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Abraham Lincoln for Kids | Learn all about the 16th president of the US

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Abraham Lincoln for Kids | Learn all about the 16th president of the US

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I chose this short video because it focuses on the highlights of Abraham Lincoln's life: birth and childhood, his election to local government, the 1860 presidential four-way race and Civil War, why the Civil War started, the second presidential term and assassination. In addition, it adds some more interesting facts about Lincoln. I think it will help guide the decision on what aspect of Lincoln to focus on.

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Abraham Lincoln for Kids | Learn all about the 16th president of the US

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I selected this biographical picture book as a resource because it focuses more on who Abraham Lincoln was as a person, rather than only as a President. It is the story of how he came up with a trick involving his infamous stovepipe hat to nudge his memory, as he was known to be absent-minded. This aspect of Abraham Lincoln might be considered to be more relatable and fun to research.

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Martha Brenner (Author), Brooke Smart (Illustrator)

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Abe Lincoln’s Hat [Brenner, Martha, Smart, Brooke] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Abe Lincoln’s Hat

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Abraham Lincoln's Dueling Words by  Donna Janell Bowman

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Abraham Lincoln's Dueling Words by  Donna Janell Bowman

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This humorous picture book is about Abraham Lincoln as a young adult, highlighting his humor and wit. It takes the reader through the story of when Lincoln became frustrated with the actions of James Shield, a political rival, and so he came up with a silly and clever plan. I chose this book because I thought it would be a resource that exhibits a lesser-known side of Lincoln, thus possibly helping to make a decision about an area of focus.

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Abraham Lincoln was known for his sense of humor. But in 1842, early in his adult life, it nearly got him into trouble. He had to use his imagination to save his career--and maybe even his life.

ISBN: 9781561458523

Publication date: 04/01/2018

Page Count: 36

Size: 9" x 11-1/2"

Age Range: 6-10

Description
Abraham Lincoln was known for his sense of humor. But in 1842, early in his adult life, it nearly got him into trouble. He had to use his imagination to save his career-and maybe even his life.
When Abraham Lincoln became frustrated with the actions of James Shield, a political rival, he came up with a plan. It was silly. It was clever. And it was a great big mistake! Lincoln, his future wife, and a friend of hers wrote a series of fictional letters to the editor, complaining about Shields. But when Shields took offense, he challenged Lincoln to a duel. How would our future president straighten things out and save the lives and careers of both himself and his rival?

Donna Bowman's humorous voice and S.D. Schindler's expressive illustrations are the perfect match for this story of Abraham Lincoln's humor and wit. Back matter includes an author's note with a bibliography.

Author/Illustrator

Donna Janell Bowman

Author

Donna Janell Bowman is the author of a number of children's books, including the award-winning Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

S.D. Schindler

Illustrator

S.D. Schindler is a popular illustrator of many bestselling children's picture books, including Ben Franklin's Big Splash: The Mostly True Story of His First Invention and Brother Hugo and the Bear. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Reviews

"Lively, engaging... Bowman's conversational, folksy reader-directed paragraphs incorporate droll, dramatic, and suspenseful touches that will likely hold readers' interest...Schindler's intricate, expressive watercolor-and-ink illustrations lend further vibrancy." ―Booklist

"Bowman's upbeat telling is infused with folksy humor, and Schindler's superb watercolor-and-ink illustrations effectively capture the time period." ―Kirkus Reviews

"Bowman adds levity and appeal... Schindler's illustrations, done in watercolor and ink, are a perfect accompaniment to this moralistic story." ―School Library Journal

Awards

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People ―National Council for the Social Studies, Children's Book Council, 2019

Writers' League of Texas Book Awards (Finalist, Picture Books) ―Writers' League of Texas, 2018

Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended Reading List (Intermediate)―Kansas National Education Association, 2019

Alabama Camellia Award (Nominee, Grades 4-5 Non-fiction) ―Alabama Department of Education, 2019-2020

Delaware Diamonds Award (Nominee, 3-5) ―Diamond State Reading Association, 2019-2020

More Details

AR Level: 4.8
F&P: S, Gr. 4, Genre HF
Lexile: 800L
Themes: Consequences, Dispute, Honesty, Honor, Humor, Journalism, Resolution
BISAC 1: JNF025200 JUVENILE NONFICTION / History / United States / 19th Century
BISAC 2: JNF007130 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Biography & Autobiography / Presidents and First Families (U.S.)
BISAC 3: JNF053200 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Social Issues / Values & Virtues

Books By Donna Janell Bowman

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Abraham Lincoln was known for his sense of humor. But in 1842, early in his adult life, it nearly got him into trouble. He had to use his imagination to save his career--and maybe even his life. ISBN: 9781561458523 Publication date: 04/01/2018 Page Count: 36 Size: 9" x 11-1/2" Age Range: 6-10 Abraham Lincoln was known for his sense of humor.

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Abraham Lincoln (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker, #25)

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Abraham Lincoln (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker, #25)

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This is a nonfiction companion to Magic Tree House #47: Abe Lincoln at Last! It is filled with up-to-date information, photos, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie. I think this book will be of interest if you like The Magic Tree House series.

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Abraham Lincoln (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker, #25)

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Read 49 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #47: Abe Lincoln at Last! When Jack and Annie …

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Magic Tree House: A Merlin Mission - Abe Lincoln at Last!

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Magic Tree House: A Merlin Mission - Abe Lincoln at Last!

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This Magic Tree House book follows Jack and Annie on a presidential adventure to Washington, D.C., in 1861, during which they try to help President Lincoln during a time of crisis for our nation. I chose this book for Magic Tree House lovers to enjoy while learning about our 16th President.

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Abe Lincoln At Last! (Magic Tree House, #47)

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Are you ready for a presidential adventure? Jack and An…

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The Making of America: Abraham Lincoln by Teri Kanfield (Audiobook)

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The Making of America: Abraham Lincoln by Teri Kanfield (Audiobook)

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This audiobook was selected to give information on the key aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life. You may find this resource helpful because you can listen to it in the car, while drawing, etc. on a busy school night.

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Abraham Lincoln - Abraham Lincoln audiobook, by Teri Kanefield... Born in a cabin deep in the backwoods of Kentucky and growing up in a family considered the poorest of the poor, Abraham Lincoln rose to become the sixteenth president of the United States. As president, he guided the United States through the Civil War, helped end slavery in America, and…

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This brief informational article breaks down aspects of Lincoln's life into bite-sized sections, making it easy to locate the information you need.

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Historians see Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, as one of the country's greatest leaders. During the American Civil War Lincoln promised to save the Union. Known as the Great Emancipator, he also ended slavery in the United States.

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Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysburg Address

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Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysburg Address

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This book tells the story behind Lincoln's famous speech, Gettysburg Address. While the speech itself is well-known, the events leading up to it and the reason Lincoln wrote it may not be.

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Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln by Jean Fritz: 9780593432785 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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Here is a History Reader about a great man and his famous speech. Now available in Step into Reading, the premier leveled reader line. Abraham Lincoln was one busy man. He had a country to run. And a…

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The Undying Conspiracy of John Wilkes Booth's Body

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The Undying Conspiracy of John Wilkes Booth's Body

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This article from TIME magazine offers historical insight to the perpetuated conspiracy theory that John Wilkes Booth did not die when reported, but instead lived in exile and later committed suicide. One reason I chose this article is because while many people focus on the actual assassination, there is also this conspiracy to explore having only to do with the assassin himself. Also, it includes many photographs surrounding this theory.

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The Undying Conspiracy of John Wilkes Booth’s Body

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During the 1930s, a traveling carnival displayed a cadaver it claimed belonged to John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln’s assassin.

