
{ Service* (L.C. Baker, Philadelphia, 1967) }
{ }
{ Mogelever, Jacob, *Death to Traitors* (Doubleday & Co., }
{ New York, 1960) }
------------------------- End Part 5 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 6 ------------------------------
According to the recently recovered Booth diary pages, while in
Montreal near the end of 1864 Booth saw National Detective Police
(NDP) head Lafayette Baker in the company of Confederate agent
Nathaniel Beverly Tucker. Later that day, Booth met with Tucker
and Canadian Confederate secret service chief Jacob Thompson.
Booth delivered coded messages to each of them and Thompson gave
Booth a satchel containing $50,000 in bank notes. He was to
deliver $20,000 of this money to Senator Benjamin Wade, co-author
of the previously mentioned Wade-Davis Bill. Thus, if the missing
Booth diary pages are to be believed, we have evident collusion
between Radical Republicans and the Confederate secret service.
Furthermore, some connection between the head of the Union's NDP
and the southern secret service seems likely.
[B.R. -- Yet this all hinges on the veracity of the recently
recovered (c. 1977) Booth Diary Pages. The mystery deepens in
that I am writing this in 1993; whatever became of the 18 pages
that were recovered? Were they authenticated? Were they
published?]
Around this time (December 1864), one of Lincoln's most trusted
bodyguards, Ward Lamon, tried to warn Lincoln that he was in
great danger. When Lincoln shrugged off Lamon's warning, Lamon
threatened to resign stating that the President's life was sure
to be taken unless he were more cautious. The NDP also tried to
warn Lincoln of the danger he was in. Twice they notified
Secretary of War Stanton that a plot was underway to kidnap
Lincoln.
The authors furthermore claim that a Major Thomas Eckert, a
member of Stanton's office in the War Department, also had
knowledge of the proposed kidnapping of the president.
Booth returned to Washington, carrying the previously mentioned
satchel containing $50,000. He delivered portions of this money
to Senators Conness, Wade, and Chandler of the Radical Republican
faction of Lincoln's party. According to NDP chief Lafayette
Baker's notes, Senator Conness was involved with at least one of
the upcoming kidnap plots.
The authors contend that there had to be some hidden
person/persons linking the Radical Republicans (who were seeking
to control the Union and to ravage the post-war South) with the
Confederate secret service. The plan of the Radical Republicans
was to "seize control of the executive branch... [and] control
reconstruction." Why the Confederate secret service would team up
with them is not clear. Superficially, these two groups should
have had nothing in common.
Around this time Secretary of War Stanton personally ordered that
Federal prisoner Captain James W. Boyd (initials J.W.B., same as
John Wilkes Booth) was to be delivered to the Provost Marshal in
Washington, D.C.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Lamon, Ward Hill, *Recollections of Abraham Lincoln* }
{ (University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1895) }
{ }
{ Eisenschimi, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little, }
{ Brown and Co., Boston, 1937) }
{ }
{ Lafayette Baker's Unpublished Cipher-Coded Book Manuscript, }
{ 1868, Dr. Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ "Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 68, "Martin Family," }
{ Fall 1973 }
------------------------- End Part 6 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 7 ------------------------------
Among Booth's earliest recruits in the plan to kidnap Lincoln
were Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlin. Booth and O'Laughlin
had been involved in a smuggling ring early on in the war. They
had helped ship contraband quinine, morphine, and other medicines
to the South. "O'Laughlin believed Booth had been in charge of
the operation but knew the actor had had the help of men in the
government."
Besides Arnold and O'Laughlin, Booth recruited David Herold,
George Atzerodt, Edward Spangler, and Lewis Payne into his
kidnapping team. The original plan was to capture Lincoln when he
was on one of his frequent unguarded trips from the White House
to the Soldiers Home. Later, however, Booth decided on a more
dramatic location for the kidnap attempt -- Ford's Theater.
On the night of January 18, 1865, all was in readiness. Lincoln
was expected to attend a performance at Ford's Theater that
evening. "Everything was ready -- two sets of handcuffs, gags and
ropes. The stage lights were to be killed on cue. A vehicle with
side curtains was stationed in the alley behind the theater."
Unfortunately for the plotters, the night was stormy and Lincoln
decided to stay at home.
The leaders of the bankers and speculators plot to kidnap Lincoln
decided to replace Booth with a military man because they decided
that a civilian would not be the best person to handle the actual
kidnapping. All Booth could learn at first was that he had been
replaced by a Rebel officer, a "Captain B."
Captain James William Boyd "bore a resemblance to John Wilkes
Booth, whose initials he shared." Boyd had served as head of the
Confederate secret service in West Tennessee before being
captured in August 1863 by members of the National Detective
Police (NDP). After being imprisoned for months, he finally
succumbed to NDP pressure and became a Rebel turncoat.
For awhile, Boyd was "paid $90 a month and, in return, reported
on prisoners' activities and plans." However, when his life
became endangered because the other prisoners had grown
suspicious of him, he was released from Federal prison and given
a new assignment. He was sent "on a mysterious mission that would
take him to Canada, then Mexico."
The authors mention in passing that Boyd suffered from an old
wound. "Boyd's leg near his ankle had continued to give him
trouble. A bone and muscle infection had developed from the wound
that had never healed properly."
Besides the change in leadership from Booth to Boyd, the
"speculators, with Captain Boyd as their leader, appeared to have
a new strategy... They were not going to take Lincoln to
Richmond, but to Bloodsworth Island in Chesapeake Bay and
'legally' dispose of him."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Lee, Thomas C., "The Role of Georgetown's Dr. Samuel A. Mudd }
{ in the Lincoln Conspiracy," Georgetown Medical Bulletin, }
{ May, 1976 }
{ }
{ Pitman, Benn, *The Assassination of President Lincoln and the }
{ Trial of the Conspirators* (Funk & Wagnalls, New York, }
{ 1954) }
{ }
{ Wilson, Francis, *John Wilkes Booth: Fact and Fiction of }
{ Lincoln's Assassination* (Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, }
{ 1929) }
------------------------- End Part 7 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 8 ------------------------------
In early March of 1865, inside "the nation's governmental centers
and in New York, the country's financial heart, many were not
happy."
"Power plays were going on behind almost every office door;
tremendous pressures were building. There was no end to the
intrigues, lies, deceits, and double-dealing."
For the turncoat Rebel agent, Captain James William Boyd, the
sense of intrigues surrounding him was so great that he was
unsure of exactly who his real leader was. "He had the impression
the mastermind was not one, but a number of highly placed men
working together on a daring plan."
Whoever it was that was running things had sent Boyd on a journey
through Maryland, headed south. In Maryland, wherever "he
stopped, he asked discreet questions concerning roads through the
area."
For John Wilkes Booth, the urgency of achieving success in his
kidnap plot was mounting. It became more and more apparent that
the North was going to win the war. Therefore it was increasingly
important that the South have *some* sort of advantage, from
whatever source. Booth became more desperate to kidnap the
president. He hoped that somehow the South could "yet snatch
victory from defeat."
"It looked as though Grover's Theatre would offer the best
opportunity to attempt the abduction on March 15." Booth
assembled his team of recruits and prepared to make a kidnap
attempt. However, on March 14th the President became so ill that
the cabinet met in his bedroom. Because it seemed unlikely that
Lincoln would go to the theatre the following day, the kidnapping
attempt was called off.
When the Grover's Theatre kidnapping attempt was called off, some
of the co-conspirators had gone to Ford's Theatre to see a
performance of *Jane Shore*. During the intermission, Booth
briefly visited the "Presidential Box," a special area reserved
for president Lincoln when he attended the theatre.
In the early morning of March 16th, Booth met with his recruits.
One of them had received word that Lincoln would be visiting the
Seventh Street Hospital-Soldiers Home. Booth came up with another
plan. On a portion of the road that the President was to travel,
the plotters would ride out of the woods and surround Lincoln's
carriage. However, when they tried to carry out their plot later
that day, the carriage that they surrounded did not contain
Lincoln. "Booth's third kidnap attempt had now failed."
The following morning, Booth was visited in his Washington hotel
room by Colonel Lafayette Baker, head of the National Detective
Police (NDP). Booth may have been understandably panicy that the
formal head of the Union's secret service was paying him a visit.
It may have been that he was fearful that his attempts at
kidnapping the President had been found out. However Baker's
mission that day was to deliver three sealed envelopes from
(respectively) Jefferson Davis [President of the Confederacy!],
Judah Benjamin, and Clement Clay. One of the messages that Booth
received directed him to pay Baker a sum of money.
