Posts Tagged With: Museums

Artifact History: Nélaton probe

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Dave Taylor

The collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) contains several objects relating to Presidential health and care.  In regards to the Lincoln assassination, the museum contains items extracted from both the President and his assassin during their subsequent autopsies.  Booth’s vertebrae and a piece of his spinal cord, through which Boston Corbett’s bullet passed, are housed in this collection.  From Lincoln’s autopsy, the museum has pieces of Lincoln’s skull, the bullet that took his life, and some hair clippings taken by the doctors and surgeons as mementoes.  As was previously written, the collection was once housed at Ford’s Theatre from 1865 – 1887 when it was called the Army Medical Museum.   During that time at Ford’s however, the Lincoln relics were not part of the collection, only Booth’s pieces were there.  In fact, the bullet that killed Lincoln was entered as an official exhibit during the Conspiracy Trial and it, along with the skull pieces, were housed with the other evidence in the office of the Judge Advocate General.  In 1940, the exhibits were donated to the Lincoln Museum (Ford’s) who then gave the bullet and pieces of Lincoln to the Medical Museum.  So while pieces of Lincoln and Booth both returned to the venue of their last living meeting, it was not at the same time.

In addition to the bullet and the skull fragments, the National Museum of Health and Medicine also has a rather unassuming instrument housed with these Lincoln relics: a long, medical probe:

Lincoln’s skull fragments and Nélaton probe
(NMHM)

This probe has a specific name and a specific function.  Called a Nélaton probe (or Nélaton’s probe) it was used by the doctors during Lincoln’s final night to ascertain the depth and path of the bullet in Lincoln’s head.  Before delving into that, however, let’s look at the history behind this medical tool.

In 1862, Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, was shot while trying to take control over the city of Rome.  At that time, Italy had just completed a massive unification to create one kingdom.  This kingdom of Italy later became the republic of Italy as we know it now.  However, as of 1862, several cities in Italy did not accept unification and Rome was one of them.  Tired of waiting for them to come around, General Garibaldi decided to raise a volunteer force to take the city of Rome.  The Battle of Aspromonte, as it was called was fought between Garibaldi’s men and the Royal Army of Italy on August 29th, 1862.  Both sides were hesitant to harm the other as they were countrymen and Garibaldi was well liked and supported by the people of Italy.  When the Royal Army “attacked” Garibaldi’s forces, he ordered his forces not to fire on their brothers.  One part of his army did attack though, and during the fire fight, Garibaldi was hit three times.  The battle lasted less than ten minutes with only 15 combined casualties.  Garibaldi and the rest of his volunteers were arrested and imprisoned.

While imprisoned, Garbaldi was still given the respect and medical treatment he deserved.  Two of the three shots Garibaldi received were to the hip and proved easily treatable.  The third shot hit Garibaldi’s right ankle, just a little above and in front of what we would consider the “ankle bone” (scientifically, it was his internal malleolus).  This wound pained him greatly.  When he was on the battlefield, a surgeon had made an incision on the opposite side of the wound when he felt swelling but found nothing inside of it.  A few days after the battle, Garibaldi was re-examined by more than half a dozen doctors who all believed, save one, that the bullet was no longer in his ankle.  Meanwhile, in England, supporters of Garibaldi in the medical field took it upon themselves to see if they could help the general.  In an extremely presumptuous way, the English doctors elected that Dr. Richard Partridge, professor at King’s college, should travel to England and check on Garibaldi’s wound and treatment.  When Dr. Partridge arrived on September 16th, he examined Garibaldi himself, and came to the same conclusion of the Italian physicians: the ball was no longer in his ankle.  He returned back to England and guaranteed his colleagues and the press that, while Garibaldi was still in considerable pain, it was not caused by a bullet being lodged in his ankle.  Dr. Partridge believed his condition would improve in time.

