My sincerest thanks go out to fellow blogger, Dop Troutman, who sent me the following images he took of Fort Jefferson, Florida. Fort Jefferson was a military fortress built on an island off of the coast of Florida near Key West. During the Civil War, the base was also used as a military prison by the Union. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the trial of the conspirators, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, and Edman Spangler were sentenced to prison at Fort Jefferson. They were imprisoned here from 1865 until their subsequent pardons in February of 1869. Michael O’Laughlen died at Fort Jefferson in 1867 from a Yellow Fever epidemic that struck the base.
Dop, who writes about a variety of topics on his blog “View From the Jeep“, emailed me a couple weeks ago telling me he was planning on visiting the Fort and asked if I would like any photographs of anything in particular. I happily took him up on his offer telling him I would love any pictures he might be willing to send me, especially pictures of the conspirators’ cell from different angles. True to his word, Dop graciously sent me several photographs. I’m happy to share them along with Dop’s very detailed descriptions.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
“Sally Port is the only entrance to the fort. The 4 conspirators were all housed together in one open-air cell. That cell is directly above the Sally Port door. The three narrow windows above the door mark the cell:”
“These are of Mudd’s Cell after he was thrown in the “dungeon” following his attempted escape. There is no proof this was the actual location, but the conditions would have been the same. The interesting thing about the fort is that there were no doors, cells, or bars. It was an open-air prison. No “cages”, just guards stationed everywhere to keep prisoners in their place. However, the lack of food & fresh water and the oppressive heat usually took the spunk out of everyone:”
“There used to be a sign above the door that read something like “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter”, but its been removed:”
“You can see how large the space is. I’m sure Mudd shared this space with other prisoners. We estimate it to be about 1100 square feet:”
“This is the conspirators’ shared cell. All 4 were housed here beginning in late January 1866 until their release. O’Laughlen died here of yellow fever. Included are a few pics of the floor. You’ll see small canals cut into the floor. These were done by Mudd to divert rainwater from his bed. We measured the space as being 15′ by 40′:”
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Thanks again, Dop, for these great views of Fort Jefferson!
I found this little gem of an image for sale on eBay today. It comes from a 1965 set of “Civil War Picture” cards – essentially Civil War themed baseball cards.
I’m not quite sure what my favorite part of this hilarious image is:
Mary Surratt, who was experimenting with volumizing shampoo with horrible results?
Sam Arnold, who appears to have suffered a massive blow to the head causing a cartoonishly large lump?
David Herold, who had his eyebrows waxed off, penciled back on, grew a mustache, and then went for the wind swept look for his hair?
If I have to choose, however, I guess my favorite part would have to be John Wilkes Booth, who, in his attempt to remain undetected during his escape, apparently sported a wig. Oh, the things you learn from the internet.
If you’re in the Clinton area today (12/14) stop by the Surratt House Museum for their special Christmas program ‘Tis the Season. This is the second to last time you can see the house decked with boughs of holly and other festive decorations before the museum closes for a month. The house will be full of dressed docents discussing Christmas in the 19th century along with special guest, Father Christmas! The first tour today starts at 12:00 pm and runs until the last tour at 3:30 pm.
A visitor of this blog named Justin posed the following question on the “Reconstructing Ford’s Theatre” post:
“Random question – but the rear doors of the theater, are those period to the assassination? Not the actual doors themselves but is Booth’s escape door in the same place as they were the night of the assassination or has the façade been redone?”
Excellent question, Justin. With regard to the location of the doors, the short answer is yes. The large, rolling, scenery door and normal stage door you see on the back of Ford’s Theatre today are both in the same locations as their 1865 counterparts. When Ford’s Theatre was restored in the 1960’s the architectural branch of the National Park Service was able to “definitely reestablish” the locations of the doors.
The answer to the second part of your question, whether or not the rear façade of Ford’s Theatre has changed, is also yes, but this answer will take longer to explain.