After Baker had received the money from Booth and had left, Booth
was probably astonished. He immediately sent a note by special
courier to Confederate agent Judah Benjamin in Richmond. He then
went to the office of Radical Republican, Senator John Conness.
Conness had been connected with NDP head Baker as a member of a
vigilante group in California during the 1850's. He calmed
Booth's fears and assured him that Baker could be trusted.
Not long after this meeting with Senator Conness, Booth received
a reply to his message to Judah Benjamin in Richmond. It said
that Baker was to be trusted.
"Word now came to Booth that the President would pass a certain
spot on Saturday, March 18. Booth and an unknown number of
conspirators waited seven hours. When the President did approach,
he was escorted by a squad of cavalry." Booth called off this
fourth kidnapping attempt.
Following this latest attempt, NDP head Baker and a Lt. Col.
Everton J. Conger called on Booth. Booth did not record the topic
of this second meeting with Baker.
Booth attended another of many Washington parties. At this party,
he was approached by Senator Conness who informed him that he
was expecting information shortly as to Lincoln's planned
movements within the Washington area.
"Booth thought Yankee politicians were beyond belief. Their only
interest was money. They had no patriotism, no personal honor.
They were cowards, hiding behind their office, spouting
hypocrisy."
On Sunday, March 19th, Conness forwarded to Booth information on
the next kidnap possibility. "The conspirators rushed to the
location named. And waited in vain... The President did not
appear."
"On Monday, March 20, the conspirators made a sixth attempt at a
kidnap. About the time the President was supposed to pass the
ambush site, a warning was given Booth that the kidnapping was
expected. Booth ordered his men to scatter, sure he had been
betrayed."
Later that evening, Booth and two of his gang waited for Lincoln
in another spot by which Lincoln was supposed to be travelling.
When a horseman with a group of soldiers approached, Booth fired
a shot and the President's hat flew off. One of Booth's
companions, Lewis Payne, also fired twice but missed. Booth and
his companions "spurred furiously away, the President's armed
escort thundering after them... Within a couple of miles the
conspirators had eluded pursuit."
Shortly thereafter, Booth was visited by the previously mentioned
Lt. Col. Conger. Conger carried orders that Booth was to halt his
efforts. Booth refused. Conger then told Booth that "If you make
another move without orders, you and your friends are going to be
found in the Potomac."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
{ }
{ Captain James William Boyd Letter to Moe Stevens, Boyd Papers }
{ Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Oldroyd, Osborn H., *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: }
{ Flight, Pursuit, Capture and Punishment of the }
{ Conspirators* (Privately Published, Washington, D.C. 1901) }
{ }
{ Arnold, Samuel B., *Defence and Prison Experiences of a }
{ Lincoln Conspirator* (The Book Farm, Hattiesburg, MS, 1943) }
{ }
{ John Surratt Lecture at Rockville, Maryland, December 6, 1870 }
{ (Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 1870) }
{ }
{ Major Thomas T. Eckert Letter to Col. Lafayette C. Baker, }
{ April 22, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton }
{ descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts of }
{ Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch }
------------------------- End Part 8 ----------------------------
--------------------------- Part 9 ------------------------------
On Monday, April 3, 1865, Richmond fell and the Confederate
cabinet fled the city.
"For Booth, time had about run out." On Saturday, April 1, he
left Washington for New York where he met with Northern cotton
speculators. Booth informed these people his apprehensions that
their plot was about to be betrayed by NDP head Lafayette Baker.
At the end of the meeting, "Booth was instructed to return to
Washington to wait for orders."
On Thursday, President Lincoln had authorized Gen. Godfrey
Weitzel to give permission to the "gentlemen who had acted as the
Legislature of Virginia in support of the Rebellion" to meet and
take measures to withdraw that state's troops from fighting the
Union soldiers. "Secretary of War Stanton saw the action as
allowing Virginia lawmakers to proceed as though nothing had
happened, setting a precedent for all future insurgent
legislatures to reconvene and be recognized." Needless to say,
this would severely curtail the postwar plans of Radical
Republicans and Northern businessmen for "reconstruction" in the
South. "The authorization had Washington in an uproar."
On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant. "Lee's action, as
supreme Confederate Commander meant the war was over."
With the end of the war, Booth now expected that Northern
politicians and their business friends would strip the South
bare. He also wrote in his diary that "I believe that [Major]
Eckert, [Lafayette] Baker, and the Secretary [of War, Stanton]
are in control of our activities."
There were at least three good reasons that Stanton could be
behind Booth and his plotters: (1) Removing Lincoln would assure
that Stanton would continue as War Secretary, (2) Under the
proposed "reconstruction," the "War Department and the Secretary
of War would be vital in a military occupation of conquered
states." Thus, Stanton would wield tremendous power during the
proposed "reconstruction." Lincoln opposed this planned
despoliation of the South, and (3) By remaining in power, Stanton
could further his own ambitions to be president.
It has already been shown that Stanton disliked Lincoln. Stanton
even went so far in his audacity to *countermand* Lincoln's order
to Gen. Weitzel which had given the Legislature of Virginia
permission to reconvene. Lafayette Baker notes in his unpublished
book that "That's the first time I knew Stanton was one of those
responsible for the assassination plot." Baker even feared that
he himself would be used as a "sacrificial goat" [i.e. a "patsy"]
by Stanton.
Booth also was apprehensive about what the hidden forces plotting
against Lincoln might do to Booth himself. In his diary he wrote,
"If by this act, I am slain, they too shall be cast into hell,
for I have given information to a friend who will have the nation
know who the traitors are."
At the White House, Lincoln's trusted bodyguard, Ward Lamon, had
obtained a special pass from the President which allowed him and
an unspecified friend to travel from Washington to Richmond. On
the night before Lamon left the capital he urged the President
not to go out after nightfall, especially not to the theatre.
Meanwhile, Rebel turncoat Capt. James William Boyd had been
acquiring horses in southern Maryland. While there, Boyd had
learned that one Thomas Watkins had attempted to sexually assault
the wife of one of Boyd's colleagues. Boyd went and shot Watkins
in the back of the head. Although the Federal government was
aware of what Boyd had done, it did nothing. "His [Boyd's]
freedom was more important to someone than having him tried for
murder."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
{ }
{ Lafayette Baker's Unpublished Cipher-Coded Book Manuscript, }
{ 1868, Dr. Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder }
{ Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965) }
{ }
{ Shutes, Milton H., *Lincoln's Emotional Life* (Dorrance and }
{ Co., Philadelphia, 1957) }
------------------------- End Part 9 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 10 ------------------------------
According to the authors, Booth's plan after having carried out
the abduction of Lincoln was to go to Europe. They state that
Booth had arranged for extensive bank credits in England and
France.
Yet as Booth's desperation grew, the original kidnapping plot
gradually became an assassination plot.
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, workers began preparing the
"Presidential Box" at Ford's theatre because they had received
word that Lincoln would be attending the theatre that night. To
get to the Presidential Box, one needed to pass into a single
small antechamber whose entrance would be constantly guarded.
Booth had learned that the President would be attending the
theatre. According to an unpublished, voluntary statement by
Booth's friend, Michael O'Laughlin, Booth met O'Laughlin in front
of Ford's Theatre at about 7:45 pm that evening. Booth was upset.
O'Laughlin quotes him as saying, "Everything's gone wrong! The
major sent word that he would not be here... The major with the
President has refused to go through with it... Everyone wants to
call it off again. I refuse. It must be done tonight!"
That morning, there had been a cabinet meeting at the White
House. At that meeting, Stanton had again argued for the Radical
Republicans plan of "reconstruction." At the meeting, Stanton
again pushed for this plan which favored that the "...South be
treated as a conquered nation and ruled by military occupation."
However, as already noted, Lincoln opposed this plan for harsh
treatment of the former Confederacy. What is more, Lincoln's
political strength was at a high point. "He had kept his pledge
to keep the Union intact. He had freed the slaves. To date, he
had won everything for which he had fought." Lincoln would be a
powerful opponent to the hopes for a postwar pillaging of the
South.
That evening, one of Lincoln's bodyguards, John Parker, was late
in arriving. Nonetheless, the President allowed William Crook,
another of his bodyguards, to go home without waiting for
Parker's arrival. As Crook was leaving, Lincoln said to him,
"Good-bye, Crook." According to Crook this was unusual in that
Lincoln had heretofore always said "Good night, Crook."