After five weeks, though, no improvement was noted and Garibaldi was still in quite a deal of pain.  This time, the Italian doctors reached out.  They sent for Auguste Nélaton, a Parisian professor of surgery.  He arrived on October 28th and examined Garibaldi himself.  After inserting a normal probe into the wound, he was convinced that the bullet was still in there.  The Italian doctors did not concur, citing Dr. Partridge’s agreement of their initial assessment.  So, Dr. Partridge returned.  Soon, Garibaldi’s sick room became an international conference with the Italian doctors, the Frenchman Nélaton, the Englishman Partridge, and even a Russian physician all prodding and poking General Garibaldi.  Dr. Partridge actually changed his mind and started believing that the bullet was still in the general’s ankle.  Nélaton, believing amputation to be unnecessary, ordered that the wound entrance be widen with sponges so that the bullet could be removed in time.  While the Italian doctors followed this idea, they were still unconvinced that there was a bullet in Garibaldi, and were getting sick of all these foreigners going back and forth on the matter.

Auguste Nélaton attending to General Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1862 (National Library of Medicine)

When Nélaton returned to France, he started working on a way to prove that there was a bullet in Garibaldi.  The problem was that it was impossible for a physician of the time to identify the hard substance met by a probe in a wound.  It could be normal bone or a foreign substance like a bullet.  The bulk of the Italian doctors believed their probes continually hit the normal bone structure of the ankle, while Nélaton thought it was a bullet.  Nélaton began constructing a new probe for his purposes.  In the end, his probe was ingenious in its simplicity.  At the tip of a normal medical probe he attached an unglazed porcelain tip.  When the porcelain touched bone inside a wound, the probe would be unaffected.  When it rubbed against the lead of a bullet however, the tip would become marked identifying it as a foreign substance.

A simple Nélaton probe

Nélaton quickly sent his new instrument to the doctors in Italy.  After using it to confirm Nélaton’s diagnosis that the bullet was, in fact, still in Garibaldi’s ankle, the Italian physicians were able to successfully remove it on November 22nd.  Shortly thereafter General Garibaldi sent a letter to Auguste Nélaton offering his love, gratitude, and thanks.

Nélaton’s probes proved wonderfully efficient.  They started to be produced on mass and were shipped all over the world.  They quickly became an instrument of necessity for any military surgeon and found a market in the surgeons fighting on both sides of the American Civil War.  They continued to be used into the 1900’s before they were essentially replaced by the advent of less intrusive devices like the X-ray.

Let’s return now to the night of April 14th, 1865.  Lincoln was taken to the Petersen House across the street from Ford’s after being shot.  There, he was attended to by several doctors including the Surgeon General Joseph Barnes and the first responder, Dr. Charles Leale.  At first, the doctors introduced regular, silver probes into Lincoln’s wound.  However, like in Garibaldi’s case, they were unsure if the solid mass they encountered was the bullet or a piece of Lincoln’s skull.  A steward was then sent for a Nélaton probe.  From Dr. Leale’s account we can learn how they used the device:

“About 2 AM the Hospital Steward who had been sent for a Nelatons probe, arrived and an examination was made by the Surgeon General, who introduced it to a distance of about 2 ½ inches, when it came in contact with a foreign substance, which laid across the track of the ball.

This being easily passed the probe was introduced several inches further, when it again touched a hard substance, which was at first supposed to be the ball, but as the bulb of the probe on its withdrawal did not indicate the mark of lead, it was generally thought to be another piece of loose bone. The probe was introduced a second time and the ball was supposed to be distinctively felt by the Surgeon General, Surgeon Crane and Dr. Stone.”

Using Nélaton’s probe, the doctors established that the bullet was above and behind Lincoln’s right eye.  Between its use in the early hours of April 15th and today, the Nélaton probe used by the doctors on Lincoln has lost the porcelain tip that marked the bullet.

The end of the probe used by Lincoln’s deathbed physicans, missing the unglazed porcelain tip.

While the first person to utilize Auguste Nélaton’s invention made a full recovery because of it, it was well established before the probe was introduced in Lincoln’s case that he was beyond help. The Nélaton probe did not change Lincoln’s medical prognosis as it did for Garibaldi, but it is still a historically relevant artifact.  Its inclusion in the collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine is so that it can be a testament to the devotion of the doctors who cared for President Lincoln.  Despite the hopelessness of his situation, doctors like Barnes, Leale, Taft, and others, did all in their power to aid and comfort the fallen President.

