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

  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.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Lucinda Holloway’s description of Booth’s death appears in Francis Wilson, John Wilkes Booth: Fact and Fiction of Lincoln’s Assassination (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929), at pages 209–217. It is reprinted in Hall, On the Way, page 178.

  All George Alfred Townsend material in this chapter comes from his The Life Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth. The dialogue between Asia Booth Clarke and T. J. Hemphill comes from her memoir, The Unlocked Book, at pages 92–93. The complete collection of Gardner’s photos of the captive conspirators was published for the first time in Swanson and Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins, pages 58 to 76.

  The Clark Mills story was reported in the May 2, 1865, Chicago Tribune.

  Townsend’s dialogue with Lafayette Baker, and his account of the faux burial at sea, are in The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, pages 38–39.

  Important information appears in L. B. Baker, “An Eyewitness Account of the Death and Burial of J. Wilkes Booth,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, December 1946, pages 425–446.

  The U.S. Treasury warrants paid to Corbett, Doherty, Baker, and all the other recipients of reward money were uncovered recently at the National Archives and photographed for the first time.

  Boston Corbett’s letters repose in private collections.

  Asia Booth Clarke’s account of Corbett appears in her memoirs at pages 99–100.

  For the most detailed modern account of the execution of the conspirators, and for the complete collection of Gardner’s photographs of the hanging, see Swanson and Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins, pages 98–121.

  Edwin Booth’s letter appealing for the return of his brother’s body is in Johnson’s papers. See Paul H. Bergeron, ed., The Papers of Andrew Johnson, volume 15, September 1868–April 1869 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1999), at pages 431–432.

  Asia Booth Clarke’s book of memories concludes with this elegy. Like her assassin-brother, she could not resist quoting Shakespeare. The last line of her book, “So runs the world away,” comes, unsurprisingly, from Hamlet, act III, scene 2: “For some must watch, while some must sleep; Thus runs the world away.”

  EPILOGUE

  The Asia Booth Clarke letters quoted here come from the reprinted and retitled edition of her memoirs, John Wilkes Booth: A Sister’s Memoir by Asia Booth Clarke (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996), edited by Terry Alford, at page 21.

  The strange and unhappy tale of Rathbone and Harris was the subject of Thomas Mallon’s eerie and compelling novel, Henry and Clara (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1994).

  Luther Baker’s promotional brochure, his “combination picture,” and his horse Buckskin’s first-hoof account all appear in Swanson and Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins, at page 37.

  For John H. Surratt’s lecture, see Clara E. Laughlin, The Death of Lincoln: The Story of Booth’s Plot, His Deed and the Penalty (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1909), pages 222–249. Also see “A Remarkable Lecture—John H. Surratt Tells His Story,” Lincoln Herald, December 1949, pages 20–33, 39. The rare broadside for Surratt’s never-delivered December 30, 1870, Washington, D.C., lecture appears in Swanson and Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins, page 124.

  The death of Frances Seward is discussed in Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, at pages 415–416. Seward’s words about Fanny’s death and his “unspeakable sorrow” and broken dreams are in Van Deusen, at page 417.

  Samuel Arnold’s memoirs did not appear in book form until the posthumous publication of Defense and Prison Experiences of a Lincoln Conspirator (Hat-tiesburg, Mississippi: The Book Farm, 1940).

  Dr. Mudd has been the subject of several books, some quite sympathetic. The Mudd shelf includes Nettie Mudd, The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (New York: Neale Publishing Company, 1909); Hal Higdon, The Union vs. Doctor Mudd (Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1964); Samuel Carter III, The Riddle of Dr. Mudd (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974); Elden C. Weckesser, His Name Was Mudd (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1991); John Paul Jones, ed., Dr. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination: The Case Reopened (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Combined Books, 1995); and, finally, the best and most truthful account, Edward Steers Jr., His Name Is Still Mudd: The Case Against Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd (Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1997).

  The tale of Stanton’s rapid decline and sad last days is told in Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, at pages 627–640. Robert Lincoln’s condolence letter appears on page 638.

  The bizarre, and in many ways disturbing, story of Powell’s skull and funeral honors is noted in Kauffman’s American Brutus, at page 391.

