O'Beirne's diary of Booth manhunt

[Rhatkinson]

i came across this diary from James O'Beirne detailing his involvement in the events of the assassination and the hunt for Booth.

http://historical.ha.com/itm/political/-...ion-071515
What makes is especially interesting are the comments that later proved to be true about the hunt and it points out how close the Army was on Booth and Davy's trail. For instance, he makes comments about finding crutch tracks of Booth, Dr. Mudd's complicity, Samuel Cox cooking provisions for people in the woods, etc. Here are the quotes:

- "O'Beirne traveled to Port Tobacco with six detectives and twenty-five soldiers. While there, he noticed some "tracks" in the mud caused by Booth's crutch. These were followed, resulting in Booth's capture and death the next day. Some excerpts: "... Mudd near Bryantown... served more than two years in the Rebel Army is a black hearted man and possibly a conspirator see after him... Pope's creek has been a crossing. The conspirators are there if they have not crossed over to the Virginia side which examine into and follow up... Herold was coming backwards & forwards to visit the dissipated set at Port Royal even just after his father's death... Description of Azterodt. Medium height... looks like a German a smiling man ordinary... Herold visits frequently a Dr. Robinson between Woodville & Benedict... The people thru this country understand that Miller Pro Mar Mo will protect & otherwise screen all who come from the confederates... Send the men over to Mattox Creek & to work their way up and arrest Jones... Learned from Colored Man at White Point Va that about between 9 & 10 o'clock two men... landed in a boat & left it hastily then went across the field hastily without stopping at Golman's house... Saml Cox (at Scotia Swamp) his mill servant stated to another colored man that Cox has been cooking provisions lately & carrying it to persons down in the swamp... Judge Scott Gardiner's house should be searched. Booth is likely to be there as anywhere... [Gardiner is a ] monomaniac on the subject of secession & a virulent rebel. He should be looked into... Herold & Booth came out of a belt of cedars... on the morning of April 25th... spoke to a colored girl at Turner's House, asked for food the night before a fire was discovered in the woods... they asked if anyone was in the house & if they could get water... The visitation today shows that they have made a circuit from the belt of wood in which these were & are not 5 miles distant. The two men are Booth & Herold beyond doubt."

   

[Jim Garrett]

Great find Heath.

[L Verge]

I don't ever remember seeing this, but it did give me a clue to something. Many years ago, Mr. Hall said that David Herold spent a lot of time in Patuxent City (now a nearly extinct village) in Charles County, Maryland, and may even have lived there for awhile.

Mr. Hall was amazed to find out that I actually knew where Patuxent City is. Heath's find doesn't give it the name Patuxent City, but it refers to "between Woodville and Benedict." Woodville is now known as Aquasco, and Benedict was/is the port on the Patuxent River where the British Navy landed British troops in 1814 and began the overland march to burn Washington City. Thanks to this, I now have the name of a Dr. Robinson that was a Herold contact.

Ironically, friends of our family from T.B. bought one of the most beautiful farms in Southern Maryland back in the 1960s. That farm is at Benedict, and the family's name is Robinson. However, the farm is about three miles distant from Patuxent City and lies right along the river. Back in the early-1800s, the adjacent farm (known as Middle Plantation) was owned by a branch of my family - but it was lost in a poker game.