Herbert Ridgeway Collins – A Living Legend

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Dave Taylor

As opposed to most of the people I talk about here on BoothieBarn, the subject of this post is a man with no historical connection to the Lincoln assassination.  Even further afield from my modus operandi, the subject of this post is also very much alive.  In fact, this week he celebrated his birthday.  My reasoning for departing from my ‘regularly scheduled assassination programming’ is to highlight a very unique man who has lived the most interesting life of anyone I have ever known.

To start this off, I have to admit that I only met Herb Collins for the first time less than a month ago.  Through our mutual friend and researcher Jim Garrett, I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of Mr. Collins when a group of us went exploring in his home county of Caroline County, VA.  After this relatively brief introduction and tour of his historic house, I called him up and spent an entire Sunday attentively listening to this remarkable man.  This weekend, I will again be driving into Virginia to spend the day learning from him.  What follows is merely a small sampling of some of the unique experiences he has had and shared with me.  There may be some mistakes in my narrative, as I am going from memory.

Herbert Ridgeway Collins is a native born son of Caroline County, Virginia.  The house he grew up in, still owns, and has transformed into a personal museum is called Green Falls and was built in 1711.  It has been in the Collins family since the 1787 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Green Falls in Caroline County, VA

Herb has furnished the house with many beautiful antiques and he can give the origin of every single one.  From a mirror belonging to President James Madison to rare chairs with matching pairs in Mount Vernon, Green Falls is remarkable in its furnishings and history.  Some local historical societies schedule tours of his magnificent place, while Herb occasionally gives private tours to those he catches admiring the house from the road.

Herb Collins giving a tour of his beautiful Green Falls estate

In addition to the main house, Herb also purchased a period plantation overseer’s house from a neighbor.  He had the structure physically moved a few miles down the road and placed next to his house.  He then painstakingly restored the very dilapidated building to its original glory and furnished it accordingly.  The most amazing part, however, is that this has been what Herb Collins has done, merely in his retirement.

As a young man, Herb was always interested in history.  When he joined the army as a young man, fate smiled on Herb.  A secretary of a Missouri congressman bought a house opposite of Herb’s Green Falls home.  Through her, Herb was able to secure a position assigned to the Pentagon.  Here he was responsible for preparing the top secret briefing charts for the Secretary of the Army.  He was also able to take a genealogy class through the National Archives that coincided with his love of history.  When he wasn’t on duty or in class, he was working on a book of his own family’s genealogy.  At the age of 22, he published it.  It would be the first of many books that he would write.  After six years in the army at the Pentagon, Herb was discharged.  The class he had taken in genealogy made him very desirable to three different institutions, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian.  In the end, Herb decided to join the Smithsonian where he became a junior researcher in the Smithsonian’s political history collection.  He eventually made his way to the top, retiring as the Executive of the American History Museum and division chief of the political history collection.  It is during this period that Herb Collins met, dined with, and acquired items from practically every President and First Lady from Harry Truman to George Bush, Sr.  Here are some of the stories, both long and short, that he told me about his time at the Smithsonian:

