Escape speculations

[JB Banning]

(06-13-2015 07:26 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Paige - I think you are quite right that ending up back on the Maryland shore after the first attempt at crossing the Potomac and then delaying for another 24+ hours before attempting to cross again to Virginia wasted valuable time. However, we can't know what caused the delay -- Booth's pain, perhaps Herold's fatigue from rowing (he complained about his hands being blistered from rowing), conditions not optimal out on the river, other factors... . We do know that Harbin and Baden, prime movers in the Secret Line were already across and waiting at Mrs. Quesenberry's to contact them, so the underground from Maryland was doing their part to assist the fugitives. P.S. I'm not too sure that the building that still exists at Indiantown Farm is original to 1865, or that it was ever a slave cabin.

Tom - You will have to debate some historians who believe that Herold was not with Powell at the Seward House as well as others who think Herold went with Powell, but did not stay so that he could go kill Johnson or at least be on time to meet Booth at the bridge. Also, David did not run off with Powell's horse. The horse was waiting patiently when Powell emerged from the house with cries of "Murder, murder!" echoing from William Bell, the Sewards' man servant. Once Powell mounted the horse, however, the animal became reluctant to be the get-away vehicle.

Laurie,

I know this is a late reply but William Tidwell in his "Booth crosses the Potomac: An Exercise in Historical Research" after considering tides, wind conditions, the placement of the Potomac Flotilla, and descriptions given by both Herold and Jones on the conditions on the river that night, believed that the crossing was first attempted on the 21st, not the 20th.

Joe