At about this time, in the early evening of April 14, 1865, while
Lincoln was preparing to leave with his wife for Ford's Theatre,
his death was *already* being reported in scattered parts of the
country:
*** In St. Joseph, Minnesota, located over 80 miles from the
nearest telegraph, the news was circulating that the President
had been murdered.
*** That morning, residents of Booth's hometown of Manchester,
New Hampshire, "were speaking in the past tense of Lincoln's
assassination, discussing the event as if it had already
happened."
*** At 2:30 pm, a writer on the Middletown, New York *Whig Press*
asserted that he had been informed that the President had been
shot.
*** The *Newburgh Journal* confirmed the reports in the *Whig
Press* regarding Lincoln's having been shot.
Thus, from 12 to 4 hours *before* the actual assassination, it
was already being reported.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Michael O'Laughlin, April }
{ 27, 1865, originally in the Benn Pittman Collection, }
{ Cincinnati, OH Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of }
{ Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd }
{ E. Risvold, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975) }
{ }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper & Brothers, }
{ New York, 1955) }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *In the Shadow of Lincoln's Death* }
{ (Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940) }
------------------------ End Part 10 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 11 ------------------------------
One of Lincoln's bodyguards, John Parker, arrived at Ford's
Theatre before Lincoln and checked out the lobby, the stairs to
the "dress circle," and the presidential box. The Lincoln party,
consisting of Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Maj. R. Rathbone, and his
fiancee, Miss Clara Harris, arrived at the theatre after the
play, "Our American Cousin" had already begun. They were
accompanied by Lincoln's personal aide, Charles Forbes.
After the presidential party had been seated in the presidential
box, guard John Parker commenced to stand guard at his assigned
post. However, after a short while, Parker moved from there to an
empty seat at the front of the gallery from which spot he could
watch the play. Lincoln's back was now totally unguarded.
But Parker soon grew bored with the play. He went downstairs to
the lobby, went outside, and walked up to the presidential
carriage. Inside, the driver was sleeping. Parker woke the driver
and asked him if he would like to join him for a beer at the nearby
Taltavul's Star Saloon. The driver accepted the invitation. "As
the two men passed through the theatre doors on their way to... [the
saloon], they saw [presidential aid] Forbes who had left the
presidential party alone in the box. Forbes joined Parker and
Burns [the driver] at the bar."
As the play progressed, Parker, Forbes, and Burns enjoyed their
beers in the saloon. Booth entered the theatre, climbed the
stairs, and entered the presidential box. "Booth took a quick
step from the antechamber, crossed the three or four feet to the
President's back, and quickly extended the pistol. Lincoln
started to turn his head to the left. The derringer's explosion
ripped through the laughter."
"The assailant dropped his pistol and sprang toward the box
railing. Rathbone thought he heard someone cry, 'Freedom!' Booth
cried, 'Sic semper tyrannis!' Thus always to tyrants."
Major Rathbone jumped up and grappled with Booth. Booth made a
slash with a large knife towards the major's chest. Rathbone
deflected the blow with his left arm and was badly cut between
the elbow and the shoulder.
"Booth vaulted over the railing to the stage apron a dozen feet
below... [Upon landing, he found that] the fall had snapped his
[Booth's] left tibia about two inches above the ankle."
Nonetheless, Booth was able to stagger towards the backstage
exit, mount a horse, and ride off.
Doctors in the audience examined the President's wound and
pronounced it fatal. "The President's eyes showed evidence of
brain damage. The bullet had gone in the left side of the head,
behind the ear near the top of the spine. There was no exit
wound."
"Fingers, thrust into the wound, could not touch the bullet. From
the patient's slightly protruding right eye, the doctors
correctly concluded the 44 caliber ball had entered behind the
left ear and lodged in the brain just behind the right eye."
At Secretary of State Seward's home there had also been an
assassination attempt. At the Seward mansion, five people had
been attacked. Among those attacked was the Secretary of State.
The assailant "...sprang upon the defenseless secretary in the
bed. The knife... [ripped] Seward's right cheek, the right side
of his throat, and [slashed] deeply under the left ear. So much
blood spurted, it seemed his throat must have been cut."
As the city grew hysterical over the news of the assassination
attempts, rumors of all sorts spread. Amidst all the uproar,
Booth "galloped toward the Navy Yard Bridge which crossed the
Eastern Branch of the Potomac. The further shore was Maryland.
Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic were to the east. Richmond was
100 miles south.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Gerry, Margarita Spalding, *Through Five Administrations: }
{ Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook* (Harper and }
{ Brothers, New York, 1907) }
{ }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper and Brothers, }
{ New York, 1955) }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little, }
{ Brown, and Co., Boston, 1937) }
{ }
{ Ferguson, W.J., *I Saw Booth Shoot Lincoln* (Houghton }
{ Mifflin, Boston, 1930) }
{ }
{ Existing Pages of the John Wilkes Booth Diary on display at }
{ Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. }
------------------------ End Part 11 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 12 ------------------------------
Shortly after Lincoln was shot, L.A. Gobright, an Associated
Press representative in Washington, put a short bulletin out over
the commercial telegraph saying that the President had been shot.
"The AP man filed a second telegram... The morning edition of the
*New York Tribune* read, 'Our Washington agent orders the
dispatch about the president stopped. Nothing is said about the
truth or falsity of that dispatch.'"
"Before details of the night of terror could be flashed from
Washington to morning newspapers, the commercial telegraph went
dead... Within 15 minutes after the murder, the wires were
severed entirely around the city, excepting only a secret wire
for government use..."
The authors state that this destruction of telegraph service
could only have been accomplished by someone who was an expert
about the telegraph. "Only someone familiar with telegraphy,
working inside the main terminal area, could have so effectively
sabotaged the news wire."
After having been shot, the dying Lincoln had been taken across
the street to a boardinghouse owned by William Peterson. In the
back parlor of the house, Secretary of War [B.R. They now call
this cabinet post the Secretary of "Defense"] Stanton set up a
temporary seat of government. "Here, virtually a dictator,
Stanton took control of the situation and the nation."
Stanton began issuing orders to close escape routes out of the
city. Eventually, the only road not closed by Stanton was the
road leading south from Washington to Port Tobacco. "Booth's act
had caused a virtual blockade of the whole Atlantic coast from
Baltimore to Hampton Roads, Virginia, yet the assassin slipped
through because the closings had been piecemeal, beginning in the
least likely direction and moving slowly toward the route Booth
was most likely to have taken."
"In all wires issued from the War Department during the night of
April 14, this route [south from Washington to Port Tobacco] was
not once mentioned...[Yet] it was the one obvious route that
should have been instantly and tightly closed."
In the back parlor of the Peterson house, statements by witnesses
to the shooting were taken. James Tanner, a Union corporal who
knew shorthand, recorded these statements. In Tanner's words,
"Within fifteen minutes, I had testimony enough to hang Wilkes
Booth." Yet Stanton sent no messages to the newspapers or
to the military leaders identifying Booth as the assassin.
By this time, Booth was well south of Washington and headed east
toward Benedict's Landing where a ship of British registry,
flying Canadian colors, was waiting for two "crewmen." A second
ship of British registry, also flying the Canadian flag, was
waiting at Port Tobacco.
For Rebel turncoat Captain James William Boyd, the murder of
Lincoln was not good news. "Booth's shot wrecked his plan to
kidnap Lincoln on behalf of the Northern speculators. If his name
became involved in the Booth plot, Boyd was in great danger."
Boyd decided to flee. He packed his gear and headed for Maryland.
"About 6 a.m. Saturday morning, White House guard John Parker,
who had vacated his post and allowed the President to be shot,
showed up at the Washington police station with Lizzie Williams,
a drunken streetwalker, in custody. She was released by the
precinct captain."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little, }
{ Brown and Co., Boston, 1937) }
{ }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder }
{ Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965) }
{ }
{ Dewitt, David M., *The Assassination of Lincoln and Its }
{ Expiation* (MacMillan Co., New York, 1909) }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper & Brothers, }
{ New York, 1955) }
------------------------ End Part 12 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 13 ------------------------------
Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada rushed to the Kirkwood House
and found the vice-President "...in a drunken stupor. His
clothing was disarrayed. Mud matted his hair." After being made
presentable by a barber and sobered up by a physician, Andrew
Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States.
In his inauguration "speech," Johnson declared that "The course
which I have taken in the past in connection with this rebellion
must be regarded as a guarantee for the future." This meant that
Lincoln's proposed policy of amnesty for the South was finished.
