Part 7 of my series “John Wilkes Booth in the Woods” is now complete and available for viewing. In this part, I practice walking with a crutch and experience my second night sleeping in the woods.
To watch the video, you can either click on the image above and scroll down, click HERE to watch the video on YouTube, or play the embedded video below.
I just completed Part 6 of my series “John Wilkes Booth in the Woods“. In this part, I discuss the fate of John Wilkes Booth and David Herold’s horses while the pair hid in the pine thicket.
To watch the video, click on the image below and scroll down, or click HERE to watch the video on YouTube.
I apologize for the delay between the previous installments and this one. I was having computer issues which prevented me from editing and rendering videos. Now, thanks to my brother, my computer is fixed and the rest of the videos should be completed and shared in a more timely manner. Thank you for understanding.
In an effort to keep all the videos together and in one easily accessible place, I’ve created a new page here on BoothieBarn for the series.
You can access the John Wilkes Booth in the Woods page a few different ways:
1. I’ve added a link to the page on the menu bar at the very top of the site:
2. You can find a link to it listed on the side of the site under the “Pages” header:
3. Easiest of all, clicking the following picture will take you right to the page. I’ll be sure to include this image in future posts about the series:
As more videos are completed I’ll add them to the John Wilkes Booth in the Woods page and write a quick post to let you all know a new video is up. Thank you for your continued support and patience.
For about four and a half days between April 16 – April 21, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice, David E. Herold, hid from federal troops in the southern Maryland woods. Near the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I undertook a project to reenact, as accurately as possible, this often forgotten part of the assassin’s escape route. My hope was to gain a better understanding of Booth’s conditions and the impact those days in the woods had on his state of mind. The follow videos are parts of a series I’m calling “John Wilkes Booth in the Woods” which documents my endeavor.
I’m very pleased to present the first three parts of the “John Wilkes Booth in the Woods” project for your viewing pleasure:
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
As editing of the footage continues, new parts will be uploaded and released here on BoothieBarn. Stay tuned for much, much more!
Yesterday, I visited Loyola on the Potomac, the Jesuit Retreat House located in Faulkner, MD. Though I have been to the Retreat’s property several times in the past as part of the Surratt Society’s Booth Escape Route Tours and through my own arrangements, this was the first time that I have ever been inside of the Retreat House itself. I was graciously given a tour of the facility by the director as we discussed an upcoming “Boothie” project of mine. More on that will come later. After the very productive meeting, I walked down the trail that leads to the water’s edge. This, of course, is Dent’s Meadow, the point at which John Wilkes Booth and David Herold attempted to cross the Potomac River. For a refresher, here’s a video I shot discussing the location back in August:
Though little has changed at the site since that video, there was less vegetation present due to the cold weather. So, I took the opportunity to make my way into some of the underbrush in order to take some pictures of the unnamed stream that Henry Woodland hid the boat in. Since it was low tide, there was plenty of beach and the mouth of the stream was quite small. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday:
I also took this panorama of the stream and then added the woodcut of Booth’s boat that appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated newspaper. Click it to see it larger (and longer):
Lastly, back in August I wrote on a piece of driftwood the historical significant of the site. I was pleased to see that my homemade marker was still there:
“A short distance beyond, on the same side of the road, I recognized the historic Surratt House. It is nestled in a clump of beautiful trees, and I venture to say that the occupants of the house in war times would not recognize the place. The owner of it, Mr. J. W. Wheatley,
was sitting on the front porch, and as I walked up and told him my business, stating that I wanted to stop with him until the next day, he at once made me feel at home. The sign at the corner of the house reads: “Village Hotel.” The farm originally contained 168 acres. The Surratts sold it to John Hunter, and at his death it was left to Mrs. Addison, a relative, and she sold 117 acres to Mr. Wheatley ten years ago. At that time it was a perfect wilderness, grown over with pines and underbrush, but with liberal expenditure of money and time it now has no superior in southern Maryland. Every foot of ground, with the exception of a small piece of timber, is under cultivation. The house faces to the west, and a halt runs through the center. The room at the northwest corner is used as the barroom, and the one adjoining on the east for card-playing, etc. It was through the barroom door, leading out to the north end of the house, that Lloyd, the tenant, handed the carbine and whisky to Booth and Herold. The room in which Lloyd secreted them when John Surratt left them in his care an unfinished one, was upstairs, but has been finished since Mr. Wheatley became possessor of the house. I obtained some good views with my Kodak of the most interesting places around the house — the back door where Lloyd stopped on his return from Marlboro on the afternoon of the assassination, and handed his fish in the kitchen door, and where Mrs. Surratt met him and told him to be sure and be at home that night, for the guns that had been left with him would be called for.”
The above was written by assassination author and collector Osborn Oldroyd in his 1901 book, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He visited the Surratt House, met its owner at the time, Mr. Wheatley (pictured), and apparently took several pictures of the building. Following Mr. Oldroyd’s lead, the newest Picture Gallery here on BoothieBarn consists of images relating to Mary Surratt’s former house and tavern. Once a brief stop for the assassin and his accomplice it is now the site of the restored Surratt House Museum.
Visit the Surratt House and Tavern Picture Gallery to see engravings and photographs of the house through the years. Then plan your future visit to see the Surratt House Museum in person.
LincolnConspirators.com 
Recent Comments