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Lincoln Memorial for Kids | Learn about the history and legacy of this monument

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Lincoln Memorial for Kids | Learn about the history and legacy of this monument

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This short video provides vibrant visuals of the Lincoln Memorial, which could be a choice for your research. I selected this particular video because not only does it allow you to see the memorial up close, but it also tells much of the background story on how and why it came to be.

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Lincoln Memorial for Kids | Learn about the history and legacy of this monument

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This brief informational piece describes the features of the Lincoln Memorial, which can be very helpful should you research this monument.

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The Lincoln Memorial is a monument dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. During his presidency, Lincoln freed the slaves and led the United States through the Civil War.

The Lincoln Memorial is in Washington, D.C., near the Potomac River. Construction began in 1914. It was completed in 1922. The memorial was designed by Henry Bacon. He wanted it to look like the Parthenon, an ancient temple in Athens, Greece. The building features 36 marble columns. Each column stands for a state in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death in 1865.

Inside the memorial is a marble statue of Lincoln seated in a chair. The statue is 19 feet (5.8 meters) tall. It was designed by Daniel Chester French. Two of Lincoln's most famous speeches are displayed inside the memorial as well. The Gettysburg Address is carved into the south wall. His Second Inaugural Address is carved into the north wall. On the ceiling, there are two paintings by Jules Guerin. They are called Reunion and Progress and Emancipation of a Race.

The Lincoln Memorial was an important symbol for the American civil rights movement. In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

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The Lincoln Memorial is a monument dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. During his presidency, Lincoln freed the slaves and led the United States through the Civil War. The Lincoln Memorial is in Washington, D.C., near the Potomac River. Construction began in 1914.

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The Emancipation Proclamation : Asking Tough Questions

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The Emancipation Proclamation : Asking Tough Questions

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This book tells about what the Emancipation Proclamation is and why it is important. It answers questions about how the Emancipation Proclamation affected the Southern states' ability to fight in the Civil War and how it changed the lives of black slaves in the South. This book uses an inquiry-based approach, primary sources, and quick-reference infographics making it a good choice for

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The Emancipation Proclamation: Asking Tough Questions (Questioning History)

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The Emancipation Proclamation: Asking Tough Questions (Questioning History) [Yomtov, Nel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Emancipation Proclamation: Asking Tough Questions (Questioning History)

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This video is a combination of an audio reading of the Gettysburg Address along with many still photos from the war. Should the choice be made to research the story behind the Gettysburg Address, listening to and watching this video can serve as a helpful resource.

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The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and John Mensch

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The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and John Mensch

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I chose this book as a resource because it has information on an assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln in 1861, which many Americans do not know even exists. Exploring this information can make for a very interesting take on the conspiracy theory that revolves around this first attempt. The book is available for Kindle if desired and has very good reviews.

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Brad Meltzer (Author), Josh Mensch (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President--and Why It Failed

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Amazon.com: The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President-and Why It Failed eBook : Meltzer, Brad, Mensch, Josh: Kindle Store

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Thoughts from an Assassin: The Journal of John Wilkes Booth

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Thoughts from an Assassin: The Journal of John Wilkes Booth

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This article from the National Park Service contains diary entries of John Wilkes Booth, presenting a glimpse into his mindset leading up to the assassination of Lincoln. I chose this resource because it offers a critical primary source, allowing insight into how some conspiracy theories revolving around the assassination may have developed.

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Thoughts from an Assassin: The Journal of John Wilkes Booth - Ford’s Theatre (U.S. National Park Service)

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Lincoln's Assassination - Ford's Theatre

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Lincoln's Assassination - Ford's Theatre

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The website of Ford's Theater includes a detailed sequence of events of the night of April 14, 1865. It also features fascinating eye-witness testimonies. I included this resource because it offers such a wealth of details on the assassination for research.

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Lincoln’s Assassination — Ford’s Theatre

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On the morning of April 14, 1865 (Good Friday), actor John Wilkes Booth learned President Abraham Lincoln would attend a performance of the comedy Our American Cousin that night at Ford’s Theatre—a theatre Booth frequently performed at. He realized his moment had arrived.

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This article identifies five conspiracy theories related to Lincoln's assassination. I chose this article because it presents some choices of conspiracy theories to focus on for the patron's opinion pieces.

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Related Link HNN Hot Topics: Conspiracy Theories
Many are acquainted with at least one good JFK assassination conspiracy, but fewer are aware of the alleged plots involving the Lincoln assassination. His murder, which took place 150 years ago this Apr. 14, prompted a number of very different conspiracy theories.
A Vice Presidential Conspiracy
Any theory that gained more than a handful of credulous adherents had to agree with the overwhelming evidence that John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, was the assassin. Beyond that point, however, things began to take different trajectories, and Booth's alleged co-conspirators ranged from the somewhat plausible to the fascinatingly bizarre.

It's only natural for a Vice President to want to become President, and there's one quick and easy way to accomplish that objective. Andrew Johnson, who became President after Lincoln's death, was an immediate target for conspiracy theorists, according to William Hanchett, author of The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies.

One titillating detail is that, on the afternoon before the assassination, Booth paid a visit to the hotel where Johnson resided. He didn't meet Johnson, but left a card saying, "Don't wish to disturb you; are you at home?"

Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, wrote in a letter to a friend that her: "own intense misery, has been augmented by the same thought - that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of [her] husband's death - why, was that card of Booth's, found in his box?"

She added that she was "deeply impressed, with the harrowing thought, that [Johnson] had an understanding with the conspirators...Johnson, had some hand, in all this."

Even before the assassination, it was no secret that Mary Todd Lincoln disliked 'that miserable inebriate Johnson,' who had been disgracefully drunk at Lincoln's Second Inaugural on March 4, 1865. Her dislike, combined with the trauma of her husband's murder and Johnson's benefiting from it, easily could have distorted her viewpoint.

However, some members of Congress did express suspicion that Johnson had been involved, and in 1867 a special committee was formed to investigate his possible role. This committee did not find enough to incriminate Johnson, and it's very possible that the congressional "suspicion" was just an attempt to remove him from office.

It is commonly accepted that there was a plot to kill Vice President Johnson along with President Lincoln. However, Johnson's would-be assassin, George Atzerodt, lost his courage and, instead of killing the Vice President, got drunk and wandered the streets of D.C.
The Cotton Investor Conspiracy
Did Johnson arrange this abortive attempt on his life, just to make himself look like an intended victim instead of a conspirator? Some thought so.

There is evidence that, during the Civil War, Lincoln violated the official Union trade blockade by allowing a select group of Northerners to invest in Southern cotton. The President did this to "head off national bankruptcy and finance the Union war effort," according to Leonard Guttridge and Ray Neff, authors of the Lincoln conspiracy book, Dark Union.
The Eisenschiml Theory
When Lincoln began to waver in his unofficial position on allowing trade with the Confederates, there were investors who stood to lose a lot of money - perhaps enough to kill over.

Otto Eisenschiml, born in Austria in 1880, was a trained chemist and oil tycoon who developed a fixation on the Lincoln assassination. Following nine years of research, he published Why was Lincoln Murdered? - a book which argued that Lincoln's murder was orchestrated by his own Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. The book sold very well, whether or not its readers fully believed the contents.

Eisenschiml contended that Stanton covertly teamed up with a small group of people looking to profit by taking over Southern territory. He claimed that Stanton, who headed the manhunt after Lincoln's killing, purposely left open an escape route for Booth, whom he then ordered killed before the assassin could go to trial (and possibly reveal Stanton's involvement).
Killed by Resentful Northerners
Though Stanton and Lincoln had their political disagreements, there also was a good deal of respect between these two men, and most historians contend that Eisenschiml's theory is groundless.

