Mudd, Surratt and Harbin

[loetar44]

It was Dr. Mudd who introduced John Wilkes Booth to John Surratt. Dr. Mudd also introduced Booth to Thomas Harbin. It’s my opinion that it is never clearly resolved what connection exactly John Surratt and Thomas Harbin had with Dr. Mudd. Is there any historical evidence to prove quite clearly that Mudd had strong connections to the Confederate underground of which John Surratt and Thomas Harbin were instrumental operativs?

[RJNorton]

Kees, there are folks on the forum who know far more on this topic than I do. But I will post some of the testimony of a couple of Dr. Mudd's slaves named Elzee Eglen and Melvina Washington. This testimony does not really answer your question, but I think the prosecution interpreted these testimonies as showing Dr. Mudd assisted the Confederate soldiers, let them stay on/near his property, gave them food, provisions, etc.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(Elzee Eglen)

Q. Now state if you saw any men at Mudd’s house when you were there; and if so, who were they?
A. I did see men there: some staid in the woods. They would come in the house at different times, and sleep in the woods at night: sometimes one person would go into the house. They would go in at different times, and go back to the woods.
Q. How far from Mudd’s house did they stay in the woods?
A. The used to stay about a quarter of a mile off, I reckon.
Q. Where did they get their victuals?
A. I do not know where they got their victuals.
Q. Did you see any victuals taken to them?
A. I have seen victuals going that way often enough.
Q. Who was taking them?
A. I saw my sister carry some.
Q. What is your sister’s name?
A. Mary Simms.
Q. When was that?
A. That was in June or July.
Q. What June and July?
A. The June before this last one, and that July.
Q. How were those men dressed that slept in the woods?
A. Some were dressed in gray clothes, and some in black clothes.
Q. Did you know any of the men?
A. I had seen one of them before: they called him Andrew Gwynn, I believe. I did not know the others.
Q. Do you know the uniform or clothing of rebel soldiers or prisoners?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Say how these clothes compared with those of rebels.
A. They were gray clothes: they had on gray jackets, coat-like, and gray breeches.
Q. Were there any marks on them of any kind?
A. No: they had no marks on them; only buttons.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is the testimony of another slave:

Q. State your name to the Court
A. Melvina Washington.
Q. State if you have lived with the prisoner, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.
A. Yes, sir: I have lived with Dr. Samuel Mudd.
Q. Do you see him here in this place?
A. Yes, sir: there he is [pointing to the prisoner, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd].
Q. State whether you were his slave.
A. Yes, sir: I was his slave.
Q. State when you left his house
A. I left him this October coming two years.
Q. State whether, while you lived at Dr. Samuel Mudd’s, you heard him say any thing about President Lincoln.
A. I heard him say that he would not keep his seat long.
Q. When was it that you heard him say that?
A. I heard him say it the summer before I came away,—the summer before last.
Q. Was there anybody talking with him at the time he said that?
A. There was a heap of gentlemen in the house; but I don’t know who they were.
Q. How were the gentlemen that were in the house dressed? and where did they sleep?
A. Some had on gray clothes, and some had on little short jackets, with a little peak to them behind.
Q. Had they any uniform about their clothing?
A. They had black buttons. That was all the uniform they had about them.
Q. Where did they sleep?
A. Sometimes they staid in the house, and sometimes they slept in the pines.
Q. How far from Dr. Mudd’s home?
A. The pines were not far from his spring.
Q. State how they got their victuals.
A. Sometimes Dr. Mudd would carry them; and he sent them once by the girl, Mary Simms. Although I did not stay about the house, I happened to be there at one time when they were all sitting down to dinner, and they had two of the boys watching; and some one come in, and said there was somebody coming; and these men rushed from the table to the side-door, and went to the spring; but I do not know the gentlemen’s names.
Q. Was that about the same time last summer a year ago?
A. Yes, sir.

[loetar44]

Thanks Roger.

Indeed this is not exactly what I wanted to hear. I know of the statements of Mudd’s former slaves at the conspiracy trial. The only reference to John Surratt is what Dr. Mudd's former slave Mary Simms testified. She said that John Surratt had visited with the Mudds during the summer of 1864. He visited there "often," she said in response to the Judge Advocate's leading question. "He was there from almost every Saturday night to Monday night. When he would go to Virginia, or come back from there, he would stop", she said. She also said that he (John Surratt) slept in the woods (surrounding Mudd's farm) with others (most of whom were Confederate soldiers), and they took their meals in the house while the Mudds "put us all out to watch." This is according to me the only “prove” that John Surratt and Dr. Mudd knew each other well enough so that Mudd could introduce Surratt to Booth in December 1864. But it is no hard evidence, it’s all circumstantial and the question remains whether Mary Simms could be believed i.e. trusted in her testimony.

