Typo

[L Verge]

A Surratt Society member just alerted me to what appears to be a typo in American Brutus. On page 227, it states that the guard at the Navy Yard Bridge was called out at 11:40 pm as Booth rode up.

I had always thought that the bridge was reached by Booth about 10:45, so I was surprised to open up Brutus and see the error. Cobb's own statements in The Evidence, as well as three other sources that I checked, all put the time in the space of 10:25 to 10:40.

Steers has him passing the forts at the top of Good Hope Hill by 11 pm, Polk Gardner and his partner place him at Soper's Hill (just a few miles north of Surrattsville) at around midnight, and John Lloyd said the two fugitives arrived at our tavern at midnight.

This Society member had gone so far as to research speeds attributed to horses galloping, trotting, and walking compared to Booth's timeline. They were certainly reasonable comparisons.

I have to think that the 11:40 pm time given on page 227 of AB is a typo, but a dangerous one for future researchers to digest. That would leave a one hour time period before Booth left the city to account for. Even those who believe that JWB stopped off at Mrs. Surratt's between Ford's and the bridge would have a hard time justifying an hour's lay-over.