  • Herb recounted to me his first trip to meet Harry Truman.  The Smithsonian did not have a lot of items from Truman’s time as President.  Herb traveled to Truman’s home of Independence, Missouri and met with the former President and First Lady Bess Truman.  Herb’s genealogical education made him aware that he was distantly related to Bess Truman, and that both Bess and Harry Truman were related to families from Port Royal, VA (on a side note, Herb seems to know the genealogy of every old family in Virginia.  His memory of families and connections is uncanny).  According to Herb, Harry Truman was the kind of guy that enjoyed making a person feel uneasy.  Every sentence that Herb spoke, Harry Truman would battle a response right back to him, trying to throw him off.  When asked if he had any sports memorabilia to give the Smithsonian, Truman said he didn’t because he couldn’t see well to bat in baseball so they made him play umpire because you didn’t need to see to be umpire.  When Herb said he didn’t have anything from Truman in the Smithsonian, Truman just answered, “Well why don’t you get something?”  Eventually, Truman found that for everything he said, Herb was able to come up with an answer for him.  After that he stopped acting difficult and slapped Herb on the back and invited him to see some political cartoons he had framed out in the back office.  Truman enjoyed when people took punches at him like Herb had done and he had framed some of his favorite political cartoons that had mocked him when he was president.  Together Herb and Harry Truman laughed and joked about them, and Truman genially offered some of his items to Herb for the Smithsonian.
  • When President Dwight Eisenhower died, he wanted to be buried his complete uniform.  At the funeral home that was preparing the body, they found that they did not have a shirt or socks that matched his uniform.  The funeral home called the military history department of the Smithsonian and asked them if they had any extra matching shirts and socks that they could have to bury Eisenhower in.  As a matter of fact they did.  When Herb had left the army, he donated his uniforms to the Smithsonian for his period in history.  The shirt contained Herb’s laundry mark.  With his blessing, the Smithsonian sent over Herb’s old shirt and socks to the funeral home.  President Eisenhower was buried in Herb Collin’s issued shirt and socks.
  • Herb Collins became good friends with JFK’s secretary, Evelyn Lincoln.  Two books in his collection are autographed copies of hers with long messages of appreciation and friendship.  Evelyn Lincoln was married to a man named Harold Lincoln.  Herb was unaware that Harold’s nickname was ‘Abe’ Lincoln.  One day he received an invitation in the mail to attend a rally for Abe Lincoln, who was running for Congress.  He ignored the mailer.  Days after the event, Evelyn called Herb and asked him why he didn’t come to support her husband’s run for Congress.  Herb told her that he didn’t know Harold went by Abe, and that he thought “Abe Lincoln running for Congress” was just a joke.  The two had a good laugh about it.
  • After JFK was killed, Jackie Kennedy and others toured the country trying to raise money for a JFK museum.  They traveled with exhibits about the late president to raise funds.  Herb wrote to Jackie informing her that the flag that flew over the Capitol on the day of the President’s funeral was hers.  She wrote him back thanking him for letting her know that.  One item that went traveling to raise money was the famous Resolute desk from the Oval Office.  Johnson didn’t want to use the desk as he found it too big.  Those of you who have seen the movie, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, will know that the Resolute desk plays an important part of Nicholas Cage’s clue finding.  In the movie he makes his way into Oval Office and, by pulling out drawers to the right length, unlocks a secret compartment in the desk: While you may all be shocked to learn this, there is no hidden compartment in the Resolute desk.  Herb Collins has taken the Resolute desk apart, “a dozen times”.  He told me it all comes apart fairly easily and he helped pack it up when it went on tour to raise money for the JFK museum.  When it was done touring, Herb took control of it and placed it in the collection of the Smithsonian.  It stayed, on display in the Smithsonian until Carter asked for it back.  According to Herb, he was out to lunch one Wednesday and when he returned to the Smithsonian he had a message from Jimmy Carter asking for the Resolute desk to be placed back into the Oval Office by Friday, as he wanted to show it off to some foreign delegates.  Herb said he took it apart, had it transported over to the White House, and reassembled it for Carter in the Oval Office right on time.
  • Herb had the chance to meet many Presidents but he spent more time with the First Ladies.  He stated that his favorite first lady was Pat Nixon.  According to him she was the most down to earth.  In conversations with Herb, she never said, “The President” or “Mr. Nixon”, it was always just, “Dick” and she invited Herb to refer to him as the same.
  • Herb has written over 25 books.  During his time at the Smithsonian he created almost encyclopedic volumes about political flags and lanterns, as well as writing books about the transportation methods of the presidents.  He was one of the first to call attention to a fall that Mary Todd Lincoln suffered in a carriage accident that caused her to suffer recurring dizzy spells that may have exasperated her mental decline.
  • Herb has a credit in the Lincoln assassination book by Dorothy and Phillip Kunhardt entitled , Twenty Days.  He recalled when they came to the Smithsonian and wanted to photograph the conspirators’ hoods and jail keys.  At one point, they wanted a picture of what was thought to be Mary Surratt’s hood.  Looking around, Herb couldn’t find a female bust to place the hood over.  In a pinch he saw a bust of Henry Clay, Kentucky’s noted politician who served multiple times as Speaker of the House and was John Quincy Adams’ Secretary of State.  According to Herb, Henry Clay had a small, feminine enough looking head to pass as Mary Surratt’s.  So, Herb slipped the hood onto Henry Clay’s bust and the Kunhardts photographed it.  Sadly, that particular shot did not make it into their Twenty Days book.