Johnson would give his support to those planning to treat the
defeated Confederacy as conquered enemy territory.
"Radical Republicans were delighted. Everything that Lincoln had
fought for could be presumed dead along with the late President."
Some of them even went so far as to declare that "Lincoln's death
is like a blessing from heaven."
After having his broken leg tended to by Dr. Samuel Mudd (who
apparently had no idea whose leg he was treating nor that Lincoln
had just been assassinated), Booth and a companion (a former
smuggler named Ed Henson whom Booth had joined up with early in
his flight from Washington) disappeared into the nearby Zekiah
Swamp. After about three hours of trudging through this desolate
wilderness, they approached a farm owned by Col. Samuel Cox. Cox
hid the fugitives in a pine thicket about two miles from his
house and sent for his foster brother, Thomas A. Jones. During
the just finished Civil War, Jones had "...nightly rowed the two
mile crossing of the Potomac to, or from, Virginia with persons
who wanted to cross the river unnoticed." Jones promised Booth
and Henson that he would get them across the river as soon as
possible.
Back in Washington, Stanton assigned NDP chief Lafayette Baker to
get Booth. Booth's rash act had thrown the carefully laid plans
of those higher up in the hierarchy of power "...into a cocked
hat." Stanton feared that unless the pursuit and capture of Booth
was brought to a speedy finish, that his and his colleagues'
kidnap plots would be incidentally exposed by the ongoing
investigations.
Booth's shooting of Lincoln had come as such a surprise to
Stanton and his friends that they were terrified that their own
plots would be uncovered. NDP chief Baker knew that his boss
[Stanton] preferred that Booth not be taken alive. If Booth were
to live long enough to talk, there was a good possibility that he
would implicate those higher up in the conspiracies surrounding
Lincoln.
Baker's NDP found Booth acquaintance David Herold "Drunk under a
tree." Baker persuaded Herold to serve as a guide for his
detectives. If Herold would lead them to Booth, Baker promised
that he would overlook Herold's early involvement with Booth in
what had started out as a kidnap plot; if Herold would lead them
to Booth, Herold would not be hung. Herold agreed to help them
locate Booth.
The agencies gathering evidence in the hunt for those guilty in
the assassination of Lincoln were overly zealous. One early
witness, John Lloyd, an alcoholic, "...was denied all liquor for
48 hours. In addition, he was hanged from a tree by his thumbs
for those 48 hours." Another early detainee, Louis Weichmann, was
"...given a choice of hanging as a conspirator or testifying
against those accused."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of }
{ Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd }
{ E. Risvold, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975) }
{ }
{ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve and Kunhardt, Philip B., *Twenty }
{ Days* (Harper & Row, New York, 1965) }
{ }
{ Mudd, Nettie, *The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Neale }
{ Publishing Co., New York, 1906) }
{ }
{ Jones, Thomas A., "J. Wilkes Booth: An Account of His Sojourn }
{ in Southern Maryland After the Assassination of Abraham }
{ Lincoln," *The Amateur Book Collector*, Sept. 1954 }
{ }
{ Bearden Papers. Margaret K. Bearden Collection }
{ }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder }
{ Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965) }
------------------------ End Part 13 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 14 ------------------------------
In southern Maryland, David Herold and two NDP detectives headed
for the farm of a Col. Frank Beale. It had been reported that
Boyd, the double agent, might be hiding there. The reports proved
correct, and Boyd was taken in tow by the search party. Neither
Boyd nor Herold felt any loyalty towards the NDP and the Union,
and both planned to escape from the NDP detectives at the first
opportunity. When the search party neared Port Tobacco, at night
while the detectives were sleeping, Boyd and Herold made their
escape. They were able to steal three pistols, a Spencer carbine,
and three fully loaded magazine pouches before escaping.
Shortly thereafter, both pairs of fugitives, Booth and Henson and
Boyd and Herold, "...were within a short distance of each other
near Port Tobacco." Both pairs of fugitives planned to cross the
Potomac river to escape pursuit.
"Boyd and Herold went to a Colonel Hughes' place... arriving
about daybreak on April 19. They were heading for a place west of
Mathias Point to cross the river. Boyd's right leg was festering
and so sore that he was reduced to using a crude crutch."
On the night of Friday, April 21, Booth and Henson were able to
get across the Potomac river. Boyd and Herold had already crossed
the Potomac the day before. Sometime Saturday night, Booth and
Henson had arrived at Gambo Creek but then had hurriedly moved
on, headed for a crossing at Port Conway. In their haste, they
left behind Booth's coat, his diary and other items. Booth and
Henson as well as Boyd and Herold, in separate pairs, each
reached Port Conway on Monday, April 24.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, about 2,000 people had been
arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Lincoln assassination
conspiracy. Among the "wanted" posters being issued by Secretary
of War Stanton and the NDP, one carried a picture of David Herold
that had been taken while he was in preliminary custody after the
assassination (i.e. when he had cut the deal with NDP chief Baker
to help them capture Booth). In fact, the "...Herold photo had
his handcuffed hands cropped off so the public wouldn't know that
he had [actually already] been arrested earlier. The Herold frame-
up was under way."
During the frantic and chaotic search for whoever was proclaimed
to be the guilty parties, several innocent people were killed by
overzealous detectives. "In the throngs of trigger-happy
hunters... it was the detectives and military men, immune from
prosecution, who did the killing....[For example] two civilians
named Frank Boyle and William Watson were shot 'because they
resembled Booth.' The secret police even disposed of the two
bodies."
On Friday, April 21, a Lt. Lovett and a squad of cavalry returned
to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd. After questioning him further,
they rode off. However, "On Monday, April 24, an officer with
three soldiers took Dr. Mudd to Washington. He would not return
home for many years to come." [B.R. Dr. Mudd was another victim
of the hysteria surrounding the assassination of Lincoln. To my
knowledge, he has either recently, finally, been granted a full
pardon (posthumously, of course) by the Federal government, or
there is currently a great deal of pressure that he *should* be
granted such a pardon.]
The pursuing Federal investigators had engaged the services of a
Native American (a.k.a. "Indian") scout in their hunt for Booth.
On Sunday, April 23rd, this Native American scout, Nalgai,
returned to Washington. He carried with him two brandy bottles,
"...an ulsterette with bloodstains, a pistol, a compass, a wallet
containing $2,100 in Union currency, several letters of credit on
Canadian and British banks, and pictures of six pretty young
women and a horse." He also brought back Booth's diary.
At first, detectives Andrew and James Potter were quite happy to
have recovered Booth's diary. However their happiness turned to
dismay when they began reading Booth's documentation regarding
his meetings with certain powerful and well-known individuals.
Among the personages mentioned by Booth were financier Jay Cooke,
his brother Henry Cooke, political boss Thurlow Weed, and NDP
chief Lafayette Baker. Booth had also written about his meetings
with "...Jefferson Davis, Judah Benjamin, Montgomery
Blair,...'The Secretary,'...[and] Senator Wade."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green, }
{ April 30, 1865, National Archives, Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Col. Lafayette Baker's Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, May 5, }
{ 1865. In the private collection of Stanton descendants. }
{ Released in 1976 through the efforts of Americana }
{ appraiser, Joseph Lynch }
{ }
{ Capt. James William Boyd Letter to Moe Stevens, Boyd Papers. }
{ Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Existing Pages of the John Wilkes Booth Diary on display at }
{ Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
------------------------ End Part 14 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 15 ------------------------------
According to a diary kept by Representative George Julian of
Indiana, he was present at a meeting which took place at the War
Department on Monday, April 24, 1865. Present at this meeting,
according to Rep. Julian's diary, were a Major Eckert of the War
Department, Secretary of War Stanton, Senator Zachariah Chandler
of Michigan, and Senator John Conness. Also "present" at the
meeting was Booth's recently recovered diary.
The subject of discussion was the potentially disastrous effect
that the publication of the information in Booth's diary would
have and the need to keep that information top secret. To give an
idea of the potentially explosive effect the dissemination of the
information in Booth's diary would have had, the authors quote
excerpts from the so-called Missing Booth Diary Pages (i.e. the
18 missing pages released under the Freedom of Information Act
during the mid-70's):
Excerpts from the Missing Booth Diary Pages:
*** "With Jay Cooke at the Astor Hotel, I met Thurlow Weed, Sen.
Chandler, and a Mr. Bell who said he was a friend of John
Conness... the speculators in cotton and gold would do anything
-- including murder -- to make the amount of money they have..."
*** "...[Senator John] Conness said he would supply the new
passwords every six weeks..."
