Manhunt

by James L. Swanson

  My own hunt for John Wilkes Booth began when my grandmother, Elizabeth, a veteran of Chicago’s legendary and now extinct tabloid newspaper scene, gave a ten-year-old boy the unusual gift of a framed engraving of Booth’s Deringer pistol, along with an April 15, 1865, Chicago Tribune clipping, thus triggering the obsession that led to this book.

  My sister Denise’s animated spirit and taste for bizarre historical tales encouraged me from the start. From an early age, she aided and abetted my literary pursuits.

  Finally, I thank my parents, Dianne and Lennart Swanson. Without their love and generous support over many years, I never could have written Manhunt, or anything else.

  James L. Swanson Washington, D.C. October 10, 2005

  A NOTE ON SOURCES

  The literature of the Lincoln assassination is vast and I do not pretend to catalog it here. The complete bibliography, which no scholar has ever compiled, contains several thousand books and articles. Any attempt to cite them all, when I could never read them all, seemed pointless, and of little use to a reader who wanted to learn more. The bibliography that follows is hardly comprehensive and is, with a few exceptions, little more than a selective shelf list of books from my own library, and those which I consulted while researching and writing Manhunt. I used my best judgment to choose, and cite, the best sources. These are the few hundred books that I either liked the most, found the most helpful, or believed would be most interesting to readers who might use Manhunt as the starting point for their own pursuit of John Wilkes Booth. To begin that pursuit, I suggest a handful of titles.

  The best modern book on the Lincoln assassination is Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by Edward Steers Jr. In 1865, three different book publishers printed transcripts of the testimony from the conspiracy trial. Today, the only version that remains in print can be found in The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators, edited by Edward Steers Jr. In addition to printing a facsimile of Pitman’s one-volume transcript of the proceedings, Steers included essays on the conspirators and the military tribunal by himself and by Lincoln assassination specialists Joan Chaconas, Laurie Verge, Percy E. Martin, Terry Alford, and Burrus Carnahan. From these two books alone, one can gain a comprehensive understanding of the plots against Lincoln, the events of April 1865, the military tribunal, and the execution of the conspirators.

  Another essential reference is Trial of John H. Surratt in the Criminal Court for the District of Columbia, published in two volumes in 1867. This important and fascinating transcript includes material available nowhere else. Unfortunately, the Surratt volumes have never been reprinted, and are available only in the scarce and costly original edition. The most complete published transcript from the 1865 tribunal is Benjamin Perley Poore’s three-volume The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of the President. This set was reprinted some years ago, but the facsimile edition, like the original, is scarce.

  The best illustrated histories of the assassination are Twenty Days by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., and Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution by James L. Swanson and Daniel R. Weinberg. Twenty Days contains more than three hundred black-and-white photos of the people and places connected to the assassination and Lincoln’s funeral. Lincoln’s Assassins contains more than two hundred and fifty color plates of rare period prints, photographs, paintings, books, relics, newspapers, autographs, and documents related to the assassination, manhunt, trial, and execution.

  Classic works that have held up well include The Death of Lincoln by Clara Laughlin, Myths After Lincoln by Lloyd Lewis, and The Great American Myth by George Bryan. William Hanchett’s The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies is a splendid historiography of a century’s worth of alternative conspiracy theories. Thomas Reed Turner’s Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln is an outstanding account of how the American people mourned their fallen president.

  Essential—and my favorite—period accounts include George Alfred Townsend’s The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, published in 1865 just a few weeks after the manhunt was over; Thomas A. Jones’s 1893 memoir, J. Wilkes Booth, in which he described how he hid Booth and Herold in the pine thicket and then sent them across the Potomac; and, of course, Asia Booth Clarke’s incomparable remembrance of her brother, The Unlocked Book: A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by His Sister, written in secret and not published until 1938. All are scarce in their original editions, but they have been reprinted and are not difficult to obtain, and enjoy. The collected works of John Wilkes Booth, brief as they may be given the destruction of many of his letters and personal papers during the frenzied days of the manhunt, remained unavailable for more than a century until their 1997 publication in “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me”: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth, edited by John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper.

  The various publications of the Surratt Society, an organization of serious researchers, and not assassination apologists, are invaluable to students of Booth’s crime, and they include From War Department Files: Statements Made by the Alleged Lincoln Conspirators Under Examination, 1865; In Pursuit of . . . : Continuing Research in the Field of the Lincoln Assassination; The Lincoln Assassination: From the Pages of the Surratt Courier (1986–1999), published in two volumes; On the Way to Garrett’s Barn; and Abraham Lincoln Assassination Bibliography: A Compendium of Reference Materials, compiled by Blaine V. Houmes. This bibliography, a substantial book in itself, is the most complete guide ever published on the literature of the Lincoln assassination.

  The Surratt Courier, the monthly publication of the Surratt Society, and the Journal of the Lincoln Assassination, published three times a year by Frederick Hatch, contain valuable articles, book reviews, and news.

  Finally, two recent books on Lincoln’s assassination, American Brutus: The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracies by Michael Kauffman and The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy by Thomas Goodrich are wonderfully exhaustive compilations of assassination information.