In the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, the government shut Ford’s Theatre down. While it looked as though John T. Ford would regain his theater and even reopen it after the execution of the conspirators, a large public outcry prevented this. The government started renting the Ford’s Theatre building from John Ford before purchasing the structure outright in July of 1866. Even before purchasing the building, however, the government began renovating the theatre. They transformed the interior into a three story office building. The top floor housed the Army Medical Museum. The other two floors of Ford’s housed the Office of Records and Pensions run by the War Department. When the medical museum moved out in 1887, they took over the entire building.
During this time the rear wall of Ford’s was altered to facilitate its new use as an office building. The large, and now pointless, scenery door was bricked up and transformed into a regular sized door. The former stage door, through which Booth escape was bricked up and transformed into a window. If you look closely at the picture below, you can still see the outline of where the scenery door and its rollers once were, having been bricked up into a normal sized door:
On June 9th, 1893, while construction and excavation was being done in the basement of the building, a stone pier near the west (front) end of the building collapsed. It brought down a forty foot section from all three floors above it. It was a tragic accident, crushing and killing 21 War Department clerks instantly. You can read more about the aftermath of that accident here.
While the majority of the damage occurred at the front of the building, it was decided to take down the rear wall to complete the clean up. In this way, the front “face” of Ford’s Theatre, with its decorative and elaborate architectural components, was spared from having a gaping hole put into it. When the interior was rebuilt (again as an office building) the rear wall was also rebuilt, but now it no longer resembled the same wall Booth escaped out of. The new rear wall was made with many windows on all three floors. The new rear door was placed in the approximate area as the old scenery door (centered on the wall). Though a few post-1893 newspaper engravings identify this new door as the one Booth escaped out of, the true location of the former stage door was farther north on the rear wall and was now a window:
Not the door Booth escaped out of. The rear wall of Ford’s was taken down and rebuilt after the 1893 collapse. This door was placed in the approximate location of where the large scenery door had been.
Here’s another picture showing the “new” rear wall and door built after the 1893 collapse:
Though the building of Ford’s Theatre underwent additional interior changes from 1893 until it was restored by the National Park Service in the 1960’s, the rear wall remained relatively unchanged during this time period. When the NPS was looking to restore Ford’s they consulted sketches from Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, along with depositions from Ford’s Theatre employees, to determine the original appearance of Ford’s Theatre. Using these materials, they determined the original locations for the scenery door and the original stage door and had them placed back into the walls. They also bricked up the windows that had been added post-1893.
Photograph showing the rear wall of Ford’s Theatre taken during its reconstruction and restoration in the 1960’s. From this view you can see the scenery door that was put back in and the post-1893 windows that have been bricked up.
To sum up, the scenery and stage doors on the back of Ford’s Theatre today are in the same locations as their 1865 counterparts. They are not, however, on the original doorways that Booth would have used. The originally scenery door was bricked up into a normal sized door and the original stage door, through which Booth escaped, was bricked up into a window. Following the collapse in 1893, the whole wall was torn down and then completely rebuilt, removing even the outlines of the original doors. In the 1960’s, the NPS, using sketches and accounts, put the scenery and stage doors back into their proper place while restoring the building.
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of writing a piece for Knife World magazine in which I discussed the bowie knives used by John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators. The article, entitled, “Cloak and Daggers: Cutting Through the Confusion of the Lincoln Assassination Knives“, highlighted my conclusion that the knife currently on display at Ford’s Theatre as “Booth’s knife” is not the one taken from John Wilkes Booth’s body at the Garrett farm. I am still working on convincing and motivating those in charge of the Ford’s Theatre museum to correct this mistake.
Since the article was published in April, I have kept in touch with the wonderfully nice editor of Knife World, Mark Zalesky. Mark has been working exceedingly hard recently having been asked to guest curate an upcoming exhibit on the history of the bowie knife in America. The exhibit, which is called “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America“, opens this Friday at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. I received this mailer today, advertising some of the events that will be occurring on Friday and Saturday to celebrate the opening of the exhibit:
I’m personally excited for this exhibition for two reasons. First of all, the press release for the exhibit, which can be read here, includes the following paragraph:
“Visitors to the public exhibit will have the opportunity to see knife designs associated with Alamo martyr James Bowie and his less famous brother Rezin, and to examine bowie knives once owned by such historic figures as Davy Crockett, Theodore Roosevelt, General Winfield Scott and John Fox “Bowie Knife” Potter. The role of the bowie knife in the Antebellum era is explored along with the Civil War and the opening of the west, and there’s a special focus on the role bowie knives played in the events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.“
Using resources such as my article for Knife World, Mark has created a nice display about the knives used by the conspirators. In it, he has been kind enough to give my conclusion regarding Booth’s knife further press and attention.
