Powell's revolver

[BettyO]

Heath - Powell's gun is currently at Ford's Theatre on display there.


Supposedly Powell aimed the gun at Seward and the gun did NOT fire and Powell attempted to pistol whip young Seward - apparently thinking that a pistol whip about the head would incapacitate him rather than kill him. Powell had been present when Captain Richard Blazer was captured by Mosby's men in November of 1864 and was one of the three pursuing cavalrymen who captured him. Syd Ferguson, one of Powell's cronies, had leaned from his horse and pistol whipped Blazer to the ground. Powell may therefore have thought that by whipping Seward, he would simply knock the man unconscious and then have access to his main target, Seward, not realizing how seriously he did injure Fred Seward.

We don't know how many times Powell struck young Fred Seward. Hollywood likes to "play it up" and make it seem like Powell belabored his gun on Seward repeatedly.

Rath's recollections get a bit sticky. He also seemed to remember that Powell was a blond headed man! Rath's recollections unfortunately were a bit tainted by memory loss as he got older. He suffered from Alzheimer's.