Breaking a leg

[JMadonna]

(11-30-2012 11:14 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I'm going to get myself in trouble with Jerry again, but if Booth and Herold had passes signed by VP Johnson, they could have exited the city any way they wanted. Why the bridge into Southern Maryland if they did not intend to use the services of the Secret Line in that area?

I did read your book, but I forget the line of reasoning as to why they headed south if they intended to go north. That part of the plan seems to have been thought of ahead of time and did not depend on or change because of a broken leg.

No plans are perfect. Things always happen. Booth wanted his pursuers to believe he was heading south. He certainly left enough bread crumbs to point that way. The map in Atzerodt's room, the exit using the Navy Yard Bridge, the directions to the sentry, the rifle at the tavern - all were red herrings.

The secret line south was in tact for the kidnapping plot but after the fall of Richmond there was nothing south but Union soldiers. Mary Surrat's mission was part of the bread crumb trail. Booth had no need for rifles or field-glasses. What he needed was speed and a route out of the country.

That meant heading north for the railway station as soon as he left the bridge when the accident happened. If Herold had not been following Booth the chase would have probably ended at the site of the accident.

As it was he headed for medical attention from the only Doctor south that he could trust.