The knives in the Lincoln display for the bowie knife exhibit are period knives, identical to the ones used by the conspirators. They are the same, “make and model” as it were, as the ones on display at Ford’s Theatre and in storage at the NPS or Huntington Library. Here is a picture of “Lincoln knives” in the upcoming exhibit at the Historic Arkansas Museum:
The rightmost knife above is identical to the “Liberty knife” currently on display at Ford’s Theatre as Booth’s knife. From my research I do not believe this knife was retrieved from Booth’s body as it claimed to have been by the display at Ford’s. Though I am not 100% certain of its origin, my hypothesis is that it came from Mary Surratt’s boarding house in D.C.
The middle knife is identical to the knife found in George Atzerodt’s rented room at the Kirkwood House hotel. David Herold was seen carrying this long knife in his boot during the day of the assassination and probably removed it when visiting in George’s room on that day. It’s counterpart is on display at Ford’s Theatre.
The leftmost knife is identical to the knife Lewis Powell used to stab Secretary Seward and the knife retrieved from John Wilkes Booth when he was shot at the Garret farm. Powell’s knife is in the Huntington Library in California. Booth’s knife is in storage at the NPS’ Museum Resource Ceneter in Landover, Maryland. I’m working on getting this knife out of storage and properly displayed at the Ford’s Theatre Museum.
It is also with a deal of pride that I state that the leftmost knife and sheath in the above picture, belong to me. I bought the knife a few years ago, wanting a duplicate of the knife Booth used to stab Major Rathbone. According to Mark, these “smaller” Rio Grand Camp knives are harder to find as most people want the big ones like the one in the middle. During the course of our collaboration on the Knife World article, I told him I had an identical knife to Booth’s and he asked if I would consider lending it to the Historic Arkansas Museum for the exhibition. Though I’m not sure if I will be able to, I’m hoping to find the time to make the journey to Arkansas to see my knife along with over 200 other bowie knives.
For anyone who may live around, or are planning a trip near Little Rock, the exhibit, “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America” runs from December 13th, 2013 until June 22nd, 2014 at the Historic Arkansas Museum. The Historic Arkansas Museum is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday and admission to the galleries and parking are free.
For those who can’t make it to the museum, a full color catalog documenting this historic exhibit is planned, and will be available from the museum’s gift shop and online store some time in the near future.
I hope those of you in the area will check out the exhibit at the Historic Arkansas Museum. You can learn all about the fascinating history of the bowie knife and say “hi” to my knife and sheath while you are there.
References: Historic Arkansas Museum
Mark Zalesky, guest curator of “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America“
After my previous post about Rosalie Booth, John Wilkes’ largely forgotten sister, I sough the help of a medical professional to help explain to me her recorded causes of death. The only doctor I know personally is Dr. Blaine Houmes, who just so happens to also be an accomplished researcher of Abraham Lincoln’s life and death. Therefore, I took a break from sending him pictures of this mysterious rash I keep getting, to ask him to comment on Rosalie’s ailments. Though I was expecting only a few words from the good doctor translating “bulbar paralysis” and “progressive spinal sclerosis” into layman’s terms, he was gracious enough to provide a very detailed explanation of these conditions and his thoughts on Rosalie’s state of health. Instead of merely putting his reply in the comments to that post, I feel his response is worthy of a post of its own. The following explanation is courtesy of Dr. Houmes, who has my sincerest thanks for his expertise and help.
“Bulbar paralysis and progressive spinal sclerosis are two different entities and exhibit all the imagination and florid naming that Victorian medicine documented for disease patterns they largely didn’t understand. Neurology back then was quite primitive. These two diagnoses found on the death certificate involve a great deal of speculation figuring out what exactly is meant, but some explanation might be useful.