Shortly before his death, Lincoln was aggravating many Northern politicians with a Reconstruction policy which they regarded as being far too lenient and forgiving. Well over 300,000 Union lives had been sacrificed to defeat the Confederacy, and now Lincoln was allowing Confederate officials to return to positions of considerable power.
A Catholic Conspiracy
Ben Wade, a senator from Ohio, said about Lincoln before he was shot: "By God, the sooner he is assassinated the better." Though such a remark does not make Wade a conspirator, it does reflect a sentiment that some politicians of the North had toward Lincoln and his Reconstruction policies.

When, some 19 months after the assassination, Booth co-conspirator John Surratt, Jr. was tracked down by American officials in Alexandria, Egypt, it was revealed that he had served in the Papal Zouaves, a now-defunct army that had fought on behalf of the pope.

His mother, Mary Surratt - in whose boardinghouse the Lincoln murder plot was engineered - was a Catholic, and there were rumors that Booth himself recently had converted to Catholicism. These details, combined with sensationalist, inaccurate reporting that all the arrested conspirators were Catholic, led many to proclaim that Lincoln's murder was the work of a Catholic conspiracy, one possibly leading all the way to the Vatican.

Ensuing decades would see a succession of works, some authored by discontented ex-priests, arguing that the Catholic Church had Lincoln assassinated because they wanted to destabilize an American democracy which they felt was a threat to their power.

The grand Catholic conspiracy theory was enduring. As recently as 1963, Emmett McLoughlin, a former Franciscan priest, wrote An Inquiry in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a book which implicated the Vatican for Lincoln's murder.

Of course, the same year McLoughlin's book saw publication, JFK was assassinated, and a whole new world of intrigues and conspiracy theories came to the national forefront.

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Many are acquainted with at least one good JFK assassination conspiracy, but fewer are aware of the alleged plots involving the Lincoln assassination. His murder, which took place 150 years ago this Apr. 14, prompted a number of very different conspiracy theories.

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Samuel Mudd, MD: Good Samaritan or conspirator?

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Samuel Mudd, MD: Good Samaritan or conspirator?

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This article gives background information on the several plots to kidnap and/or kill President Lincoln before his assassination, and discusses the controversy as to whether or not Dr. Mudd had a part in the assassination conspiracy or was simply a doctor fulfilling his medical ethical obligation. I included this resource because it provides information on a lesser-known conspiracy theory, and may be of interest to the readers of opinion pieces.

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Hektoen International - An online medical humanities journal

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Kevin R. Loughlin
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

As he rose in the Washington, D.C. courtroom on June 30, 1865, to hear his verdict, Dr. Samuel Mudd looked older than his thirty-one years (Figure 1). His odobene mustache framed his mouth and his goatee was speckled with prematurely gray hair. His shoulders were slightly slouched and perspiration dampened his collar and shirt.

His trial for conspiracy and treason in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln had lasted from May 9 until the end of June in a crowded courtroom during a hot, humid Washington, D.C. summer with open windows as the only means of ventilation. Although the assassination had only occurred six weeks earlier on April 14, the Confederate plans to harm Lincoln began even before his inauguration.

The future of slavery was the central issue of the election of 1860, with heated debate about the extension of slavery into the Western territories. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed popular sovereignty on the issue, only intensified the tension.

There were four candidates for president in 1860. Lincoln was the candidate of the newly-formed Republican Party. He was not in favor of interfering with slavery as it already existed in the Southern states, but opposed extending slavery into the territories. Stephen A. Douglas was the nominee of the Northern Democrats and supported the concept of popular sovereignty, where each territory would decide for itself the status of slavery. John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky was the nominee of the Southern Democrats and was strongly pro-slavery, as was John Bell of Tennessee, the nominee of the Constitutional Union Party. The opposition to Lincoln was so strong that his name was not even on the ballot in ten Southern states.

However, Lincoln won the election with 180 of the 303 electoral votes with support from the Northern states. He only received 39.8% of the popular vote. 1 The opposition to Lincoln intensified in the South as seven states seceded even before he was inaugurated.

The plan was for Lincoln to board a train on February 11, 1861, in Springfield, Illinois and conduct a "whistle-stop" tour through more than two dozen cities in eight Northern states over a two week period. He was to change trains in Baltimore to start the last leg of his journey and arrive in Washington D.C. on February 23.

Although Maryland was not considered a Southern state by many, slavery was not abolished in Maryland until November 1, 1864. John C. Breckinridge carried the state in the 1860 election and Lincoln finished a distant fourth. Consistent with his poor showing in the state, the election of Lincoln only galvanized the pro-slavery fervor within Maryland.

The Baltimore plot

Rumors began to circulate in Baltimore and Philadelphia that plans were afoot to kidnap or assassinate Lincoln before the inauguration to prevent him from becoming president. The rumors reached the ears of Samuel Morse Felton, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Lincoln was scheduled to travel the last portion of his trip on that railroad. Felton was concerned with both the safety of Lincoln as well as that of his railroad. He decided to contact Allan Pinkerton in Chicago, who had emerged as the preeminent detective of the era. Pinkerton met with Felton in Philadelphia on January 21, 1861 and immediately began to investigate a plot to kidnap Lincoln in Baltimore in a few weeks when he would be changing trains en route to Washington, D.C.

Pinkerton employed undercover agents and was able to penetrate an organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). ² The KGC was a secret society started in the 1850s whose goal was to establish a separate federation of slave states in Cuba and Central America. Baltimore was one of the epicenters of the movement. The ringleader of the group in Baltimore was Cypriano Ferandini, a Corsican immigrant in his late thirties. ² Within weeks, Pinkerton and his colleagues had uncovered enough information to confirm a plot to kidnap Lincoln in Baltimore.

With Lincoln's reluctant consent, they formulated a response to have a disguised president-elect leave on an earlier train from Philadelphia. The original schedule was to have Lincoln depart from Philadelphia at 9 AM on February 23 and arrive in Baltimore at the Calvert Street Station at 1 PM, transfer into carriages, cross through the city streets to the Camden Street Station, and then board the 3 PM train to Washington, D.C. ³

Pinkerton decided that it was best to have Lincoln leave Philadelphia earlier at 11:50 PM on Felton's railroad and arrive in Baltimore at 3 AM, ten hours earlier at a different train station, the President Street Station. The ruse was successful and the disguised president-elect arrived unharmed in Washington on the morning of February 23. However, this would not be the last attempt by conspirators to kidnap Lincoln.

Major John Walker Taylor's plot-summer 1862

Joseph Walker Taylor was a major in the Confederate army and was part of the Southern aristocracy. He served in the Mexican War under his uncle, General Zachary Taylor. In the first year of the Civil War, Major Taylor was on the staff of General Simon Bolivar Buckner and fought at Fort Donelson where he was wounded. ⁴ Early on he established his value, gathering intelligence and relaying messages among scattered Confederate units. It may have been this experience that caused him to conceive of a plan to kidnap Lincoln.

In the early summer of 1862, he traveled to Richmond to present his plan to Jefferson Davis, whom he knew well. After his first wife died from malaria, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, one of Zachary Taylor's daughters and Walker Taylor's cousin. Taylor proposed that he and his accomplices could easily capture Lincoln when he traveled to the Soldier's Home, his summer residence just outside of Washington, and deliver him to Jefferson in Richmond. Davis dismissed the plan out of hand as impractical and Taylor went no further. The details of this event remained unknown except to the principals until the turn of the century. ⁴

Colonel Bradley T. Johnson's plot-winter of 1863-1864

During the winter of 1863-1864, Colonel Bradley T. Johnson, a Confederate partisan from Maryland, conceived of a plan to lead a battalion of his cavalry to capture Lincoln at the Soldier's Home and continue on to Virginia. Negotiations would then commence to exchange Lincoln for Confederate prisoners to replenish the ranks of the Confederate army. The plan was never carried out, although years later it was confirmed that Johnson had the approval of his commanding officer, General Wade Hampton. ⁵

A shot through Lincoln's hat-August 1864

It may push the limits of credulity of the modern reader, but in August of 1864, Abraham Lincoln was riding, unescorted, on his horse, Old Abe, to the Soldier's Home. ⁶ He suddenly heard a loud blast, not fifty yards from where he rode, that startled his horse and dislodged his hat. He continued on, unencumbered, to his destination.

