As many of you remember, we spent much of the spring and early summer tracing the battles of the Eastern Theater of the Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox. As we got to the end of the war though, we came to realize that there was one more casualty we needed to consider and one more route to follow to gain some closure to our tour. That was the trail taken by John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 14th, 1865 at Ford’s Theater. Booth and his accomplice David Herold led the authorities on a nearly two week manhunt which ended on April 26th when Booth was cornered and killed on the Garrett Farm in Virginia. This route is now one of Maryland’s scenic byways and one of the country’s more historic ones.
Our day began at historic Ford’s Theater. Ford’s Theater is a wonderful place managed by the National Park Service and just blocks from the White House which still functions as an active theater. My folks and I try and get there every December to watch their wonderful rendition of A Christmas Carol. The box where President Lincoln was shot is preserved and well cared for and there is a small museum in the basement dedicated to the assassination. After Lincoln was shot, he was taken across the street to The Peterson House, where he would die of his injury soon thereafter. The Peterson House is also managed by the National Park Service and is open for tours.
Booth, on the other hand, leapt to the stage, catching his boot spur and breaking his leg in the process, but still managed to escape out the back door of the theater. There he mounted his horse and sped off into the night, crossing the Potomac on the Navy Yard Bridge and then rendezvousing with his accomplice David Herold. The two quickly made their way to the tavern of Mary Surratt in Surrattsville near Clinton where they retrieved rifles, field glasses and other supplies they had stashed there. Mary Surratt, the owner, was not there that night, but was rather at her boarding house on H Street in Washington. She allegedly met with Booth in her DC boarding house on the day of the assassination. Whether she knew about the assassination or not is still argued about today, but the man who was running the Maryland tavern testified that she had left instructions to have these supplies ready. His testimony would cost Mary Surratt her life, as she became the first woman executed by the federal government for her role in the plot. The tavern is well preserved and serves as a museum to what happened that fateful night in 1865.
Booth and Herold did not linger there long, but rather continued through the night to Bryantown where they arrived early on the morning of the 15th at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd. Booth had met Mudd some time earlier at the St. Mary Catholic Church next to which Mudd would later be buried, so the two were not strangers. He set Booth’s leg that morning and allowed the two to rest in an upstairs bedroom. Later that day, Mudd traveled into Bryantown which he found crawling with federal troops, and learned of the assassination. When he returned home, he sent the men on their way. Mudd was also convicted for aiding the assassin, and was sentenced to prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas in Florida. While there, he treated people during an outbreak of yellow fever and based on the pleas from those present at the time, was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. The home in which Mudd treated Booth is now open as a museum as well.
From Dr. Mudd’s house, Booth and Herold made their way around the Zekiah Swamp to Rich Hill, the home of Samuel Cox. Cox hid the two men in the nearby pine thicket for several days, bringing them food and newspapers. It was there that Booth learned he was not considered a hero for what he had done. Rich Hill has been purchased and partially restored by a local group. While still in the renovation process, we enjoyed looking around the building and had our lunch under one of the holly trees on the property.
On April 20th, the pair were led to the Potomac River in the middle of the night and provided with a rowboat to cross. For some reason, they did not cross but instead went upriver to Nanjemoy Creek where they spent the day hiding and then proceeded across the river the following night. Once across the river, the men made their way to Port Royal where they sought shelter at the Brockenbrough-Peyton House. Sarah Jane Peyton was there alone when the men arrived. At first she let them in, but soon reconsidered since she was there alone, and directed them to the nearby Garrett Farm. This house is currently in pretty bad shape, as are many of the houses in Port Royal, but it’s an interesting historic town and we enjoyed driving around it. We also found Port Royal to have some wonderful and charming antique stores.
Booth and Herold made their way on to the Garrett Farm where they found shelter in the tobacco barn. Federal troops found them there on the morning of April 26 and ordered them to surrender. Herold did so and was later tried and hung for his role in the escape plot. Booth refused, so they set the barn on fire to try and flush him out. Sergeant Boston Corbett caught Booth in his gun sight and shot the assassin in the neck. He was pulled from the flames and died soon thereafter. The barn where this happened is obviously gone, and the farm is currently on the property of Fort AP Hill and closed to the public. There are two historical markers in the area though, one just south of Port Royal, and the other closer to where the barn was located on the northbound side of the road.
We had a great day traveling along this Maryland Scenic Byway. We saw some cool little towns, learned some great history and were happy to find many of these places in pretty good shape. It’s intriguing to think about what might have been if Lincoln had lived - he had just won an unwinnable war and may have been the only one who could have won the peace that followed.
For more information on this route, visit the Maryland State Tourism page here, For more information on the individual sites along the way, visit the websites of Ford’s Theater here, the Surratt Tavern here, the Mudd House here, Rich Hill here and the Brockenbrough-Peyton House here. All photos are available for purchase and licensing - please contact me at the link below for more information.