On the bottom of the brain is the brain stem, inside the skull. The brain stem is the part of the spinal cord which is a transition zone between the brain and the spinal cord in the backbone. From each side of the brain stem there are twelve pairs of cranial nerves exiting to different parts of the head, neck and certain internal organs. The nerves generally have two functions—sensation and/or motor (for movement), and they send signals as to how we perceive and actually move/operate/feel things with and in our bodies.
The nerves are numbered I through XII, and are (with simplified function): I Olfactory (smell), II Ophthalmic (vision), III (eye muscles), IV Trochlear (eye muscles), V Trigeminal (chews), VI Abducens (eye muscles), VII Facial (facial movement), VIII Auditory (hearing and balance), IX Glossopharyngeal (swallows), X Vagus (swallows, speech, chest/abdomen organ function), XI Accessory (turns head/shoulders), and XII Hypoglossal (tongue muscles).
Bulbar paralysis is the end stage of Bulbar palsy, involving the nerves IX, X, XI, and XII. This can be caused by genetic disorders, blood vessel problems (such as bleeding from stroke or trauma), degenerative diseases (ALS which is Lou Gehrig disease), inflammation or infection (including Polio, Lyme disease, and Guillain-Barre syndrome), Cancer/tumors, Toxins (botulism is a prime example–which plastic surgeons have discovered has magical properties in the form of Botox, much adored by actors and actresses), and autoimmune disorders (where the body starts making antibodies against itself). Those suffering from this malady have problems speaking, chewing food, swallowing, choking on liquids/saliva and they drool. Many eventually die from aspiration of food/saliva or from pneumonia.
Progressive Spinal sclerosis is “probably” either spinal stenosis, Multiple Sclerosis (MS, “The great crippler of young adults”), or ALS (“Lou Gehrig” disease).
Spinal stenosis is usually from arthritis and aging, either narrowing of the spinal canal (inside of a vertebra, which protects the spinal cord) or the small hole (foramina) on each side of the vertebra where a spinal cord nerve exits to the arm, torso, leg. This is a chronic, progressive disease with much back and leg pain, numbness, and tingling for most. Not everyone will feel the symptoms even if they have the problem.
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease where the fatty insulation cover of nerves (like the insulation for electrical wires) is destroyed, leaving large holes, gaps, and scars called plaques, which disrupt nerve signals to and from the brain. The disease can be gradual, rapidly progressive, or stable. It usually starts in people living in colder climates, starting between the ages of 20-40,and is twice as common in women than men. It causes problems everywhere in the body (along with great pain), and usually starts with sensory or motor symptoms.
The challenge in determining Ms. Booth’s disease is wondering whether the cause of death is from a congenital disorder (such as cerebral palsy, which can occur during pregnancy, childbirth, or up to three years of age) or of later onset. Plus when one sees the word “invalid,” what exactly does that mean? Was it of psychiatric origin, such as depression which can periodically get better and then worse? Was it a fairly mild form of intellectual disability (the current politically correct term for what was formerly called mental retardation)? What other diseases did she have–diabetes, high blood pressure? Her death certificate (viewed with a poorly reproduced copy) notes the cause of death–if correctly read–involved a process evolving over “about ten years.” Perhaps she had both chronic problems and then suffered a heart attack or stroke as the final insult to her body. This is certainly plausible; while living with her young brother Joe the month before her death, she was still up and able to answer the door when a visitor knocked, and then faced a brick heaved at her, along with a fusillade of rocks aimed at the house. Her cause of death remains a mystery.”
When John Wilkes Booth was cornered and killed at the Garrett farm, it marked the end of his escape and the southernmost point of his journey. However, the Garrett Farm was not the southernmost point for his co-conspirator David Herold, who accompanied him. After Booth was dropped off at the Garrett’s on the afternoon of April 24th, David Herold continued south with three Confederate soldiers, Willie Jett, Absalom Bainbridge and his cousin Mortimer Ruggles. About halfway before they reached the city of Bowling Green, the quartet stopped at the home of Mrs. Carter called, “The Trappe”. The Trappe was a tavern for passing visitors and also a house of entertainment. While at the Trappe, the men discussed where they would go from there.