When he arrived at the Soldier's Home a few minutes later, the hatless Lincoln was met by Private John W. Nichols of Company K, who was on guard duty. When he inquired about the missing hat, Lincoln replied that, "Somebody fired a gun off at the foot of the hill," which frightened the horse and "jerked the hat off." ⁶ Years later, Nichols recalled that he and another soldier went down the driveway and recovered Lincoln's hat with a bullet hole in the crown. The next day he returned the hat to the president, who replied that he wanted the matter "kept quiet." ⁶

Booth's kidnapping plans

As the war continued through 1864 and 1865, the plight of the South became more desperate. Southern casualties continued to mount and Southern forces dwindled. There was an increasing appetite to consider kidnapping Lincoln to exchange him for the return of Confederate prisoners of war.

John Wilkes Booth was a prominent actor of the era. Although a Marylander, Booth was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy and a segregationist (Figure 2). To carry out the kidnapping, Booth organized a group of six men: John Suratt, Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlen, David Herold, and Lewis Powell (Payne). ⁷ They attempted several gambits. In early 1865 they planned to kidnap the president during his visit to the Seventh Street Hospital, but Lincoln did not arrive as his plans changed at the last minute. ⁸ They also considered a kidnapping at Ford's Theater where they would kidnap the President in his box, lower him to the stage, and then carry him out of the theater. This plan was abandoned as impractical. ⁹

On March 17, 1865, Booth was told that Lincoln would visit the Campbell Military Hospital to see a play. Booth mobilized his co-conspirators, but again their plans were foiled as Lincoln went instead to a ceremony at the National Hotel. ¹⁰ At this point, the group of six became convinced that kidnapping Lincoln was unrealistic and they disbanded. However, Booth remained singularly undeterred.

The fortunes of the South deteriorated precipitously in the next few weeks as Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9. On April 11, Lincoln gave a speech from one of the windows of the White House where he proposed voting rights for freed slaves. Booth and Powell were part of the crowd on the White House lawn listening to the speech and Booth was reported to have remarked, "That is the last speech he will ever make." ⁷

Enter Doctor Mudd

Samuel A. Mudd was born and raised in southern Maryland. He grew up on Oak Hill, his father's tobacco plantation, which worked eighty-nine slaves. ¹² He attended Georgetown College and studied medicine at the University of Maryland.

Mudd practiced medicine, but also became a small scale tobacco grower, using five slaves, according to the 1860 census. ¹³ In late 1864 Booth began spending considerable time in southern Maryland, apparently in preparation for an escape after the abduction of Lincoln. Historians believe that Mudd and Booth first met in November 1864. It is unknown whether Booth actively recruited Mudd to the kidnapping plot at that time, but Booth apparently spent the night at Mudd's farm.

On December 23, 1864, Mudd met with Booth in a Washington hotel. John Surratt and Louis J. Weichmann, who would both later be implicated in the assassination, were also at that meeting. Another conspirator, George Atzerodt, would later reveal that Booth had sent liquor and provisions to Mudd's farm in early April. ¹⁴ What remains unclear is when Booth's plans to kidnap the president turned to assassination. Did Lee's surrender cause him such despair and anger that he realized that a prisoner exchange for Lincoln was no longer viable? Speculation suggests that may have been when he turned his thoughts to assassination.

On April 14, 1865 Booth, a well-known actor, entered Ford's Theater, which he knew well, without arousing any suspicion. He entered the president's box, shot him in the head, and jumped to the stage declaring, " Sic semper tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants)," the Virginia state motto. In so doing, he fractured his left fibula as he landed on the stage.

Booth met up with Herold outside the theater and they left Washington on horseback, stopping at Mudd's farm at about 4 AM on April 15. Mudd splinted Booth's leg and gave him a shoe to wear on the injured leg. He also arranged for a local carpenter to make a pair of crutches for Booth. Booth and Herold spent between twelve and fifteen hours at Mudd's house. ¹³ It is unknown whether Mudd was aware of the assassination at this time. Booth and Herold left Mudd and continued on to Virginia. What is clear is that Mudd did not contact authorities immediately. He waited until the following day, Easter Sunday, before notifying anyone. This delay was a significant factor in linking Mudd to the conspiracy.

When Mudd was interviewed on April 18, he stated that he had never seen Booth or Herold before. On April 22, when confronted with Booth's visit to his farm in November 1864, he changed his story and said he had not seen Booth again until the night of the assassination. After Booth's death in Virginia at the hands of the Union calvary, Mudd was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder Lincoln.

The trial of the century

Mudd was tried by a military commission, which began on March 9, 1865, and lasted over seven weeks. He was charged with treason and conspiracy. The chief defense lawyer was General Thomas Ewing and the chief prosecutor was Judge Advocate Joseph Holt. ¹⁶ The prosecution called 366 witnesses. ¹³

Considerable evidence was presented that implicated a direct role for Mudd in the conspiracy. Several witnesses testified that they saw him with Booth in Maryland on November 13 when Mudd helped Booth purchase a horse. Mudd was again identified as being seen with Booth on December 23 in Washington. A boot with Booth's name on it was found in Mudd's home. The evidence of Mudd's prior dealings with Booth strongly suggested that Mudd had previously lied to investigators when he denied having recognized Booth when he treated his leg on April 15. ¹⁶ It was problematic for General Ewing to explain why Mudd did not become suspicious of a broken-legged visitor who shaved off his mustache while staying with Mudd.

Another witness, Daniel Thomas, testified that he heard Mudd state in early 1865 that ". . . The President, Cabinet and other Union men would be killed in six or seven weeks," although he admitted that he didn't know if Mudd was joking or not. ¹⁶

Testimony from some of Mudd's former slaves was also damaging. Mary Simms, a former slave, testified that during the war Mudd complained that Lincoln "stole [into office] at night, dressed in women's clothes" and if "he had come in right they would have killed him." ¹⁶ Another slave, Milo Gardiner, testified that he overheard a friend of Mudd's, Benjamin Gardiner, tell Mudd that "Lincoln was a goddamned old son of a bitch and ought to have been dead long ago" and that Mudd replied, "that was much of his mind." ¹⁶ It was also alleged that Booth and Mudd were both members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, although this was not proven. ¹⁷

So we return to the Washington courtroom on June 30, 1865. As Mudd rose, the chief judge, Lieutenant Colonel David Clendenim, asked the jury foreman to announce the verdict. The foreman rose and declared that the jury found Mudd guilty of treason and conspiracy. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. ¹⁸ He escaped the death sentence by a single vote. ¹⁶

Mudd was imprisoned at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, about seventy miles west of Key West, Florida. ¹³ On September 25, 1865 he attempted to escape from Fort Jefferson by stowing away on the transport vessel Thomas A. Scott. ¹⁹ As a result, he spent three months in an area of the prison known as the "dungeon," after which he was returned to the general prison population.

Dr. Mudd went on to distinguish himself during a yellow fever outbreak at the prison in the fall of 1867 as the prison doctor, helping to stem the spread of the disease. The soldiers at the fort noted this and petitioned President Johnson to pardon Mudd, which he did in February 1869. Samuel Mudd returned to his Maryland farm where he lived out his life until his death in 1883.

Good Samaritan or conspirator?