  In addition to the printed sources collected in this essay, and in the bibliography that follows, the original War Department and other government papers connected to the investigation of the Lincoln assassination, the manhunt, the trial of the conspirators, and the distribution of the rewards make up an essential archive. Unfortunately, this collection, which reposes at the National Archives, has never been published. Many of the documents are available in microfilm. The most important sources—the records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, are in Record Group 153, and bear the name “Investigation and Trial Papers Relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln.” Among historians, they are more commonly known as the “Lincoln Assassination Suspects File.” They are available on sixteen reels of microfilm called Microcopy-599, or M-599. Another important collection of documents, related chiefly to the various applications for shares of the reward money, are held in Record Group 94, records of the Adjutant General’s Office. These materials are available on four reels of microfilm called Micro-copy-619, or M-619, on reels 455 through 458. For the convenience of readers who do not own microfilm readers or do not wish to spend hundreds of dollars on twenty or more rolls of microfilm, I have, throughout the chapter notes, cited works where the microfilmed documents have been reprinted for easy reference.

  Abott, A. Abott. The Assassination and Death of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, at Washington, on the 14th of April, 1865. New York: American News Company, 1865. Archer, Mrs. M.A. Echoes: Volume First. Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood &

  Co., 1867. Arnold, Isaac N. Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: John B. Bachelder, 1869.

  Arnold, Samuel Bland. Defense and Prison Experiences of a Lincoln Conspirator. Hattiesburg, Mississippi: The Book Farm, 1940.

  Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. N e w Y o r k : W . W . N o r t o n , 1987.

  Baker, Lafayette C. The Secre
t Service in the Late War. Philadelphia: 1867.

  Basler, Roy P. The Lincoln Legend: A Study in Changing Conceptions. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1935.

  Basler, Roy P., ed. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1953. Eight volumes plus index and supplements.

  Bates, David Homer. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office. New York: The Century Co., 1907.

  Bates, Finis L. Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth. Memphis, Tennessee: Finis L. Bates, 1907.

  Beale, Howard K., ed. The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, vol. 4 of the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933.

  ———. Diary of Gideon Welles. New York: W. W. Norton, 1960. 3 volumes.

  Beall, John. Trial of John Y. Beall, as a Spy and Guerreillero, by Military Commission. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1865.

  Benham, William Burton. Life of Osborn H. Oldroyd: Founder and Collector of Lincoln Mementos. Washington, D.C.: privately printed, 1927.

  Bernstein, Iver. The New York City Draft Riots. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

  Bingham, John Armor. Trial of the Conspirators for the Assassination of President Lincoln, s.c. Argument of John A. Bingham, Special Judge Advocate. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1865.

  Bishop, Jim. The Day Lincoln Was Shot. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.

  Blake, Mortimer. Human Depravity John Wilkes Booth: A Sermon Occassioned by the Assassination of President Lincoln, and Delivered in the Winslow Congregational Church, Taunton, Massachusetts on Sunday Evening, April 23, 1865, by the Pastor. Champlain: privately printed at the Moorsfield Press, 1925.

  Blue, Frederick J. Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1987.

  Bohn, Casimir. Bohn’s Hand-Book of Washington. Washington, D.C.: Casimir Bohn, [1856].

  Booth, John Wilkes. Wilkes Booth’s Private Confession of the Murder of President Lincoln and His Terrible Oath of Vengeance: Furnished by an Escaped Confederate. London: Newsagents’ Publishing Company, 1865.

  Borreson, Ralph. When Lincoln Died. New York: Appleton-Century, 1965.

  Boyd, Andrew. Abraham Lincoln, Foully Assassinated April 14, 1865. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell, Printer, 1868.

  ———. Boyd’s Washington and Georgetown Directory: 1864. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Taylor, 1863.

  ———. A Memorial Lincoln Bibliography: Being an Account of Books, Eulogies, Sermons, Portraits, Engravings, Medals, etc., Published upon Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, Assassinated Good Friday, April 14, 1865. Albany, New York: Andrew Boyd, Directory Publisher, 1870.

  Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. New York: Blelock & Company, 1865.

  Braver, Adam. Mr. Lincoln’s Wars: A Novel in Thirteen Stories. New York: William Morrow, 2003.

  Brenner, Walter C. The Ford Theatre Lincoln Assassination Playbills. Philadelphia: privately printed, 1937.

  Brooks, Noah. Washington in Lincoln’s Time. New York: The Century Co., 1895.

  Brooks, Stewart M. Our Murdered Presidents: The Medical Story. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., 1966.

  Brown, George William. Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861. Baltimore: N. Murray, 1887.

  Browning, Orville Hickman. The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning. Edited with Introduction and Notes by Theodore Calvin Pease and James G. Randall. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1925–[33]. 2 vols.

  Bryan, George S. The Great American Myth: The True Story of Lincoln’s Murder. New York: Carrick & Evans, 1940.

  Bryan, Vernanne. Laura Keene: A British Actress on the American Stage, 1826– 1873. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1997.

