Booth's Escape Route

[MaddieM]

(02-07-2013 11:05 AM)Rob Wick Wrote:  

(02-07-2013 10:36 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  I'm willing to bet if Powell's pistol hadn't misfired and he walked in and shot Seward, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I think it's evolved into an emotional issue because of the viciousness of the knife attack. Whether or not Powell was bamboozled by Booth into believing he would be acting under Confederate orders can't be proven, but I'm inclined to believe so. He tried to kill someone. If he was acting as a soldier, in his mind, Seward was just the enemy. It's no different to me than a sniper today killing the enemy from 1000 yards. Is that murder in wartime?

Just as I'm inclined to disagree, Joe. And actually, it is different from a sniper. A soldier in the field has the expectation that something like that can happen, and can guard against it. A man lying in his bed has no such defense. What was in Powell's mind or Booth's mind is irrelevant to the criminality, brutality and lawlessness of the act as it would have been if Dahlgren had succeeded in his raid, and it could be proven that it was approved at the highest levels of the Union government. Murder is murder, even in wartime.

Best
Rob

Was Seward a civilian? Truly.