New Garrett Farm Marker to be Replaced

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Laurie for sending this press release from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources:

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State Historical Highway Marker

“Assassin’s End”

To Be Dedicated in Port Royal

A state historical marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources that marks the nearby site of the Garrett Farm where Union troops cornered and killed John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago this month, will be dedicated this Sunday.

The dedication and unveiling ceremony for the marker will begin at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 26, at Port Royal Museum of American History, located at 506 Main Street, in Port Royal. The event is open to the public.

Speakers will include Carolyn Davis, president of Historic Port Royal; Dave Taylor, a board member of Historic Port Royal and a member of the Surratt Society; and James Hare of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The sign marks the site of Locust Hill, the farm of Richard Henry Garrett, where Booth was cornered along with his co-conspirator, David E. Herold, by a detachment of the 16th New York Cavalry as the two men slept in Garrett’s tobacco barn.

“Herold gave himself up,” the marker reads, “but Booth refused to surrender. The barn was set on fire, and Sgt. Boston Corbett shot the assassin, still inside. Booth was laid on the porch of the Garrett house and died about sunrise,” the marker states.

The marker is sponsored by the Surratt Society and was approved for manufacture by the Department of Historic Resources in December 2014.

The “Assassin’s End” marker replaces a prior marker titled “John Wilkes Booth” which stood at the Garrett Farm site from 1937 until it disappeared in October 2014. The new marker updates and expands the text of the prior marker.

Virginia’s historical highway marker program, which began in 1927 with the installation of the first historical markers along U.S. Route 1, is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,500 official state markers, most maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, as well as by local partners in jurisdictions outside of VDOT’s authority.

Text of the marker:

Assassin’s End

This is the site of Locust Hill, Richard Henry Garrett’s farm. Early on the morning of 26 April 1865, a 16th New York Cavalry detachment cornered John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, and his co-conspirator, David E. Herold, as the two men slept in Garrett’s tobacco barn. Herold gave himself up, but Booth refused to surrender. The barn was set on fire, and Sgt. Boston Corbett shot the assassin, still inside. Booth was laid on the porch of the Garrett house and died about sunrise. The house and barn stood a short distance from this spot.