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In the fall of 1864, the popular actor John Wilkes Booth arrived
in Southern Maryland, a haven for Confederate sympathizers,
with letters of introduction from exiled Confederates in Canada
and a scheme to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln. Booth soon
gathered recruits to assist him. Whether the Confederate high
command in Richmond, Virginia, sanctioned the plan or Booth
retaliated on his own for what he perceived as Lincoln's harsh
wartime policies is unclear. By April 1865, however, Booth had
abandoned the kidnap plot in favor of assassination. On April
14, shortly after 10 p.m., Booth shot Lincoln in the back of
the head while the president watched a play at Ford's Theatre
in Washington DC.
Booth fled over the Navy Yard Bridge into Southern Maryland.
With fellow conspirator David Herold, he stopped about midnight
at widow Mary E. Surratt's tavern in the village of Surrattsville.
She was then operating a boardinghouse in Washington DC but
a tenant at the tavern testified that Booth retrieved rifles,
field glasses, and other supplies hidden there as part of the
earlier kidnap scheme. The tenant also said that Surratt had
been at the tavern as recently as the afternoon of April 14,
and had left instructions to have the equipment ready. His testimony
was fatal to Surratt, marking the first time that the federal
government had executed and hung a woman.
Booth and Herold did not linger at the tavern, but headed south
to the village of T.B. and then into Charles County. Their exact
route is uncertain, but their destination was Dr. Samuel A.
Mudd's home about three miles north of Bryantown. The doctor
and Booth had met previously, and Mudd had introduced the actor
to a leading Confederate agent, Thomas Harbin, as well as John
Surratt, Jr., a Confederate courier and son of Mary Surratt.
The fugitives arrived at the Mudd farm early on the morning
of April 15, seeking help for the broken leg that Booth had
sustained in his escape. After setting the leg, Mudd allowed
the pair to rest in an upstairs bedroom. That afternoon, the
doctor went into Bryantown, learned that it was occupied by
Federal troops and that the search was on for Lincoln's assassin.
Mudd returned home and sent Booth and Herold on their way. The
last time he saw them, they were headed in the direction of
Zekiah Swamp. Mudd was later sentenced to prison for assisting
Booth.
However, the pair did not seek refuge in the swamp. They made
a wide arc around Bryantown and were guided to the home of Samuel
Cox (near the present-day town of Bel Alton) shortly after midnight
on April 16. Cox sent them to a dense pine thicket where they
hid for several days, receiving food and newspapers from Thomas
Jones, a Confederate signal agent, and Franklin Robey, Cox's
overseer. On the night of April 20, Jones led the fugitives
to the Potomac River where he had hidden a rowboat. He directed
them to Mathias Point on the Virginia shore, but for some reason
the pair rowed to Nanjemoy Creek in Maryland, where they rested
before trying again the next night.
Once in Virginia, Booth and Herold crossed the Rappahannock
River and found shelter at Richard Garrett's farm. There, early
in the morning of April 26, 1865, Federal troops found them
hiding in a tobacco barn. Herold surrendered as ordered, but
Booth refused. To force him out, the barn was set on fire. The
soldiers could see Booth through the slats in the barn, and
Sgt. Boston Corbett shot him in the back of the neck. Soldiers
dragged Booth onto the porch of the nearby farmhouse, where
he died a few hours later. Herold was returned to Washington
DC where he stood trial and suffered death on the gallows.
Of those who helped Booth escape through Maryland, only Herold,
Mrs. Surratt and Dr. Mudd were prosecuted. Cox, Jones and others
associated with the assassin's flight were released after several
weeks in jail. Jones wrote a book, J. Wilkes Booth (1893), about
his experience.
Article from the Maryland Civil War Trails Guides, used with
permission.
Visit www.mdwelcome.org for
more Maryland Civil War links.
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