(Overhead of Bloopers) Introduction ( Overhead of title) (Richard Mudd (biblio list). The Day Lincoln was shot (1860 pic).

Transcription

1 (Overhead of Bloopers) Introduction My presentation is on: The Lincoln Assassination and Dr. Samuel Mudd. (Overhead of title) I intend to highlight some of the fascinating characters and interesting events that surrounded the assassination and the unique case of Dr. Mudd. My interest in this topic goes back to when I was a Boy Scout and our troop visited Dr. Richard Mudd in my home town of Saginaw, Michigan. (Richard Mudd) Dr. Mudd is the grandson of Dr. Samuel Mudd. I corresponded with him and then later when I taught high school, I taught with his son Tom. I will get back to their roles later in my presentation. My principle sources were the following (biblio list). It was not until the middle of the 1900 s that scholarly work was begun on the Lincoln assassination. The first major undertaking was Jim Bishop s book, The Day Lincoln was shot. Later, after Dr. Richard Mudd began urging for his grandfather s exoneration, other persons began publishing articles and books trying to show Dr. Mudd and also Mary Surratt were guilty conspirators and their verdicts should not be changed. There have also been a whole host of conspiracy books written involving plots by either, Vice President Johnson, Mrs. Lincoln, Sec. of War Edwin Stanton, a group of industrists, and even the catholic church. One point which is not debated is that John Wilkes Booth did assassinate President Lincoln. There were many witnesses and written evidence. It would be as if someone like Paul Newman had shot President Kennedy on a live television show. 1 Our first main character is Abraham Lincoln (1860 pic). More books have been written about Lincoln than any other American and if you google Abraham Lincoln you will get over 1.8 million hits. Lincoln physically aged a lot from the time this picture was taken in mid 1860 until this well known picture in 1865.

2 (1865 pic) There are hundreds of photos of Lincoln, but only one was taken with a family member, his son Tad. There are no known pictures of Lincoln with his wife Mary. And there are no photos of Lincoln smiling. Lincoln began growing his beard in late 1860 and he occasionally trimmed it way back or even shaved it off during his presidency. This picture, (2 nd inauguration picture) of a shaved Lincoln, was taken at his 2 nd inauguration. When he died he only had a small beard. An interesting note in light of the recent election was that Lincoln never attended the 1860 Republican convention which nominated him in Chicago and he spent the whole Presidential campaign in Springfield, IL letting others campaign for him. Hannibal Hamlin from Maine became the nominee for vice president but Lincoln never met him until just 10 days before the inaugrauation. Lincoln got only 39 % of the popular vote but won 180 of the 155 needed electoral votes. This was because the Democrats split their votes between the southern candidate, John Breckenridge and the northern candidate, Stephen Douglas. Lincoln became the first Republican president. On the way to Washington DC, a plot to harm Lincoln was uncovered by Allen Pinkerton, a detective from Chicago who had recently organized his own agency and was hired by the railroad to investigate robberies. (Pinkerton picture) Pinkerton, pictured here with Lincoln, persuaded Lincoln to switch trains and therefore he made it safely into Washington. The plot was the idea of a group, called the National Volunteers, a militant unit of a Baltimore group called The Anti Lincoln Knights of the Golden Circle. Pinkerton was later asked by Lincoln to head the Union sintelligence system during the war and he assumed this role until 1863 when Edwin Stanton the Sec. of War had him replaced. Contrary to what some have thought, he was not a personal guard of Lincoln and he did not start the Secret Service. The Secret Service was not started until 1865 to stop counterfeiting 2

3 and it didn t take on guarding the President until 1902 after the McKinley assassination. Pinkerton came from Scotland where he was a cooper and was forced to flee the country when he got involved in union activities. Ironically, he later used his agency to break up unions including the MollyMcGuire sin West Virginia. He also coined the phrase, Private Eye. In another coincidence, his great grandson is a neighbor of mine in Michigan. Lincoln lived in the White House, but during the hot summers, like his predecessor, he moved about 3 miles North of Washington DC to a place called the Soldier s Home and many times he would ride unguarded to and back from the White House. In the summer of 1862 a bullet smashed through the President s top hat while riding back to the summer residence. After that incident a cavalry unit accompanied him on most trips and 4 Washington DC policemen were assigned to White House patrol but only one at a time. At this time there were no locks on the White House doors so the policeman sat by the front door. Lincoln had them called doormen and dressed in civilian clothes since he didn t like having guards and didn twant the public to think he needed them. The doorman name is still used today. 3 (Booth picture) Our second principle character, John Wilkes Booth was the 9 th of 10 children of a famous actor and like his brother Edwin; he also took up the profession. Actors in those days traveled around the country playing a leading role at various theatres with local talent providing the lesser roles. Booth was very well known, and had the title of, the most handsome man in America. Just as some people today collect sports cards, back then people collected cards of actors like Booth. (Booth pics) These are some of the many cards picturing Booth.

