Lafayette and Luther Baker

[historybuff22]

For the past 6 months I have been heavily researching the Baker family - mostly Lafayette and Luther. According to history, Lafayette and Luther participated in the finding of Booth. So far I have amassed over 800 pages of photocopies of original documents and have discovered 2 aspects that I do not think many people are aware of.

1) The Baker family moved to Lansing, Michigan in 1843 while Lafayette was still a child. In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, Lafayette went to try his luck. He didn't get rich BUT did join the San Francisco Vigilantes and guess who was a member of the same ward: None other than Junius Booth - the son, not the father.

2) Although history books claim that Lafayette was at the Garrett farm when Booth was captured. He WAS NOT. Also Luther, by way of Stanton's orders, had full control over the mission and it was Luther that held the conversation with Booth in the barn. It was also Luther that had Booth moved to the porch of the house and took the body back to Washington City. Lafayette and Luther both mustered out of the military before the hunt for Booth and, despite having 25 members of the 16th New York with him, it WAS NOT considered a military operation.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
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