Escape speculations

[L Verge]

Call me an optimist, but I still think that Booth's men planned on going in different directions when they left the city -- Booth heading south with Herold's help in getting him across the river, Powell heading to Baltimore for help from the Bransons, and Atzerodt probably planning on slinking back to Port Tobacco when the coast was clear.

Of course, the broken leg was the biggest hitch in the plans as far as reducing the speed of transferring Booth from one agent to another in Southern Maryland. Once across the river, I think they expected help from Mosby or similar partisans (and got it in the form of Jett and company until Betty Rollins's knowledge of Jett's love affair put a crimp in that!).

I still think that Texas and/or Mexico - The Knights of the Golden Circle territory - was Booth's intended goal. He would have stayed close to the coast and hoped for help from a left-over Confederate privateer somewhere in North Carolina or South Carolina. That's how I would script the movie...

I don't think that Canada was ever a consideration as a refuge after the assassination.