Was Samuel Mudd guilty of conspiracy to kidnap or assassinate Abraham Lincoln? Or was he a good doctor who helped an injured man who showed up at his door? The lens of justice becomes blurred over more than a century-and-a-half. Much of the evidence against him was circumstantial or hearsay.

Mudd's descendants have carried on an arduous effort to clear his name. Presidents Carter and Reagan both were sympathetic to his innocence, but maintained that they had no authority to overturn his conviction. His grandson, Dr. Richard D. Mudd of Saginaw, Michigan, carried on a decades-long effort to seek justice for his grandfather. ²⁰ A judge on the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia told the Mudds that they had no standing in that court to appeal because Dr. Mudd was convicted by a military tribunal but was not himself in the military. ²⁰ The family lawyer then missed the deadline to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. His great-grandson, Tom Mudd, a retired history teacher, remains convinced of Dr. Mudd's innocence and remarked, "He was railroaded." ²¹ Was he a good Samaritan in the wrong place at the wrong time or was he a conspirator in the crime of the century? The truth lies in the graves of Booth and Mudd.

References

1. Election of 1860. Wikipedia. https://www.election-of-1860. Accessed 7/20/2020

2. Meltzer B and Mensch J . The Lincoln Conspiracy, Flatiron Books, New York, 2020 pp.87

3. Ibid pp. 293

4. Nation JB. Major Walker Taylor, CSA. https://www.math.hawaii.edu/-jb/walker.pdf. Accessed 7/19/2020

5. Hanchett W. The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies, Illini books, edition, 1986, pp30

6. The Shot Through Abraham Lincoln's Hat. www.https://roger jnorton.com/Lincoln86.html. accessed 7/17/2020

7. Castro-Lindarte L. John Wilkes Booth's Abduction Plot Gone Wrong. https://boundarystones.weta.org/2018/03/02/john-wilkes-booths-abduction-plot-gone-wrong

8. The text of John Surratt's 1870 lecture at Rockville, Maryland. https:rogerjnorton.com?Lincoln55.html

9. Edward WC, The Lincoln Assassination. The Reward Files 2012,pp95

10. Tiswell WA. Come Retribution-The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln, University of Mississippi, 1988, pp414

11. McPherson E. Testimony taken before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives in the investigation of Samuel Mudd. Thirty-ninth Congress and first session Fortieth Congress, 1867, Clerks Office, House of Representatives 1867,pp674

12. Mudd RD (1951). The Mudd Family of the United States. Vol.1 (second edition) Saginaw, Michigan, Dr. Richard D. Mudd pp520

13. Samuel Mudd. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mudd accessed 6/15/2020

14. The text of George Atzerodt's last confession. http://rogerjnorton./Lincoln82.html.rogerjnorton.com

15. Booth and Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln: An extraordinary life. https://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln/booth-and-lincoln

16. Famous Trials - Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. https://famous-trials.com/lincoln/2149-mudd accessed 7/25/2020

17. Knights of the Golden Circle. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Golden_Circle accessed 7/27/2020

18. Dr. Samuel Mudd Trial: 1865. https://www.encyclopedia.com?law/law-magazines/dr-samuel-mudd-trial-1865 accessed 7/25/2020

19. Reid, Thomas. America's Fortress. Gainesville. University Press of Florida, pp93, 96-97

20. McFarland J. Lincoln's assassination's doctor whose name is Mudd relies on public to clear his name. https://www.mlive.com/opinion/saginaw/2015/04/lincoln_assassination_dr_samue.hmtl. Accessed 8/3/2020

21. Donnelly FX. Mudds aim to clear name of doc who treated Lincoln killer. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/07/16/mudd-reunion/30274731/ Accessed 8/3/2020

KEVIN R. LOUGHLIN, MD, MBA, was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. He is a retired urological surgeon and a professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School. He enjoys reading medical history and staying informed on current events. He enjoys traveling, at least he did before Covid-19.
Highlighted in Frontispiece Volume 12, Issue 4 - Fall 2020

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Samuel Mudd, MD: Good Samaritan or conspirator? - Hektoen International

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Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States As he rose in the Washington, D.C. courtroom on June 30, 1865, to hear his verdict, Dr. Samuel Mudd looked older than his thirty-one years (Figure 1). His odobene mustache framed his mouth and his goatee was speckled with prematurely gray hair.

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Myth and the Lincoln Assassination: Did John Wilkes Booth escape?

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Myth and the Lincoln Assassination: Did John Wilkes Booth escape?

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This article carefully debunks myths with factual evidence about what happened to John Wilkes Booth after he shot the President. Because this article covers both facts and myths, it covers the subject from different angles.

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Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Steers, Jr. 

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Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Steers, Jr. 

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This book provides a strong understanding of the assassination and explores some of the conspiracy theories that arose afterwards. While it isn't a resource that focuses mainly on the conspiracies, it does make an attempt to debunk some of them, which offers different perspectives on the theories. This book is available for Kindle if desired.

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"If you are going to read only one book on the Lincoln assassination, this is the one!" -- James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"Punctures the myths and misrepresentations that have so long been part of the history." -- Political Bandwagon

"assassination and its aftermath.... Steers has become the pre-eminent researcher on the assassination." -- Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Assocation

"Presents a tale that needs to be told: the real story behind the assassination of the 16th president." -- Kentucky Monthly

"A carefully documented account of the conspiracy and those who took part in it." -- The Lancet

"This is the book to which all Lincoln and Civil War aficionados" -- William Hanchett

"Puts many of the myths and misconceptions to rest." -- WTBF Radio

"This is the book to which all Lincoln and Civil War aficionados -- indeed, all Americans interested in their history -- should turn for a lucid and up-to-date explanation of the assassination." -- William Hanchett

"Colorful, well written, and marches along smartly, despite all the twists of the trail leading to and from Ford's Theatre." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Respected Lincoln scholar Dr. Edward Steers has here brought his research talents to bear on the assassination. It is refreshing to read that John Wilkes Booth was not a madman and that Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was not an innocent country physician as depicted in current Mudd family propaganda." -- James O. Hall

"An exceptionally well-written and thorough book on the assassination. For anyone who is sincerely interested in the assassination, this book is a 'must read.'" -- Historian

"An essential part of a Lincoln library. Besides being the definitive work on the depressing events of April 1865, it is a unique source for refuting the misinformation, myths and lies that have grown up around them." -- America's Civil War

"The quality of research and the skillful presentation of the story of Lincoln's assassination will lead you well beyond the superficial facts that we've all been taught and into the depths of the conspiracy and the aftermath of John Wilkes Booth's world-shattering deed at Ford's Theater." -- Lexington Herald-Leader

"What separates Blood on the Moon... is the depth and breadth of Steers' research." -- Morgantown Messenger

"Steers has a sharp ear for historical discordance and a novelist's eye for illuminating detail..... Provocative reading." -- Publishers Weekly

"Fascinating.... The best account we have of the fateful event that did so much to change the course of American history." -- Bowling Green Daily News

"This should be the end-all of Lincoln assassination books." -- Louisville Courier-Journal

"The most complete summary to date of the facts surrounding Lincoln's demise." -- Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"With research and deductive reasoning that is persuasive, Steers proves that Mrs. Surratt's tavern in Maryland and boarding house in D.C. were both safe houses for Confederate agents." -- Easton (MD) Star-Democrat

"Immediately takes its place as the standard by which all other books dealing with Lincoln's assassination will be judged: it is must reading for anyone interested in the Civil War or American history." -- Blue & Gray Magazine

"Ought to find a place on most scholars' shelves." -- Columbia (SC) State

"Steers has written a detailed, scholarly account based on original sources as well as newly discovered evidence concerning the assassination." -- Virginia Quarterly Review

"Steers manages to make an often-told tale come alive and seem fresh in the re-telling.... There is a very small shelf of books that are absolutely essential to the understanding of Lincoln's murder and this is one of them." -- H-Net Reviews