There were other stories and insights Herb shared with me from his time with the Smithsonian, but these are the main ones I can remember for now.  Herb is an unending fountain of information and I am looking forward to the many conversations I will have with him in the future.

UPDATE:

Yesterday I once again spent the day with Herb.  We visited the Caroline County library in Bowling Green, VA where Herb has his Herbert Collins Room.  The room holds his massive collection of books about genealogy, Virginia history, and the history of Caroline county.  It is a private research room accessible by appointment only.  After that Herb and I traveled to nearby Essex County to visit an antique store in Tappahannock that he regularly purchases items from.  Herb’s only purchase for the day was a copper kettle that he said would match one he already had at Green Falls.  While at the antique store, Herb openly talked with other patrons and helped them pick out pieces.  Through these conversations with strangers, I met the president of the Restore Port Tobacco organization.  He was pleasantly surprised that I knew about the Chimney House in Port Tobacco, behind which George Atzerodt’s carriage shop was purported to be. Apparently the Chimney House is on the market now.  After this we traveled back to Herb’s home and subsequently ended our day together.  The following is some of the pictures I took yesterday:

 

The Herbert Collins room at the Caroline County Library

Herb Collins researching in his room

The left image is what the Overseer’s house (mentioned above) looked like before it was moved to Green Falls and restored. The right image is what the house looked like while renovations were underway. The house is a sight to see today.

 

Herbert Ridgeway Collins and his portrait 

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Visit the Surratt Tavern in…Chicago, IL?

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Dave Taylor

If wealthy candy confectioner and noted collector Charles Gunther had gotten his way, Chicago would have become the home of many transplanted historical sites:

If relocating entire buildings like this sounds like an impossible feat, know that Charles Gunther had already done it once.  In the late 1880’s he purchased the Libby Prison from Richmond, Virginia.  He dismantled the prison, transported it to his hometown of Chicago, and rebuilt it there.  The Libby Prison Museum operated from 1889 to 1895 before decreasing visitors forced Gunther to dismantle it.  When this article was written in 1893 it is likely Gunther was hoping to reinvigorate his museum by creating an entire campus of historic sites.

As we know, Gunther never managed to purchase Independence Hall, the Petersen House, or the Surratt Tavern.  Despite his generous offer to Louis Schade, the Petersen house was eventually sold to the federal government instead.  Had the Petersen House been sold to Gunther, he could have reunited the building with some of the items that were there when Lincoln died.  The bed upon which Lincoln died and many other articles from the Petersen house were acquired by Gunther in 1889.  When Gunther died, the Chicago Historical Society purchased most of his extensive collection.  This is the reason why Lincoln’s true deathbed is in the Chicago History Museum and not in Washington, D.C.

I believe Charles Gunther’s proposed acquisition of these historic sites allows for a very entertaining “what if”.  Imagine what it would be like to look out a window of the Surratt Tavern and see the house where Lincoln died.  Imagine the historical DisneyWorld that could have existed in Chicago.  Instead of Mickey Mouse ears, visitor would purchase powdered wigs at the “Ye Olde Independence Hall Gift Shop” before taking the monorail to the “Lincoln Assassination Pavilion”.  Had this eccentric collector been able to build his dream, how differently our nation’s history would be interpreted today.

References:
The Chicago Historical Society has a nice website recounting Charles Gunther’s collection and Libby Prison Museum.

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Louis Schade, Esquire

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Dave Taylor

While researching for my last post about George Atzerodt’s burial, I came across an interesting character by the name of Louis Schade.  Mr. Schade happened to make his way into the Lincoln assassination realm in a couple of ways.