Bowling Green
Willie Jett had a girlfriend in nearby Bowling Green by the name of Izora Gouldman. Her family owned the Star Hotel in Bowling Green, and so Jett planned to ride there and spend the night with them. Bainbridge knew another family who lived outside of Bowling Green named the Clarkes. Bainbridge had served with James Clarke, the son of the owner, Virginia Clarke and he proposed to spend the night there. Davy Herold, remarkably, had also met James Clarke three or four years previously and decided to go with Bainbridge to the Clarke house for the night. Where Ruggles spent the night, either at the Star Hotel or Mrs. Clarke’s house, is unknown to this author. The men then split up and went to their prospective places of rest. The next morning, all the men regrouped at the Star Hotel before Davy decided to go and rejoin Booth at the Garrett farm. Ruggles and Bainbridge escorted him while Jett stayed behind in Bowling Green. That night, Willie Jett was still at the Star Hotel when the Union troops came looking for him. He was asleep and sharing a bed with Izora’s brother, Jesse Gouldman when the troops surrounded the hotel and forced Jett to reveal Booth’s whereabouts. With Jett arrested and acting as a guide, the cavalry travelled to the Garrett farm for Booth’s final performance.
The newest Picture Gallery here on BoothieBarn contains images relating to the abovementioned people and places.
This morning I arose bright and early. My reasoning for doing so was not the same as many others today. I was not out hunting for an elusive deal or special discount sale. Rather I woke early today to meet up with fellow Lincoln assassination researcher and author, Jim Garrett, for a day long Boothie “field trip”. Together, Jim and I travelled down into Caroline County, Virginia to socialize with a couple of her noted residents and to investigate some Lincoln assassination sites in the area.
While driving down to Caroline County, Jim and I made a stop over in King George County to see the site of William McDaniel’s house. William McDaniel is not featured in many assassination books as his connection to the story seems to be solely through family lore. The book Come Retribution by authors Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy contains a single sentence mentioning McDaniel, “At Office Hall, they [Booth, Herold and Charley Lucas] stopped for food at the home of William McDaniel.” Though there does not seem to be any physical documentation for this visit, a phone conversation in the 1980’s between King George historian John Stanton and a McDaniel descendant also supported the family’s belief that someone, possibly the servants at the McDaniel house, fed Booth and Herold a meal on April 24th.
While we hardly have ironclad proof of the incident occurring, it is a harmless enough piece of oral tradition to pass on. Jim showed me the spot on which the McDaniel house used to stand, the site having originally been shown to him by Elizabeth Lee, another King George County historian and head of the local historical society. The house that is on the site today was built on the foundation of the former McDaniel house:
Site of the McDaniel House where is claimed John Wilkes Booth and David Herold were fed a meal while travelling through King George County on April 24th, 1865.
Our next stop was Green Falls, the home of Caroline County historian and former Smithsonian curator, Herb Collins. I’ve highlighted Mr. Collins and his remarkable career on my site before and you can read about him here. At Herb’s house, we were joined by Betty Ownsbey, the immensely delightful author and biographer of conspirator Lewis Powell. Herb and Betty had never met before, but before too long, those two native Virginians were finishing each other’s sentences and having a grand time talking about the Old Dominion and its sites.
From Herb’s we travelled up to Port Royal and were met by Port Royal historian and long time resident Cleo Coleman. Being as gracious as she is, Cleo was kind enough to open up the Port Royal Museum of American History for us. Though I had visited the museum when it first opened up last year, neither Jim or Betty had ever been there. Since my first visit they have increased their collection thanks, in part, to the continued generosity of Herb Collins, and acquired more display cases to showcase their treasures. I took a couple pictures of their John Wilkes Booth in Caroline display:
The Port Royal Museum of American History is open on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Please find the time to visit and support this wonderful fledging museum.