"In his readable, exceedingly well-researched account of the assassination, Edward Steers shreds the myths that have encrusted the story of Booth's plot and that reveal more about what some Americans want to believe that what actually happened." -- Maryland Historical Magazine

"Reveals the extensive organization element of the Confederate secret service in southern Maryland, and its involvement with Booth from the earliest stages of the plot right up to his death." -- North & South

"Steers has written a careful synthesis of what is known about Lincoln's murder." -- New York Review of Books

"An excellent overall view of the deed [Lincoln's assassination]." -- Choice

"Ought to find a place on most scholar' shelves." -- Columbia (SC) State

"A book that will entertain and educate readers interested in this integral part of American history." -- Louisville Voice-Tribune

"A worthy book." -- Washington Post Book World

"Presents a tale that needs to be told -- the real story behind the assassination of the 16th president." -- Kentucky Monthly

"May become the definitive volume detailing the events surrounding the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln." -- Union County (KY) Advocate

"Steers has studied the Lincoln assassination intensively and had accumulated a formidable database." -- Washington Times

"Offers a highly useful narrative of the Lincoln murder conspiracy, complete with provocative opinions and extensive documentation." -- Civil War Book Review

"Few attempts at telling a comprehensive story of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln succeed so well in that comprehensiveness as Blood on the Moon." -- Allan C. Guelzo

"Immerse yourself in this required book for anyone interested in Lincoln, presidential assassinations or the American Civil War." -- Cmdr. Youssef Abou-Enein, The Waterline

"What Steers has done is go back to trial testimony and eyewitness memoirs, not only to reconstruct events but to lay motives bare." -- Baltimore Sun

"Anyone interested in the fateful events of April 14, 1865, and the possible role in the conspiracy involving members of the Confederate government which has not been given the exposure it deserves, must read this book." -- Back Channels

"Engagingly written, lively in style, and balanced in analysis, this book will take its place upon the short list of the finest studies of the Lincoln assassination." -- Journal of Illinois History

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Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

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Amazon.com: Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln eBook : Steers Jr., Edward: Kindle Store

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The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln

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The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln

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This book focuses on the lesser-known assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln in 1861. While it is well-researched, it contains a lot of speculation. I chose it because that's what part of conspiracy theories are based on - speculation! It's an interesting viewpoint and may spark further curiosity and research on the reader's part. This book is available for Kindle if desired.

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The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln - Kindle edition by Kline, Michael J.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

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The Lincoln Deception by John O. Stewart

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The Lincoln Deception by John O. Stewart

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I chose this book as a supplemental read for the purpose of enjoyment. It is a historical fiction selection that, while grounded in real history, it is based loosely on true events. It can shed light on how conspiracy theories develop. This book is available for Kindle if desired.

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David O. Stewart (Author), L. J. Ganser (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher) & 0 more

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Amazon.com: The Lincoln Deception (Audible Audio Edition): David O. Stewart, L. J. Ganser, Audible Studios: Books

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The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Nettie Mudd

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The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Nettie Mudd

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This book is a firsthand account written by Samuel Mudd's daughter, offering insight to her father's life, mostly focusing on his involvement in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination and the trial that followed. Although this book does not delve into actual conspiracy theories, it provides one subjective viewpoint. This book is available for Kindle if desired.

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Dr. Samuel Mudd (Author), Nettie Mudd (Editor), D. Eldridge Monroe (Preface) & 0 more Format: Kindle Edition

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The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd - Kindle edition by Mudd, Dr. Samuel, Mudd, Nettie, Monroe, D. Eldridge. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.

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Author Thomas A. Bogar discusses the results of his research that led to his latest book, "Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination." While conspiracy theories are not the focus, he provides a lot of historical context of the circumstances, the people involved and events leading up to the assassination. I chose to include this because it provides factual information for research.

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Author Thomas A. Bogar discusses the results of his research that led to his latest book, “Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination.”

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In this interview, David O. Stewart discusses his novel, "The Lincoln Deception." While his novel is a fictional mystery, it is based on historical research and the author discusses the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination on which the story is based. I included this video because it provides perspectives on various conspiracies.

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David O. Stewart, known for his award-winning nonfiction works on Aaron Burr, President Andrew Johnson and the Constitution, discussed his first novel, “The Lincoln Deception.” Blending real and fictional characters, the book is a gripping historical mystery exploring the endless fascination with Lincoln’s assassination and the conspiracy behind it.

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The Lincoln Conspiracy: A Novel by Timothy O'Briren

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The Lincoln Conspiracy: A Novel by Timothy O'Briren

# data[].attributes.body
I selected this historical thriller for enjoyment purposes. While there isn't any scholarly research presented, this is a fictional perspective that explores alternative historical scenarios, which may spark curiosity. It is available both as an eBook and audiobook.

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A nation shattered by its president's murder
Two diaries that reveal the true scope of an American conspiracy
A detective determined to bring the truth to light, no matter what it costs him

From award-winning journalist Timothy L. O'Brien comes a gripping historical thriller that poses a provocative question: What if the plot to assassinate President Lincoln was wider and more sinister than we ever imagined?

In late spring of 1865, as America mourns the death of its leader, Washington, D.C., police detective Temple McFadden makes a startling discovery. Strapped to the body of a dead man at the B&O Railroad station are two diaries, two documents that together reveal the true depth of the Lincoln conspiracy. Securing the diaries will put Temple's life in jeopardy-and will endanger the fragile peace of a nation still torn by war.

Temple's quest to bring the conspirators to justice takes him on a perilous journey through the gaslit streets of the Civil War-era capital, into bawdy houses and back alleys where ruthless enemies await him in every shadowed corner. Aided by an underground network of friends-and by his wife, Fiona, a nurse who possesses a formidable arsenal of medicinal potions-Temple must stay one step ahead of Lafayette Baker, head of the Union Army's spy service. Along the way, he'll run from or rely on Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's fearsome secretary of war; the legendary Scottish spymaster Allan Pinkerton; abolitionist Sojourner Truth; the photographer Alexander Gardner; and many others.

Bristling with twists and building to a climax that will leave readers gasping, The Lincoln Conspiracy offers a riveting new account of what truly motivated the assassination of one of America's most beloved presidents-and who participated in the plot to derail the train of liberty that Lincoln set in motion.
Praise for The Lincoln Conspiracy
"History as a dangerous, inventive game . . . fascinating."-Martin Cruz Smith

"A notable fiction debut with an appealing detective hero and plenty of action. It gets off to a fast start and never stops."- Library Journal

"A historical puzzle as labyrinthine and grandiose as Scheherazade's tales . . . As clever as Sherlock Holmes, as wily as Pendergast in Preston and Child's series, and wickedly funny on top of it all, the irresistible McFadden is due to return in a sequel-thank goodness!"- Booklist (starred review)

"[A] fast-paced, well-conceived adventure . . . There is nothing more fun than losing oneself in O'Brien's rich and riotous mixture of reimagination and fact."-Historical Novels Review

"Gripping . . . The history and overall arc of the novel are superb . . . and Temple McFadden proves to be a worthwhile hero."-Associated Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:

9780345535597

Publisher:

Random House Publishing Group

Publication date:

09/18/2012

Sold by:

Random House

Format:

eBook

Pages:

368

Sales rank:

1,501,100

File size:

3 MB

About the Author

Timothy L. O'Brien is the executive editor at the Huffington Post, where he edited the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning series about severely wounded war veterans, "Beyond the Battlefield." Prior to joining the Huffington Post he was a reporter and editor at The New York Times, where helped oversee "The Reckoning," a series about the financial crisis that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009. A graduate of Georgetown University, he holds three master's degrees-in U.S. History, Business, and Journalism-from Columbia University. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two children.