Louis F. Schade was a born in1829 in Berlin, Germany.  He studied law at the University of Berlin.  As a student, he took an active part in the failed unification of the German states known as the Revolution of 1848.  He fled to America shortly thereafter.  In 1855, Schade found himself in Chicago under the employ of Senator Stephen A. Douglas.  Schade not only visited German districts in Illinois making speeches in support of Douglas, but also became the editor of two of Douglas’ papers, “The National German Democrat” and “The National Union”.  He was admitted to the bar, becoming a certified lawyer in 1858.  After Douglas won the Illinois state Senate seat against his opponent, Abraham Lincoln, Schade returned to Washington, D.C. and practiced law.  A large client of his was the United States Brewer’s Association and Schade became an outspoken advocate against the temperance movement.  He gained nation-wide fame, however, in 1865, when he agreed to represent Captain Henry Wirz, commander of the Andersonville prison.  Schade would come to truly believe in his client’s innocence and even after Wirz’ execution, he would write publicly about the tragedy.  A few years later he would not only lament the injustice of Wirz’s execution, but the treatment of his body:

Come February of 1869, when President Andrew Johnson is evoking his presidential privilege of writing pardons without fear of political reprisals, Schade applies for the body of Henry Wirz.  It is granted and Schade arranges for his late client to be buried in Mount Olivet cemetery in D.C.  In a twist of fate, Mary Surratt would be buried here too, reuniting the pair yet again.

But the body of Henry Wirz was not the only one Louis Schade helped removed from the Arsenal grounds.  On behalf of another client, Victoria Atzerodt, Schade wrote to Andrew Johnson asking for George’s body.  He wrote in part that, “the present enlightened age…will not permit the mediaeval and barbaric custom of seeking revenge on a handful of dust and ashes.”  In addition to Schade’s appeal, John Atzerodt wrote his own letter to President Johnson asking for George’s body:

A few days later, Louis Schade and John Atzerodt would visit Andrew Johnson in person to receive the signed order for George’s remains:

So, Schade helped to rebury two executed criminals from the grounds of the Old Arsenal prison.  Louis Schade’s connection to Lincoln’s assassination does not end there, however.

On October 18, 1871, a recent widow in Washington, D.C., passed away.  Her husband had died only a few months earlier of a laudanum overdose.  The pair had left their children without a will.  To raise money, the heirs of the family sold some of the furniture in the house.  A bureau, gas jet, rocking chair, an engraving, and a bed were all sold at auction.  The family was able to retain possession of the house where they had lived, though.  It was a three story brick row house in downtown D.C.  But it was also much more than that.  It was the house where Abraham Lincoln had died, also called the Petersen House after the family that built and owned it.

The Petersen House circa 1883

By 1878, the Petersen heirs decided it was time to sell the house.  Return Louis Schade.  By this time, Schade had reignited his skills as a newspaper editor and had started his own paper, The Washington Sentinel.  It was a Democratic paper that Schade used as an outlet for his own views.  He devoted a whole back page to beer advertisements to support his client, the Brewer’s Association.  As a German immigrant he wrote largely in support of more lenient immigration policies.  The Sentinel also contained a great deal of international coverage for a paper its size.  Schade was a successful editor and lawyer in 1878, and the Petersens probably had no problem selling their shrine of a house to him.  On November 25, 1878 Schade and his wife bought the Petersen house for $4,500, a little over $100,000 in today’s currency.

The Schade family would enjoy living at the Petersen house, at first.  Louis moved the office of his newspaper to the front of the basement.  The room where Lincoln died became a playroom for the children:

Eventually though, the Schades would tire of the many visitors that wished to gain entry into their historic home.  By 1893, the family had moved out of the house and leased it to the Memorial Association of D.C.  The association invited a tenant named Osborn Oldroyd to live in and showcase his extensive Lincoln collection inside the Petersen house.  Finally, on June 29th, 1896, the federal government purchased the Petersen House from Louis Schade for $30,000.  That is equivalent to over $775,000 in today’s money.  Louis Schade definitely made a tidy profit on his historic investment.