  A brief, postassassination history of Ford’s Theatre appears in Victoria Grieve, Ford’s Theatre and the Lincoln Assassination (Alexandria, Virginia: Parks & History Association, 2001), pages 84–91. George F. Olszewski’s Restoration of Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1963), an essential and fascinating account of how the dead playhouse was restored to life, belongs in the library of anyone interested in the assassination or the history of American theatre.

  Asia Booth Clarke’s conciliatory but hagiographic comments come from her memoir, The Unlocked Book, page 100.

  The narrative about the assassination oil paintings and wax figures draws from original advertising posters for Terry’s Panorama and Colonel Orr’s Museum.

  The myth of the Booth who got away is worthy of a book itself, but that story is, unfortunately, beyond the scope of this one. For an introduction to the myth, and for photos of Bates’s book, for oil paintings he commissioned to further his scheme, and for a letter in which he claims “I had John Wilkes Booth as my client in Western Texas from about 1875 to 1877,” see Swanson and Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins, pages 130–136. Also see Lloyd Lewis, Myths After Lincoln (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929); George S. Bryan, The Great American Myth (New York: Carrick & Evans, 1940); C. Wyatt Evans, The Legend of John Wilkes Booth: Myth, Memory, and a Mummy (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004); and Steers, Blood on the Moon, at pages 245–267. Sarah Vowell’s marvelous and irreverent A brief, postassassination history (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005) covers the Booth escape and mummy legends in her tour of the popular culture of the Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley assassinations.

  The absurd book by Booth’s imposter “granddaughter” is Izola Forrester’s This One Mad Act: The Unknown Story of John Wilkes Booth and His Family (Boston: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1937).

  My assertion that many tourists who come to Ford’s Theatre overlook Booth’s pocket compass is based on many hours of personal observations I conducted in the museum on a number of days. Likewise, my assertion about the popularity of Booth’s Deringer pistol is based on many personal observations of museum visitors while they viewed, and talked about, the murder weapon, and also Booth’s other firearms and knives.

  Index

  “The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.”

  Abbott, Ezra, 118, 136

  Acres (shoemaker), 290, 292

  Aladdin! or His Wonderful Lamp, 10–12, 27, 96

  Anderson, Mary Jane, 36–37, 38, 63–64

  Apostate, The, 12

  Army and Navy Journal, 381

  Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate, 4, 9, 168, 294, 322

  Arnold, Samuel, 24, 29, 80, 174, 231, 339, 349, 353, 356, 363, 378

  arrest of, 197, 220

  Johnson’s pardon of, 366

  Artman, E. R., 358

  Assassinator, The (Haco), 383–84

  Assassin’s Vision, The, 201, 201

  “Assassin’s Vision Ballad, The” (Turner), 201–2


  Atwood, Andrew, see Atzerodt, George Atzerodt, George, 24, 25, 28, 68, 80, 118, 132, 149, 194, 195, 196, 208, 215, 231, 349, 353, 356, 358, 379

  arrest of, 219–20

  confession of, 220–21

  execution of, 364–66

  failed mission of, 78–79

  as fugitive, 88–90, 114–15, 146, 153–54, 180–81

  hotel room of, 89–90, 183, 294

  incriminating remark of, 180–81, 219

  trial and conviction of, 362–63

  Atzerodt, John, 220

  Augur, Christopher Columbus, 112, 113, 117, 123–24, 135, 190, 193, 253, 254, 284

  Baden, Joseph, 258

  Bagley, Sergeant, 257

  Bainbridge, Absalom R., 272–73, 275–79, 296, 301–4

  Baker, Lafayette C., 147, 186, 284, 349, 354–55

  fate of, 374–75

  joins manhunt, 281–85

  reward money awarded to, 357, 358

  Baker, Luther Byron, 282, 284, 285, 303, 315, 317–20, 322–31, 334, 335, 337, 338, 340–42, 344, 346, 348, 349, 355, 362

  fate of, 374–75

  Garrett Farm revisited by, 356–57

  Jett arrested by, 311–14

  reward money awarded to, 357–58

  Rollins questioned by, 298–302

  Baltimore American, 378

  Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 257

  Baltimore Sun, 205

  Barnes, James, 257

  Barnes, Joseph K., 50, 68–69, 110, 137, 352–53

  Barnum, P. T., 276

  Bates, Edward, 363

  Bates, Finis, 385

  Bean, Carrie, 10

  Beckwith, S. H., 282, 315

  Bell, William, 53, 82, 194

  Benjamin, Judah, 27

  Benton, Major, 355

  Bersch, Carl, 93

  Best, John, 153, 162

  Bigley, Daniel R., 120

  Black Easter, 163, 164–65

  Blair, Montgomery, 104

  Bliss, Willard, 110

  Booth, Asia, see Clarke, Asia Booth Booth, Edwin, 10, 156, 218–19, 345, 367–69, 371