*** "...Thompson gave me $50,000 in bank notes with instructions
to take $15,000 to Sen. Conness... and to leave in a sealed
envelope $20,000 in notes at the home of Sen. Wade..."
*** "...[NDP Chief Lafayette] Baker comes and brings with him
Col. Conger. I told Baker to have him leave because I did not
know him, and talking to too many people can be dangerous..."
*** "...no matter who speaks for [NDP Chief Lafayette] Baker, I
do not like him and will not trust him... I believe that Baker
and Eckert and the Secretary are in control of our activities...
and this frightens me..."
According to Rep. Julian's diary, those present at the meeting
(except for Rep. Julian himself) feared for their lives if the
information in Booth's diary ever got out. Rep. Julian had
favored the overthrow of Lincoln by Constitutional means. In his
diary, Julian wrote, "It was disgusting to see those men grovel
in fear because of their immoral activities." He further quotes
Stanton as saying, "...we either stick together in this thing or
we all hang together."
Indiana Representative George Julian also noted in his diary that
the question arose as to what would happen if Booth were captured
alive. Keeping the diary a secret was one thing, but how would
they keep Booth from telling what he knew? According to Rep.
Julian's diary, Stanton declared that Booth would not be tried in
open court.
Stanton then ordered that the Booth diary be put in his safe and
that under no circumstances was it to be released to anyone.
Because NDP Chief Lafayette Baker did not trust Stanton, he
organized a special unit with its purpose being to capture Booth
alive at all costs. Apparently, Baker feared that Stanton might
release selected portions of Booth's diary which implicated Baker
whilst secreting other portions which implicated Stanton himself.
The authors do not directly say this, but apparently Baker
planned to use Booth as a bargaining chip in case Stanton were to
turn on him.
Scattered forces were converging on Port Conway. "If John Wilkes
Booth lived to tell his story, the nation's biggest scandal would
wash over Washington like garbage scattered by a tornado."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Rep. George Julian Diary, April 1865. Ray A. Neff Collection }
{ }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green, }
{ April 30, 1865. National Archives. Ray A. Neff Collection }
------------------------ End Part 15 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 16 ------------------------------
"On Thursday, April 20, Dandridge Mercer Green stopped sawing a
piece of timber to stare at two men coming toward him. One was a
stranger, the other Green recognized as James William Boyd,
hobbling along on a crutch." Boyd arranged with Green for him and
his companion to be hidden at Green's farm. Boyd and Herold, his
companion, stayed hidden at Green's farm until Sunday, April 23,
when they were able to hire a wagon driven by one Charlie Lucas.
They had the driver take them south toward Port Conway.
Charlie Lucas's father, Willie Lucas, had driven the same wagon
in the same direction earlier that day. What is more, his father
had also carried two men, one of whom also had a hurt leg and
walked with a crutch.
>From Port Conway, Boyd and Herold crossed the Rappahannock to
Port Royal in Caroline County, Virginia. They continued south to
a farm owned by a Mr. Garrett. There, they were met by Mr.
Garrett, whose religion required that he welcome strangers.
Garrett welcomed Boyd and Herold into his home.
"Luther and Andrew Potter's NDP search party reached Culpeper
Court House late that afternoon. They asked about a man with a
crutch... and soon picked up the trail." However, unbeknownst to
them, they had picked up the trail of Boyd and Herold. "Booth and
Henson... moved toward Fredericksburg, well behind the
detectives, who had overrun their quarry."
According to Captain Boyd's Papers, in the Ray A. Neff
Collection, Boyd had a tattoo on his hand that read, "J.W.B."
[B.R. The authors keep throwing in these cryptic statements and
then abandoning them. As I noted before, the style of the book
involves a lot of loose threads that one hopes will eventually
unite.]
Boyd and Herold stayed the night of Monday, April 24, at
Garrett's farm. The next day, Boyd and Herold became panicy when
a troop of Union cavalry thundered past the farm. The suspicions
of Garrett's son, Jack, became aroused and he asked that Boyd and
Herold leave. A compromise was worked out and Boyd and Herold
moved themselves to Garrett's barn.
However, Jack Garrett was still suspicious of the two men.
Fearing that they might try to steal horses from the barn, Jack
Garrett locked them in the barn that night (Tuesday, April 25).
Meanwhile, the troop of cavalry that had frightened Boyd and
Herold arrived in Bowling Green at about midnight. They
interrogated one Willie Jett who they knew had helped to ferry a
man with a hurt leg across the river earlier that day. They went
so far as to threaten to kill Jett unless he told them where the
man was. Jett told them that the man they sought was probably
hiding at the Garrett farm.
The troop of cavalry doubled back and arrived at the Garrett farm
at about 4 a.m. on Wednesday, April 26, 1865. They surrounded the
house and commanded the occupants to come out. When Garrett and
his family complied, they were roughly questioned until they
divulged that Boyd and Herold were still locked in the barn.
Among the federal troops were a Lt. Luther Baker and Lt. Colonel
Everton J. Conger, an aide to NDP chief Lafayette Baker.
Garrett's son Jack was ordered to unlock the barn and to tell the
men inside to come out. Garrett did as he was told, but Boyd
refused to come out. The authors cite a source which claims that
Boyd called out, "Who are you? What do you want? Who do you
want?" The authors assert that no answer was provided to Boyd's
questions. Conger yelled to the men inside that he was going to
set fire to the barn. At this point, David E. Herold agreed to
come out and was taken into custody.
Boyd was steadfast in his refusal to exit from the barn.
According to the authors, Conger went around the side of the barn
and set fire to it. "It caught instantly. He saw the man inside
swing up his rifle toward the flames."
"Conger glanced around. Nobody could see him. He reached for his
revolver and took careful aim. Suddenly the loud crack of a
pistol from the other side of the barn was heard. The man inside
the barn fell forward. [Lt. Luther] Baker rushed in, followed by
young Garrett, and grabbed the prostrate man."
"Conger, Garrett, and Baker dragged Boyd's body away from the
burning barn, across the farm lane, and onto the grass under a
stand of locust trees."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Pitman, Benn, *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the }
{ Trial of the Conspirators* (Funk & Wagnalls, New York, }
{ 1954) }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green, }
{ April 30, 1865, National Archives, Ray A. Neff Collection. }
{ }
{ Captain Boyd Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection. }
{ }
{ The Wilhelmina Titus (grandaughter of Capt. James William }
{ Boyd) monograph. Ray A. Neff Collection. }
{ }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan. }
{ Richard D. Mudd Collection. }
{ }
{ Colonel Lafayette C. Baker's memo-letter to Edwin Stanton, }
{ April, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton }
{ descendants. Released in 1976 through an interview with }
{ Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch. }
------------------------ End Part 16 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 17 ------------------------------
While Boyd lay dying under a stand of locust trees near the
Garrett barn, the fiction that Boyd was really Booth was given
birth. Someone asked, "Who shot Booth?" A Sergeant Boston Corbett
declared that *he* had shot "Booth" through a crack in the barn.
The reason why Corbett would claim that he had shot Booth is
perhaps that he was demented. Corbett was an alcoholic who had
sworn off booze when he had "found God" sometime before the war.
His newfound beliefs were so powerful that in 1858 he had
castrated himself when he was tempted by two prostitutes. Thus,
one could say that Sergeant Boston Corbett was a bit "off." This
may explain why he declared that it was he who shot "Booth."
Conger rode away to the nearest telegraph station so that he
could get the news to Washington that "Booth" had been shot.
"Twenty minutes after Conger left the scene, Boyd was dead. His
body was wrapped in an old saddle blanket."
An old army ambulance was obtained and the body of "Booth" was
placed inside. The driver was ordered to drive the body to Belle
Plain. In Belle Plain, the body was loaded onto the *John S. Ide*
"...and placed under guard until the ship could build up a head
of steam for the trip upriver.
According to the Andrew Potter Papers, it was at this point that
it was discovered that the body was *not* that of John Wilkes
Booth. It was known that Booth had shaved off his mustache while
at Dr. Mudd's, yet the body thought to be that of Booth had a
"long shaggy mustache." What is more, Booth's mustache was black
whereas the mustache on this corpse was red. It became obvious
that the troops had mistaken *Boyd* and Herold for *Booth* and
Herold.
"In Washington that morning, Lafe Baker received a coded cipher
from Conger: 'Booth has been shot to death near Bowling Green.
Herold is a prisoner... Body follows. Conger.'"
"With Booth dead, the secret service [a.k.a. NDP] chief's part in
the Lincoln conspiracy could never come out. Booth couldn't talk.