The noted editor and lawyer, Louis Frederick Schade died on February 25th, 1903.  He is buried in D.C.’s Prospect Hill Cemetery.  Prospect Hill, a largely German cemetery, is located right next to Glenwood Cemetery, the proposed yet abandoned burial location for George Atzerodt.

Louis Schade gained notoriety for his defense of Henry Wirz and his long career as a newspaper editor.  Yet he also managed to entwine himself in the epilogue of Lincoln’s assassination.  He helped to bury a conspirator and bought the house where Lincoln died.  He remains a minor, yet interesting side figure in history.

References:
Newspaper article abstracts were retrieved from GenealogyBank.com
William A. Petersen House – House Where Lincoln Died Historic Structure Report by the National Park Service
They Have Killed Papa Dead by Anthony Pitch
The Papers of Andrew Johnson: September 1868 – April 1869
Andrew Johnson: A Biographical Companion by Glenna Schroeder-Lein
Washington Sentinel by the Library of Congress
There are wonderful pictures of Louis Schade on his FindAGrave page.

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Finding George Atzerodt

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Dave Taylor

IMPORTANT NOTE: Further information as posted in the comments section below has thrown into question whether or not George Atzerodt is actually buried in St. Paul’s.  Please click here to read the update to this post.  What is without question is that George’s mother Victoria, sister Mary, and brother-in-law Gottlieb Taubert, are all buried in this cemetery.

After Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt were executed for their involvement in Lincoln’s assassination, their bodies were buried on the Old Arsenal prison grounds.  The graves and pine boxes that would hold the quartet are seen in the execution photographs of the conspirators, merely a stone’s throw from where the scaffold stood.   John Wilkes Booth’s body had previously been deposited at the Old Arsenal grounds, having been secretly buried underneath the floor of a supply room.

This impromptu cemetery would also hold the body of Confederate officer Henry Wirz after he was tried and executed for the atrocities at his Andersonville Prison.  His pine box would lay right along side those of the Lincoln conspirators:

Piece of Henry Wirz’ coffin in the collection of the Smithsonian’s American History Museum.

The bodies of all of these individuals would stay under the Arsenal grounds until the waning hours of Andrew Johnson’s presidency.  Less than a month before leaving office, Johnson allowed the family members of the conspirators to take possession of their loved ones bodies.  Booth’s body was interred in the family plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.  Mary Surratt was interred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. David Herold was interred in the family plot in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery.  The final disposition of all of Lewis Powell’s remains is still being researched by his biographer, Betty Ownsbey, but his skull somehow made its way into the collection of the Smithsonian before being discovered and subsequently buried next to his mother in Geneva Cemetery, Florida.  While finding Powell’s remains is a more modern mystery, for over a hundred years there was very little known about where George Atzerodt’s final resting place was.  Through the research of original Boothies, James O. Hall and Percy Martin, the mystery of George’s burial was solved.

After receiving permission to take possession of his brother’s body, John C. Atzerodt, a former detective on staff of the Maryland Provost Marshal, transferred George’s remains to the northern D.C. cemetery, Glenwood.  Records show that on February 17th of 1869, George’s body was placed in a holding vault.  John had apparently decided to purchase a lot in Glenwood in which to bury his brother.  Some newspapers reported on the arrival of Mrs. Atzerodt from Baltimore to attend the reinterment of her son in D.C.:

It looked like George would spend the rest of eternity in Glenwood Cemtery…

In 1854, the Second Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Baltimore purchased four acres in Baltimore’s Druid Hill for use as a cemetery.  Between 1854 and 1868, the Second Evangelical church divided into three congregations; St. Paul’s, Immanuel, and Martini Evangelical.  Each new church held equal control over the Druid Hill cemetery.  Together, they sold half of the land to the city of Baltimore decreasing the cemetery to 2.25 acres.

