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L Verge · 03-01-2016, 07:04 PM

A member of the Surratt Society has asked me several times now why someone has not written a book on the judges who participated in the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. Anyone know a likely candidate?

Jim Garrett · 03-02-2016, 07:39 AM

Ideally, James Swanson.

BettyO · 03-02-2016, 12:52 PM

I think the very best choice would be Ed Steers....

Gene C · 03-02-2016, 01:34 PM

I was thinking Bill O'Reilly.
He did so well on his other books.
Or were you wanting a more historically accurate book?

Ed Steers is a good choice.

A good updated full biography of Lew Wallace would be nice. Maybe Nora Titone, or Jason Emerson.

STS Lincolnite · (This post was last modified: 03-08-2016 07:20 AM by STS Lincolnite.)

I think Ed Steers is always a great choice. I also think John Elliott would be another great choice once he is able to clear his long awaited book on the trial in general off his project agenda - and a portion of the research would probably already be complete.

As far as Wallace goes, Gail Stephens wrote an excellent book called Shadow of Shiloh but that focused primarily on Wallace’s Civil war years and not his later life. I do have it on very good authority that she is currently doing some project work focusing on Wallace's life after the Civil War. Whether that will turn into a book or not, I can’t say at this time. Gail knows Wallace inside and out and is an excellent speaker as well.

I also must confess that a while back I had an idea for a book on the judges/commissioners for the assassination trial (I too feel like there is a gap in the scholarship in that area). My idea is not strictly biographical. I put together a basic synopsis and threw it my “when you get time” project file. If the time comes when I do get the time necessary to give the project the attention it deserves, and if no one has taken up the reins and done something, I will pursue it.

Christine · 03-08-2016, 12:31 AM

Would love this! I hope somebody latches on to the suggestion and adds the defense attorneys. I still would love an in depth analysis about their political leanings.

STS Lincolnite · 03-08-2016, 07:25 AM

(03-02-2016 05:44 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote: As far as Wallace goes, Gail Stephens wrote an excellent book called Shadow of Shiloh but that focused primarily on Wallace’s Civil war years and not his later life. I do have it on very good authority that she is currently doing some project work focusing on Wallace's life after the Civil War. Whether that will turn into a book or not, I can’t say at this time. Gail knows Wallace inside and out and is an excellent speaker as well.

For those interested in a little more on Lew Wallace, there was recent biographical documentary made and aired by the local PBS station here. Not a whole lot on his service on the Lincoln conspirator trial but overall pretty good nonetheless. Here is link to the documentary in its entirety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHH9RWBmDw

Gene C · 03-08-2016, 10:15 AM

thanks Scott!

L Verge · (This post was last modified: 03-08-2016 10:52 AM by L Verge.)

Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote: Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

A much easier price tag to stomach and a good basic book arrived in my office yesterday. The author is William W. Joyce, a retired U.S. history and social studies professor at Michigan State University for fifty years and a descendant of James Gifford, the builder of both Ford's Theatre and Tudor Hall, the Booth home.

The book's title is Booth and His Assassins, Lincoln and His Avengers. It covers the whole spectrum of my favorite topic and would be a good source for baptizing high school students to the story.

L Verge · 03-09-2016, 11:37 AM

(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote: Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote: Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

A much easier price tag to stomach and a good basic book arrived in my office yesterday. The author is William W. Joyce, a retired U.S. history and social studies professor at Michigan State University for fifty years and a descendant of James Gifford, the builder of both Ford's Theatre and Tudor Hall, the Booth home.

The book's title is Booth and His Assassins, Lincoln and His Avengers. It covers the whole spectrum of my favorite topic and would be a good source for baptizing high school students to the story.

STOP THE PRESSES - CLOSE YOUR WALLET. I am retracting my semi-approval of the above book by Mr. Joyce. In determining whether or not to sell it in the Surratt House gift shop, we ran across several "questionable" bits of information. The one that shut us down completely was a statement that there is some speculation that John Wilkes Booth and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd had a sexual relationship.

After being addicted to the assassination story for over fifty years, I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever heard that tidbit! Would love to see a citation for that one.