[loetar44]

Mary Simms also testified that Dr. Mudd and Surratt "never talked very often in the presence of the family; they always went off by themselves to talk ...up stairs in the room." She said that they brought letters from Virginia and that Mudd took these letters and gave them letters to take back to Virginia.

[RJNorton]

Kees, this still is not really what you are looking for, but have you read GATH's 1884 interview with Harbin? Harbin mentions Dr. Mudd numerous times in the interview and has some interesting things to say. The text of this interview is in Bob Summers' outstanding website. It is here.

Several items caught my eye including this:

"Booth made three visits to the vicinity of Bryantown, In October, in November, and in December, and each time stayed four or five days, invariably at Dr. Mudd's, though he would spend a day or two, perhaps, at the hotel in the village. Harbin met him on each of these visits. John Surratt, Atzerodt and Harold were often in that part of the country, and were made adjuncts of the scheme; and Booth brought into it two of his schoolmates from Baltimore — Arnold and O’Laughlin."

If Harbin's recollection to GATH were correct this would mean Booth met Mudd in October, 1864, which is earlier than other accounts I've seen which say they first met in November, 1864.

Harbin also says:

"For the past eighteen years people have been saying that Dr. Mudd never knew Booth until he happened to come to his house with a broken foot, and that he suffered a cruel imprisonment for setting the foot of a stranger. The fact is known to every relative of Dr. Mudd that he was in the abduction scheme from the very start, and that he and John Wilkes Booth were the first men, in that quarter of the country, at least, to discuss the plan and to suggest adherents. Mudd himself knew this so well that, to the day of his death, he never so much as threatened legal proceedings against any body who had imprisoned him, and if the Court-martial had been as fully aware of his connection with the plot as we now are he would have been hanged. It took perjury, threatening and all the resources of his community to save his life."

[L Verge]

(02-08-2016 03:08 PM)loetar44 Wrote:  Mary Simms also testified that Dr. Mudd and Surratt "never talked very often in the presence of the family; they always went off by themselves to talk ...up stairs in the room." She said that they brought letters from Virginia and that Mudd took these letters and gave them letters to take back to Virginia.

We have never been able to prove that Mudd was a member of the Doctor's Line, a component of the CSA's Secret Line. However, the circumstantial evidence that he maintained a safe house for agents and soldiers and also assisted in the transfer of mail is overwhelming to me.

Don't discount evidence and testimonies given by former slaves; in my opinion, they often knew more about the comings and goings of their masters and the household than members of that household itself. They had their own lines of communication also.

Melvina mentions knowing Andrew Gwynn to be one of the soldiers who frequented their home and woods. He was a brother to Bennett Gwynn of Surrattsville who figures into the Surratt story. Bennett had his plantation, Mount Auburn, raided at night by 200 cavalrymen in search of goods and people heading south early in the war. That is a considerable force of men to ascend on a typical Southern Maryland landowner.

Andrew Jackson Gwynn lived a little over five miles from Bennett -- and about two miles from my hometown of T.B. He was an officer in the Confederate Army, and his distaff side was suspected of running a safe house and mail drop at his plantation, Pleasant Springs. There was a Union training camp nearby, and they spied on the ladies. Rumor had/has it that the Yanks paid one of Andrew's slaves to burn the home in order to end the support of the CSA. The old foundations were still there when I was a child.

Lastly, the Surratts ran a roadside establishment that was about halfway between Dr. Mudd's home and Washington, D.C. It was on the stage line as well as the main north-south route into the capital. I'm pretty sure that the good doctor stopped off and chatted with the Surratts every now and then and was acquainted with them. I also recall that there was a priest from Mudd's Bryantown area that was also familiar with the Surratts. People just plain knew people in Southern Maryland (even as late as 50 years ago) because there were not that many populating the area.

---

I also failed to mention that Booth came with letters of introduction. We know that Dr. William Queen was the one first contacted, and the elderly gentleman put out the call for a meeting at St. Mary's Church to which Dr. Mudd went. James O. Hall, William Tidwell, and Dave Gaddy all thought that there was a letter to Mudd and also one to a Dr. Garland (perhaps of St. Mary's County), but we never could find that doctor.

