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L Verge · (This post was last modified: 09-24-2013 01:40 PM by L Verge.)

(09-23-2013 07:27 PM)NJREB1863 Wrote: My question about whether Dr. Mudd expected visitors that night or very shortly thereafter revolves around when Booth discovered he had an opportunity to assassinate Lincoln which was not until around midday on the 14th. Herold in his travels on the 12th/13th, would not have known of a specific date to assassinate and at that time it doesn't seem that any known opportunities to kidnap were available to the conspirators either. So im not convinced Mudd was on the watch for Booth and Herold that night.

Tony, I do not think that Herold knew a specific date on which something was going to happen - only that it was coming soon. And that is what he was sent into Southern Maryland to say to the operatives that he knew. He actually didn't have to go any further than one operative; the word would spread just like the agents had been aided on their routes for four years.

I also do not believe that Herold was still suggesting a kidnapping. I think he knew full well that the assassination was the only recourse. Remember Booth's words on the night of April 11 upon hearing Lincoln speak about giving the vote to certain free men? There is even one story that Booth wanted Powell to shoot Lincoln on the spot.

I just find it a little more than coincidental that Booth explodes on the night of April 11, and Davey is on the road within 24-36 hours.

John "Stanton/Slater," you know that I am not about to agree with you on the Bumpy Oak Road route because the only source we can cite for that is Atzerodt, who is the least reliable conspiratorial source you could have. That may have been one of several routes that were discussed over the months in preparation for the kidnapping or whatever, but just that. Have you ever driven Bumpy Oak Road? I have a number of times, and my daughter uses it several times a week. Even with much improvement over the fifty years or so that I'm aware of, there is one section that is still treacherous. Unless March or April of 1865 had been months of severe drought, that road was literally "the pits." with swamp on either side thrown in.

Do you consider Harbin an agent on the Secret Line? I believe that he's the one that Booth wanted to get the message that he would be needing help in the near future. And Harbin and his cohort, Baden, came through in acting as decoys crossing the Potomac downriver to draw the troops away from the Pope's Creek/Allens Fresh area. And who shows up to assist Booth and Herold when they reach Mrs. Quesenberry? Harbin and Baden. They were the Southern Maryland agents who did their duty and made sure they got into Virginia. After that, it was up to sympathetic people in the Northern Neck - and we know how that went.

I don't understand your reference to Booth leaving with a crutch. John Best fashioned one for him at Dr. Mudd's because he arrived with a broken leg. I believe he would have arrived at Mudd's anyhow - broken leg or no broken leg. I can't prove it, but I don't know that anyone can 100% disprove it either.

Forgot to mention that I do not believe that anyone has ever proven that Mudd was a member of the Doctors' Line. I think he was a mail courier and one of the go-to people if you needed help. And, I don't mean for a broken leg.

(09-24-2013 06:02 AM)J. Beckert Wrote: I think Dr. Mudd had "dirty hands" because of his previous meetings with Booth, but I'm on the fence with his farm being an intended stop. I don't know the lay of the land down there, but I remember John Ford said it would have been out of his way to stop at Mudd's and he felt it was not Booth's initial intention to stop there.

I know that Ford said Mudd's was out of the way, but how did he know? Had he been there, or was he getting that as a second-hand excuse to save Dr. Mudd?