Drawing of Booth Body

[John E.]

One of the statements I've often heard regarding the Booth autopsy engraving that appeared in Harper's Weekly is that it looks too detailed not to have been based on a photograph.

During the Conference I didn't address this but would like to do so now. Some of the sketch artists of the Civil War period were absolutely fantastic. Books have been written about their impressive work, relationships with other "artists" (including photographers and newsmen), and how they brought the war to the home front.

Here's a sketch that was done at one of Lincoln's inaugurations, that was not lifted from or based on a photograph. To assume that engravings filled with detail must have been copied from a photograph is not accurate.