4 Perhaps because Booth s father had a wife in England and various mistreses here, John had no birth certificate and eventually no death certificate. He also, as an adult, had no permanent home and lived in hotels. Mail was sent to theatres, mainly Ford s Theatreas he did use Washington DC as a base. Booth s last paid performance was in May of 1864, although he did appear 3 more times in benefits. Booth was a racist, a white supremist and when Lincoln emancipated the slaves his hatred for Lincoln and his deep passion for the Confederacy came out. During the summer of 1864, Booth contacted the Confederate Secret Service in Montréal. He thought his life as an actor would serve him well as a spy. Eventually a plan was formed to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners. There is no evidence that Jefferson Davis knew of this plot. Booth eagerly took up the task of organizing this plan. He began recruiting several people, among them Samuel Arnold andmichael O Laughlin old childhood friends.he also began plotting a route to take the captured Lincoln south to Richmond. This route would take him through Charles County in Maryland. It was well known that spies and contraband supplies, especially medicine, made their way south through this county. It was here in Nov. of 1864 that Booth met Dr. Mudd. Booth was 26 years old at the time. 4 (Mudd picture) Let s look at our 3 rd principle character, Dr. Samuel Mudd. You may have heard this saying; Your name is mud. (Overhead of mud sayings) It is very popular in the Midwest. It actually was first documented in an 1823 dictionary referring to the dirt people used to throw at speakers in London parks. Along the same line there also is the saying; Here s mud in your eye. It is a friendly toast. But in 1865 the Times of New York, used this headline; Your Name is Mudd, referring to Dr. Samuel Mudd. Let s see why.(back to Mudd picture)

5 Dr. Mudd was a very religious 32 years old married doctor with 4 children. He ran a plantation in Charles County, Maryland, just 20 miles south of Washington DC. He had slaves, but voted for Lincoln. He had graduated from Georgetown University and the Baltimore Medical College. He played the violin, flute and piano and fluently spoke 3 foreign languages. He had a cousin, Dr. George Mudd who also practiced in Charles County. Most ofmudd sincome came from tobacco farming as most of his patients were slaves, relatives or people too poor to pay. Booth needed an additional horse for his kidnapping plot so a friend sent him to a Dr. Queen in Charles County. After a Sunday Mass, Dr. Queen introduced Booth to Dr. Mudd who told Booth his neighbor might have a horse for sale. That night Booth stayed at the Mudd s and the next morning bought a horse from Mudd s neighbor. Some modern day critics of Dr. Mudd s say Booth must have introduced and recruited him to the kidnapping plot at this time, else why would he have stayed overnight? But remember Booth was a famous actor, and although Mrs. Mudd didn t like him, as Booth was also a known womanizer, it was a chance to have a famous person at your dinner table. The next month on the 23 rd of Dec. Dr. Mudd was going to Union Station in Washington to pick up some relatives visiting for the holidays when he again ran into Booth. As they were talking John Surratt came upon them and Dr. Mudd introduced him to Booth. Dr. Mudd knew Surratt as he was from the same area. This chance meeting turned out to be a disaster for Mudd and the Surratts. Surratt was just the person Booth had been looking for. He was a confederate spy and blockade runner and he had previously made contact with the Confederate Secret Service in Montreal with whom he performed various spying jobs. (Pictures of guys) Surratt eventually brought George Atzerodt, David Herold and Lewis Payne into the kidnapping plot. George Atzerodt was a 33 year former carriage maker and blockade runner who had a weakness for liquor. David Herold was a 23 year old who may have been slightly retarded. He couldn t read or write but he did know his way around the country side on a 5

6 horse. Lewis Payne, alias Powell was a 20 year old giant of a man who had been wounded while fighting for the South at Gettysburg. All of these men idolized Booth and were happy to follow his orders. The first attempt at a kidnapping was in Jan. of They were going to cut down trees to block a road, seize the President s cariage, string ropes acros the road tostop pursuit and take off to Richmond. They actually did come up to what they thought was the President s cariage but in it was Chief Justice Chase. A second attempt was going to be made on March 17 th when Lincoln was to attend a performance at a veteran s hospital. Alwas in readiness but at the last hour Lincoln changed his mind and went to a flag presentation with the Indiana militia. This was very frustrating to the group and O Laughlin and Arnold told Booth they were out of any further plans he may have. Booth was also frustrated. First a prisoner swap was being started and that took away his motive for the kidnapping. Part of Grant s plan was not to exchange prisoners in order to deplete the South of soldiers. However, after being told of the suffering of many federal prisoners in the impoverished South he had revoked the order banning prisoner exchanges. Then came the surrender at Appomattox andbooth s hatred toward Lincoln intensified. On Thursday, April 13 th, President and Mrs. Lincoln made plans to go to the theater the next evening and Gen. Ulysses Grant and his wife would accompany the Lincolns. After reading in the local newspaper that the Lincolns and Grants would be attending the play, Our American Cousin, Booth decided to act. On Friday morning he met his current lady friend, Lucy Hale in the morning and then after leaving her he rented another horse (the one he had bought he had given to David Herold). He met with Payne, Herold and Atzerodt in the afternoon and then cased out Ford s Theatre.(Outline of Ford s Theatre) Whether he drilled a peep hole in the outside door to the theatre box at this time or if it was there already is not known. He did get a wooden stick and put a notch in the wall 6