My point is that, when one of the acknowledged heads of the underground movement called on you to make contacts, you did just that. Hence, Harbin and Surratt get pulled into the "action team" in the fall of 1864.

[loetar44]

Roger,

If Harbin's story is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Harbin, and if GATH is correct in describing Harbin’s recollections, than Harbin already met Booth in October,1864 and November, 1864. Would this imply that the story (generally accepted as true) that Dr. Mudd introduced Harbin (alias “Wilson”) “for the first time” to Booth at the famous Bryantown Tavern meeting on December 18, 1864 is false?


Laurie,

Forrest J. Bowman, Professor of Law, West Virginia University, once wrote in his article “The Curious Case of Dr. Mudd”(1995): “Bennett F. Gwynn, a neighbor of Dr. Mudd, testified that he and his brothers, who were trying to avoid arrest by General Dan Sickles, had slept in the woods behind the Mudd home, on bedclothes provided by the Mudds, and were fed by the Mudds. Gwynn testified he feared arrest because he was a captain in the home guard, a militia unit organized ‘to stand by the State in any disloyal position it might take against the [United States] Government,’and that Dr. Mudd, knowing of his concern over being arrested (and being aware of why Gwynn was concerned, i.e., aware that Gwynn was a member of the Rebel militia), sheltered him. Then Gwynn, under cross-examination, revealed a bit of information that serves to take Dr. Mudd out of the ‘civilian’ class and into the class of ‘enemy soldier,’ so far as the United States government was concerned. He admitted that Dr. Mudd was a member of one of these militia companies.”

If Bennett Gwynn’s testimony is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Gwynn, than Dr. Mudd was indeed a member of the Confederate underground in Charles County and a member of the organized Confederate militia.

[RJNorton]

(02-09-2016 06:23 AM)loetar44 Wrote:  Roger,

If Harbin's story is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Harbin, and if GATH is correct in describing Harbin’s recollections, than Harbin already met Booth in October,1864 and November, 1864. Would this imply that the story (generally accepted as true) that Dr. Mudd introduced Harbin (alias “Wilson”) “for the first time” to Booth at the famous Bryantown Tavern meeting on December 18, 1864 is false?

Kees, I honestly do not know. Harbin died in 1885, so the interview took place very late in Harbin's life. How was Harbin's memory at this time? I do not know. He was reciting to Gath what happened 20 years previous. There are some things in the interview that make me wonder. Here are a couple:

"On the 6th of April, eight days before the assassination, at a small hotel called the Kemble House, in the rear of the National Hotel, Booth assembled his little band, composed probably of Payne (Powell), Atzerodt, Harold, Surratt, O’Laughlin and Arnold, and said to them: “As we have been disappointed in our attempt to run this man off to the South, I am going to kill him.” He called upon them to show their hands. John Surratt, according to Booth's narrative, arose and said: “I am opposed to it. I will not stay in it.” Booth called him a coward, and told him he had better get out. The others felt the master will, and stood by Booth. That very night, according to Booth’s statement, John Surratt left Washington City for Canada, and as he was about to return he heard the tidings of the assassination somewhere in the State of New York. Surratt went to Richmond also not far from the date here given."

This April 6th meeting, etc. does not agree with what I've read in any other source.

Also:

"I asked Mr. Harbin, if he could tell me, from Booth's talk, where Harold met Booth. He said: “Harold, I think, was at the mouth of the alley on F street, seated on his horse, when Booth, after killing the president, dashed out of the alley, and they rode together through F street to Judiciary Square, and then went down to Pennsylvania Avenue and over Capitol Hill. Booth changed horses with Harold somewhere, in order to get upon the single-footed rucker which Harold had hired, and he eased from his rough-trotting horse. Booth told me that his foot did not begin to pain him much after he got on the horse until he reached Surrattsville, where they halted a very brief instant. At that halt he began to feel the pain and throbbing in his foot."

I have not previously read that Booth and Herold rode together through Washington (or that Harold was waiting in the alley). I believe there was possibly one sighting of Booth riding near the Capitol, and he was apparently alone (Oldroyd, p.240).

[loetar44]

(02-09-2016 07:59 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(02-09-2016 06:23 AM)loetar44 Wrote:  Roger,

If Harbin's story is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Harbin, and if GATH is correct in describing Harbin’s recollections, than Harbin already met Booth in October,1864 and November, 1864. Would this imply that the story (generally accepted as true) that Dr. Mudd introduced Harbin (alias “Wilson”) “for the first time” to Booth at the famous Bryantown Tavern meeting on December 18, 1864 is false?