Herold would keep his mouth shut on pain of death."
Shortly thereafter, Conger's telegram declaring that "Booth" had
been shot began to cause an uproar. The news had been leaked to
the press and the newspapers were spreading it throughout the
city: "John Wilkes Booth, who shot President Lincoln the night of
April 14 in Ford's Theatre, has been killed. His body is being
returned by steamer to Washington. Government authorities this
morning shot Booth while he was trying to escape from a farmer's
barn near Bowling Green."
But of course it was not Booth but Boyd who had been shot dead.
"Lt. Doherty, Luther Baker, and Lt. Col. Conger picked up
*Boyd's* trail and followed him to Garrett's farm. No one there
had ever seen Booth. Boyd was shot because they thought he was
Booth. [My emphasis, B.R.]" And, after the false news of Booth's
death had been spread far and wide, Baker found this out. The
problem was augmented by the fact that Herold was still alive,
knew Booth well, and was beginning to tell whoever would listen
that Booth had not been shot at Garrett's farm.
When Stanton learned of the situation, he ordered that Herold be
stopped from talking immediately. To accomplish this, he
commanded that Herold be isolated from the other prisoners.
According to the Andrew Potter Papers, after Stanton had given
things some thought he hit upon the idea of letting the country
continue to believe that it was Booth who had been shot dead at
Garrett's farm. "Booth will be forgotten if we continue to let
the nation believe he's dead. If we admit that we killed Boyd by
mistake, and continue the hunt for Booth, he might be captured
alive." And if Booth were captured alive, then he might tell all
that he knew.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan. }
{ Richard D. Mudd Collection }
{ }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of }
{ Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd }
{ E. Risvold, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975) }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy*, (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Peterson, T.B., *The Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators* }
{ (T.B. Peterson and Brothers, Philadelphia, 1865) }
------------------------ End Part 17 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 18 ------------------------------
On Thursday, April 27, Stanton received a telegram informing him
that the remains of "Booth" had been placed aboard the Union
ironclad *Montauk*. He was also told that the body of "Booth" was
decomposing rapidly.
Stanton immediately ordered that no persons were to be allowed
aboard the *Montauk* "...unless under the joint pass of the
Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy."
An Identification Commission was formed, headed by Stanton's
aide, Thomas Eckert. "The mock inquest would formally identify
Boyd's body as that of Booth."
"Witnesses summoned aboard the *Montauk* had one lack in common:
none knew Booth well. None of Booth's relatives or accused
conspirators were called, although most were in custody on the
adjacent [Union ironclad] *Saugus*."
"None of the witnesses were surprised that the face had a
mustache, since apparently none had been told that Booth had
shaved off his mustache at Dr. Mudd's [on April 16th]."
A summons was sent to a Dr. John Franklin May by the "inquest."
Because some time earlier Dr. May had treated a man calling
himself Booth for a neck tumor, he was ordered to come to the
*Montauk* to help identify the body.
Dr. May informed the "inquest" that he had treated someone
claiming to be Booth about 18 to 24 months previous. When Dr. May
first viewed the corpse, his immediate reaction was, "There's no
resemblance in that corpse to Booth, nor can I believe it to be
him." Sensing perhaps that this was the wrong thing to say, Dr.
May then asked if there was a scar on the back of the neck. Dr.
May then described what the scar would look like if it were
present. The Surgeon General, who was also in attendance,
immediately declared that Dr. May had described the scar as well
as if he were looking at it.
"In Dr. May's verbal and written statement, there is no mention
that he actually examined the scar for positive identification,
and the bullet, of course, had made a bloody mess of Boyd's
neck." Dr. May finally stated to the "inquest" that, "I am
enabled, imperfectly, to recognize the features of Booth."
When asked if he recognized the body as Booth's, Dr. May replied,
"I do recognize it, although it is very much altered since I saw
Booth. It seems much older and in appearance, much more freckled
than he was. I do not recollect that he was at all freckled."
"Booth was 28, famous for his ivory, perfect skin, free of
blemish. Boyd, on the other hand, was 43, with reddish-sandy hair
and a tendency to freckle."
In the official transcript of the proceedings, "The next half
dozen words of Dr. May's reply were carefully inked out... [and
new words] were added."
Dr. May was dismissed and returned home. He immediately penned a
statement in which he declared, "Never in a human being had a
greater change taken place from the man whom I had seen in the
vigor of life and health than that of the haggard corpse which
was before me... The *right* limb was greatly contused and
perfectly black from a fracture of one of the long bones of the
leg."
But Booth had snapped the *left* tibia, about two inches above
the ankle. "Dr. Mudd's formal statement on April 21, 1865 read,
'On examination, I found there was a straight fracture of the
tibia about two inches above the ankle.'"
Before the body was disposed of, a photographer named Alexander
Gardner was brought in and told to take only *one* picture. After
doing so, Gardner was escorted to a darkroom by a War Department
detective who had orders not to leave Gardner's side until the
plate was developed. When the plate was developed, the War
Department detective took possession of both the negative and the
positive. "It would be impossible for anyone else to duplicate
the picture."
NDP chief Lafayette Baker confiscated the picture and the plate.
"The government officially denied that any picture had been taken
of the corpse. But the Gardner photograph later ended up in the
personal possession of Secretary of War Stanton."
"Booth's" body, which was in reality Boyd's body, was placed in a
rowboat. Lafayette Baker and his cousin, Luther Baker, rowed out
to the old Arsenal Penitentiary. The body was carried to a
convict's cell in which, beneath a stone slab, a grave had been
dug. The corpse was lowered into the grave, the stone slab was
replaced, and Lafayette and Luther Baker got back in their
rowboat and departed. The Arsenal Prison became the sepulchre
"...for the mortal remains of the man who had become 'John Wilkes
Booth.'"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *In the Shadow of Lincoln's Death* }
{ (Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940) }
{ }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall, }
{ Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959) }
{ }
{ Oldroyd, Osborn H., *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: }
{ Flight, Pursuit, Capture and Punishment of the }
{ Conspirators* (Privately Published, Washington, D.C., 1901) }
{ }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan. }
{ Richard D. Mudd Collection. }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
------------------------ End Part 18 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 19 ------------------------------
In the Spring of 1865, the legality of military court martials
for civilians was a case then pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court. "It was apparent to Stanton and the other government
officials in the cover-up that they must rush the military trial
of the accused Booth conspirators before the high court ruled,
for the judges seemed certain... to declare military tribunals
illegal for civilians when civil courts were functioning [as they
then were]." It was fairly obvious that constitutional guarantees
of trial by jury would force such a ruling.
Accordingly, the government rushed to announce the formation of a
special "Court of Military Justice" that would decide the fate of
the accused Booth conspirators. "Bias was evident." A witticism
of the time was that "The Court of Military Injustice has been
organized to convict."
The defendants in the case faced several disadvantages. They were
unable, at first, to obtain lawyers to represent them. There was
no higher court to which they could appeal. All the prisoners
were denied the most basic sanitary needs. "Technically, the
prisoners were allowed visitors. Actually, they were denied even
religious counselors... To see a prisoner, a pass had to be
signed by [both] Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Welles. There
were no visitors."
On April 23rd, jailers received the following instructions from
Stanton: "The Secretary of War requests that the prisoners on
board the ironclads belonging to this department, for better
security against conversation, shall have a canvas bag put over
the head of each and tied about the neck, with a hole for proper
breathing and eating, but not seeing..."
"The bags were padded with one inch thick cotton. A ball of extra
cotton padding covered the prisoners' eyes to cause painful
pressure on the closed eye lids. Sight and sound were cut off, a
mental torture that never ceased for the devices were to be worn
24 hours a day."
Dr. George Loring Porter, prison physician, complained to Stanton
that "The constant pressure of those thickly padded hoods may
induce insanity." [B.R. This seems to me like a type of constant
sensory deprivation was being imposed on these civilian
prisoners.]
Two of the prisoners turned state's evidence to save their lives.
A detective who had been placed in the cell of a Louis Weichmann
"...wrote out a statement that he claimed Weichmann had made in
his sleep." Weichmann was ordered to sign the statement, "...or
face prosecution as one of the conspirators."
"A Col. Foster demanded that John Lloyd -- Mrs. Surratt's drunken
tenant at Surrattsville -- make a statement." This is the same
Mr. Lloyd who earlier had been denied liquor and hung by his
thumbs for 48 hours until he had given a previous "statement."