Read an Excerpt

chapter one

The Package

Rain kept the dust down.

Nothing else in Washington did, especially in early summer, when the heat started coming on and dirt in the streets began the slow broil that led into August. Fiona would hate that rain was already lashing the leather on his new boots. She was practical in these matters. But even Fiona would admit that rain kept the dust down. Temple would rather be with Fiona now, instead of gimping toward a train to fetch Augustus and Pint.

The small rain down can rain.

Christ that my love were in my arms

and I in my bed again.

As he crossed D Street on New Jersey Avenue, he could see the dome of the new Capitol building looming beyond and above the seventy-foot Italianate clock tower that marked the B&O Railroad station. If the rain got worse, New Jersey would get rutted and rats the size of dogs would slop in the puddles and pick through the garbage floating there. Several carriages and a string of horses-far more horses than usual-were tied to posts in front of the station. Union troops, boys mostly, were milling about in their blues. Weary little boys with swords and rifles and blank stares; today they seemed slightly frenzied. Then again, everyone was close to conniption fits with Lincoln dead only a month.

Shot. Dead. Just like that, the tired man, the calm one, the seer. Dead. Dead tired. Gone.

At the corner of C Street, the rain picked up and lashed Temple's face as hard as it whipped his boots. A lashing, the Dublin priests and nuns had told him, was salutary. "Saaaluutarry, Temple. Good for you." Then, smack. Fear the Lord, learn your grammar, and obey the rules of the orphanage. If you didn't obey, smack. Pain, they thought, was an education in its own right. They knew hardly a thing about it, really. He had pain every day in his bad leg, small flashes he tried to ignore. When the pain got bad, occasionally very bad, he just leaned more heavily on his cane. Fiona could look in his face and know the singe was about to arrive in his leg. But then, Fiona looked in his face and saw everything.

Temple ducked beneath the B&O's eaves to get out of the rain. He entered the depot and glanced at the ticket and freight offices, set opposite each other inside the station. A small group of women were huddled and chatting outside the ladies' waiting room, while three men, their arms wrapped across one another's shoulders, pressed toward the gentlemen's saloon.

Temple looked beyond the entry hall to the car house, where the train to Baltimore waited. The railroad tracks cut diagonally through the car house, sheltered by a dozen granite pillars that supported an iron roof with a three-hundred-foot-long glass window set inside it. Rainwater smeared the glass. Even the sky can't stop mourning the president, Temple thought.

The B&O tracks continued through the station, winding along C Street and First Street before crossing the mall in front of the Capitol, picking up Maryland Avenue and making their way to the Long Bridge. Virginia was beyond the Long Bridge. Baltimore and New York were the opposite way.

Temple scanned the platform near the Baltimore train. There-there now. There's something unusual. Stump Tigani, the most deliberate capper in the District, was actually off his heels and in a rush.

Stump's always a surprise, Temple thought. Amid the Union blues, the black long coats, and the crenellated, bell-blossomed hoopskirts of passengers waiting to board the train to Baltimore, Stump-small, muscular, and flinty-was darting along.

Like every newly minted Washington police detective ("You mean 'defective,' " Fiona would laugh. "You have a limp and a cane, my love. You're a police defective"), Temple was well aware of Stump's calling card: courier for Northern spies and the Union army during the war, may have taken money from Secesh when it suited him; connected and resourceful; inscrutable; dangerous, very dangerous.

Finding Stump at the B&O wasn't unusual. Stump had carried packages back and forth from this station many times before, sometimes twice in a single day, and all of his parcels had pedigrees: dispatches from powerful men, wealthy women, and furtive lovers. Transactions and messages; the daily push and pull. Stump hurrying, however, was quite odd. Stump was never invisible-no one in Washington was during the war-but he was paid well to be quiet, reliable, and discreet. He escorted clients' secrets from one place to another with all of the devotion and circumspection of a father helping his toddler navigate the ruts across Pennsylvania Avenue. Everyone and everything got safely to the other side, but Stump never rushed.

Stump's right hand was stuffed inside his overcoat. Looked like Old Boney. A gun? Or maybe Stump's gut hurt. Bad food at the Willard? Stump could manage paying for his own fixin's at the Willard now that he was working the carriage trade, that was for certain.

Stump was weaving and pressing forward, heading toward the Baltimore train; clinging to something, afraid of something. Stump liked to leave town at night, not in the morning. Why was he here now?

Well, none of this was Temple's concern anyhow, was it? He had come to meet Augustus and Pint, secure their cargo, and get on his way. He needed the money, Augustus needed the money, and he would get his cargo even if his right leg continued to send flashes up his side.

Washington brimmed with the wounded and crippled, but Temple was probably the only twenty-five-year-old in the city who hadn't earned his stumble in the war. And his cane-a thick, dark span of polished hickory-punctuated his limitation. Old before your time, Fiona would tease. He smiled to himself and sat down on a bench to stretch his leg while he waited.

Temple was pulling his timepiece from his waistcoat pocket when a shift in the patterns of the bristling swarm of it all made his head snap up and his eyes sharpen. A quiet, violent struggle was unfolding at the entrance to Stump's train.

Two men were on either side of Stump, their hands on his shoulders. Another was in front of him. They were murmuring something to Stump, and from dozens of feet away their lips looked as thin and dark as pencil drawings. One of the men tried peeling off Stump's coat and then spun him around, so Stump faced Temple. Stump's eyes were cast downward. The courier was concentrating. Temple saw a flash of metal as Stump slid a stiletto from inside his sleeve. Then things stopped. Stump stopped. The men around Stump seemed to stop. For a moment, all of them looked like props on a stage set. Stump lurched forward and fell to the platform, dark blood spurting from a long slice on the side of his neck. The skin on Stump's neck parted a bit more as he slumped, his eyes growing moony lickety-split and his fingers spidering up to his neck as if he were hoping he could just press the life back into his throat before it all poured out. As he flopped down to the ground, a greasy puddle of blood spread wide and silently as fog around Stump's head and neck. His teeth pressed outward against his lips and his mouth tightened into a simian oval, fixed somewhere between surprise and the last, sharp twitchings of pain.

Temple pushed off the bench to his feet. Several other men rushed the group around Stump as people began screaming. A young soldier came running, his brogans smacking the ground and the edges of his blue coat flapping. As Temple scuttled toward Stump's body, he collided with the soldier, who careened off him like a toy. Temple continued hip-hopping-damn my limp-toward Stump.

The group of men around Stump were fighting with one another now. They were all dandy, crisp white shirts and tailored black coats. Gentlemen didn't do this, didn't mix it up in gangs. Still, eight men and they were fighting like boys from his orphanage. Some of them had brass knuckles; one had a knife. One had a gun. As they scrapped, they moved a few feet away from Stump's body, leaving the courier unattended. When Temple reached the body, he rolled it over and Stump's coat flopped open, exposing the borders of a thick belt wrapped around his torso and swelling up from beneath his shirt. Temple popped the buttons and loosened the strap that was squeezing a brown paper package against Stump's sternum. This was what made Stump so anxious, this little package. And now Stump's life was oozing from a surgical tear across his throat, mucky with blood and already attracting flies. As Temple yanked the package from beneath the belt, a shadow slipped along the pavement next to Stump's body.

One of the gents was standing over him and he had a long metal rod, of all things. "Leave it alone," he said to Temple. "Take your hands off the package."

Temple pulled out his detective's badge, flat and heavy with an image of the Capitol building stamped upon it, but the gent ignored it, raised his rod, and sliced it down toward Temple's neck.

Ah, well. Temple was grateful for his cane at times.