References:
National Museum of Health and Medicine 
The details regarding Auguste Nélaton’s invention came from this essay from the National Institute of Health
Dr. Leale’s account
American Brutus by Michael Kauffman

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The Collapse of Ford’s Theatre

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Dave Taylor

On this date, June 9th, in 1893, a part of the three upper floors of Ford’s Theatre collapsed killing twenty two clerks and injuring over 100 more government employees.

NPS Photo

After the assassination of Lincoln, the government immediately seized Ford’s Theatre.  Military guards had been posted to the theatre and access was granted by War Department passes.  Matthew Brady was allowed to photograph the interior and members of the stage crew and orchestra were allowed to retrieve their items from within its walls.  After the execution of the conspirators on July 7th, 1865, John T. Ford was given permission to reopen his theatre.  He announced that the play, “The Octoroon” was to be performed on July 10th.  As is shown on the playbills and broadsides from “Our American Cousin”, “The Octoroon” was initially scheduled for April 15th.  While Ford sold over 200 tickets for the performance, there was also a large uproar over the theatre reopening after what had transpired within her walls.  Ford received this anonymous letter implying retribution if he fulfilled his plan:

 “Sir:

You must not think of opening tomorrow night.  I can assure you that it will not be tolerated.  You must dispose of the property in some other way.  Take even fifty thousand for it and build another and you will be generously supported.  But do not attempt to open it again.

One of many determined to prevent it.”

For fear of the place being burned, the Judge Advocate ordered a troop of soldiers to the theatre on the night of July 10th, to prevent anyone from attending the play.  Ford placed a sign on the door reading, “Closed by Order of the Secretary of War” and refunded the ticket holders.  He would not attempt to revive his theatre again.

The government decided its best option was to just retain the property.  They began paying John Ford $1,500 a month to lease his theatre.  By July of 1866, the government bought the property outright for Ford for $88,000.  Even before purchasing the building, the government had started renovating the theatre.  They transformed the interior into a three story office building.  In December of 1865, the Army Medical Museum moved into the third floor of the space.

Engraving of the Army Medical Museum housed in Ford’s Theatre from the book, “Ten Years in Washington: Life and Scenes in the National Capital as a Woman Sees Them” (1874).

The museum would stay in Ford’s until 1887, when a separate building was constructed for their purposes.  The Army Medical Museum’s occupancy at Ford’s provided a slightly macabre reunion between Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.  The museum housed pieces of Lincoln’s skull and hair, and Booth’s vertebrae, each taken from their perspective autopsies.  Parts of the two men spent over twenty years together at the scene of their last meeting. EDIT: Further research has shown that Lincoln’s skull fragments were not given to the Army Medical Museum until after it had moved out of Ford’s Theatre. Darn.

Lincoln Skull Fragments and Nelaton Probe

Engraving of Booth Vertebrae

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, they took over the entire building.  The many clerks employed in the building compiled the official pension records for Civil War veterans and others.

In 1887, the Pension bureau received a new chief, Colonel Fred C. Ainsworth.  As a boss, Ainsworth was not a popular fellow.  His methods of leadership and his expectations of his clerks was a drastic change from the department’s previous leaders.  Old timers who had worked in the office for years found themselves held to greater expectations and increased workloads.  While this made Ainsworth an efficient chief, it also made him a very disliked leader.  However, Ainsworth was not heartless and tried his best to appease his clerks.    Ainsworth was aware of his clerks’ apprehension about the building they occupied.  When he first started, he heard rumors that the east wall of Ford’s was unsafe.  He made inquiries with his superiors and was assured that the wall was perfectly secure and the whole building was safe.  In 1888 and 1889, Ainsworth directed the installation of a new steam heating apparatus and a new plumbing system for the building.  Then in 1893, he received permission to install an electric light plant for the building.  In order to place the light plant and provide amble ventilation for it, it was required to excavate about twelve feet between two partition walls in the basement.  Ainsworth wrote up specifications, gave them to the War Department, and the War Department created a contract and accepted bids.  Eventually, the bid by a contractor named George W. Dant was chosen to do the work.  During this entire process, no element of danger was discussed by anyone.  With proper underpinning of the floor above, the excavation was a relatively safe job.

