Booth's Escape Route

[L Verge]

Bill Richter is my Constitutional scholar here, but it has always been my interpretation that the document provided for continuation of government given ordinary circumstances. The mass assassinations of all the top leaders at the same time - and throw in Lafayette Sabine Foster as President pro tempore of the Senate and next in line when Johnson went down - and you have most extraordinary circumstances to overcome.

IMO, once the remaining Confederates in the field (especially west of the Mississippi) heard about a mass execution, you would have seen a very quick renewal of the spirit to continue fighting. If the scene did turn westward, there would have also been new sources of supplies from areas that had not been laid waste by Union forces and black flag warfare. Those in control of what was left of the Confederate treasury might also have done an about face and gathered steam. Even the Secret Line in Southern Maryland would have stayed in place to see how they could help, I believe.

Never underestimate the power of those Iron Men and Steel Magnolias of the Confederacy.

BTW: Booth was an excellent horseman, if you have read accounts of his childhood and afterwards. That's why I fail to believe that his leg was broken in a fall from his steed. But as Wild Bill is apt to say, "What do I know? I'm just a dumb female historian."