Countdown to July 7

[BettyO]

Last Hours -

The four condemned were offered breakfast - and according to some accounts, Powell partook of it, but Dr. Gillette, who had spent the night with the condemned youth, stated that Powell neither ate nor drank anything that day and steadily refused Dr. Porter's repeated offers of Wine of Valerian. Valerian is an herb which is supposed to soothe and calm; basically it induces sleep, but I would think that four half-asleep victims carried to the scaffold and then shot into eternity was the last thing that Hartranft, Rath or Porter wanted to see.... Supposedly Atzerodt was also offered this stuff but decided that Brandy was more to his taste -

I conducted an internet search on this, and believe it or not, Wine of Valerian is still around and you can buy it on the internet. Personally I, like Powell, wouldn't touch this stuff with a ten foot pole! No telling what it tastes like or what it does, although one person said that it had a "quieting effect and induced sleep"..... No thank you! I'd rather count sheep!

July 7 was a scorching day and the temperature was climbing steadily towards the triple digits - much like today is going to be.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us