Col. Foster gave the new "statement" to Lloyd and demanded that
he sign it, explaining that the first statement was not "full
enough."
Several witnesses with unsavory backgrounds were paid for
offering pre-arranged testimony. For example, "Sanford Conover...
was to claim he was a newspaper correspondent for the New York
*Tribune* and had... learned of plots to burn certain Northern
cities, to poison municipal water supplies, and to spread yellow
fever in the North by use of 'infected clothing.'"
In a letter from Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt to Secretary
of War Stanton, he states that each of the commission members
believes the conspirators "are guilty beyond doubt." He further
states, however, that the commission members feel that a trial is
necessary so as to "follow the military method of hearing the
evidence and following the code." But the Judge Advocate General
assures Stanton that "the commission will not allow the
conspirators' attorneys to impeach the testimony of [stooge
witnesses] Conover, Merritt, or Montgomery in any manner
whatever."
NDP chief Lafayette Baker assigned Lt. Col. Everton Conger to get
statements from the various participants in the chase that had
ended in Boyd's death. On May 2, 1865, Conger wrote to NDP chief
Baker "I have directed each detective, officer and private
soldier who took part in the pursuit, capture and death of Wilkes
Booth [really Boyd] to prepare a written statement concerning
those events and to submit the statements to myself... Some of
the statements upon receipt I found wanting. I found it necessary
to add to the narrative in some statements and to rewrite
others."
Around this time NDP chief Baker also assigned Luther and Andrew
Potter to renew their chase after John Wilkes Booth. Although by
this time the trail had "gone cold," the Potter brothers were
fortunate and picked up on a fresh trail at Orange Court House.
>From there they pushed on toward Stanardsville where Booth,
Henson, and Booth's valet had all spent the night in a barn. "The
detectives followed Booth's trail to Lydia where a widow told
them the men had spent the night of Saturday, April 29, at her
place." Unfortunately, from there the trail vanished.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Col. Everton Conger's Letter to Col. Lafayette C. Baker, }
{ May 2, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton }
{ descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts of }
{ Americana appraiser Joseph Lynch. }
{ }
{ DeWitt, David M., *The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt* }
{ (J. Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 1895) }
{ }
{ Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt's Letter to Secretary of }
{ War Edwin M. Stanton, undated. In the private collection of }
{ Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts }
{ of Americana appraiser Joseph Lynch. }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II. }
{ }
{ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve and Kunhardt, Philip B., *Twenty }
{ Days* (Harper & Row, New York, 1965) }
------------------------ End Part 19 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 20 ------------------------------
"The preliminary proceedings of the trial began May 8, 1865, when
official charges... were delivered to eight defendants: Herold,
Atzerodt, Payne, Spangler, O'Laughlin, Arnold, Mrs. Surratt, and
Dr. Mudd."
The defendants were to be tried by court martial. According to
then Attorney General James Speed, the legal justification for
the trial of these civilians by a military court was based on
what began to be called "the Laws of War." Former Attorney
General Edward Bates noted, "There is no such thing as the Laws
of War." Yet American citizens were to be judged by this
unwritten code. The authors declare that this "Common Law of War"
was nothing more than a pretext "...for trampling upon every
constitutional guarantee... of the citizen. There is no invention
too monstrous, no punishment too cruel... [that cannot] find
authority and sanction in such a common law."
[B.R. And of course, as noted previously, the war was already
over.]
At 10 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, May 9, the eight prisoners
were led into the court and asked if they wished to employ
counsel. All eight defendants replied that they wished to be
represented by counsel. They were given until 10 a.m. the
following morning to obtain the services of an attorney.
"At 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, May 10, the trial officially
began. The defendants had had only two days' notice of the
charges against them. The prosecution had been preparing its case
for weeks. Not all the prisoners had been able to obtain
counsel."
That morning, the prisoners were officially arraigned and the
charges of "treason and murder" were read against them. All eight
entered a plea of "not guilty." The defendants were told that
they had the right to an attorney, "...but they must supply such
counsel; the government would not." When asked, many lawyers
refused to represent the accused.
Because the defendants obtained counsel and became acquainted
with the charges at the last minute (or, in the case of Edward
Spangler, not until three days into the trial), "In each case,
arguments for the defense had to be formulated on the spot."
After weeks of cramped confinement in the humid courtroom, the
testimony concluded on June 28. "The military commission met in
secret session to deliberate on the testimony."
As people had time to reflect on the use of court martial for
civilians, reaction against it began to grow. "Orville H.
Browning, former Illinois senator and Lincoln's very close
friend, declared: 'This commission is without authority, and its
proceedings void. The execution of these persons will be murder.'"
There was also some curiousity about the backgrounds of some of
the government's stooge witnesses. "It would be some time before
the truth came out... [that one of the witnesses was] a New York
burglar with a long police record... and that Conover, alias
James Watson Wallace, was a Charles Dunham who had secretly
coached government witnesses on fictitious testimony for which
they were paid. Conover would later go to prison for perjury."
On June 30th the tribunal reached a verdict. The official court
record stated, "David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, Mrs. Surratt and
George A. Atzerodt are to be hung tomorrow by proper military
authorities. Dr. Mudd, Arnold and O'Laughlin are to be imprisoned
for life, and Spangler for six years, all at hard labor, in the
Albany Penitentiary."
Outside the prison walls, a crowd of citizens responded to the
verdict of the military tribunal with angry shouts of "judicial
murder."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Unpublished interview with Mrs. E.W. Nelson (David Herold's }
{ sister) of Denver, Colorado, Aug. 22, 1873. Ray A. Neff }
{ Corporation. }
{ }
{ Poore, Ben Perley, *The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of }
{ the President* (J.E. Tilton Co., Boston, 1865) }
{ }
{ Kauffman, Michael W., *Report to the President on the Case }
{ of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd., M.D.* Richard A. Mudd Collection }
{ }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Michael O'Laughlin, Apr. }
{ 27, 1865, originally in the Benn Pitman Collection, }
{ Cincinnati, OH Ray A. Neff Collection. }
{ }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder }
{ Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965) }
------------------------ End Part 20 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 21 ------------------------------
On Friday, July 7, David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, Mrs. Surratt and
George A. Atzerodt were scheduled to be hung shortly after 1 p.m.
The day was hot and humid. As 1 p.m. approached, Mrs. Surratt was
helped to her feet from the chair she had been allowed to sit in
just outside her cell. She called to her priest, a Rev. Walter.
Her final words to the priest were, "I am innocent." The Rev.
Walter later declared, "They were the last confession of an
innocent woman."
The prisoners climbed the traditional 13 steps of the scaffold.
Four ropes were adjusted about the four necks. At the command of
a Col. Rath, the supporting timbers "...moved forward. A dull
thump -- wood sounded against wood. The two support posts fell
away. The double traps overhead swung downward."
"It was 1:26 p.m., one of the darkest moments in American
history."
"Before Mrs. Surratt's body was removed from the gallows, people
outside the prison were chanting, 'Judicial murder!'"
The remaining four "conspirators," Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel
Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, and Edward Spangler, had a
reassignment of prison. Because NDP chief Baker, Stanton and
others feared that these remaining prisoners might yet be
pardoned or allowed to talk in the Albany penitentiary, they were
now ordered to be confined at hard labor in the military prison
at Dry Tortugas, Florida.
"Secretary of the Navy Welles said Stanton had persuaded
[President Andrew] Johnson to move the prisoners that far away
where mosquitos and fever were likely to silence the four."
The remaining prisoners were accordingly transferred to the
prison at Dry Tortugas. After they had been there awhile,
"Smallpox spread through the prison, and the victims were placed
close to the dungeon shared by Dr. Mudd, Spangler, Arnold, and
O'Laughlin. Arnold wrote, 'It was done for the express purpose of
innoculating us with this fearful and loathesome malady.'"
NDP chief Lafayette Baker and the Potter brothers remained on the
trail of the real John Wilkes Booth, who they knew to be alive.
On May 2nd, they picked up Booth's trail in Lydia. A boy led them
to a cave where Booth, Henson, and Booth's valet Henry Johnson
had hid. From there, they followed Booth to Linville. In
Linville, a farmer named Louis Pence recognized a picture of
Booth as being that of one of three men who had stayed overnight
at his farm. The farmer said that he had taken the three to
Harper's Ferry. Baker and the Potter brothers guessed that Booth
must be heading for his farm at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.
But Booth was not at his farm and the trail turned cold. Baker
and the Potter brothers returned to Washington.