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran church, one of the three newly formed churches, was located in Baltimore on the corner of Saratoga and Freemount  streets.  One block south of that intersection was Lexington St.  Living on Lexington street and probable members of St. Paul’s congregation was Gottlieb Taubert and his wife Mary.  Gottlieb and his wife were both German immigrants.  Specifically, Mary Taubert’s maiden name was Mary Atzerodt.  She was the daughter of Henry and Victoria Atzerodt, and sister to George.  Mary and Gottlieb had married in 1860 when they were 18 and 24 respectively.  By 1865, the Tauberts had already purchased a lot in the Druid Hill cemetery, needing it to bury an infant child on April 12th.  They would also bury a five year old daughter there in 1866.

On February 19th, 1869, an odd “coincidence” occurs.  Just when John Atzerodt needs a place to bury his brother, the Tauberts suddenly have a burial in their St. Paul’s  lot.  The records back at Glenwood are confusing and missing, but it seems that John Atzerodt never actually paid for the lot he was going to bury his brother in.  In fact other people, completely unrelated to the family, are currently buried in John Atzerodt’s supposed lot.   George was never buried in Glenwood.  Instead of coming to D.C. to attend her son’s reburial, Victoria Atzerodt came to bring her son’s body back up to Baltimore to rest secretly in his sister’s cemetery lot.

And a secret affair his burial was.  So secret in fact, that his name does not even appear in the burial records.  The record’s for St. Paul’s cemetery in Druid Hill were not always exact in their documentation.  The records were hand written in old German Script and would often be missing several important pieces of information.  Whether George’s name was left off of the records purposefully by a sympathetic  church clerk, or accidentally by a lazy one, we may never know.  What can be gained from the record is that a burial did take place on February 19th in the Taubert lot.  In his 1984 article for the Surratt Courier, Percy Martin cited the record as describing the deceased as, “Gottlieb Taubert, aged 29 years”.  In the book, Records of St. Paul’s Cemetery by Elaine and Kenneth Zimmerman, they show it as being a “child of Gottlieb Taubert” and being 29 days old.  The discrepancies between the two is understandable.  Reading handwritten German Script is tedious and difficult.  While I have not seen the original record, it is likely that both accounts stated above are different interpretations of the same record.  The Zimmermans, familiar with how records for children often lacked any name except for the parent, took “Gottlieb Taubert” to be the name of the deceased’s father.  When presented with an age of 29 “years” they fixed what they assumed was a mistake and recorded a more reasonable age for an unnamed child, 29 “days”.  Mr. Martin, knowing that the age of 29 years would be consist with George Atzerodt (though George actually turned 30 while in prison), took the name of Gottlieb Taubert to be the name that George was buried as.  Either way, Gottlieb Taubert was not a fictitious name as is sometimes stated.  It was the name of George’s brother-in-law.   The most likely scenario is that George was buried namelessly, and not under a pseudonym.  Gottlieb’s name was attached to the record, just like it was for his two young children, because the burial occurred in his lot.

Victoria Atzerodt died on January 3rd, 1886, three months shy of her 80th birthday.  She was buried right alongside her poor son George, in the Taubert plot.  Gottlieb Taubert, himself, died in April of 1925.  The final burial in the Taubert lot was Mary Atzerodt Taubert on September 15th, 1928.

St. Paul’s Cemetery is located in the middle of Baltimore’s Druid Hill park.  It is currently maintained by Martini Lutheran Church, the last of the three divided churches still in operation.  Though vandals severely damaged many of the stones in the cemetery in 1986, the church has slowly been righting and restoring the stones.  The Taubert lot is a vacant one, however.  There is no sign that the lot ever bore a stone for any of the Atzerodts or Tauberts.

The name of the cemetery (St. Paul’s) has caused a lot of confusion for those looking to find George Atzerodt’s final resting place.  Despite what is on his FindAGrave page, George is not buried in the St. Paul’s cemetery located off of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in downtown Baltimore.  Rather he is in the St. Paul’s cemetery located in the middle of Druid Hill Park.

Specifically, the Atzerodts and Tauberts are buried in lot #90:

Had it not been for the research of people like James O. Hall and Percy Martin (and our own Richard Sloan, I should add), George’s resting place may never have been known.  Discovering his burial site was a product of collaboration.  As we continue on in our studies of those involved in the great crime of April 14th, 1865, may we always remember the strength that comes from such cooperation.

