Manhunt (61 page)

The material on Mudd's treatment of Booth's leg comes from the doctor's three statements, and all Mudd quotations come either from his three written statements or from the testimony of Lovett and Wells. Mudd's statements are collected in
From War Department Files
:
Statements Made by the Lincoln Conspirators Under Examination
,
1865
(Clinton, Maryland: The Surratt Society, 1980) at pages 29 and 34.

The “Sam” letter, originally published in newspapers all over the country within a few days of its discovery in Booth's hotel room, can be found in Kauffman,
American Brutus
, at pages 66–67.

Stanton's telegram to General Dix, revealing some of the content of the Sam letter, appears in the
Official Records
, as do all other telegrams quoted in this chapter.

The lock of Lincoln's hair cut by Stanton and presented by him to Mary Jane Welles, the envelope addressed by Stanton, and the dried flowers from the president's White House funeral were examined in a private collection. Most accounts of Lincoln's death quote Stanton as saying that Lincoln belongs to the “ages,” not the “angels.” In my view, shared by Jay Winik, the most persuasive interpretation supports “angels” and is also more consistent with Stanton's character and faith.

For an account of the removal of Lincoln's remains from the Petersen house, and the names of the men who carried him out, see Steers,
Blood on the Moon
, at pages 268–269. I obtained a typescript of William Clark's letter from the archives of the Surratt Society. For more on Clark, see W. Emerson Reck, “The Riddle of William Clark,”
Lincoln Herald
, Winter 1982, pages 218–221.

Matthews's account of his reading of Booth's letter to the
National Intelligencer
is in Rhodehamel and Taper, “
Right or Wrong
,” pages 150–153.

Townsend's description of Booth's young seductress is from
The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
(New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1865), page 24.

The breakfast conversation at Dr. Mudd's comes from Mrs. Mudd's statement taken during her interrogation. The account of the crutches comes from Dr. Mudd's three statements.

Caldwell's testimony on Atzerodt pawning his pistol is in Poore,
The Conspiracy Trial
, volume 1, page 148. Also see Pitman,
Assassination of the President
, at page 148.

The story of Dr. Mudd is one of the major controversies that has long bedeviled students of the Lincoln assassination. I agree with Steers and other historians on the nature and extent of Mudd's knowledge and culpability. Despite the claims of Mudd's defenders, he was not an innocent country physician who merely performed his Hippocratic oath, and treated an injured man he believed was a stranger. Based on a review of the evidence, I
am certain that Mudd recognized Booth the moment the assassin walked through his door, and I am convinced that Mudd delayed reporting Booth's visit, thus allowing the assassin a head start from the troops at nearby Bryantown. I have chosen not to bog down the narrative by writing an analytical, legal brief arguing the pros and cons of Mudd's case. That discussion is available in other texts, and I do not rehearse it here. Instead, I have written, in real time as much as possible, what I believe happened.

My account of Thomas Jones comes primarily from his memoirs,
J.Wilkes Booth:An Account of His Sojourn in Southern Maryland After the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, His Passage Across the Potomac
,
and His Death in Virginia
(Chicago: Laird & Lee, 1893). All direct quotations come from him. Booth did not live long enough to write about Jones, and David Herold, after his capture, did not reveal how the Confederate agent had helped them.

For additional material on Jones, see John M. and Roberta J. Wearmouth,
Thomas A Jones: Chief Agent of the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland
(Port Tobacco, Maryland: Stones Throw Publishing, 2000).

Much of the material for this chapter, and all direct quotations from Thomas Jones, come from his short memoir. Booth, Herold, and Jones were the only witnesses to their interactions, just as Jones had planned.

Somerset and James Leaman's testimony about their conversations with Azterodt are in Poore,
The Conspiracy Trial
, volume 2, page 504. Also see Pitman,
Assassination of the President
, at page 150. Asia Booth Clarke's story about John's love of nature is from her memoir,
The Unlocked Book
, pages 54 (“burrowing”) and 69 (“good men's bones”).