7 inside the hallway door to block the entrance. About 8:00 pm he met again with his co conspirators. The plan was that Lewis Payne would kill Sec. of State, William Seward, George Atzerodt would kill Vice President Johnson and David Herold would be their guide out of the city. Booth would assassinate Lincoln and Grant. The government would be thrown into chaos and he would be a hero. All this would happen around 10:15 pm that night. Meanwhile, Lincoln was going about a normal day; his last appointment in the morning was with Sen. John Hale of New Hampshire who Lincoln was appointing ambassador to Spain. Hale wanted this job in part to get his daughter Lucy out of the country and away from Booth who was seeing her. In the afternoon a cabinet meeting was held honoring Grant and to begin planning what to do with the southern leaders. Prior to the meeting Grant told Lincoln that he and his wife couldn t make ito the theatre. This may have been because Mrs. Grant didn t like Mrs. Lincoln.(Overhead of Mrs. Lincoln) Mrs. Lincoln s moods and sharp tongue put off many women. There has been a lot of speculation about Mrs. Lincoln s health and most historians agree she sufered from depression or bipolar disease. Anyway, Mrs. Lincoln invited 12 other people until she found a couple that accepted, Major Henry Rathborne and his fiancée, Clara Harris the daughter of a New York Senator. Lincoln s police guard that night was John Parker, a Washington policeman who was not dependable and had reprimands for insubordination and drunkenness on duty. Parker was to have shown up at 4:00pm but didn t come in til 7:00 and went right to Ford s Theatre to await the President s arival. We do know that he spent some time at the tavern next door to the theatre, whether he ever was on duty outside the President s box is not known but he wasn t there when Booth came. For some reason he was never arested or punished for his neglect and continued on White House duty for another few months and on the police force for another three years. 7

8 The play started shortly after 8:00 pm and the presidential party arrived around 8:30, the play stopped while the orchestra played Hail to the Chief and then the play continued when the party took their seats. Many at the play were there just to see the President. Booth arrived at the backdoor of the theatre around 9:30pm. (Diagram of theatre). Describe his route. The only person outside the President sdoorway was Charles Forbes, his messenger and driver. Booth gave him his calling card and went in, propped the door shut with his stick, and stepped into the seating area. It was near the end of the 2 nd act and the mother in the play is being caled a sockdologizing old man trap, a guaranteed laugh line. At that point Booth shot Lincoln behind the left ear. Major Rathborne jumped up and lunged at Booth who tossed his derringer aside and slashed Rathborne on his left arm with a knife. Rathborne, by the way, did marry Clara in 1867 but had an inability to forgive himself for not protecting the President that ultimately drove him mad. This eventually caused him to murder Clara and he spent the rest of his life in an asylum. Booth now, leapt down to the stage where he shouted, Sic simper tyrannis, Thus always to tyrants, which is the state motto of Virginia. He ran back stage, knocked down an actress, stabbed William Withers, the orchestra leader in the neck and got to his horse which was being held by a stage hand recruited by Ned Spangler a good friend of Booth s. At the same time, Lewis Payne attacked Sec. Seward at his home. When Payne s gun misfired he took out a knife and very seriously wounded Seward and two of his sons. (Overhead of Seward). Sewardhad been Lincoln s political rival and the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in Like many others Seward did not like Lincoln at first but eventually Seward and Lincoln were the best of friends. Seward, a small man was just over 5 ft tall had a frail wife who died two months after this attack and a daughter who died within a year. Seward had recently been injured in a carriage accident and wore a full back brace. This brace may well have saved his life. Seward was 8