From the museum, Cleo took us over to the Port Royal Portrait Gallery, which contains many paintings of notable citizens of Caroline County:
The only Lincoln assassination related face in the gallery is that of Richard Henry Garrett, the owner the farm on which Booth died:
After John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, and Confederate soldiers Bainbridge, Ruggles and Willie Jett, crossed the Rappahannock river ferry into Port Royal, Jett proceeded to the home of the Peyton family. Jett not only wanted to visit the family, but was also looking for someone who would take in the wounded Booth for the night. He asked, the lady of the house, Miss Sarah Jane Peyton, if she would not mind entertaining and lodging a wounded Confederate soldier. At first she agreed and Booth was led inside and rested on a lounge. Not long after this, Miss Peyton, changed her mind and asked Jett to find another place for “Mr. Boyd”.
Front porch of the Peyton house
Willie Jett asked Miss Peyton if she thought her neighbor, a Mr. Catlett, would take the men in. She said she did not know and so Willie Jett went across the street to check. He discovered that Mr. Catlett was not at home.
The Catlett house, across the street from the Peyton home.
According to Willie Jett, Miss Peyton then said to the men, “You can get him in anywhere up the road; Mr. Garrett’s or anywhere else.” Then the men rode further up the road, eventually depositing Booth off at the Garretts.
While Jett’s attempts at dropping Booth off at the Peyton and Catlett homes are the only two supported by documentation by Jett, local lore in Port Royal states that Jett attempted at least two more houses before deciding that the Garrett’s would be the best bet. One of the house supposed to have been visited by Jett after the Peyton and Catlett homes is the Murray House, further down King Street.
The last place Jett attempted to drop off Booth according to local tradition was the Dickerson house at the end of King’s street.
While we were all in the Portrait Gallery, Cleo was kind enough to recount her personal knowledge of the Dickerson house and the local lore around it:
Ultimately, here’s a map of the different stops (some documented, some not) that Jett made with Booth trying to find a temporary respite for him:
After enjoying the paintings at the Port Royal portrait gallery, our group of five had lunch at a local restaurant with a nice view of the river:
The Rappahannock river will Belle Grove visible on the Port Conway shore.
Following lunch we bade our goodbye to Cleo, our Port Royal hostess, and to Betty, who had to return home. One of the things on Jim’s wish list for this trip was to find the location of Mrs. Virginia Clarke’s home south of Bowling Green. After dropping Booth off at the Garrett’s, Willie Jett proceeded to the Star Hotel in Bowling Green where he spent the night. Herold, Bainbridge and Ruggles continued on further to Mrs. Clarke’s home and that is where they spent the night on April 24th. Virginia’s son had served in the Confederacy and Ruggles and Bainbridge knew the Clarkes from his service with them.
Herb Collins is a walking encyclopedia and his recent book, Caroline County Virginia Estates; Residences and Historic Sites, demonstrates his immense knowledge of the area and its history. With Herb as our navigator, we quickly came across the location of Mrs. Clarke’s house. The home, gone since at least the 1960’s, has been replaced now by a large pond.
The site of the former Clarke house in Caroline County, VA
The gate to the Clarke house once stood here.
After visiting the site of the Clarke home we went back to Green Falls and said goodbye to Herb. On our way back, utilizing yet another of Herb’s books and his personal guidance, we stopped at Greenlawn Cemetery and found Virginia Clarke’s grave:
As the sun was going down, Jim and I returned to Port Royal to take a few pictures before departing for Maryland shores. Our journey today proved to be an enlightening and enjoyable one. We got to learn from and chat with our immensely knowledgeable friends in Virginia. For our next field trip, Jim and I are hoping to see if we can arrange passage onto Fort A. P. Hill in Caroline County to visit the site where the house of ill repute, “The Trappe” once stood. Herold, Jett, Bainbridge, and Ruggles visited the Trappe after dropping Booth off at the Garretts and before they found lodging for the night. We’ll keep you informed.
In the true spirit of Black Friday, however, why not purchase Jim and his co-author Rich Smyth’s grave book and the upcoming second edition of Betty’s Lewis Powell book. They’d make wonderful Christmas gifts.
For the story of this plaque, click here.
LincolnConspirators.com 
Recent Comments