The dialogue from the second raid on Mary Surratt's Washington boardinghouse appears in Poore,
The Conspiracy Trial
, volume 2, pages 15–19 and pages 33–34, and in Pitman,
The Assassination
, pages 121–124.

The dialogue with Lewis Powell appears in Poore, volume 2, pages 9–11, and in Pitman, pages 122–123.

The letters of Madlock and Severs are in a private collection.

A number of examples of postassassination artwork, including “The Assassin's Vision” carte-de-visite, are illustrated in Swanson and Weinberg,
Lincoln's Assassins
, page 54.

Booth's notebook entry appears in Rhodehamel and Taper, “
Right or Wrong
” at pages 154–155.

Townsend's vicious descriptions of Port Tobacco and of the Brawner Hotel come from his
Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
, page 52. All telegrams are from the
Official Records
.

Booth's letter to his mother is in Rhodehamel and Taper, “
Right or Wrong
,” pages 130–131; and his “To Whom it May Concern” manifesto is on pages 124–127.

Asia Booth Clarke revealed her husband's betrayal in
The Unlocked Book
, page 91.

Richter's comment about George Atzerodt appears in Poore,
The Conspiracy Trial
, volume 2, pages 515–517. Also see Pitman,
The Assassination
, page 153. The story of Atzerodt's arrest appears in Steers,
Blood on the Moon
, at pages 169–170. Atzerodt's confessions are published in “‘Lost Confession' of George A. Atzerodt,” in Steers, ed.,
The Trial
, pages civ–cvi, and in
From War Department Files
.

The narrative of April 20 in the pine thicket, and all direct quotations, are drawn, as before, from the memoir of Thomas Jones, the only surviving witness to the events that happened there.

For a thorough analysis of the river crossing, see William A. Tidwell, “Booth Crosses the Potomac: An Exercise in Historical Research,”
Civil War History
36, April 1990, pages 325–333.

Townsend's research appeared in George Alfred Townsend, “How Booth Crossed the Potomac,”
Century Magazine
, April 1884, and is reprinted in John M. and Roberta J. Wearmouth,
Thomas A. Jones: Chief Agent of the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland
(Port Tobacco, Maryland: Stones Throw Publishing, 2000), at page 56. Wearmouth covers Townsend's correspondence with Jones at pages 45–54, and Jones's “reunion” with Captain Williams at pages 154–159.

Osborn H. Oldroyd's firsthand but frustratingly brief account of Jones's visit to his Petersen House museum is found in Oldroyd's
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
(Washington, D.C.: Osborn H. Oldroyd, 1901), at page 101.

Herold's remarks about partridge shooting, Davis, and Hughes all come from his statement while in custody, which is published in Hall,
On the Way
, page 8.

Booth's journal entry on being “hunted like a dog,” the low point of his despair
since the manhunt began, appears in Rhodehamel and Taper, “
Right or Wrong
,” page 7.

All the telegrams are from the
Official Records
.

Herold's remark about the gunboat comes from his statement while in custody on April 27, 1865, published in Hall,
On the Way
, page 7.

All the telegrams are in the
Official Records
.

Herold's encounter with the Quesenberrys was described in her May 16, 1865, statement to Colonel Wells, and is published in Hall,
On the Way
, at page 108.

The fugitives' visit to Dr. Stuart was described in his statement of May 6, 1865, and published in Hall,
On the Way
, page 114.

Bryant's statement of May 6, 1865, is published in Hall,
On the Way
, at page 116.

Lucas's statement of May 6, 1865, is published in Hall,
On the Way
, at page 122.

Both drafts of Booth's letter of complaint are in Rhodehamel and Taper, “
Right or Wrong
,” at pages 157–159.

The translation of Shakespeare's passage from Macbeth that Booth quoted in his note to Dr. Stuart comes from the definitive volume of the collected works, David Bevington's
The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Fifth Edition
(New York: Pearson, 2004), at page 1277.

Rollins's two statements of April 25, 1865, and May 20, 1865, are published in Hall,
On the Way
, at pages 126 and 127.