9 to stay on as PresidentJohnson s Sec. of State and became famous for his purchase of Alaska, Seward s Folly as it was known. George Atzerodt meanwhile had checked into the Kirkwood Hotel where Vice President Johnson lived and was getting drunk in the hotel bar. A litle after 11 o clock, he saw lots of troops gallop by and got scared. He turned in his horse at the livery and ended up at his old lodging site in a room he shared with five other men. If it hadn t been for this, Seward s brace, and Grants change of plans, the United States government might wel have lost four of its top leaders that night. In the theater, the first person to reach Lincoln s sidewas Dr. Charles Leale, a 23 year old army surgeon who had graduated from medical school just six weeks earlier. He examined Lincoln and when another doctor arrived they gave him artificial respiration to get Lincoln breathing again but both realized Lincoln would never recover. Lincoln was moved across the street to a boarding house where he died the next morning shortly after 7:00 am. During the night over 90 people came through the bedroom including 16 physicians. Sec. of War Edwin Stanton, after first visiting Seward got to the room about midnight. He took over a nearby bedroom and instantly assumed command of the government. (Overhead of Stanton) Stanton is another one of those interesting characters. Inntially he despised Lincoln as he had opposed him as an attorney in several court cases. He was the Attorney General for Democratic President James Buchanan but left that position with Lincoln s election and then became the legal advisor for the Sec. of War, Simon Cameron. Stanton helped Cameron write his yearly report. He personally wrote a section that called for freed slaves to be armed and used against the Confederate Army. Lincoln was opposed to this policy and ordered Cameron to remove that issue. When he refused he was dismissed. Lincoln, who was unaware of Stanton s role in the report appointed him the new Secretary of War. Stanton was known as an extremely honest person. Lincoln wanted him to clean up the corrupt War department. Each morning 9

10 Stanton would hold court in his ofice by standing upon a platform listening to reports and requests and then bellowing out his orders to the people below. Even Lincoln would sometimes come in just to watch the spectacle. Stanton would have so much power that when President Johnson would later dismiss him, Johnson would be impeached. However, he kept his office by only one vote. Stanton also had a morbid side to him. About a year after his daughter died he had her body dug up and he personally cremated her. When his wife died he dressed her in her wedding gown and buried her in it. (Overhead of Johnson) Vice President Johnson arrived around 2:00 am, stayed for a few minutes and then went back to his hotel. Johnson, from Tennessee was put on the ballot for Lincoln s second term in order to make a stronger ticket. During the mid term elections the Republicans had lost 5 states and former Gen McClellan was running against Lincoln as a Democrat. Lincoln was concerned for his re-election. Being a smart politician he had selected soldiers sent home to vote--there were no absentee ballots back then. He also got the State of Nevada with its 3 Republican electoral votes brought into the Union just 5 days before the election. Some people claim Johnson was a drunkard, but most scholars believe he really was sick and this accounted for his strange actions on several occasions. Before Lincoln s 2 nd inauguration Johnson was sick and took some whiskey to brace himself. This put him in a kind of a foolish stupor so his swearing in was done inside the capital before moving outside for Lincoln s swearing in ceremony. Stanton sealed off the city, put 8,000 troops on the streets and began having testimony takenfrom the cast and audience at Ford s Theatre. At 3:00 am Booth s name was put out as the assassin and orders given to find and arrest him. Unfortunately, Booth had crossed the Navy Yard Bridge around 10:45 even giving his name and destination. Ten minutes later Herold came across after not making contact with either Atzerodt or Payne. (Overhead of route) Their first stop was at a tavern at Surrattville where they picked up a packet containing a carbine, field glasses and whiskey which had been dropped off there earlier that day by Mary Surratt. Booth had broken his leg when he had jumped to the 10

11 stage although a book is about to be published that states that Booth actually broke his leg when his horse fell. This is what Booth claimed and his later found boot was muddy, as if it had been fallen on.anyway, around 4:00 am they stopped at Dr. Samuel Mudd s home to have the leg fixed. At the tavern Booth had put on a fake beard which he now had on in addition to a scarf around his face. He kept quiet and let Herold do the talking. Dr. Mudd cut off the boot, put a splint on the leg and left them to rest until the next day. After a breakfast Dr. Mudd left the house to see some patients in their homes near Bryantown. He never saw or spoke to Booth or Herold again. That afternoon he heard about Lincoln s death and he got home just after the two had left. Mudd s wife was upset because when the stranger with the broken leg hobbled down the stairs, his false beard had started to come off. Mudd was ready to go to town to tell the authorities what had happened but his wife was afraid to be alone thinking the men might come back since there were troops all around. The next day was Easter Sunday and after church Mudd told his cousin George what had happened and asked him to tell someone. The next day George told an Army officer and on Tuesday the army questioned Mudd. Dr. Mudd gave them two valuable pieces of information: which direction the men had taken, because Herald had asked about getting through Zekiah Swamp, and for the first time, they knew that one of them had a broken leg. Meanwhile, other police were working quickly. Stanton had brought in Lafayette Baker, the man who had taken over Pinkerton s job but had been demoted for his brutal interrogation methods. He identified Atzerodt who was quickly linked to David Herold, John Surratt and Booth. On Monday the arrests started. At 11:30 pm thebaker s force came to Mary Surat s house. While they were aresting everyone there, Lewis Payne came to the door looking for refuge. He quickly said he was there to fix a gutter, but Mrs. Surat claimed she didn t know him. Because of his description and the conflicting stories he was detained and then identified as Seward s atacker. In al 100 people were 11