Kees, I honestly do not know. Harbin died in 1885, so the interview took place very late in Harbin's life. How was Harbin's memory at this time? I do not know. He was reciting to Gath what happened 20 years previous. There are some things in the interview that make me wonder. Here are a couple:

"On the 6th of April, eight days before the assassination, at a small hotel called the Kemble House, in the rear of the National Hotel, Booth assembled his little band, composed probably of Payne (Powell), Atzerodt, Harold, Surratt, O’Laughlin and Arnold, and said to them: “As we have been disappointed in our attempt to run this man off to the South, I am going to kill him.” He called upon them to show their hands. John Surratt, according to Booth's narrative, arose and said: “I am opposed to it. I will not stay in it.” Booth called him a coward, and told him he had better get out. The others felt the master will, and stood by Booth. That very night, according to Booth’s statement, John Surratt left Washington City for Canada, and as he was about to return he heard the tidings of the assassination somewhere in the State of New York. Surratt went to Richmond also not far from the date here given."

This April 6th meeting, etc. does not agree with what I've read in any other source.

Also:

"I asked Mr. Harbin, if he could tell me, from Booth's talk, where Harold met Booth. He said: “Harold, I think, was at the mouth of the alley on F street, seated on his horse, when Booth, after killing the president, dashed out of the alley, and they rode together through F street to Judiciary Square, and then went down to Pennsylvania Avenue and over Capitol Hill. Booth changed horses with Harold somewhere, in order to get upon the single-footed rucker which Harold had hired, and he eased from his rough-trotting horse. Booth told me that his foot did not begin to pain him much after he got on the horse until he reached Surrattsville, where they halted a very brief instant. At that halt he began to feel the pain and throbbing in his foot."

I have not previously read that Booth and Herold rode together through Washington (or that Harold was waiting in the alley). I believe there was possibly one sighting of Booth riding near the Capitol, and he was apparently alone (Oldroyd, p.240).

Maybe Harbin’s recollections are affected by old age, but I think all the facts and bits of information re. the assassination of Lincoln were still in his head and recallable / retrievable. Of course there is some breakdown with memory in old age, but only for more recent memories. Older people have difficulty with new memories and new information. But, distant past memories (certainly if it were memories with a “deep impact”) typically do not decline until the individual is very, very old. I’ve always trouble reading GATH. In my opinion, in all his writings he was mixing fact with fiction. He had met Booth years earlier, when he was drama critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer and had spoken to him briefly in D.C., just weeks before Lincoln was killed. But the detail in his writing on Booth’s life, his personality, the anecdotes, the murder, the conspirators, are astonishing to me. He always knew more (other facts) than others. How did he acquire this “in depth knowledge”? Through his OWN research! But, how reliable is his research? What is true, what is fiction? If he choose mixing fact and fiction (deliberately or -most likely- without knowing) he was gambling (and hoping?) that between the day he was sitting down to write his publications and every moment in future, the knowledge about the murder was not changing too much. But if new facts are proven true and his fictionalized (?) story is not confirmed by others, his story’s longevity is hurt. Exactly what happened in my opinion. I hope I'm not too harsh in my judgment …

[L Verge]

(02-09-2016 06:23 AM)loetar44 Wrote:  Roger,

If Harbin's story is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Harbin, and if GATH is correct in describing Harbin’s recollections, than Harbin already met Booth in October,1864 and November, 1864. Would this imply that the story (generally accepted as true) that Dr. Mudd introduced Harbin (alias “Wilson”) “for the first time” to Booth at the famous Bryantown Tavern meeting on December 18, 1864 is false?


Laurie,

Forrest J. Bowman, Professor of Law, West Virginia University, once wrote in his article “The Curious Case of Dr. Mudd”(1995): “Bennett F. Gwynn, a neighbor of Dr. Mudd, testified that he and his brothers, who were trying to avoid arrest by General Dan Sickles, had slept in the woods behind the Mudd home, on bedclothes provided by the Mudds, and were fed by the Mudds. Gwynn testified he feared arrest because he was a captain in the home guard, a militia unit organized ‘to stand by the State in any disloyal position it might take against the [United States] Government,’and that Dr. Mudd, knowing of his concern over being arrested (and being aware of why Gwynn was concerned, i.e., aware that Gwynn was a member of the Rebel militia), sheltered him. Then Gwynn, under cross-examination, revealed a bit of information that serves to take Dr. Mudd out of the ‘civilian’ class and into the class of ‘enemy soldier,’ so far as the United States government was concerned. He admitted that Dr. Mudd was a member of one of these militia companies.”