References:
The Search for George Atzerodt by Percy Martin in, “In Pursuit Of…Continuing Research in the Field of the Lincoln Assassination” published by the Surratt Society
Records of St. Paul’s Cemetery by Elaine Obbink Zimmerman and Kenneth Edwin Zimmerman
Martini Lutheran Church
Cemetery drawing from the James O. Hall Research Papers

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Sam and Mike

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Dave Taylor

When it comes to the assassination saga, there are many remarkable individuals.  There are several men and women who stand on their own in the drama that occurred in 1865.  As students of the assassination though, there are also many people (and aspects of their stories) that we have joined together.  There are names and experiences that we have come to almost automatically associate together as a set or a pair.  The Lincoln’s guests that fateful evening, Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris, are one such couple that, by virtue of engagement and tragedy, are forever linked together as a pair.  Louis Weichmann and John Lloyd, as the chief witnesses again Mary Surratt in the trial, share a legacy in books and a recent movie.  John Wilkes Booth and David Herold are linked due to their shared twelve day escape.

In addition to these and many others we have created, two men tried during the summer months of 1865 are interconnected.  Though strangers until that fateful year, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen, are now rarely spoken of as individuals.  Rather, Sam and Mike are a pair.

Both knew John Wilkes Booth when they were children.  Both joined Maryland regiments in the Confederate army.  Both left military service early.  Both agreed to aid John Wilkes Booth in his kidnapping plot.  Both lost interest and split with Booth before the plot turned to assassination, and both were sentence by the military tribunal to life imprisonment at FortJefferson.  They shared such similar lives, it makes sense that one would invoke the other.  After reading over accounts of the time that these two men spent together when in the employ of Booth and their subsequent incarceration, one cannot help but imagine a friendship that must have grown between the two men.  While all the conspirators started as strangers to each other, spokes connected by the hub of John Wilkes Booth, Sam and Mike appear to share the same values and life experiences that would produce a true friendship.  The shared imprisonment would lead to a friendship between Dr. Mudd and Edman Spangler as well, but, in my eyes, Sam and Mike’s had a stronger foundation.

One discrepant piece of information towards a strong friendship between Sam and Mike is Sam Arnold’s own memoirs.  As was previously written, Sam Arnold released his memoirs after a different Sam Arnold died and the newspapers reported his own death.  In these memoirs he recounts his involvement with Booth and gives graphic descriptions of his time at FortJefferson.  In Michael Kauffman’s edited book of Arnold’s memoirs, he succinctly points out a large anomaly in the narrative:

“The most striking omission is the absence of any comment on the case of his cellmate, Michael O’Laughlen.  Arnold ignores him so completely that in telling about the end of the yellow fever epidemic , Arnold writes that, ‘happily, we lived through it all,” when, in fact, O’Laughlen had died from the disease.”

While Arnold’s account was written many years after O’Laughlen’s death, the omission of so much regarding him is odd.  In truth, it throws a bit of a monkey wrench in my whole, “They were good friends,” hypothesis.  If I lost a close, albeit rather recent, friend in jail, I would probably write about him.  In the end, I still maintain they two shared a bond of friendship due to a brief mention in an article regarding the other Sam Arnold’s death.

The October 9, 1902, Baltimore American ran an article correcting the misconception that the conspirator Sam Arnold had died.  In it, they attempted to find out where the real Sam Arnold was.  During their search they reported the following regarding Sam’s life:

“When he came back from his island prison, off the Florida coast, he brought with him a number of mementoes of one of his fellow prisoners from Baltimore, who had died of fever, to the latter’s brother here.  This brother said yesterday that he had not seen or heard from “Sam Arnold” for at least 15 years, and he was reasonably sure he had not been in Baltimore during that time.”

So while Dr. Mudd was the man who attended to Mike on his deathbed and Spangler was the one Mike said his last goodbye to, it was Sam Arnold who returned Mike’s effects to his brother Samuel Williams O’Laughlen.  To me, that shows a deep friendship.  Sam wanted to connect with the family of his lost friend and bring them some comfort.