12 arrested and 30 were eventually detained even John Ford, the owner of the theatre who was in Chicago at the time. On Friday, April 21st Dr. Mudd was again visited by the army. At this time he showed them the boot, which had been shoved under a bed it had Booth sinitials in it. When asked if he knew or had met Booth before he told about his first meeting with Booth but not the 2 nd in Washington. This would later hurt him in court. Dr. Mudd was then invited to come to Byrantown for a statement. He thought he was going to get a reward for his information but instead he was arrested and taken to Washington. Now there were three wanted men left; Booth, Herold and Surratt. (Overhead of poster)it s interesting to note that this reward was available for anyone; citizen, police or military personnel. As a result everyone was looking for them but no one was co-operating with others. Eventually Lafayette Baker would collect most of the $100,000. (Map of escape route again) After leaving Mudd s house, Booth and Herold spent a night at Samuel Cox s home, and several at the home of Thomas Jones who gave them a boat to cross the Potomac River. On Friday they tried to cross but the tide pushed them upstream and onto the same northern shore. The next night they crossed the river to the supposed haven of Virginia but the hunt was geting hoter. One of Jones slaves reported them and one of three confederate soldiers who accompanied them across the Rappahannock River led them to Richard Garet s farm. On April 26 th at 2:00 am, Lafayette Baker s troopers surounded Booth and Herold in the barn. Herold came out but Boothdidn t and when the barn was set afire he was shot, silhouetted against the flames and contrary to orders, by a Sgt. Thomas Corbett. Corbett was a hatter possibly deranged by mercury poisoning who thought himself as a preacher doing God s wil. Booth also thought he was doing God s will because in his diary was the folowing statement, Our country owed al her troubles to him (meaning Lincoln) and God made me the instrument of his punishment. 12

13 Booth s body was taken to the ship, Montauk, where an autopsy was done and he was positively identified. Under Stanton s orders he was then secretly buried beneath the floor of a large room in a federal prison called the Old Penitentiary. Meanwhile in the hold of the Montauk the principle male prisoners were kept, manacled to 14 iron rods, shackled to 75 lb. iron balls and canvas hoods with cotton padding placed over their heads with one hole for eating and breathing. (Overhead of hoods) They couldn t hear, see or wash. On April 27 th all the prisoners were transferred to the Old Penitentiary building. The prisoners were: Mary Surratt, (Picture of Mary Surratt) mother of John and keeper of the boarding house were many of them stayed and ate; Michael O Laughlin and Samuel Arnold, boyhood friends of Booth and involved in the kidnap conspiracy; (picture of others) Ned Spangler, who was a friend of Booths and an employee at Ford s Theatre; George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Paine and Dr. Mudd. For some reason, Samuel Cox, Thomas Jones, William Lucas and Richard Garrett, all who helped and gave aid to Booth, were not arrested or punished. While al this was happening, Lincoln s funeral and cross country procession was taking place. (Poster of dead Lincoln) When Lincoln took office many people hated him and he had lots of political enemies. But the outrage and anguish following his death reached heights never before seen in America. He was the first American leader to be asasinated. Peoples opinions of Lincoln changed overnight. The Detroit Free Pres, my newspaper, had called Lincoln a tyrant. Nowthey eulogized him as Father Abraham. Despite Democratic expressions of outrage, many Democrats were targets of mob violence. In Westminister, MD, a mob destroyed a Democratic press and killed the editor who had been a critic of Lincoln. Over seven million people came out to view the funeral procession as it made its way to Springfield, IL where he was buried there on May 4 th. Mrs. Lincoln did not atend her husband s funeral or go to Springfield.(Mary picture again) The day he died she went to bed, deeply disturbed and depressed and stayed in her 13

14 room at the White House for nearly two months, delaying the time for President Johnson to move in. After leaving the White House she set up a house in Chicago and then moved to Germany for three years. Because of son Tad s ilnes they came back to Chicago where he died after a short time. In 1875, she was declared insane by a court of law and put in Bellevue Place in IL. She was let out after four months and when another jury declared her sane she moved to France. Many of these moves were because she was bitter toward her son Robert and also the government who at the time was not supplying her with any support. Lincoln s estate was worth only $36,000. She came back from France in 1880 and moved to Springfield with her sister until she died in To many Northerners, Lincoln became a martyr who had died for the future of humankind. Protestant editors and ministers began preaching about retribution against the rebels and contributed to a vengeful spirit that engulfed the North. It was in this mood that Sec. Stanton made the decision to try the accused before a military commission rather than in a civil court. He did this because he wanted a quick and stern punishment and he wanted a jury he could control. In a military court the laws of evidence are less constricting and chance of a conviction are greater. Precedent law said that civilians could only be tried by the military when the civil courts were not functioning and in Washington DC and Maryland the courts were working. A number of Congressmen and the former Attorney General argued against the military commission so John Speed, the present Attorney General isued a brief stating that the law of war allowed for a military commission to try these defendants. It should be noted that there is no law of war either in our constitution or legislative laws. (Overhead of amendments) Article III, section 2 and 6 th amendment guarantees a trial by an impartial jury for all citizens in the State where the crime was committed. Dr. Mudd and most of the others had never been members of the military. There was no Martial Law in effect in Washington DC or Maryland at this time and the civil courts were up and running in both places. But on May 1 st President Johnson issued the order to form a military tribunal. 14

