Identification of Booth's body

[Steve]

(01-30-2019 07:04 PM)mikegriffith1 Wrote:  Jameson is an award-winning author of dozens of non-fiction and historical-fiction books. Here is an excerpt from his book on John Wilkes Booth:

Boyd was placed on the federal payroll and given the responsibility of reporting on Confederate prisoners’ escape plans. He was moved often and may have spent time in as many as five different prisons as an undercover agent. Shortly after being sent to Port Lookout, Maryland, an old ankle wound on his right leg developed a severe infection. In need of having it drained and treated, Boyd arranged for a transfer to Hammond General Hospital on May 20, 1864.

While incarcerated at the Old Capitol Prison, Boyd learned that his wife had died. He wrote a letter to Stanton requesting a transfer to Tennessee, where, he said, he was willing to serve as a spy. He informed Stanton of the death of his wife. He also wrote that his seven children were living on charity and that he wished to be near them.

On the day after receiving Boyd’s letter, Stanton had the spy brought to his quarters. There, the secretary of war informed him that he would be freed if he would accept an important assignment. . . .

Continuing and concentrated research and investigation into the traditional version of the flight, pursuit, and alleged killing of John Wilkes Booth have yielded a number of pertinent and troubling inconsistencies. . . . The evidence presented herein points to the likelihood that the conspiracies to kidnap and kill President Abraham Lincoln extended to the higher echelons of public office and implicates some of Lincoln’s close associates, including a cabinet member. Prominent among these interpretations is the revelation that the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, did not die at the hands of the federal soldiers at Garrett’s farm but rather went on to live another forty-three years. . . .

Most historians have written that the second rider [along with Booth] was David Herold. Recently uncovered information, along with Cobb’s own testimony, casts serious doubt on this identification. Furthermore, encounters with documents long made unavailable provide evidence suggesting that the rider was Ed Henson. . . .

Most Lincoln-era historians agree that if Stanton wanted Booth captured, he would have made certain the actor’s name and likeness were broadcast far and wide as soon as his role in the assassination was determined. Stanton, however, was apparently in no hurry to capture Booth or to inform the country of the identity of the murderer. . . .

When Captain James William Boyd heard the news of the Lincoln assassination, he was stunned, disappointed, and frightened. . . . Boyd was now concerned that the subsequent investigation would eventually lead to him and that he would be in great danger. The Confederate spy was convinced that he would be set up to take the blame. . . .

Around 7:00 a.m., the suspect died where he lay. History has long recorded that it was John Wilkes Booth, but from the time the man was dragged out of the burning barn, a great deal of confusion reigned, and doubt was expressed regarding his actual identity. Prevailing evidence suggests that it was not John Wilkes Booth at all but rather James William Boyd. (John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave, New York: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2013, pp. 22, 84-85, 87, 92, 138)

This will be the third time that I've asked you to respond to my earlier post about Boyd. Yet you keep bringing him up as being the person killed in Garrett's barn but yet each time you keep avoiding/not responding to my replies. I'm reprinting my earlier post below to refresh your memory and make it easier to find:

(12-29-2018 03:44 PM)mikegriffith1 Wrote:  Three, Boyd was 41, which would explain why Dr. May said the body on the Montauk looked "much older" than Booth looked the last time he'd seen him, which was just over a year earlier. When Rollins was shown a picture of Booth less than 48 hours before the barn shooting, he had no problem recognizing the picture as Booth, and the only difference he noted between the picture and how Booth looked when he saw him was that Booth had no mustache when he saw him. Rollins didn't say anything like "and, oh yeah, when I saw him, Booth looked a lot older than he does in the picture."

Mike, do you believe/assert that the "Boyd" killed at Garrett's farm the James W. Boyd of the 6th Tennessee, who was released after taking the oath of allegiance and giving a promise to spy for the Union? If not, where does this "41" age that you assert for "Boyd" come from and who are you claiming he was? Specifically which Confederate soldier(s) named "James Boyd" could've been the person killed at Garrett's Farm, if it wasn't the Boyd of the 6th Tennessee?

If you can't find such a Confederate soldier named James Boyd that could've been killed at Garrett's farm:

(a) Wouldn't that be a strong indication that the person was lying and using an alias, say I dunno… like Booth?

(b) Where does that "41" year age you give "Boyd (which matches the age of James W. Boyd of the 6th Tennessee) come from?



Getting back to Rob's point about proving a point by documented evidence... here is the letter James W. Boyd, of the 6th Tennessee, wrote on February 14, 1865 where he offers to spy for the Union if he can be released as a paroled POW. He says that he wants to spy in order to earn money to help support his 7 children who have been dependent on charity following his wife's death and to get revenge for being court-martialed twice:







The letter comes from the National Archives, Record Group 94, Microfilm M797, Roll 135. From the Baker case files of the Turner-Baker papers, original case file no. 718B.

Most importantly for the purposes of this discussion, he volunteered to spy in western Tennessee and parts of Kentucky west of the Tennessee river. He even uses his knowledge of that area and its people as a selling point on why that would make him a good spy. Boyd was released the next day, so he should've been nowhere near Maryland in April 1865 if he was specifically released to help provide for his now motherless children and spy for the Union in Tennessee.

Here's a newspaper account of James W. Boyd's 01 Jan. 1866 murder from page 2 of the 10 Jan. 1866 edition of the Memphis Daily Avalanche, first published in the West Tennessee Whig of Jackson, Tennessee



Note, this is the year following the death of the man called "Boyd" at Garrett's farm. The article doesn't mention Boyd's 6th Tennessee military service, but fortunately another source does, the diary of a local man named Robert H. Cartmell. In the last paragraph of the first page below continuing onto the top of the second page, Cartmell says the James W. Boyd killed on 01 January 1866 in Tennessee was indeed the James W. Boyd of the 6th Tennessee. That would make it impossible for him to have been the man called "Boyd" who was killed at Garrett's farm the prior year:





Link to the full Robert H. Cartmell diary collection:

http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landi...5138coll39

I hope this provides enough documented evidence that the man killed at Garrett's barn could not possibly be the James W. Boyd of the 6th Tennessee (ignoring all the evidence that it was Booth and just focusing on the documentary evidence from Boyd's life). Hopefully, it meets the standard of documentary evidence put forward by Rob to prove an argument and will be a useful instruction on how to craft an historical argument using evidence and logic.