Though O’Laughlen’s brother stated he hadn’t heard from Arnold in 15 years that still means Arnold was in contact with the O’Laughlen family into the 1880’s.  Friends do that.  They keep in touch with the family and they share memories long after a loved one has passed.

In my view, the absence of Mike’s death in Sam’s memoirs does not display coldness.  I choose to believe that Sam was deeply affected by Mike’s passing.  I choose to believe that the two men shared a strong, emotional bond that kept Arnold from publicly expressing his grief at his friend’s death.  Mike is avoided in Sam’s memoirs, not because he meant nothing to him, but because he meant a great deal.

While my views on Sam and Mike’s friendship are merely my personal opinion, there is nevertheless a connection between these two men.  They shared so much in life, that we have appropriately linked them together.  When a discussion of the conspirators arises, the name of one man will almost inevitably follow the other.  It appears that Sam and Mike will be associated together more than any other two conspirators,  and they fittingly rest in peace in the same cemetery for all time.

References:
Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator by Samuel Bland Arnold edited by Michael Kauffman
Baltimore American – “Death Recalls Great Tragedy” 10/9/1902

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Surratt’s Wanted Photo

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Dave Taylor

A few days ago Roger Norton left the following comment on this blog:

“Dave, please excuse going off topic.  But I am looking for a younger pair of eyes on this one.  On my Mary Surratt page at http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln26.html I have a photo identified as Isaac Surratt.  Basically it’s Laurie, Joan Chaconas, and I against the world on this one – do you think that is Isaac or is it really just another photo of John?  What do younger eyes see?  The one author I can find that agrees with Laurie, Joan, and me is Roy Chamlee.”

The picture Mr. Norton is referencing is John Surratt’s wanted poster photo:

The picture used in the wanted poster came from the Surratt boardinghouse after it was searched.

It has been proposed, as Roger states, that the picture is not of John but rather of his brother Isaac.  It’s a hard point to prove because while there are a few photos of John in his younger years to compare it to, there is only one known photograph of Isaac Surrat known to exist.  Still, it’s an interesting possibility and one worthy of dicussion.

So, what do you think? Does this wanted poster photo look more like John or Isaac? Post your views in the comment section below.  I’ll wait a while and then chime in with my opinion.

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Junius and Jackson

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Tragedian Junius Brutus Booth, Sr., and President Andrew Jackson

Did John Wilkes Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, Sr., write a letter threatening President Andrew Jackson’s life?  PBS’ History Detectives investigate:

Click here to watch the “Booth Letter” episode on PBS.org

This episode features author Gene Smith.  Mr. Smith wrote a wonderful biography of the Booth family entitled, American Gothic: the Story of America’s Legendary Theatrical family, Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth.  I decided to post this video after learning the sad news that Mr. Smith passed away on July 25th.  His book was one of the first “Boothie” books I ever read, and it drew me more and more into the assassination story.  Thank you, Mr. Smith.

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We are now BoothieBarn.com!

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Dave Taylor

In this month’s (August 2012) issue of the Surratt Courier the Surratt Society not only carried a revised version of my Michael O’Laughlen: Quilter article, but also endorsed this blog and Roger Norton’s forum. This is on top of their already kind mention on the Surratt.org website.

In the Courier, this site was listed as BoothieBarn.com. Up until now, that was incorrect as I had been using the free version of the WordPress blogging site. The mistake convinced me to finally take the plunge and purchase the BoothieBarn.com domain name. Looking at my site stats I knew that many others had found this site after searching for BoothieBarn.com so I feel it will be worth it.

Therefore, from now on, there are two ways to reach this site. The old address (https://boothiebarn.wordpress.com) will continue to work indefinitely. The newly created http://www.boothiebarn.com will work too. Both addresses will bring you to the same site and material. So if you have this site already bookmarked you could change it to BoothieBarn.com but you don’t really have to.

As BoothieBarn.com, I hope I’ll be able to continue to provide interesting articles for your reading pleasure.

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