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Simple conspiracy or rewrite of American history?
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- By Kate Cole
- Thursday, April 26, 2012
- Hits: 297
Just one day shy of the 147th anniversary of the death of John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln's assassinator, local historian David Caswell, challenged members of the East Side Business Association to consider other theories — like the one he says the FBI is currently investigating that points to then Secretary of War Edwin Stanton as a conspirator.
Did Booth commit the crime with a small group of disenchanted comrades or was Booth the puppet of a larger, perhaps governmental group seeking to do away with the president?
Caswell spoke to the group April 25 with a climax to his previous presentation about the April 15, 1865, assassination of Lincoln.
"Nobody knows everything about what really happened," Caswell said. "According to some, General Ulysses S. Grant triggered the assassination when he stopped the practice of trading captured prisoners. Under pressure from Stanton, these exchanges became less frequent. When Grant became commander of the Union Army in March 1864, he brought an end to prisoner exchanges."
Infuriated by this practice, Booth put together a plot to kidnap Lincoln, but later he changed the plan from kidnap to kill.
Was Booth working alone or with others in the government?
According to Caswell, some thought Stanton was directly involved in Lincoln's death. On the day of the assassination Grant was expected to attend Our American Cousin with the Lincolns. Grant's refusal of the Lincolns' invitation was due to an order by Stanton to change his plans for the evening. Grant's absence left Lincoln vulnerable.
Others believe that Vice President Andrew Johnson was a conspirator. About seven hours before shooting the president, Booth dropped by the Washington hotel that was Johnson's residence. Lincoln had ignored Johnson after his Inauguration Day leaving Johnson with a motive.
Mary Todd Lincoln believed Johnson was involved. On March 15, 1866, she wrote to a friend saying Johnson was implicated and urged a special assassination committee be established to investigate.
Dr. Samuel Mudd, a country doctor, was eventually convicted as one of the conspirators. Some said that Mudd was in the wrong place at the wrong time, treating a man for a broken leg — a man who had just killed the president.
An examination of the evidence showed Mudd lied to the military commission investigating the assassination and concealed his knowledge of the conspiracy.
Mudd, an advocate of slavery, supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. He often expressed his hatred for Lincoln and his policies. Much of the prosecution's testimony about Mudd was related to his relationship with Booth and other conspirators prior to the assassination. The military commission convicted Mudd and sentenced him to life in prison. His life was spared by a single vote.
Johnson pardoned Mudd shortly before he left office in March 1869.
Caswell noted that Mudd's descendants, notably Dr. Richard Mudd of Saginaw, worked indefatigably to clear his name of any complicity with Booth. But his effort failed and his name is still "mud," said Caswell.
After shooting Lincoln, Booth fled from Ford's Theater, breaking his leg in the escape. A small horse awaited him in the alley behind the theater and Booth galloped to a bridge, crossed a river into Maryland and sought shelter at Mudd's home.
After receiving help for his leg, Booth left Maryland and ended up at Richard Garrett's farm in Virginia. The men of the 16th New York Cavalry arrived at the Garrett farm at 2 a.m. April 26 and discovered Booth hiding in the barn. Booth defiantly remained inside, ignoring the threat to burn the barn if he did not surrender. In a last ditch escape attempt, Booth was shot and died of his wound April 26, 1865.
Booth's body was buried beneath the floor of the penitentiary in Washington, D.C. Four other conspirators were found guilty and all, including Mary Surratt, owner of the tavern where Booth stopped, were hanged.
The noose that was slipped over Surratt's head was faulty. It took more than 15 minutes for her to die, Caswell recounted.
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