Susan Higginbotham · 03-09-2016, 12:15 PM

(03-09-2016 11:37 AM)L Verge Wrote:
(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote: Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote: Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

A much easier price tag to stomach and a good basic book arrived in my office yesterday. The author is William W. Joyce, a retired U.S. history and social studies professor at Michigan State University for fifty years and a descendant of James Gifford, the builder of both Ford's Theatre and Tudor Hall, the Booth home.

The book's title is Booth and His Assassins, Lincoln and His Avengers. It covers the whole spectrum of my favorite topic and would be a good source for baptizing high school students to the story.

STOP THE PRESSES - CLOSE YOUR WALLET. I am retracting my semi-approval of the above book by Mr. Joyce. In determining whether or not to sell it in the Surratt House gift shop, we ran across several "questionable" bits of information. The one that shut us down completely was a statement that there is some speculation that John Wilkes Booth and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd had a sexual relationship.

After being addicted to the assassination story for over fifty years, I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever heard that tidbit! Would love to see a citation for that one.

Well, that's certainly a new one.

Gene C · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2016 01:00 PM by Gene C.)

(03-09-2016 11:37 AM)L Verge Wrote: STOP THE PRESSES - CLOSE YOUR WALLET. I am retracting my semi-approval of the above book by Mr. Joyce. In determining whether or not to sell it in the Surratt House gift shop, we ran across several "questionable" bits of information. The one that shut us down completely was a statement that there is some speculation that John Wilkes Booth and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd had a sexual relationship.

After being addicted to the assassination story for over fifty years, I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever heard that tidbit! Would love to see a citation for that one.

I looked this up on Amazon, "Booth and His Assassins..." only one review, and not a good one.
Here it is:

"By SWalriven on January 8, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This book provides nothing more than a cursory examination of the Lincoln Assassination and fails to produce any new information on the subject. Like other books written on the subject, this one is replete with typos, mistakes and the retelling of events which have little to no evidence for support, yet have somehow become accepted "facts". I would not recommend this book. By the way, who is Betty Ormsby?

For more information, go here.
http://www.amazon.com/Booth-His-Assassin...838&sr=1-1

BettyO · 03-09-2016, 05:14 PM

Quote:.....By the way, who is Betty Ormsby?

Don't KNOW what this is about - and I don't know who Betty ORMSBY is either.....

I had nothing to do with this book - or the research and if he misquotes me or uses my name, it is without my permission.....

L Verge · 03-10-2016, 07:23 PM

Another spurious statement in the book refers to the old females who boarded with Mrs. Surratt always fussing over young Mr Booth when he came to visit. Anna was 22, Nora was about the same age (Susan, help here), Apollonia Dean was ten, and the Holohan daughter was around that age. That only left Mrs. Holohan to fit the description of an old female. I bet Susan H can confirm that Eliza Holohan would have been insulted to be referred to as an "old female."

Back to the Mudds: The author says Mrs, Mudd assisted in setting the broken leg, shaved off Booth's mustache, and helped her husband carry the assassin upstairs. He later states that Mudd fathered nine more children AFTER returning from Fort Jefferson. I thought it was bad enough that he fathered five afterwards -- especially since the story has always been that his health was broken by his imprisonment.

Susan Higginbotham · 03-10-2016, 07:40 PM

(03-10-2016 07:23 PM)L Verge Wrote: Another spurious statement in the book refers to the old females who boarded with Mrs. Surratt always fussing over young Mr Booth when he came to visit. Anna was 22, Nora was about the same age (Susan, help here), Apollonia Dean was ten, and the Holohan daughter was around that age. That only left Mrs. Holohan to fit the description of an old female. I bet Susan H can confirm that Eliza Holohan would have been insulted to be referred to as an "old female."

Back to the Mudds: The author says Mrs, Mudd assisted in setting the broken leg, shaved off Booth's mustache, and helped her husband carry the assassin upstairs. He later states that Mudd fathered nine more children AFTER returning from Fort Jefferson. I thought it was bad enough that he fathered five afterwards -- especially since the story has always been that his health was broken by his imprisonment.

Oh, dear! Mrs. Holohan would probably like to strike that man with her oversized bonnet.

I glanced at the book a couple of days ago, and the first page I saw had Anna Surratt being buried in Baltimore. After that I gave up.