  Buckeridge, J. O. Lincoln’s Choice: The Repeating Rifle Which Cut Short the Civil W a r . Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Stackpole Company, 1956.

  Buckingham, J. E. Reminiscences and Souvenirs of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Washington, D.C.: Press of Rufus H. Darby, 1894.

  Cable, Mary. The Avenue of the Presidents. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1969.

  Cain, Marvin R. Lincoln’s Attorney General: Edward Bates of Missouri. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1965.

  Campbell, W. P. The Escape and Wanderings of J. Wilkes Booth Until Ending of the Trail by Suicide in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: privately printed, 1922.

  Carpenter, Francis B. Six Months in the White House with Abraham Lincoln. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1866.

  Chamlee, Roy Z. Lincoln’s Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial, and Punishment. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1990.

  Chase, Salmon P. Inside Lincoln’s Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase. Edited by David Donald. New York: Longmans, Green, 1954.

  Clark, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln in the National Capital. Washington, D.C.: Press of W. F. Roberts Co., 1925.

  Clarke, Asia Booth. The Unlocked Book: A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by His Sister. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938.

  Clarke, Champ. The Assassination: Death of a President. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1987.

  Coggeshall, William T. Lincoln Memorial: The Journeys of Abraham Lincoln: From Springfield to Washington, 1861, as President Elect; and From Washington to Springfield, 1865, as President Martyred. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Journal, 1865.

  Cole, Donald B., and John J. McDonough, eds. Benjamin Brown French: Witness to the Young Republic. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1989.

  Collyer, William H. The Death of Booth: Affidavit Dec. 1, 1904 in Pension Claim of Wm. H. Collyer, a Blowhard. New York: privately printed by D. H. Newhall, 1934.

  Cooling, Benjamin Franklin. Symbol, Sword and Shield: Defending Washington During the Civil War. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 1991.

  Creahan, John. The Life of Laura Keene: Philadelphia: The Rodgers Publishing Co., 1897.

  Davis, William C. An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

  Davis, William C. Look Away: A History of the Confederate States of America. New York: The Free Press, 2002.

  De Chambrun, Marquis Adolphe. Impressions of Lincoln and the Civil War: A Foreigner’s Account. New York: Random House, 1952.

  Dewitt, David Miller. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Its Expiation. New York: Macmillan, 1909.

  ———. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. New York: Macmillan, 1903.

  ———. The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt. Baltimore: J. Murphy, 1895.

  Donald, David H. Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln’s Family Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

  Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

  Doster, William E. Lincoln and Episodes of the Civil War. New York: 1915.

  Downes, Alan S. The Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson. Cambride: Belknap Press, 1964.

  Eisenschiml, Otto. The Case of A. L , Aged 56. Chicago: Abraham Lincoln

  Book Shop, 1943.

  ———. In the Shadow of Lincoln’s Death. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1940.

  ———. Why Was Lincoln Murdered? Boston: Little, Brown, 1937.

  Epperson, James F., ed. The Positive Identification of the Body of John Wilkes Booth, Civil War Naval Chronology. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971.

  Epstein, Daniel Mark. Lincoln and Whitman: Parallel Lives in Civil War Washington. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004.

  Eskew, Garnett Laidlaw. Willard’s of Washington: The Epic of a Capital Caravansary. New York: Coward-McCann, 1954.

  Fehrenbacher, Don E., and Virginia Fehrenbacher. Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1996.

  Ferguson, W. J. I Saw Booth Shoot Lincoln. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1930.

  Field, Maunsell B. Memories of Many Men and of Some Women. New York: Harper & Brothe
rs, 1874.

  Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly. New York: Broadway Books, 2003.

  Flower, Frank A. Edwin McMasters Stanton. Akron, Ohio: Saalfield Publishing Co., 1905.

  Forrester, Izola. This One Mad Act: The Unknown Story of John Wilkes Booth and His Family, by His Granddaughter. Boston: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1937.

  Fowler, Robert H. Album of the Lincoln Murder: Illustrating How It Was Planned, Committed and Avenged. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1965.

  Furgurson, Ernest B. Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War. New York, Knopf, 2004.

  Furtwangler, Albert. Assassin on Stage: Brutus, Hamlet, and the Death of Lincoln. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.

  Gammans, Harold. Lincoln Names and Epithets. Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1955.

  Garner, Stanton. The Civil War World of Herman Melville. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.

  Garrett, R. B. An Interesting Letter About the Death of John Wilkes Booth. Peoria, Illinois: privately printed for the Oakwood Lincoln Club, 1934.

  Garrison, Webb. The Encyclopedia of Civil War Usage. Nashville: Cumberland House, 2001.

  Gerry, Margarita Spalding, ed. Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-Guard to President Lincoln. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910.

  Good, Timothy S. We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.

  Goodale, Katherine. Behind the Scenes with Edwin Booth. Boston: Muffin, 1931.

  Goodrich, Thomas. The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

  Gray, Clayton. Conspiracy in Canada. Montreal: L’Atelier Press, 1957.

  Greenhow, Rose. Mrs. Greenhow: My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington. London: Richard Bentley, 1863.