Posts Tagged With: Trial

A Sketch of Seward’s Assassin

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Dave Taylor

“Looking again to the right, and omitting the alternate guard, we come to one of the most remarkable faces of the group – a face which, once seen, may never be forgotten; on whose moral stature is readily determined by his face.  This man is clothed sparingly.  He is in his shirt sleeves – a sort of steel mixed woolen shirt; his pantaloons dark blue cloth; his neck bare and shirt collar unbuttoned.  He is fully six feet high; slender body; angular form; square and narrow across the shoulders; hollow breast; hair black, straight and irregularly cut and hanging indifferently about his forehead, which is rather low and narrow.  Blue eyes, large, staring, and at times wild, returning your look steadily and unflinchingly.  Square face; jaw irregular; nose turned at the top but expanding abruptly at the nostrils; thin lips, and slightly twisted; mouth curved unsymmetrically a little to the left of the middle line of the face; a wild, savage-looking man, bearing no culture or refinement – the most perfect type of the ingrained hardened criminal…” – Milwaukee Sentinel (05/16/1865)

For the time being all I can manage to post is this self created montage of Lewis Powell and a description of him from a period newspaper account. Of course Powell’s biographer, Betty Ownsbey, is the best source for information on Lewis Powell and happily discusses him on Roger Norton’s Lincoln Discussion Symposium.

I, myself, have been busy preparing for an upcoming move out of my home state of Illinois to the great state Maryland.  I recently got a new teaching job in Maryland and I am very excited about being closer to the history that I love.

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The Lincoln Assassination Trial – The Court Transcripts

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Dave Taylor

I have previously written about the wonderful resource tool that is, The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence by William Edwards and Ed Steers. William Edwards went through and painstakingly transcribed the bulk of the National Archives’ record group M599, the government’s collected evidence after Lincoln’s assassination. With editorial annotations by Ed Steers, the book is the best tool for researching the Lincoln assassination primary sources. When used in conjunction with Fold3.com to view the documents themselves, the book becomes of even greater value.

While I could sing the accolades of The Evidence for hours, this post is actually about a new and equally wonderful resource by William Edwards, The Lincoln Assassination Trial – The Court Transcripts.

Now I know what you are thinking, “I already have a copy of the conspiracy trial. Why would I buy another one?” It is true that there are many editions and reprints of the conspiracy trial out there. There were three different versions of the trial (Pitman, Poore, and Peterson) and each have been reprinted many times over the years. Even William Edwards’ partner on The Evidence, Ed Steers, released his own reprint of the Pitman edition of the trial. However, as valuable as all of these versions are, William’s new eBook is better. Let me tell you why:

1. This transcription is the most accurate. This transcription was made straight from the microfilmed images of the court’s official copy of each day’s trial proceedings. The words and testimonies have not been summarized or altered in anyway. The words presented are exactly as they were written by the court’s team of stenographers in 1865.

2. This transcription is the most complete. While publisher Benjamin Perley Poore’s editions of the trial are equally accurate since they were taken from the same source material, they are also incomplete. His fourth and final volume of the trial transcript was never released due to a lack of public interest and low sales of the other volumes. Poore’s editions, therefore, are missing the testimonies of around twenty witnesses. In addition, Poore’s versions lack the closing arguments made by the prosecution and defense attorneys. These missing testimonies and closing arguments are found, in full, in this account.

3. This digitized version of the trial employs four different finding aids and is searchable. This digitized version of the trial makes reading and researching easy. Any part of the trial can be found based on section, NARA reel number, date of testimony, or witness name. Also, by pressing Ctrl+F while reading, you can do a search for any keyword in the entire trial.

Ultimately, if you are looking for a version of the conspiracy trial to purchase, look no further. If you already have a copy of the trial, you also need to get this version. For researching, there is no better version of the trial out there.

Buy it from Google Books today. You won’t regret it.

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To have Peace…

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Dave Taylor

The following letter was received by the Department of the Secretary of State, on April 23rd, 1865:

“To the Honorable Secretary of State

Dear Sir,

In looking over some old papers yesterday my eye came in contact with the enclosed extract which under the existing state of affairs I thought was worthy of being pointed out to you especially as the state (Ala) is now in our possession and the authors of the proposition can be hunted out and brought to justice ever provided they are innocent of the murder.

I have the honor to be your Obt. Servant,
Henry L. Greiner”

Attached to this letter was this extract from the Selma Dispatch:

“One Million Dollars Wanted, to have Peace by the 1st of March. – If the citizens of the Southern Confederacy will furnish me with the cash or good securities for the sum of one million dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward and Andrew Johnson to be taken by the first of March next.  This will give us peace, and satisfy the world that cruel tyrants can not live in the “land of  liberty.”  If this is not accomplished nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of fifty thousand dollars, in advance, which is supposed to be necessary to reach and slaughter the three villains.
I will give, myself, one thousand dollars towards this patriotic purpose.
Every one wishing to contribute will address box X, Cahaba, Alabama.  X.
December 1, 1864″

The author of this advertisement was George W. Gayle, a lawyer from Cahaba, Alabama.  Gayle ran this advertisement in the Selma Dispatch four or five times to express his, and his neighbors’, digust and hatred for the sixteenth president and his cabinet.  We can tell his threat was not a real one due to his million dollar fee.  Such a sum would be unobtainable in the war ravaged South.

While extravagant and crass, Gayle demonstrates the feeling that Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant.  This idea was shared by many others who watched a war between brothers rage on.  One man who shared this view was John Wilkes Booth.

Gayle’s violent expression of disgust against Lincoln would come back to haunt him.  After the government received the above note and newspaper clipping, Gayle was hunted down and arrested on May 24.  The 57-year-old lawyer had no real connection to John Wilkes Booth and Lincoln’s assassination,  but the government used him as a warning to all of those who spoke ill of the late President.  Not only was his advertisement and character involved in the Trial of the Conspirators in 1865, but, he was still trying to clear his name in court as of December, 1866.

The people of the Confederacy learned quickly from Mr. Gayle’s example.  Those who agreed with what Booth had done censored themselves to protect themselves.  Many only committed their approval in the form of diary and journal entries.  To learn more about the how Southerners viewed Lincoln’s assassination, I recommend the book, When the Bells Tolled for Lincoln: Southern Reaction to the Assassination by Carolyn L. Harrell.  This book is a wonderful look at how varied the perception of Lincoln’s death was across the Southern states.

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