Booth's visit to the Surratt Boarding House after the assassination

[JMadonna]

Bill,
I really like the way you think. Booth's pistols and hat are one of those throwaway details that make history fascinating.

It makes sense to me that Booth would stop at Mary's boarding house before making his escape. It was considered a safe house in Washington. Stringfellow made his escape from there a few weeks before and Powell headed for it when he was stranded. The only other place would have been Booth's room at the National which was on the way to the bridge but not easy to get in and out of without being spotted.

It never made sense to me as to why Booth sent Mary on her mission that afternoon. The carbine theory never made sense nor did the binocular package. Those are nice objects to have on the run but his primary concerns should have been speed and distance, so I postulated that she told him to get the escape horses ready.

We know she was glad to hear the guards would stop patroling by 8:00 so it makes sense that he needed to stop to get her scouting report and pick up supplies.

It's certainly plausable that Herold was the man holding the horse or maybe Anna Surratt??

Since Booth's exact route out of the city is disputable it's hard to find reliable witnesses to say they saw Booth at a certain spot after the shooting.

Maybe putting together a timeline would help. Assuming Booth went into a normal trot after a few blocks of galloping how much time did he have to get to the bridge after the shooting? How much time did he need to gather his guns and hat and collect information. 5-10 minutes? How far was the bridge from the boarding house?

Might be a fun exercise for some of our younger members. I'd prefer to have a yuengling and watch.