Planning a camping trip

[Dave Taylor]

Those of you who read my blog know that this summer I tried my best to recreate certain parts of the escape route. I walked the route from Dr. Mudd's to Oswell Swann's, from the Pine Thicket to Huckleberry, I went down to Dent's Meadow where Booth and Herold set across the Potomac, and I was fortunate enough to see the spot on the Nanjemoy Creek where they ended up after that first failed attempt. I really do love recreating history this way.

My next project is as follows. I really want to recreate John Wilkes Booth and David Herold's time in the Pine Thicket. My spring break is in April and I would like to spend a good 5 days roughing it in the great outdoors like they did. To do this as accurately as possible though, I'm going to need some help. I was hoping you all could help me out in this way. Booth and Herold's time in the pines is one of the things we don't know much about, but I could use any information you might know to help me plan and provide interesting things for me to talk about while I'm in the woods.

As a starting point for my planning, I'm trying to determine what items Booth and Herold would have would have had with them while they were in the pine thicket. This would give me a nice list of things I can take with me to use during my "camping trip". My biggest struggle is knowing what type of things would have been on the horses.

To start the brainstorming, I know that Booth and Herold would have had:
A Fieldglass (binoculars)
Carbine
2 Revolvers
Large, Bowie Knife
Handkerchief
Diary (with money, bank notes and photos inside)
Pocket Knife
Compass
Stick pin (Booth's "diamond" one)
Catholic Medal
Newspapers from Jones - Betty
Saddle Blankets - Betty
Probably a canteen (either their own or from Jones) - Betty
Pipe and tobacco (he had this at Garretts at least) - Betty
Possibly matches - Betty
Candle (this may have come from Jones when he put them on the river though) - Betty

Here's what I have off the top of my head. Can you all think of other items the boys would have had, either on themselves or on their horses?