Breaking a leg

[J. Beckert]

Thinking about heading north, piecing together a route from what I've read about Booth's travels and Lincoln's Funeral Train, in 1865, if Booth did head north, he'd have to stop in (at least), Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., Trenton, N.J., Jersey City, N.J., take a ferry into NYC, Newburgh, N.Y. and stop in Albany, N.Y., before he even got close to a rural route. Any railroad buffs that could shed some light on a time frame to travel to Albany from Maryland? I'm sure the telegraph was a lot faster than the trains. If this trip took at least 48 hours, it seems very improbable to me.

The points you made about Herold, Roger, are the only ones I can think of.

[Bill Richter]

Joe,

Try Larry Starkey, Wilkes Booth came to Washington. You need to be careful in your calculations--some of the bridges were out because of winter storms, but one could get around them. Also look at the Trial Testimony in Surratt's case in 1867. My own Confederate Freedom Fighter: The Story of John Surratt and the Plots against Lincoln might have some materials in the chapter notes to Chapter 1 that might help you. Maybe in other chapter notes--It has been years since I wrote it and I am rusty on this.

[J. Beckert]

What bridges, Bill? Railroad bridges?

[RJNorton]

I thought one theory on the New York crowd was that they wanted Lincoln kidnapped, not killed. They were furious when Booth killed Lincoln. If this theory be true, then I would think it's another argument for Booth going south.

[BettyO]

Powell was the only one headed North - and with good reason....

[JMadonna]

1. Gene C - South, If he was planning to go north, he wouldn't need Davy.
IMO - he wasn't planning on having Davy with him, after the murder it was every man for himself


2. RJNorton - I thought one theory on the New York crowd was that they wanted Lincoln kidnapped, not killed. They were furious when Booth killed Lincoln. If this theory be true, then I would think it's another argument for Booth going south.

Not quite - they wanted Lincoln kidnapped BEFORE the plot failed. After that they sent the hit squad. After the murder they wanted Booth dead too.

Sorry Laurie - I meant to quit but like the Godfather 'they keep pulling me back in'.

[Gene C]

I'm enjoying the "give n take".
Jerry, you've thought this throught quite well

BettyO, why would Powell head north?
IMO it seems like Booth had high expectations for help after he assassinated the president, and it didn't materialize like he thought it would. What or who, would have led him to believe that? Or was it just really bad planning?

[BettyO]

It is my belief that Powell was headed North; possibly to Canada inasmuch as his horse was found in the northern part of DC - in no way close to the direction Booth and Herold headed. Powell was not, I believe lost. He knew his way back to the Surratt boarding house on the night of the 17th and seemingly had no trouble getting there.

I believe that he was headed back to the Branson house and then possibly to Canada.

[JMadonna]

Powell's lawyer confirmed that his destination was indeed Baltimore.
He and Booth took two different routes to the same destination.

[BettyO]

"Powell's lawyer confirmed that his destination was indeed Baltimore."

Jerry -- I've gone over Doster's argument as well as his book, Lincoln and Episodes of the War where he says that "After abandoning his horse he took to the woods north of Fort Lincoln...." (p. 269) nothing about Baltimore....Powell's horse fell with him in jumping a ditch and the boy was knocked unconscious for a bit - he didn't abandon the horse

However, more will come to light once my article on the Branson's comes out in the Surratt Courier at the end of this month....


(I HATE the new Firefox update - none of my italics, bold, underline, quotes, work anymore! I've tried to simply code them in, but that doesn't work either! HELP!! )

[John Stanton]

I made a study of trains going north, from D.C. In a nutshell, it's a mess. There was stage coach south from Washington.
The trains out of DC were B&O to Baltimore. At Baltimore the B&O turned west and went to Ohio. The cars headed to NYC were dragged through Baltimore, by horses, from Camden Yards to the Presidential St. Station, and put back on the tracks. from there they went to the Susquehanna River where the trains were put on barges and floated from Havre de Grace, Md to Perryville, MD. (When the DC to Baltimore track was closed, the south bound trains were floated to Annapolis, and put on the track to DC). Going north - from the Susquehanna, it was a straight shot to the 30th Street Station in Philly. End of the line. From there the traveler caught a ride to downtown Philly (30 blockes, in some sort of a Cab) and a Ferry Boat ride to Camden, N.J. The NJ RR track was a different gauge than any one else, so that all traffic through NJ, was on a NJ owned train. From there to Jersey City. End of the line. Next -catch a ferry over the Hudson to Manhattan. Overnight stay in NY. The next train left late in the afternoon. The train, the "New York New Haven, & Hartford". Went east to New Haven, turned North to Hartford. Here they picked up the "Connecticut River line" to Springfield, Mass. North to Batttleboro, Vt and the "Central Vermont RR", to White River Junction. Then to Monpelier - Burlington - St. Albans - Canada and Montreal. The trip was scheduled for 18 hours. There were no "Sleeping Cars", no "Diners", no "little boys room" ( in an emergency- you used the open platform between cars. ) There was a "Bunk Room" on some trains, but there was no fresh linen and the ventilation was poor. I have a "Time Table", if you want distances between stops, and the estimated arrival and departure times at each town. Sarah rode this part of the line unescorted.

---

P.S. I read that when U. S. Grant went through Philly on the night of April 14th. The Army met the train at the 30th St Station and provided U. S. Army ambulances, and horses, to take him to the Delaware River, and the Ferry ride to Camden. JFS

[J. Beckert]

Thank you for that, John. That's much more of a mess than I expected, but 18 hours for that many transfers seems more than reasonable. After reading your post however, I just can't see Booth staying ahead of the news he created, especially while travelling through such populated cities. He traveled north many times and surely knew all of the inconveniences you've mentioned.

[John Stanton]

Don't forget to add the hrs from DC to NY. total hrs dc to montreal 52 hrs. They would leave DC at 7 AM and arrive Montreal o930 0f the second day. L. C. Baker said in his "HIST OF THE SEC SERV" that his detectives rode those trains. But they didn't have the authority to make an arrest. The local Provost Marshal did any arresting. IMO Booth went south 1. It was the shortest rt. to the Confederacy. 2. he had help lined up - BUT they didn't help. He didn't even follow the planned route. I didn't mention in the first reply, that the RR up the Hudson didn't exist. What trains there were, would mean more transfers. Another item - Any bridges involved in that rt. had to be minor. The big rivers had no bridges.

[RJNorton]

I HATE the new Firefox update - none of my italics, bold, underline, quotes, work anymore! I've tried to simply code them in, but that doesn't work either! HELP!!

Betty, just to make sure it's Firefox, please try this. Do you have another computer you can experiment with?

1. Go here.

2. Scroll down and pick an old version of Firefox.

3. Let's say you pick Firefox 12 - download and install Firefox 12.

4. See if the problem you are having goes away when you make a post using an older version of Firefox.

You could also do this with your regular computer by uninstalling the current version of Firefox and then downloading and installing the older version. However, your favorites, settings, etc. might be lost. I am not sure if Firefox keeps these in a separate file - it's possible they might be retained, but I do not know.

[BettyO]

Thanks, Roger!

I'm on one of my laptops - but yes, I DO have an older version of Firefox on my desktop upstairs -- I'll try that. Hopefully they will have an update to fix these errors. Jim told me he has the same problem....so I assume that it's Firefox -- but I'll check just to make sure!

Yes, if you downgrade you lose your settings, but I keep a backup of my profile just in case!