  Booth, John Wilkes, vii, 2, 9, 11, 15, 79, 80, 92, 109, 112, 116, 117, 118, 121–22, 146, 147–48, 179, 181, 193, 194, 196, 198, 214, 235, 241, 242, 271–72, 281, 285, 286, 297, 298, 299–301, 345, 357, 359, 366, 372, 374, 375, 379, 382

  autopsy of, 352–53, 384

  Boyd as alias of, 273

  broken leg of, 47, 87, 103, 106, 129–31, 155, 158, 164, 172, 185, 203, 226, 228, 229, 259, 260, 271, 275, 288–89, 291, 330

  Clarke’s betrayal of, 215–18

  coconspirators of, 23–25

  at Cox’s farm, 163–66

  in crossing to Port Royal, 275–77

  death of, 342–43, 344, 346, 380–81

  deteriorating condition of, 185, 204, 275

  diary and manifestos of, 206–7, 216–17, 231, 249–52

  disaffection of, 3–4, 6, 7

  in encounter with Confederate soldiers, 272–75

  in escape from Ford’s, 46–49, 62–66

  escape strategy of, 203–4

  failure of, 385–87

  fatal wound of, 334–39, 341–42

  in flight from Washington, 66–68, 86–88, 95–96, 121–24

  in Ford’s Theatre, 39–42

  funeral procession of, 347–48

  Gardner’s photograph of, 353

  in Garrett barn, 308–11, 316–24, 326–28

  Garrett’s hospitality toward, 278–80, 287–95

  Garrett’s suspicion of, 295, 303–4, 306–8

  Grant encountered by, 18

  grapples with Rathbone, 46–47

  horse in alley episode and, 36–38

  in Indiantown stopover, 247–53

  inquest into death of, 349–51

  interment of, 354–56

  Jett’s betrayal of, 311–14, 341

  Jones’s visits to, 171–74, 176–78, 204–5, 224–26

  kidnap scheme of, 23–26, 125–28, 197, 217–18, 240, 258, 378

  and knowledge of Our American Cousin, 35–36, 41–42

  Lincoln shot by, 42–46

  love letters and manuscripts of, 149–51

  Lucas’s horses confiscated by, 262–67

  in Mudd’s cover story, 211–13

  at Mudd’s farm, 123–25, 129–32, 152–58

  in Mudd’s interrogation, 234–39

  mythologizing of, 199–202, 382–85, 386

  National Intelligencer letter of, 17, 29, 135, 148–49, 206

  news of death of, 348–49, 351

  at Peyton farm, 277–78

  pine thicket encampment of, 165, 166–67, 171–72, 176–78, 184–85, 187–89, 204–8, 224–26, 230–32

  in Potomac crossing attempts, 232–33, 245–48, 255–58

  pre-assassination movements, 16–20, 22, 26–30, 36–38

  press accounts of, 170–71, 186, 205–6

  Quesenberry’s aid of, 256–59

  reinterment of, 367–69

  Rollins’s identification of, 300–301

  “Sam” letter and, 119, 133–35, 174, 183

  Seward assassination plan and, 51–52

  Stewart’s pursuit of, 62–64

  Stuart rebuked by, 267–70

  Stuart’s rebuff of, 259–62, 263

  in Surratt tavern stopover, 103–6, 208–9

  tattoo of, 238, 274, 279, 352

  weapons of, 20–22

  women and, 149–52

  Booth, Junius Brutus, 10, 198, 240, 266

  Booth, Mary Ann Holmes, 7

  Boucher, Charles, 365

  Boyd, Belle, 256

  Boyd, David E., see Herold, David Boyd, James William, see Booth, John Wilkes Brady, Mathew, 159, 353, 360