William Jett gave a statement on May 6, 1865, and also testified at the conspiracy trial on May 17, 1865. Both of his accounts are published in Hall,
On the Way
, at pages 135 and 139.

The Beckwith telegram, and all the other telegrams in this chapter, appear in the
Official Records
.

The narrative of Booth's time at Garrett's farm, and all direct quotations, are drawn from several accounts. This collection of sources includes statements, reports, and testimony, and covers the pursuit to Bowling Green, the arrival at Garrett's farm, the parley with Booth, Herold's surrender, and the shooting and death of the assassin.

Captain Edward P. Doherty's major accounts can be found in his report of April 29, 1865; his testimony at the conspiracy trial of May 22, 1865; and in his March 21, 1866, letter to Secretary of War Stanton. See Hall,
On the Way
, pages 27–36.

Colonel Everton J. Conger's accounts can be found in his statement at the inquest aboard the
Montauk
on April 27, 1865; his testimony at the conspiracy trial on May 17, 1865; at the impeachment investigation of Andrew Johnson on May 13 and 14, 1867; and at the trial of John H. Surratt on June 25, 1867. See Hall,
On the Way
, pages 40–63.

Luther Byron Baker's accounts can be found in his April 27, 1865, statement at the inquest aboard the
Montauk
; his testimony at the impeachment investigation of Andrew Johnson on May 22, 1867; and his testimony at the trial of John H. Surratt on June 25, 1867. See Hall,
On the Way
, pages 74–98.

In general, the accounts of Doherty, Conger, and Baker agree on what happened at Garrett's farm. They vary in minor details, of course, a reflection not only of the frailty of memory, but of the competition for reward money. For example, the parties disagreed about who really “captured” David Herold, pulled him from the barn door, and ordered him bound. Their accounts of Booth's dialogue vary somewhat in the actor's choice of particular words, or the sequence of some of his sentences. But they all agree on the substance of the parley with Booth, on all of the sentiments that he expressed, and on their dealings with the Garrett family.

I have not included every possible variation from their accounts. Instead, I used my best judgment and the major accounts left by the principals to construct what I believe is the most reasonable account of the climax of the manhunt.

For ease of reference for the reader, I do not cite to every page of microfilm at the National Archives, to every document, and to every report where this material can be found. Instead, I refer the reader to James O. Hall's
On the Way to Garrett's Farm: John Wilkes Booth and David E. Herold in the Northern Neck of Virginia, April 22–26, 1865
(Clinton, Maryland: The Surratt Society), an indispensable volume that collects in one place much of the significant evidence, and which refers readers interested in more to the specific microfilm reels and pages

Boston Corbett's major accounts can be found in his report of April 29, 1865; his May 17, 1865 testimony at the conspiracy trial; and an April 14, 1877
newspaper article in the
Philadelphia Weekly Times
. See Hall,
On the Way
, pages 155–162.

Members of the Garrett family left behind considerable commentary about their visitors. John M. Garrett's statement was taken at Colonel Lafayette Baker's office on May 20, 1865, and Garrett testified on June 25, 1867, at the trial of John H. Surratt. His recollections are reprinted in Hall,
On the Way
, pages 140–146. Richard H. Garrett's revealing letter of April 4, 1866, to Grandison Manning appears in Hall,
On the Way
, at page 170, and Rev. Richard Baynham Garrett's letter of October 24, 1907, appears at page 174.

Also see William H. Garrett, “True Story of the Capture of John Wilkes Booth,”
Confederate Veteran
, volume xxix, number 4, April 1921, pages 129–130, and Betsy Fleet, ed., “A Chapter of Unwritten History: Richard Baynham Garrett's Account of the Flight and Death of John Wilkes Boothe,”
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
, volume 71, number 4, October 1963, pages 387–404. This article includes Edwin Booth's letter of thanks to the Garretts and the story about John Wilkes Booth amazing the Garrett children with his pocket compass.

For a little-known but important—and eerie—retrospective based on interviews with some of the Garrett survivors, see F. A. Burr, “John Wilkes Booth: The Scene of the Assassin's Death Visited,”
Boston Herald
, December 11, 1881, page 9.