If Bennett Gwynn’s testimony is to believed, and in my opinion there is no reason not to believe Gwynn, than Dr. Mudd was indeed a member of the Confederate underground in Charles County and a member of the organized Confederate militia.

Thanks for reminding me of Forrest Bowman! I remember that gentleman very well - an excellent scholar - and thanks for the reminder of that testimony. A good portion of Charles County, Maryland, were members of such militia (but they would never have let you know it). The militia had to be very covert in the first few years of the war because of the amount of Union forces that were sent to occupy the county.

Dr. Mudd was also a member of groups that were basically "slave catchers." Planters and their followers who tried to ensure that runaways and other unaccounted-for-blacks were retrieved. I hope that you have read Ed Steers's excellent His Name Is Still Mudd. I should also add that Bennett Gwynn was a much closer neighbor of Mrs. Surratt, living just about a mile from our tavern and about fifteen miles from Mudd (and in a different county). It's stretching it a bit to have him referred to as a neighbor of Mudd. Of course, in the good old days, we were all neighbors down here - and I mean that sincerely.

BTW: Over the years, we have had a number of visitors at Surratt House who have just come from a tour of the Mudd House. A frequent comment is that they were told there that Dr. Mudd was a Union supporter. We have tried to clarify that it was his cousin, Dr. George Mudd, who was a Unionist, but they insist that their guide said Dr. Samuel Mudd. One of my guides took the tour and confirmed that the guide he had claimed the Union guy was Dr. Sam.

On Saturday, while my grandson and I were reconnoitering the tour route for the conference bus tour on Friday, we stopped at St. Mary's Bryantown to photograph two other tombstones. I noticed that Dr, Mudd's grave is now decorated with a U.S. flag. Given the strong feelings against the victors and their cause that Dr. Sam expressed in letters to a Catholic editor as well as letters home to Frankie, I wonder if he's twirling in that grave because of that flag...?

[SSlater]

I am at a big disadvantage, now, since all my resources are in boxes in storage. So, I can't quote a source, but many of the "agents" in lower Maryland and Northern Virginia were in-laws. So, it is next to impossible to determine who was "Boss". Tom Jones' brag - that he was the Chief Agent North of the Potomac -can't stand up to research. I have read the Harbin hired Jones to "help out". When Jones put Booth in the boat, he sent Booth to a Bridge, and told him "I think Mrs. Quesenberry, will help you." He didn't know who was supposed to pick him up. All of this doesn't impress me as describing an organized functioning secret service.

[L Verge]

(02-10-2016 07:49 PM)SSlater Wrote:  I am at a big disadvantage, now, since all my resources are in boxes in storage. So, I can't quote a source, but many of the "agents" in lower Maryland and Northern Virginia were in-laws. So, it is next to impossible to determine who was "Boss". Tom Jones' brag - that he was the Chief Agent North of the Potomac -can't stand up to research. I have read the Harbin hired Jones to "help out". When Jones put Booth in the boat, he sent Booth to a Bridge, and told him "I think Mrs. Quesenberry, will help you." He didn't know who was supposed to pick him up. All of this doesn't impress me as describing an organized functioning secret service.

I'd be very interested in knowing your source for the "Harbin hired Jones to 'help out' statement. I never remember reading or hearing Hall, Tidwell, and Gaddy mention such a thing. And, if you lived in Southern Maryland or the Northern Neck of Virginia at that time, you couldn't swing a cat without hitting people who were all inter-related. Except in the case of the Mudds, it was generally assumed that if one member of an "extended" family disliked Mr. Lincoln and Union policies in general, they all did -- so help a Confederate when you can.

By the time Jones was able to get Booth and Herold into that boat, I'm quite certain that he had no idea as to who was going to pick them up on the other side. Union troops had Confederate agents heading in every direction - even putting many of them in custody. Jones could be 90% sure, however, that the troops
probably didn't know about the widow lady, Mrs. Quesenberry, who had been available throughout the war "to give assistance as needed."

Certainly, the underground was probably floundering in 1865, especially after the fall of Richmond; but I'm pretty sure that those who were still available worked with the best sources and resources that they had. In April, that meant Jones, Harbin, Baden, likely some of Mosby's men, and others that we will never hear about.