Booth's Escape Route

[MaddieM]

(01-22-2013 02:23 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Just because I'm obviously in the minority here doesn't mean I'm wrong, or that this is the generally-held opinion about Powell or his actions from other scholars and writers.

I'm well aware of what cold-blooded means and it's a phrase that fits. To jump on a man who is defenseless and an invalid with a knife and a gun is a textbook definition. I don't care one whit that they believed it to be justified. When Powell was a soldier shooting at someone who had the ability to fight back, that's one thing, but how anyone could believe otherwise about the attacks on Seward and his family just boggles my mind.

I daresay had Ulric Dahlgren actually carried out his raid and did to Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet what happened to Lincoln and Seward, most people here would have found it to be unconscionable.

Best
Rob

I think it's safe to assume that Powell would have tried to follow his orders regardless of Seward's physical state. The fact that he was bedridden was neither here nor there.