Colonel Fred Ainsworth (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/fcains.htm)

While this construction was going on, the clerks’ unease about the building increased.  Plaster was known to fall from the ceiling and, at one point, part of the first floor was roped off causing the clerks to worry about the structure.  None of them however, seem to have brought their concerns up with Colonel Ainsworth.  As chief, he continually went into the basement to check on Dant and his men.  Dant continually assured him that everything was fine and that the roped off area was just because that particular part of the first floor was to be removed as part of the excavation.

Then, on this day in 1893, tragedy struck Ford’s again.  During the course of the work day, with hundreds of clerks and files hustling about, a support pier in the basement excavation area collapsed.  The floors above were supported by iron beams, which rested on columns, which rested on the brick piers in the basement.  When the one pier gave way, a 40 foot section from all three floors collapsed down.  Twenty one clerks were instantly crushed and killed.  One would die a few days later from his injuries.  A total of 105 clerks suffered injuries, with two more clerks dying as a result of their injuries over the next three years.

Almost as soon as the dust settled, and the dead were dug out, the public demanded to know who was responsible for the collapse.  A Coroner’s inquest was held to determine if there was any criminal responsibility.  The surviving clerks, furious over the loss of their brethren, used this opportunity to lay the blame on their despised chief, Colonel Ainsworth.  On the witness stand they spoke of the building being a death trap long before the accident.  They claimed they were told by Ainsworth’s assistants to tip toe on the stairs because they were dangerous.  They said they were too afraid to say anything about the conditions for fear they would be fired.  The room in which the inquest was held turned into a scene of fury, with all rage directed towards the Colonel.  A man who lost his brother in the accident came up behind the sitting Colonel and yelled “You murdered my brother!”  Shouts of agreement came from others in the crowd and several rose to their feet moving to close in on the Colonel.  Luckily the police lieutenant in the court was able to disperse the impromptu mob.  As more and more witnesses took the stand, the outbursts from the crowd increased.  All the while, the Colonel sat calmly in his chair, unwavering.

With emotions high, even members of the jury broke decorum.  B. H. Warner, a juror, interrupted a testimony and asked for Ainsworth to leave as he was intimidating witnesses with his mere presence.  The crowd applauded this suggestion for a full minute glaring at Ainsworth all the while.  Ainsworth refused to leave citing it as his right to hear testimony regarding the events.  The Coroner agreed.  He had no precedent to evict Ainsworth, as he had done no wrong and merely sat there.  When the Colonel’s representative, a Mr. Perry, rose to address the room, the crowd yelled at him and hissed.  When the room finally gained its composure, Mr. Perry begged the crowd, “I appeal to you as American citizens for fair play.”  To this a member of the crowd replied with, “You didn’t give us fair play!” At that point, the tempest roared.  The shouts of, “Murderer!” changed to, “Hang him! Hang him!” and the mob approached Ainsworth who continued to sit cool and collected in his chair.  The police lieutenant was powerless to disperse the mob.  For a brief moment of time, it appeared the Colonel’s life was to end right there by the hands of his angered employees.

The only thing that brought the mob back to its senses was the when the juror who previously spoke, B. H. Warner, stood upon his chair and begged for order.  He calmed the crowd back down with the following:

“This outbreak of feeling must be suppressed not by the strong hand of the law, but by the hand of fraternity.  I appeal to you to have fair play as American citizens, and not to stain the fair name of the glorious Capitol of this Republic.  I appeal to you in the name of the Master who reigns above.”

The inquest continued for the next few days but with increased police attendance that squashed all disturbances before they could start.  The jurors of the inquest found Colonel Ainsworth, contractor Dant, the superintendent of the building, and the mechanical engineer of Ford’s guilty of criminal negligence.  However, the Coroner’s inquest had no real power.  It merely established whether or not the men could be charged with the crime.  Despite the findings, the district attorney never charged the superintendent or the mechanical engineer with any crime.  Due to the public outcry, however, he did go after Ainsworth and Dant.  The defense effectively postponed matters until time allowed the public to cool down.

