John Wilkes Booth was the Tom Cruise ofhis era...handsome and famous.
Well, no one in America will contest the fact that on April 14, 1865, just four days after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox ending the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth crept into the President's box at Ford's Theater and shot Abraham Lincoln to death execution style.
What Booth relatives do contest however is that the infamous assassin did NOT get caught or shot to death at the Garrett tobacco barn in Virginia. They swear John Wilkes Booth survived that night and for another 38 years lived under an assumed name dying in 1903 in Tennessee.
What the hell?
Well, it all makes sense actually.
Think of it this way. The entire country is thrown into a tizzy the day after they learn that The President has been killed. We mean a tizzy! People were wandering the streets screaming and crying, it was an honest to goodness real fucking mess. The government had to do something...quickly. A reward was posted for John Wilkes Booth at $50,000 which is like $2 Million dollars today. They can't find him. A look-a-like has been found at a Confederate Prison Camp, James Boyd, and sent to Virginia to act as Booth stand in. The moment "Booth" is killed the country gets happy again.
But not happy enough to let it go. Conspirators are found.
"Eight others implicated in Lincoln's assassination were tried by a military tribunal in Washington, D.C., and found guilty on June 30, 1865. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on July 7, 1865. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen were sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson in Florida's Dry Tortugas; Edmund Spangler was given a six-year term in prison."
The Great General Winfield Scott Hancock, directed by President Andrew Johnson to be present as supervisor and witness to Mary Surratt's hanging said: "I've been through three wars and have seen hell. I'd do it all over again if I didn't have to witness this, the hanging of a woman for treason." He added though "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances."
Now, today, there is an outcry for the remains of John Wilkes Booth's brother, Edwin, also a stage actor, to be exhumed. Relatives want DNA testing done on Edwin and the supposed remains of John so comparisons can be done. They'd like to put the entire episode to rest once and for all.
We are on their side. If Booth was killed, DNA evidence will support it. If they do not match it will mean one of the earliest American Conspiracies in history and will be the Mothership, so to speak, that sets a precedent for them.
Read more on this:
News Article
News Article
And watch the fascinating account on Brad Meltzer's Decoded, a History Channel show:
What Booth relatives do contest however is that the infamous assassin did NOT get caught or shot to death at the Garrett tobacco barn in Virginia. They swear John Wilkes Booth survived that night and for another 38 years lived under an assumed name dying in 1903 in Tennessee.
What the hell?
Well, it all makes sense actually.
Think of it this way. The entire country is thrown into a tizzy the day after they learn that The President has been killed. We mean a tizzy! People were wandering the streets screaming and crying, it was an honest to goodness real fucking mess. The government had to do something...quickly. A reward was posted for John Wilkes Booth at $50,000 which is like $2 Million dollars today. They can't find him. A look-a-like has been found at a Confederate Prison Camp, James Boyd, and sent to Virginia to act as Booth stand in. The moment "Booth" is killed the country gets happy again.
But not happy enough to let it go. Conspirators are found.
"Eight others implicated in Lincoln's assassination were tried by a military tribunal in Washington, D.C., and found guilty on June 30, 1865. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on July 7, 1865. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen were sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson in Florida's Dry Tortugas; Edmund Spangler was given a six-year term in prison."
The Great General Winfield Scott Hancock, directed by President Andrew Johnson to be present as supervisor and witness to Mary Surratt's hanging said: "I've been through three wars and have seen hell. I'd do it all over again if I didn't have to witness this, the hanging of a woman for treason." He added though "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances."
Now, today, there is an outcry for the remains of John Wilkes Booth's brother, Edwin, also a stage actor, to be exhumed. Relatives want DNA testing done on Edwin and the supposed remains of John so comparisons can be done. They'd like to put the entire episode to rest once and for all.
We are on their side. If Booth was killed, DNA evidence will support it. If they do not match it will mean one of the earliest American Conspiracies in history and will be the Mothership, so to speak, that sets a precedent for them.
Read more on this:
News Article
News Article
And watch the fascinating account on Brad Meltzer's Decoded, a History Channel show:
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