  Branson sisters, 54, 256

  Briscoe, Washington, 88–89

  Brooks, Noah, 2, 5

  Brown, John, 332

  Bryant, Dan, 341

  Bryant, William, 259–60, 262, 263, 265

  Bryantown Tavern, 127, 155–56, 239

  Buckskin (Baker’s horse), 375

  Bullock, Jamie, 85

  Bunker, George W., 16–17, 22

  Burke, Francis, 30, 92, 139

  Burroughs, John (John Peanut), 36, 38, 63

  Burtles, William, 158, 161, 162, 181

  Cadwalader, George, 123

  Caldwell, John, 153–54

  Canada, 125–26

  Carter, Martha, 303

  Cartter, David, 102, 109, 112, 122, 158–59

  Cass, John, 143

  Catlitt family, 278

  Celestino (sea captain), 198

  Chase, Salmon P., 141, 142

  Chester, Samuel Knapp, 4

  Chicago Tribune, 170–71, 186, 351, 360–61

  Clark, Ida F., 144

  Clark, P. W., 358

  Clark, William, 106, 143–45

  Clarke, Asia Booth, 86, 188, 215–19, 266, 331, 343, 351–52

  Booth lauded by, 383

  fate of, 371–72

  memoir of, 360, 368–69

  Clarke, John Sleeper, 240, 371

  Booth betrayed by, 215–18

  Clarke, Joseph, 296, 301

  Clarke, Virginia, 301–2

  Clarvoe, John, 120

  Clendenin, William, 146

  Cobb, Silas T., 66–67, 81–82, 83, 86, 164, 183

  “Col. Orr’s Grand Museum,” 384

  Conger, Everton, 283, 284, 285, 289, 299–300, 302, 311–15, 317–19, 321, 323–25, 327–31, 337, 338–40, 341, 344, 348, 349, 357–58

  Congress, U.S., 71, 379

  reward money distributed by, 357–58

  Cooper Union, 376

  Corbett, Boston, 328–29, 340–41, 356, 361, 374, 375

  Booth shot by, 334–35

  Brady’s photograph of, 360

  fame of, 359–61, 362, 373

  reward money awarded to, 358, 373

  Cottingham, George, 358

  Cox, Samuel, Jr., 166–67, 168, 169, 178, 378

  Cox, Samuel, Sr., 161, 1
63–66, 169–70, 171, 172, 178, 181, 204, 240–42, 297–98, 356

  Crawford, Thomas, 1

  Crisman (accomplice of Booth), 259

  Dana, Charles A., 112, 137, 174, 197

  Dana, David, 132, 137, 153, 156, 173, 182, 186, 208–9, 239

  Davis, Jefferson, 9, 142, 193, 202–3, 339

  Davis, Peregrine, 247–48

  Davis, Thomas, 155

  Dean, Appolonia, 193

  Debonay, John, 36

  Dent’s Meadow, 179, 228–29, 241

  Deringer, Henry, 20

  Devore, Eli, 358

  Dix, John A., 115–16, 135–36, 139, 350

  Doherty, Edward P., 283–85, 289, 299–300, 302–3, 311–15, 317–19, 324–28, 340, 344, 346–47, 348, 357–58, 360, 373

  Don, USS, 253

  Donn, Alphonso, 96

  Drum, R. C., 199

  Eastman, Lieutenant Commander, 253–54

  Eckert, Thomas, 102–3, 107, 109, 111, 116, 281–82, 315, 336

  Eighth Illinois Cavalry, U.S., 297

  election of 1860, 23, 50, 127, 376

  Elmira Advertiser, 143

  Emory, General, 257

  Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth, The (Bates), 385

  Ewell, R. S., 174

  Ferguson, James P., 15–16, 34, 38–39, 43–44, 48

  Field, Maunsell B., 108

  First Delaware Cavalry, U.S., 220

  Fletcher, John, 78–79, 88, 196

  Herold pursued by, 80–82, 183

  Forbes, Charles, 30, 38–39

  Ford, Harry Clay, 10, 14–15, 34, 47, 66

  Ford, James, 15

  Ford, John T., 240, 381–82

  Ford’s Theatre, 10–12, 27, 32–34, 35, 97, 98, 146, 345, 368, 372, 376

  Booth’s escape from, 46–48, 62–66, 203–4

  Booth’s route through, 38–39

  examination and photography of, 158–60

  government confiscation of, 198, 381–82

  Lincoln party seating arrangement in, 40

  Lincoln’s arrival at, 32–34

  museum in, 387–88

  restoration of, 382

  Fort Sumter, 9

  Francis, George, 107 Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News, 200, 355, 373

  Franklin, Detective, 240