15 The term military tribunal or commission is used interchangeably. This order, like many other documents, was printed on Stanton s War Dept. stationary, not White House letterhead, so it is likely Johnson justsigned it under Stanton s presure.defense attorneys were to later argue that the commission or tribunal was wrong but there was no one to appeal to but the commission itself. (Overhead of tribunal) The commission would have 9 members, seven generals and two colonels. These members would act as the jury and also be able to question the witnesses. The President of the commission was Gen. David Hunter. He had a spotty military record that at one point led to his removal of command. Also on the tribunal was Gen. Lew Wallace who would later become much more famous for authoring the novel, Ben Hur. Walace showed no animosity toward Mudd and made the statement, If Booth had not broken his leg, we would never have heard the name of Dr. Mudd. The Judge Advocate or Chief Prosecutor was Gen. Joseph Holt who had tried many political prisoners during the war. Sec. Stanton was out of sight but very much in control. Stanton at first was going to keep all the proceedings secret but an outcry from the press changed his mind. On May 10 th the commission met for the first time at the Old Penitentiary Building just two floors above Booth secret burial place. The eight prisoners were unhooded and brought to the court room where the charges were read to them. (Overhead of charges) Each pleaded not guilty. It was the only time they were allowed to say anything during the whole trial. They were not allowed to testify on their own behalf. The commission then adjourned for the day so counsel could be retained by the defendants families. The defendants were then hooded back up and taken to their cells on the ground level. Ned Sprangler by this time had lost his mind from the hooding. Payne would also drift into madness from wearing the hood. The defendants atorneys had tobe approved by the commission. Mrs. Surat s attorney, Reverdy Johnson, a former senator from Maryland and former Attorney General was nearly dismissed as being unqualified and was not given the right to speak in court. 15

16 By the way the attorneys were only allowed to talk to their clients in the courtroom before the actual proceedings started each day and they were not allowed to cross examine the prosecution s witneses. Dr. Mudd s atorney was Gen. Thomas Ewing, brother in law of Gen Wiliam T. Sherman. His first action was to request a separate trial for Dr. Mudd. Dr. Mudd did not know any of the other defendants, and except for Herald, he had never or seen or spoken to them. There was a distinct difference between him and the others. Besides his education, profession and dress, he was the only married man and very religious. The other male defendants were unschooled, most unemployed, and definitely on the lower end of the social-economic scale. The commission noted that Dr. Mudd was socialy distinct from his codefendants but his request for a separate trial was denied. The prosecution had 198 witnesses. The first 68 testified to the sins of the Confederacy the mistreatment of Northern prisoners and the concept of Black Flag Warfare trying to show the evil of the Confederacy and then to show that the defendants were part of a Confederate conspiracy. Black Flag Warfare is the targeting for assassination political leaders and civilians. Most people considered this morally wrong. In 1864, Jefferson Davis established a group of agents in Canada to disrupt the war effort in the North using a variety of resources. Their headquarters was in Montreal. Besides the usual spying they tried to disrupt commerce and spread false information and rumors. One thing they tried to attempt was a form of biological warfare. One of their agents was a Dr. Blackburn, an expert on Yellow Fever, the most dreaded disease at the time. He devised a plan to collect clothes and bedding from victims when an epidemic hit Bermuda. He had trunkfuls of their clothing shipped to Canada and was going to spread them among civilians in New York and Washington DC. He planned to send a packet of contaminated shirts to Lincoln. Because of missed payments the plot never got further then the trunks being sent to Canada. We now know the 16

17 disease is spread by mosquitoes. Nevertheless, this served to stir up the public as to the evil intent of the Confederacy. Among these first witnesses, many were later proved guilty of perjury and giving false names. A number were among the 30 other people still detained who were threatened with prison terms unless they gave false testimony. Payne, Herold and Atzerodt were doomed from the start. The case against Ned Spangler was weak. Samuel Arnold and Michael O Laughlin were undeniably involved in planning to kidnap Lincoln but they had disassociated themselves from Booth weeks before and were out of town the night of the assassination. The most time consuming part of the trial was the case against Dr. Mudd. The prosecution had 23 witneses and Mudd s atorney presented 79.The prosecutors needed to show that Dr. Mudd knew who Booth and Herold were, that he knew what they had done and that he had been part of the conspiracy and had known in advance of the plot to kill the President. As to the first charge only four persons could testify to whether Dr. Mudd had recognized his visitors. Of these four, Booth was dead, and Herold and Mudd weren t alowed to testify. Only Mrs. Mudd could testify that they hadn t recognized that the man with a beard and muffler was Booth. Since there was no real evidence to present that Dr. Mudd was part of the conspiracy the Army s case hinged on raising doubts and suspicions through gossip, rumor and speculation. One member of the commission, Gen. Harris, was convinced that Mudd was guilty because he believed in phrenology, that the shape of the skull indicates various traits and that the shape of Mudd s head indicated he was a liar and criminal. Dr. Mudd was faulted for not turning in the telltale boot until his house was going to be searched on thearmy second visit. Oddly, no one pointed out that he could have simply goten rid of the boot if he hadn t been saving it to show them. There were hints that he delayed reporting Booth s visits to give the killer a head start. Also, Mr. Louis Weichmann, a boarder of Mrs. 17