Shortly after the trial of the "conspirators," a key witness,
"...Louis Weichmann unburdened himself to John P. Brophy, a
professor at Gonzaga college... Brophy signed an affidavit, which
he took to the White House to seek perjury charges against
Weichmann." Brophy was barred from seeing the President, so he
next went to a newspaper. "But the editor refused to print the
professor's affidavit on the grounds it was 'too strong.'"
About this time, a House Judiciary Committee was formed. "Andrew
J. Rogers, Congressman from New Jersey, filed a minority report
of the Select Committee on the Assassination of Lincoln." Among
the points made by the minority report of the Select Committee
were that
*** "...the majority of the committee determined to throw in my
way every possible impediment... Papers were put away from me,
locked in boxes, hidden; and when I asked to see them, I was
told... I could not."
*** "Secrecy has surrounded and shrouded, not to say protected,
every step of these examinations, and even in the committee room
I seemed to be acting with a sort of secret council of
inquisition."
*** "There are two reports on this trial. One approved by...
[Judge Advocate] Holt... and [the other] the Associated Press
report." Rogers charged that the official court record of the
assassination trial had been substantially "doctored" by Judge
Advocate Holt.
By February of 1866, Lafayette Baker and Stanton had had a
falling out and Baker was discharged from the U.S. Army and also
from the NDP (i.e. Secret Service). In 1867, Baker published a
book entitled "History of the U.S. Secret Service." In the book,
Baker "...told about delivering Booth's diary to Stanton. The
disclosure created a storm in the Congress. Why had it been kept
secret? Why hadn't it been mentioned at the conspiracy trial of
1865?"
The diary was recovered from the War Department. However, a new
sensation was caused when it was discovered that 18 pages of the
Booth diary were missing. Former NDP chief Lafayette Baker
exploded, "Who spoliated that book?" Baker later testified that
"...In my opinion, there have been leaves torn out of that book
since I saw it." (i.e. since he delivered the book to Stanton in
1865).
Why were pages torn out of Booth's diary? "The answer was that
one or more persons didn't want those missing papers made public.
The missing pages were not destroyed, although it would take more
than a century before they would be discovered."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Report Relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln, }
{ House Reports, No. 104, 39th Congress, 1st Session, Vol. 1, }
{ July 1866 }
{ }
{ Col. Lafayette Baker's Letter to Edwin Stanton, undated. In }
{ the private collection of Stanton descendants. Released in }
{ 1976 through the efforts of Americana appraiser, Joseph }
{ Lynch. }
{ }
{ Unpublished Interview with Mrs. E.W. Nelson (David Herold's }
{ sister) of Denver, Colorado, Aug. 22, 1873. Ray A. Neff }
{ Corporation }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little, }
{ Brown and Co., Boston, 1937) }
{ }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of }
{ Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd }
{ E. Risvold, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975) }
------------------------ End Part 21 ----------------------------
-------------------------- Part 22 ------------------------------
The Lincoln Conspiracy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"If among those drawn into the whirlpool set up by so sudden a
subversion of the current of human affairs, there were any
suffered an unjust doom, their innocence should be made clear
beyond question."
-- David Miller Dewitt
*The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and its
Expiation*
"Historians, in developing the story of Lincoln's
assassination, have encountered [baffling facts]. Why did General
Grant suddenly alter his plans and decide not to go to Ford's
Theater on the evening of Lincoln's assassination? Who, during
that same night, tampered with the telegraph wires leading out of
Washington? Why was the President's bodyguard at the playhouse,
guilty of the grossest negligence, not punished nor even
questioned?"
"Perhaps the most serious reproach against historical writers
is not that they have left such questions unanswered, but that
they have failed to ask them."
-- Otto Eisenschiml
*Why Was Lincoln Murdered?*
"The history of the controversial Conspiracy Trial of 1865 as
most Americans know it is a textbook version pared down to a
digestible nubbin. For history... has to be reduced to a fairly
simple story which average students can understand and recite."
"[The] basic account, with some modifications, is the same one
the engineers of the Conspiracy Trial set out to promulgate. In a
way their success in planting [their version] on the pages of
American history was a triumph in propaganda. For even before the
trial began, the first gusts of a storm of protest were shaking
the legend."
-- Vaughan Shelton
*Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder Trial*
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"Many of the people who played roles in the Lincoln
assassination, the conspiracy, and cover-up suffered ironic
twists in their own lives."
"Col. Lafayette Baker threatened to expose those involved in the
plot against Lincoln and attempts were made on his life to
silence him." Eventually, Baker was killed. He died on July 3,
1868. By chemical analysis of a lock of Baker's hair, it has been
shown that Baker was slowly killed by arsenic poisoning.
After the assassination of her husband, Mrs. Lincoln was in an
extreme state of hysteria. She moved to Chicago with her son,
Tad, and went into seclusion. In July of 1871, Tad became ill and
died suddenly of "dropsy of the chest." Mrs. Lincoln's mental
state deteriorated and she began to have "hallucinations" of
being followed and feared for her life. Her remaining son,
Robert, had her committed to an insane asylum. She was released
after four months and moved to Europe. "In 1879, she suffered an
accidental fall and returned to the States an invalid. She moved
to Springfield to live. There she shut herself away in a darkened
room, preferring candlelight to sunlight." Mrs. Lincoln died in
July of 1882.
"Tragedy struck Maj. Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris [both with
Lincoln at the moment of his assassination], who were married,
had a family, and took up residence in Germany. Two nights before
Christmas in 1883, Rathbone attempted to kill his children. When
a nurse tried to intervene, he instead shot his wife to death and
stabbed himself. Doctors saved his life, but he spent the rest of
his years in a German asylum."
Sergeant Boston Corbett, the man who "admitted" that it was he
who shot Booth, was a celebrity known throughout the country as
"the man who shot Booth." In 1887, he obtained a job as doorman
to the Kansas State Legislature. "One morning after the roll
call, he appeared with revolvers in each hand and opened fire on
the legislators..." He was committed to an insane asylum in
Topeka, Kansas, but later escaped. From there he went to Texas
and disappeared from public view.
Booth, Henson, and Henry Johnson (Booth's valet) spent several
months on Booth's farm at Harpers Ferry. About November of 1865,
they went to Pennsylvania, "where Booth reunited with former
girlfriend Kate Scott, who was expecting Booth's child within a
month." Kate Scott later signed a sworn affidavit that Booth was
alive after the shooting at Garrett's farm and that he had
visited her in Pennsylvania.
>From Pennsylvania, the trio of Booth, Henson, and Johnson moved
on to New York City. It is known that Booth went from there to
Canada and later to England, where he married an Elizabeth
Marshall Burnley and changed his name to John Byron Wilkes.
"Reports have him staying in England for some time, then going to
India, where, some say, he died." But other reports say that he
went on from India to California. "Another report claims that a
man who died in 1900 in Enid, Oklahoma, on his deathbed stated he
was John Wilkes Booth. This man was never buried. His body was
mummified and still exists today [1977]."
Michael O'Laughlin died of yellow fever at the prison at Dry
Tortugas, Florida. The efforts of Dr. Samuel Mudd to combat the
epidemic of yellow fever at the prison eventually helped win the
doctor a pardon in February of 1869. "Samuel Arnold and Ned
Spangler were also released from the Dry Tortugas prison.
Spangler, who was dying of tuberculosis, went home with Dr. Mudd,
who cared for him until he died. Dr. Mudd died of pneumonia 18
years after Lincoln's assassination, while Arnold lived to old
age."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited }
{ to the following: }
{ }
{ Mrs. Lafayette Baker's Diary for 1868. Ray A. Neff }
{ Collection, Marshall, IL }
{ }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, IL }
{ }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper & Brothers, }
{ New York, 1955) }
{ }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *In the Shadow of Lincoln's Death* }
{ (Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940) }
{ }
{ Kate Scott Affidavit. Ray A. Neff Collection. }
-------------------- End Part 22 of 22 --------------------------
To my knowledge, the book *The Lincoln Conspiracy* is no longer
in print. A movie was made based on this book and released by (I
think) Sunn Pictures -- I don't know if the movie is still being
distributed.
It seems to me that the history of the United States took a
drastic wrong turn after the Lincoln assassination. I think we
have yet to get back on the road we *were* on. It is my hope that
bringing to light the true facts regarding the assassination will
be a first step in this process. To that end, I encourage you to
distribute all parts of this series as widely as possible.
Synopsis by Brian Redman
(bfrg9732@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)
"History is written by the assassins."
End part 22 of 22
End of series