He swept his cane from the ground and blocked the rod; a few quick turns of his wrist and he spun the rod out of the gent's hands. Still crouched, he whipped his cane across the gent's knees and, as the man crumbled, Temple gave him a solid whack across the side of his head. He looked up at the group of men, who had parted and put down their knives and knuckles to consider him. The gent with the gun turned toward him and raised his pistol. He looked delighted, his eyes dancing beneath a high, sloping forehead. That one enjoys it, Temple thought. He enjoys killing.

"Corporal," Temple shouted over his shoulder to the soldier. "I'm a Metropolitan Police detective. Charge that man."

Good boy: He did as he was told. He raised his rifle, bayonet shining at the end of it, and shouted at the gent with the gun, telling him to disarm. The gent smiled, pointed his gun, and fired. One shot. The boy's eyes widened in surprise and then he dropped like a sack, the black brim of his little blue cap crumpling behind his head. Temple drew a knife off his ankle and readied it, but now the men-as startled as everyone else in the station by the sound of a gunshot-scrambled, separated, and ran. Temple was alone with Stump, who, like the boy nearby, was limp and lifeless. And it would seem that everyone here today wanted the package more than they wanted poor Stump.

Temple loosened the package from the brown leather belt securing it to Stump's torso and wondered: Take it in or open it now? Fiona says my sin is impatience. Temple tore open the package. There was a black leather diary and a smaller red leather journal that was also a date book for the previous year. The larger of the two was written in the small, careful script of a woman; the other, on long, narrow pages filled with exclamation points and long lines of discourse, was written by a man. Temple scanned the pages: "Mr. Lincoln" and "railroads" and "New York" appeared several times in the woman's writings; "Lincoln" and "traitor" and "Lord War" in the man's script. The man's pages also contained another word, forcing Temple up on his cane: "assassination."

His leg hurt. He jammed the pages into the tops of his boots-one set for each boot, everything in order-then hurried toward the B&O's entrance to find a horse. Fiona said that theft was a sin, too, but on a morning already heavy with sin it didn't rank with murder.

Temple had to press past throngs of people twirling toward the front of the station and away from the gunshots. He could hear a baby crying to his right, a man shouting for his wife to his left. A porter had come to a full stop and was sitting on two trunks he had been dragging toward the trains. He perched on the edge, surveying the calamity around him, and then pulled his hat down over his eyes, content to wait out the pandemonium. Temple hobbled around the porter and exited the station.

Temple was large and lanky and needed large horses. Weren't many of those, 'cept for the mounts that the Army of the Potomac had. Rain was still coming down, but lighter now. First bit of luck today: a beautiful chestnut stallion, unflinching in the rain and tied to a post. Easy to spot. All of the horses that had been here earlier, and the crowd of soldiers, too, were gone. Remember that. Just this one, in the rain, waiting for him.

Temple untied the horse and it didn't buck. He stuck his left foot in the stirrup, jammed his cane between his right hand and the pommel, and hoisted himself up, stretching his gimp leg behind himself as he swung it over the saddle. Beside the pommel, burned into the leather, were two large initials: L.B.

"You should have stayed inside until the rain stopped," warned a voice to Temple's right. "We wouldn't want what you took off Stump to soak up the bad weather, would we?"

The gent who'd shot the young soldier was standing there, pointing a LeMat at Temple. Military revolver, but not a Colt. LeMats were dicey. Buckshot from the bottom barrel. The gent raised his gun toward Temple's head, eyes gleaming (He likes it, Temple thought again, he likes killing), and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell, but no shot. The horse reared.

"Powder's moist," Temple said. "The rain. You have to mind the rain, friend. Damp pistolas mightn't fire."

"Bastard, get off my horse and let me have the damn package."

The gent thrust his hand into the saddle and yanked a riding crop from it, then whipped Temple's right thigh. The crop tore through his pants, blood came streaming through the tear, and a flash of pain seared his thigh.

The gent brought the crop down again, but Temple jammed his cane into the middle of the man's forehead, and he stumbled back, dazed. Like billiards, Temple thought. Temple slapped the horse's neck with his left hand and the stallion skittered sideways. He slapped it again, very hard, and the horse bucked wildly into the gent, throwing him to the ground. Temple gathered the reins and galloped off, up New Jersey.

The rain began to let up, and the sun broke through in a yellow, boiling burst.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Lincoln Conspiracy

"History as a dangerous, inventive game . . . fascinating."-Martin Cruz Smith

"A notable fiction debut with an appealing detective hero and plenty of action. It gets off to a fast start and never stops."- Library Journal

"A historical puzzle as labyrinthine and grandiose as Scheherazade's tales . . . As clever as Sherlock Holmes, as wily as Pendergast in Preston and Child's series, and wickedly funny on top of it all, the irresistible McFadden is due to return in a sequel-thank goodness!"- Booklist (starred review)

"[A] fast-paced, well-conceived adventure . . . There is nothing more fun than losing oneself in O'Brien's rich and riotous mixture of reimagination and fact."-Historical Novels Review

"Gripping . . . The history and overall arc of the novel are superb . . . and Temple McFadden proves to be a worthwhile hero."-Associated Press

From the Publisher

We know why Lincoln was assassinated, right? Wrong, says O'Brien, national editor of the Huffington Post, who has teased a theory out of the historical record and turned it into a thriller. When a friend is slain at the B&O railroad station, Det. Temple McFadden finds two diaries in his pocket: one belonging to Mary Todd Lincoln and one to John Wilkes Booth.

Library Journal

Read More

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A nation shattered by its president’s murder Two diaries that reveal the true scope of an American conspiracy A detective determined to bring the truth to light, no matter what it costs him From award-winning journalist Timothy L. O’Brien...

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The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth by F.L. Bates

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The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth by F.L. Bates

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This book is written by Finis L. Bates, an attorney who became involved in the investigation of Booth's alleged escape following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. While this is not historical evidence, it is an interesting read from Bates' viewpoint, which is one of the reasons I chose to include it. It gives yet another perspective of the circumstances.

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The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth

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The author claims that John Wilkes Booth was not killed at the Garrett house in Virginia in 1865, but that he was living under name of John St. Helen at Glenrose Mills, Tex., 1872-1877, and committed suicide at Enid, Okla., in 1903 as David E. George.

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American Artifacts: Ford's Theatre "Silent Witnesses" Exhibit

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American Artifacts: Ford's Theatre "Silent Witnesses" Exhibit

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This video is a virtual tour of a 2015 exhibit at Ford's Theater that displays many artifacts collected from the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. While not related to the conspiracies, I thought this exhibit was quite fascinating and may trigger intrigue of certain aspects of the event.

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American Artifacts: Ford’s Theatre “Silent Witnesses” Exhibit

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The “Silent Witnesses” exhibit at Ford’s Theatre was profiled. The exhibit brought together many of the artifacts present at the theatre on the night of President Lincoln’s assassination on April…

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This curation choice board includes selections of various formats for both youth and adults. The selections with red backgrounds are those suitable for approximately third grade students. The selections with blue backgrounds are those suited for adults. Formats are categorized by section. Once you have explored this choice board, please take a quick survey to let us know your thoughts. You also have an activity available to you if you'd like to show us what you've learned from this curation.

# data[].attributes.subject
This curation choice board includes selections of various formats for both youth and adults. The selections with red backgrounds are those suitable for approximately third grade students. The selections with blue backgrounds are those suited for adults. Formats are categorized by section. Once you have explored this choice board, please take a quick survey to let us know your thoughts. You also have an activity available to you if you'd like to show us what you've learned from this curation.

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Please take a few minutes to answer the questions in this survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

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When you're done exploring this choice board, we would love to know what you think!

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Katie Mazzaferro Curation Tools Platform Analysis Worksheet

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Katie Mazzaferro Choice Board Reflection

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Check out this Presentation designed by Katherine Mazzaferro.