This morning I arose bright and early. My reasoning for doing so was not the same as many others today. I was not out hunting for an elusive deal or special discount sale. Rather I woke early today to meet up with fellow Lincoln assassination researcher and author, Jim Garrett, for a day long Boothie “field trip”. Together, Jim and I travelled down into Caroline County, Virginia to socialize with a couple of her noted residents and to investigate some Lincoln assassination sites in the area.
While driving down to Caroline County, Jim and I made a stop over in King George County to see the site of William McDaniel’s house. William McDaniel is not featured in many assassination books as his connection to the story seems to be solely through family lore. The book Come Retribution by authors Tidwell, Hall, and Gaddy contains a single sentence mentioning McDaniel, “At Office Hall, they [Booth, Herold and Charley Lucas] stopped for food at the home of William McDaniel.” Though there does not seem to be any physical documentation for this visit, a phone conversation in the 1980’s between King George historian John Stanton and a McDaniel descendant also supported the family’s belief that someone, possibly the servants at the McDaniel house, fed Booth and Herold a meal on April 24th.
While we hardly have ironclad proof of the incident occurring, it is a harmless enough piece of oral tradition to pass on. Jim showed me the spot on which the McDaniel house used to stand, the site having originally been shown to him by Elizabeth Lee, another King George County historian and head of the local historical society. The house that is on the site today was built on the foundation of the former McDaniel house:
Site of the McDaniel House where is claimed John Wilkes Booth and David Herold were fed a meal while travelling through King George County on April 24th, 1865.
Our next stop was Green Falls, the home of Caroline County historian and former Smithsonian curator, Herb Collins. I’ve highlighted Mr. Collins and his remarkable career on my site before and you can read about him here. At Herb’s house, we were joined by Betty Ownsbey, the immensely delightful author and biographer of conspirator Lewis Powell. Herb and Betty had never met before, but before too long, those two native Virginians were finishing each other’s sentences and having a grand time talking about the Old Dominion and its sites.
From Herb’s we travelled up to Port Royal and were met by Port Royal historian and long time resident Cleo Coleman. Being as gracious as she is, Cleo was kind enough to open up the Port Royal Museum of American History for us. Though I had visited the museum when it first opened up last year, neither Jim or Betty had ever been there. Since my first visit they have increased their collection thanks, in part, to the continued generosity of Herb Collins, and acquired more display cases to showcase their treasures. I took a couple pictures of their John Wilkes Booth in Caroline display:
The Port Royal Museum of American History is open on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Please find the time to visit and support this wonderful fledging museum.
From the museum, Cleo took us over to the Port Royal Portrait Gallery, which contains many paintings of notable citizens of Caroline County:
The only Lincoln assassination related face in the gallery is that of Richard Henry Garrett, the owner the farm on which Booth died:
After John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, and Confederate soldiers Bainbridge, Ruggles and Willie Jett, crossed the Rappahannock river ferry into Port Royal, Jett proceeded to the home of the Peyton family. Jett not only wanted to visit the family, but was also looking for someone who would take in the wounded Booth for the night. He asked, the lady of the house, Miss Sarah Jane Peyton, if she would not mind entertaining and lodging a wounded Confederate soldier. At first she agreed and Booth was led inside and rested on a lounge. Not long after this, Miss Peyton, changed her mind and asked Jett to find another place for “Mr. Boyd”.
Front porch of the Peyton house
Willie Jett asked Miss Peyton if she thought her neighbor, a Mr. Catlett, would take the men in. She said she did not know and so Willie Jett went across the street to check. He discovered that Mr. Catlett was not at home.
The Catlett house, across the street from the Peyton home.
According to Willie Jett, Miss Peyton then said to the men, “You can get him in anywhere up the road; Mr. Garrett’s or anywhere else.” Then the men rode further up the road, eventually depositing Booth off at the Garretts.
While Jett’s attempts at dropping Booth off at the Peyton and Catlett homes are the only two supported by documentation by Jett, local lore in Port Royal states that Jett attempted at least two more houses before deciding that the Garrett’s would be the best bet. One of the house supposed to have been visited by Jett after the Peyton and Catlett homes is the Murray House, further down King Street.
The last place Jett attempted to drop off Booth according to local tradition was the Dickerson house at the end of King’s street.
While we were all in the Portrait Gallery, Cleo was kind enough to recount her personal knowledge of the Dickerson house and the local lore around it:
Ultimately, here’s a map of the different stops (some documented, some not) that Jett made with Booth trying to find a temporary respite for him:
After enjoying the paintings at the Port Royal portrait gallery, our group of five had lunch at a local restaurant with a nice view of the river:
The Rappahannock river will Belle Grove visible on the Port Conway shore.
Following lunch we bade our goodbye to Cleo, our Port Royal hostess, and to Betty, who had to return home. One of the things on Jim’s wish list for this trip was to find the location of Mrs. Virginia Clarke’s home south of Bowling Green. After dropping Booth off at the Garrett’s, Willie Jett proceeded to the Star Hotel in Bowling Green where he spent the night. Herold, Bainbridge and Ruggles continued on further to Mrs. Clarke’s home and that is where they spent the night on April 24th. Virginia’s son had served in the Confederacy and Ruggles and Bainbridge knew the Clarkes from his service with them.
Herb Collins is a walking encyclopedia and his recent book, Caroline County Virginia Estates; Residences and Historic Sites, demonstrates his immense knowledge of the area and its history. With Herb as our navigator, we quickly came across the location of Mrs. Clarke’s house. The home, gone since at least the 1960’s, has been replaced now by a large pond.
The site of the former Clarke house in Caroline County, VA
The gate to the Clarke house once stood here.
After visiting the site of the Clarke home we went back to Green Falls and said goodbye to Herb. On our way back, utilizing yet another of Herb’s books and his personal guidance, we stopped at Greenlawn Cemetery and found Virginia Clarke’s grave:
As the sun was going down, Jim and I returned to Port Royal to take a few pictures before departing for Maryland shores. Our journey today proved to be an enlightening and enjoyable one. We got to learn from and chat with our immensely knowledgeable friends in Virginia. For our next field trip, Jim and I are hoping to see if we can arrange passage onto Fort A. P. Hill in Caroline County to visit the site where the house of ill repute, “The Trappe” once stood. Herold, Jett, Bainbridge, and Ruggles visited the Trappe after dropping Booth off at the Garretts and before they found lodging for the night. We’ll keep you informed.
In the true spirit of Black Friday, however, why not purchase Jim and his co-author Rich Smyth’s grave book and the upcoming second edition of Betty’s Lewis Powell book. They’d make wonderful Christmas gifts.
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