In the end, the charges against Colonel Ainsworth were dropped as the Coroner’s inquest never proved that he had any knowledge that the building was unsafe.  The jurors’ verdict was a product of the emotions of the times and not the evidence.  The accident was a travesty, but the Colonel was guilty of no wrong doing.  He continued as Chief of the Records and Pensions bureau and worked his way up to becoming the Adjutant General.  He died in 1934 and is buried in Arlington.

Of all those involved, it is probably George W. Dant who is to blame for the collapse.  It appears that he and his crew did not properly shore up the brick piers around the excavation.  With the ground around them gone, the weight of the floors above was too much for the exposed piers.  The cause of the collapse was due to the improper support of these piers.  While Dant was the most liable for what occurred, by April of 1895 the prosecution gave up its case against him.

NPS Photo

For the clerks who perished, the government paid $5,000 to each of their families.  Those who were wounded in the collapse received anywhere from $50 to $5,000 depending on the extent of their injuries.

The inside of Ford’s was rebuilt immediately after the collapse.  From 1893 to 1931 the building housed the Government Printing Office under the direction of the Adjutant General.  In 1931 the building was turned over to the Department of the Interior and the Osborne Oldroyd’s Lincoln Museum opened on the first floor in 1932.  It became a National Historic Site the same year.  After being renovated and restored to its 1865 appearance, it reopened as a working theatre and museum in 1968.

While it is well known, the one item of coincidence regarding the June 9th, 1893 collapse of Ford’s is still worth repeating here.  At around the same time the clerks of Ford’s were falling to their deaths, another man was being buried in Massachusetts.  Edwin Booth, the great tragedian and brother of the assassin, died on June 7th.  On the day of the collapse, he was being interred at his final resting place in Mount Auburn cemetery.  Despite Edwin’s lifetime of success as the greatest actor of his generation, both his life and death are eclipsed by tragedies at Ford’s Theatre.

References:
Ford’s Theatre and the Lincoln Assassination by Victoria Grieve
Restoration of Ford’s Theatre by George Olszewski
There are many newspaper articles about the inquest and legal proceedings regarding the collapse.  I used GenealogyBank searches for Ainsworth and Dant to find several articles.  Others can be found in the New York Times’ archive.  The most entertaining account (which contains the material about the mob at the first session of the inquest) can be read here.
Other articles about Ainsworth’s legal process: 1, 2, 3

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On this date: May 1st, 1976

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Dave Taylor

The Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland opened for public tours.

The house and tavern, formerly the property of Mary Surratt and a stopping point for John Wilkes Booth on his escape south, was donated by its owner to the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1964.  The work on restoring the house led to the founding of the Surratt Society, an organization devoted to furthering the study of the Lincoln assassination through trained guides for the museum, a monthly newsletter (the Surratt Courier), a yearly conference on the assassination, and the coveted John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Tours in the spring and fall.  The campus also houses the James O. Hall Research Center, the first (and often best) stop for research about the Lincoln assassination.  Visit Surratt.org to view their many wonderful events for the year.

References:
Surratt House Museum: A Page in American History by Laurie Verge and Joan Chaconas

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Ford’s New Center

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Dave Taylor

The Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership opened on February 12th of this year.  The building, adjacent to the Petersen House where Lincoln died, continues the message of Lincoln’s legacy after his death.  The Center has four floors open to the public.  The first floor is the lobby and gift shop while the second holds space for temporary exhibits.  The third floor is deemed the “Legacy Gallery” which shows the many ways in which Lincoln has become ingrained in our culture and how his words affect us today.  While very nice and good, as a person interested in the Lincoln assassination, it is the 4th floor, named the “Aftermath Gallery” that I wish to discuss.

Visitors exit the Petersen House and travel via elevator to the 4th floor of the Center and work their way down.  On this floor you begin by viewing the turmoil that occurred on the morning of April 15th when the nation woke to the news of Lincoln’s death.  There is a recreation of the train car that took Lincoln’s body back to Springfield as well as an interactive map of the route.  Past this, are several wall displays recounting the manhunt for Booth and the imprisonment, trial, and execution of the conspirators:

Before approaching the stairs down to the next level, there is a recreation of the tobacco barn with audio and visual effects to show Booth’s last few moments before being shot.