18 Surat s who was arested but then given immunity when he testified against Dr. Mudd. He testified that Dr. Mudd had met with Booth on several occasions at the Surratt house. After the trial it was shown that the dates he used were times when Booth was out of the city performing. Other witnesses claimed that Mudd was a slave owning Southern sympathizer. Gen Ewing pointed out that no one in Charles County knew Lincoln had been killed until Sat. afternoon and the only way the search parties knew of the visit was through information supplied by the doctor himself. The trial ended on June 30 th with the commission secretly voting that all eight defendants were guilty. Herold, Payne, Atzerodt and Mrs. Surratt, were condemned to die, Arnold, O Laughlin and Dr. Mudd received life terms in prison and Spangler was sentenced to six years of hard labor. The vote to put Dr. Mudd to death was five to four for the death sentence. Fortunately, six votes were needed. Before the results were released to the defendants and the public they had to be sent to the President. At the time he was sick so it wasn t until the morning of July 6 th that he received the verdicts. With the verdicts was a statement signed by five of the commissioners asking that Mrs. Surat s sentencebe changed to life imprisonment. Since the trial had ended in June the commission was disbanded and only Gen. Holt, the chief prosecutor was in Washington. It was he who took the verdicts to the President but he never delivered the letter asking for clemency for Mrs. Surratt. In the afternoon of July 6 th the prisoners were told their fate. That night the scaffolding was built and the next day the death sentence was carried out. (Overhead of hanging) There was no appealing. The four remaining prisoners, Mudd, Arnold, O Laughlin and Spangler were ordered to hard labor at the penitentiary in Albany, New York. This meant their families could visit them and their lawyers could interview them while working on their appeals. However, Sec. Stanton was quietly planning a surprise. During the 18

19 evening of July 17 th, they were shipped off to Fort Jefferson, Florida 70 miles off the tip of Key West without having a chance to say goodbye to anyone. (Overhead of Fort Jefferson) This 16 acre citadel was a gigantic six sided structure rising nearing fifty feet high with nearly a half mile perimeter. Started in 1846, the fortress was not complete and never would be. In 1864, it was first used as a prison but because of poor health conditions, maintenance expenses, staff morale problems and constant hurricane damage it was closed down in Today it is a National Historical Monument but all materials even drinking water, have to be brought in from Key West. The prisoners arrived there on July 24 th and no one back in Washington ever expected to see them again. In Aug. 1867, two years after they arrived, a yellow fever epidemic broke out. Of the 300 people at the fort, 270 had been struck down by the fever and 38 had died including the fort s doctor. Dr.Mudd took over his duties and worked day and night for nearly a month before he too caught the sickness. He survived but was greatly weakened. Because of his work a petition was sent to President Johnson asking that Dr. Mudd be released. It was signed by all of the soldiers at the Fort. The post commander, Major Stone, promised to personaly present Dr. Mudd s case to General Grant once he got back to Washington. However, Stone died on his way back in Key West and the petition never was turned in. It vanished in the War Department files not to be seen again for more than one hundred years. In 1869 a number of events happened that was to lead to Mudd s release.first was that his wife, Sarah, had been working to gain his freedom. She obtained an audience with the President and asked him to pardon her husband. He did promise that he would release Mudd as soon as he could adding that he didn t believe the doctor should have been jailed in the first place. What she didn t know was that Johnson was fighting for his own political life at the time and was in danger of 19

