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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George Robinson’s Grave

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Just a quick post today as I’m still in the process of getting set up in my new Maryland residence.

During a brief site seeing trip I took with two of my family members who helped me make the move from Illinois, we visited Arlington National Cemetery. I have been there before, but every time I visit it I am still humbled by the white, uniformed acres of sacrifice before me.

One grave related to the Lincoln assassination in Arlington belongs to George Foster Robinson.

20120806-115912.jpg

On April 14th, 1865, Robinson was an army private tending to Secretary of State William Seward after the latter suffered a carriage accident. When Lewis Powell slashed his way into Seward’s bed chamber, it was largely Robinson who discharged him. He was credited as saving the Secretary’s life and was given many accolades. Robinson would receive Powell’s knife as a memento, be presented with a gold congressional medal and $5,000, and, 100 years later, a mountain in Alaska was named after him for saving the man who later purchased the territory of Alaska from Russia.

Today he rests in Arlington next to his wife Roxinda Aurora:

20120806-121442.jpg

The Robinsons are located just a stone’s throw from Bobby and Teddy Kennedy’s graves. In the background of the pictures you can see the large white fence that currently shields Teddy Kennedy’s grave. So next time you’re at Arlington make the minor detour into the section in front of the Kennedy brother’s and pay your respects to a true Civil War hero: George Foster Robinson.

20120806-122557.jpg

References:
http://www.eighthmaine.com/Pages/OurHero.aspx
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/gfrobinson.htm

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