As always, it is the artifacts and relics of the assassination that draws my interest.  They have a pass to witness the execution of the conspirators on July 7th, 1865:

A steering wheel from the USS Montauk:

The USS Montauk and the USS Saugus were ironclad monitors which housed the conspirators during the initial investigation and arrests.  The Montauk held George Atzerodt, Edman Spangler, David Herold, John Wilkes Booth’s body, and Joao Celestino, an unrelated Portuguese sea captain.

The gallery also has a nice display of the sketches military commission member Lew Wallace drew of the conspirators during the trial:

The Center also has on display Lewis Powell’s saddle:

Powell used this saddle on the night he attacked Secretary of State William Seward.  Powell biographer, Betty Ownsbey, was the first to see that this item was mislabeled as being owned by Booth (it was owned by George Atzerodt) and that it was improperly displayed.  The stirrups were shown under the saddle flap instead of over them, which would make a very uncomfortable ride for the horse.  After being made aware of the mistake, Ford’s has gladly fixed this and is now correctly displaying the beautiful saddle
There is also an entire display case in the “Aftermath Gallery” with artifacts that I believe to be mislabeled:

The display has two items, a set of keys and a map.  The keys are labeled as, “being owned by John Wilkes Booth” and being, “taken from his body after his capture.”

I do not believe that this is the case.  The War Department had these keys before they had even found John Wilkes Booth.  An April 24th inventory list of evidence cites, “No. 9 Envelope containing silver pencil, and a bunch of keys belonging to David Herold.”  These keys contained Davy’s key to his house and other places.  On the morning of April 15th, Detectives James McDevitt, John Clarvoe, and John Waite, along with Lewis Weichmann, visited the home of Mrs. Herold.  Here, they obtained two photographs of David Herold.  They also recovered these keys and a silver pencil.  According to a statement by Jane E. Herold, Davy, “…had to get home at 10 o’clock.  If not he would be locked out.  Always when he came he had a night key, but momma took it away from him…” While McDevitt and the others made mention of the photographs as they hoped it would increase their chances of getting some reward money, they didn’t mention the keys as they were not noteworthy.  In addition, if you read through the statements of people at Garrett’s barn when Booth was cornered and killed, none of them ever mention keys being taken from Booth’s body.  At the trials, individuals like Conger and Baker give very detailed lists of what they took off of Booth’s body, with no keys being mentioned.  Regardless, these keys could not have come off of Booth’s body as the government had them two days before Booth and Davy were found.

The other item in this display case is a map of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.  The label for it states the following, “John Wilkes Booth used this map during his 12-day escape.  Soldiers removed it from his pockets after his escape.  The interior of the book shows that the map was labeled, ‘Exhibit No. 77’ by the military commission trial.”

I believe that this label is also wrong.  Now it is true that Booth and Davy had a map with them during their escape.  That map was taken off of Davy, not Booth, when he surrendered at Garrett’s barn.  Unfortunately, this is not the map taken from Davy either.  On June 3rd, Dr. Joseph H. Blanford, brother-in-law to Dr. Mudd, retook the stand at the conspiracy trial.  The following is part of the interchange that occurred in Dr. Blandford’s testimony:

“Q. (Exhibiting a map to the witness.) Will you examine this map, and state to the Court whether the several localities that I have spoken of, and the roads, are properly marked upon it?
A. I think they are, as nearly as can be ascertained from this map; the roads not having been drawn upon it originally. The roads here, as drawn in ink, to the best of my knowledge, are the proper roads; and they would take those places in their route.
Q. Will you state whether you have examined that map before, and indicated the lines and points marked in ink upon it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Show to the Court, on the map, where Surrattsville, Dr. Mudd’s house, and Pope’s Creek, are.
Assistant Judge Advocate Bingham. If he is going to do that, let him write them down at once on the map.
The witness. They are already written here. Dr. Mudd’s house, T. B. and other points on the road are correctly stated.
(The map referred to was offered in evidence without objection and is marked Exhibit No. 77.)”