20 being impeached because of his disagreements with Stanton. Stanton had been denying all of her requests to send supplies to Mudd to make him more comfortable. Next came the strange case of John Surratt. (Overhead of Surratt) He was the one conspirator who was not arrested with the others. At the time of the assassination he was in upper New York State planning the escape of confederate prisoners there. Upon hearing of the killing and his notice for arrest he fled to Canada. From there he sailed to Italy and, of all things, became a member of troops who guarded the Pope. He remained there for two years until recognized and arrested. On his way back he escaped in Alexandria, Egypt but was again arrested after a month on the run. He was brought back and tried before a civil court, not a military tribunal. His first trial ended in a hung jury and during the second trial the government dropped the case because of an embarrassing item. It turned out that Booth had written a diary that Sec. of War Stanton had possessed. He never brought it forth during the military trial. When finally forced to give it up, 18 pages had been torn out. Lafayette Baker who had taken the diary from the dying Booth claimed all the pages were there when he gave it to Stanton. Also during this trial it came out that five of thecommision members who tried Surat smother had wanted her sentence changed to imprisonment instead of death. President Johnson was furious that he was never given that recommendation. The public s vengeance had also cooled and many people were upset that Mrs. Surratt had been hanged. President Johnson was now a lame duck President. One of his last acts was to pardon Dr. Mudd, Sam Arnold and Ned Spangler. Michael O Laughlin had died during the Yellow Fever epidemic. On March 11, 1869, Dr. Mudd became a free man. Dr. Mudd returned to his home. His farm had fallen into disrepair. Most of his former patients had died or switched over to other doctors. Although the Yellow 20

21 Fever had weakened his general health he did father five more children. But his medical practice once again proved to be his undoing. On New Year s Day, 1883, he rode out on a cold rainy night to visit a patient and developed pneumonia. Nine days later he died at the age of The story of Sam Mudd did not end with his death. His children were many times taunted and jeered. Because of the shame and injustice the assassination was never mentioned in family discussions, not even after Dr. Mudd died. Then, in 1936, Hollywood discovered Sam Mudd. Using a biography written by his daughter Nettie, director John Ford filmed The Prisoner of Shark Island starring Warner Baxter. Almost immediately, Mudd was converted from a villain into an American folk figure. Congress established a memorial to him at Fort Jefferson, (Overhead of plaque) a grade school was named after him and a hospital wing was dedicated to him. Behind this reversal of fortune were a number of Mudd descendants notably Dr. Richard Mudd, the son of Doctor Thomas Mudd, Sam s third child. (Overhead of Dr. Mudd again) Dr. Richard Mudd held doctorate degrees in both medicine and history. In the late 1930 s, he began giving talks to schools and historical groups about the life of his famous ancestor. In the 1960 s, the family wanted someone in authority to say that Sam had been an innocent man sent to prison unjustly. In pursuit of this goal, Richard Mudd bombarded the White House with petitions and legal briefs, letters of support from congressmen and senators and resolutions pased by seven state legislatures al caling for Dr. Mudd s exoneration. Then in July of 1979, President Carter wrote a letter giving his opinion of Dr. Mudd s innocence but that his staf had stated he was unable to legaly overturn the conviction. This letter got wide circulation when TV anchorman Roger Mudd, another distant relative of Sam s, gave the letter national coverage. In 1983, The

22 National Education Association produced a film called, The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, starring Dennis Weaver and Susan Sullivan. In 1987, President Reagan also stated the Dr. Mudd was indeed innocent of any wrongdoing but he could do nothing to help. However, these letters and the help of Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware got the Secretary of the Army to let slide the statue of limitations and reopen the case by presenting it to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. In July of 1992 all five members of the board agreed that Dr. Mudd s trial had been a gros miscarriage of justice and the Archivist of the United States was ordered to set aside the conviction. But the Assistant Secretary of the Army disagreed, stating that the board was not in the business of settling historical disputes. Appeals went to new Army Secretaries but to no avail. In 1997, a suit was filed in U.S. District Court directing the Secretary of the Army to adopt the board s recommendations. The District Court was to rule in the Army s favor. In 2001 the case was taken to the 3 judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. Here the Mudd family used the argument that Dr. Mudd s atorney used in the original trial, namely that the trial was not legal since Dr. Mudd was a civilian and his trial should have been before a civil court. During the next year when the case was heard the Army came up with a new twist caled want of standing. Because Dr. Samuel Mudd was not a member of the military, neither he or his family could petition to alter the military record.dr. Mudd s case was heard by the ABCMR in In 1998, a federal statute was passed by Congress defining what a military record is and that only a claimant or his legal representative may file a petition to correct a military record. It would seem that this is a case of de facto law. But in Nov. of 2002 The Court of Appeals denied the appeal for want of standing. So Dr. Mudd s case has become a Catch 22. He was tried as a civilian by a military tribunal but he has no right to appeal the conviction to the military because he wasn t a member of the military. 22

23 Now you may ask why the military doesn t change it mind in this one case. The answer is in the times. Remember 9/11 and the current war on terrorism. The army has arrested a number of civilians who may have been involved in terrorist activities. The present administration wants to keep the door open for possible military tribunals to try these cases. A decision to exonerate Dr. Mudd could set a precedent to not allow these tribunals. The family has asked Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan a member of the Armed Forces Commitee to add a Technical Amendment to a bil to alow this one exception. It currently is under consideration by Levin if the situation with terrorists is further clarified and hopefully lessened. 23 Notes: Of all the conspricery theories, the one with Stanton is the most credible.

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