To preclude the idea that the map shown to Dr. Blanford was the same one recovered from Davy, we have the following testimony from Everton Conger:

“Q. What articles did you take from Herold? Anything?
A. A little piece of a map of the State of Virginia, and a part of the Chesapeake Bay on it.
Q. Do you remember whether that map embraced the region of country where they were?
A. It did. It embraced that region of country known in Virginia as the “Northern Neck.”
Q. Was it a map prepared in pencil?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was it a regular map?
A. Part of an old school map; a map that had originally been five or six inches square.
Q. (Exhibiting a map.) Is that it?
A. Yes, sir: that is it.
Q. That embraces the region of country in which they were captured?
A. Yes, sir. That is the only property I found on Herold.
Q. Look at this pocket compass. (Exhibiting a pocket compass.)
A. That was taken from Booth’s pocket, just as it is now, with the candle grease on it and all.
(The map and compass were offered in evidence without objection, and are marked Exhibit No. 38.)”

So Davy’s map, along with Booth’s compass, was entered into evidence as Exhibit #38.  Therefore, the map on display at Ford’s, marked as Exhibit #77, was not recovered from either Booth or Herold at Garrett’s.  Instead this map was used by Thomas Ewing during his defense of Dr. Mudd.

Ultimately, while the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership has wonderful potential, I personally would care to see more space devoted to their true role in history, Lincoln’s assassination.  I understand that Ford’s has a fine line to walk in educating the public about Lincoln’s assassination, while not supporting the act.  Their big museum does this by presenting Lincoln’s entire term of office inclduign the assassination.  While this affords less space towards assassination related things, it also allows them to operate without appearing biased.  In my opinion though, people come to Ford’s because they want to learn about Lincoln’s death.  While a sad time in our history, I would prefer more attention in this area.  Regardless, as a center for education, it is Ford’s duty to present history as accurately as possible.   I hope that these artifacts will be looked into further.

References:
A Peek Inside the Walls: 13 Days Aboard the Monitors by John E. Elliott and Barry M. Cauchon
The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence by William C. Edwards and Edward Steers, Jr.

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Why Lincoln and Booth are Intertwined

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Recently, there has been a minor controversy regarding the sale of John Wilkes Booth bobblehead dolls.  A reporter from The Evening Sun of Hanover, PA, received an anonymous complaint about the dolls being sold at the Gettysburg National Military Park gift shop.  When he inquired about them, the gift shop removed them from their shelves within a couple of days.  Shortly thereafter, without any noted complaints or inquires, the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield, IL, followed suit and removed the bobbleheads from their gift shop.

What interests me the most about this controversy is how people have reacted to the dolls.  The original article notes that, “At first, the bobblehead drew chuckles from some of the students. But most reconsidered that reaction when asked to comment.”  This “chuckling” reaction would be the one I would expect from most people.  As a bobblehead doll, it is made to be a gag gift.  People either like them enough to buy them, or they move on, instantly forgetting them.

When probed about the dolls, the students being interviewed responded with the remarks akin to, “Yes, I suppose it is wrong to make them.” What changed their minds?  A few seconds earlier they were chuckling at the John Wilkes Booth bobblehead, and now they are calling for its immediate removal.  Their new-found disgust is a product of their education about Lincoln.  It is this education that we all receive.  We rightfully idolize and revere Lincoln for his strengths and courage as president.  He freed the slaves, kept the nation together and paid for it all with his life.  All of these things are true, but, in order to keep Lincoln as  the penultimate American president, we all ignore the complexity of his death.  The man who killed him was a crazy, racist, cold-blooded killer.  We simplify Lincoln’s death into its simplest but, inherently, incorrect terms.  Did Booth commit an atrocious deed that should be condemned?  Of course.  However, we should not dismiss his importance to the Lincoln we know and love.

This is the fine line that “Boothies” walk pursuing our interest.  As those who study the assassination, we look at the factors and motivations of Booth and other groups, North and South, who wished for and plotted to end Lincoln’s life.  While Lincoln was a great man and a great president, he was also one of our most hated presidents.  This version of Lincoln was buried and forgotten with Booth’s body.  One bullet, fueled by the anguish of the ravaged South, transformed Lincoln into a saint.  Booth should be studied not only for this crucial act, but for the complexity of his character that led him to such a crime.

Of all the reactions given in the articles and comments regarding the bobbleheads, I am slightly disappointed on a purely scholarly level with Mr. Harold Holzer’s quote in which he states that selling the John Wilkes Booth bobbleheads are, “…like selling Lee Harvey Oswald stuffed dolls at the Kennedy Center.”  While both Lincoln and Kennedy’s assassinations were traumatic events in our history, the men who committed them were polar opposites.  The times and events they lived through defined them as uniquely troubled individuals and each had vastly different motivations for their crimes.  By painting these two assassins with the same brush, we actually diminish the honored men they killed.  The story of Lincoln’s assassination is a dark one and an unpleasant one.  However, looking at the men and women who conspired to kill Lincoln helps us better understand the harsh period of time in which Lincoln lived and led a nation.

According to the original Evening Sun article, 11 out of the 12 people interviewed stated that the Booth bobblehead was inappropriate.  The sole hold out was a 15-year-old boy who stated, “It’s a part of history and we can’t just ignore it because it’s a bad part.”

I couldn’t agree more:

References:
Evening Sun articles: 1, 2, 3
Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library article

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Manhunt: The Exhibit

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Dave Taylor

In 2001, James Swanson and Daniel Weinberg released their book, Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution.  This coffee table sized book by Swanson, a D.C. attorney, and Weinberg, owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, contains both men’s impressive collection of artifacts, documents, and images involving Lincoln’s assassination.  In addition, the pair found other noteworthy items in other private collection and museums to include in this visual tour of the assassination.  It is a truly wonderful picture book that should be in every assassination library.  In 2006, James Swanson once again entered the spotlight when he released his assassination book, Manhunt: The Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.  The book became a New York Times bestseller due to its appealing, fiction-like writing style.  The book’s popularity led to a temporary exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.  In this exhibit, many of Swanson’s artifacts were on display.  The exhibit has since closed, but I was able to visit it in May of 2009.  For those of you who were not able to see it, here are some of the highlights:

Click the images to enlarge them

Advertising for the exhibit outside the Newseum.

The "Jumbotron" inside the Newseum cycled through a taped message about the exhibit.

The room containing the Manhunt exhibit.

The room had wonderfully bright displays of each of the conspirators...

...and the events.

Some of the artifacts displayed included the last photograph of Lincoln.

Prints and photographs of Booth.

A key and brick from the Old Capitol prison which housed Mary Surratt along with many other witnesses and suspects.

A broadside about Booth's death.

A photograph and brick from Booth's favorite hotel, The National. The Newseum now occupies the same site where the National once stood.

An original (not a later reprint, I confirmed) playbill from Our American Cousin.

A period map showing D.C. and Booth's escape route.

While a little small for my liking (we could always use more assassination artifacts, after all), the exhibit did a great job showcasing Swanson’s book and collection.

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You want a piece of me?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Have an issue with tissue?  If so, then I recommend against you visiting the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.  Founded in 1849 by the Philadelphia College of Physicians, it houses one of the premiere collections of medical oddities and specimens.  Perfectly preserved skulls, fetuses, and the most enlarged body parts you’ve ever seen, cover the walls from ceiling to floor.  Among the collection of plasticized parts, lies a piece of the assassin himself.

During his autopsy on April 27th 1865, the vertebrae through which the fatal bullet traveled were removed from John Wilkes Booth.  Those vertebrae now lie in the National Museum of Health and Medicine.  The tissue surrounding and scraped from those vertebrae, on the other hand, is exhibited at the Mütter Museum.

Tissue taken from John Wilkes Booth during his autopsy aboard the monitor Montauk.

While documented as a “piece of the thorax of John Wilkes Booth” and still labeled as such, it is more likely tissue from Booth’s neck.  No mention is made of Booth’s thoracic cavity in the brief autopsy records.  The doctors performing the autopsy focused almost exclusively on his broken leg and neck wound.

So, if you’re ever in Philadelphia and you want to observe the medical macabre, stop on in the Mütter Museum and catch a look at a piece of the assassin.

References:
The best resource about Booth’s autopsy is Roger Norton’s unparalleled Lincoln Assassination Research Site.  It was Mr. Norton who first learned that the Mütter specimen from Booth was probably not his thorax but tissue from his vertebrae.

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