What Was The Role of David Herold

[L Verge]

An assassination topic that seems to have no clear answer is: What was the role of David Herold on the night of April 14, 1865? Was he to chaperone Lewis Powell? Keep an eye on Atzerodt? Guide Booth?

Members of the Surratt Society will be treated to an extensive article on this subject in the upcoming February issue of the Courier. The author is John Fazio, who I believe is a member of this forum. Mr. Fazio is a lawyer and lays out the scenario and his thoughts in gunshot blasts.

Anyone want to chime in here on his/her opinions and then compare them in about a month when the Courier goes out to members? Did Herold accompany Powell? Did he desert Powell? Was he a point man to see that others carried through and report to Booth? Thoughts???

[LincolnMan]

I thought part of Herold's primary mission was to guide Powell of of the city in the effort to link up with Booth. Unfortunately for Powell, Herold took off and left him there after getting unnerved with the events at the Seward residence.

[RJNorton]

I agree that getting a clear answer on this is difficult. I will jot down a variety of thoughts and will stand corrected where I go wrong. I certainly look forward to Mr. Fazio's article and research.

I believe Dave Taylor once traced the original mention of Herold being at Seward's to George Alfred Townsend's (GATH's) Lady of Catoctin in 1886. Other authors, such as David Dewitt in 1909, said the same thing. This trend has continued to the present day. Virtually all authors have David Herold accompanying Lewis Powell to Seward's. Yet we have absolutely no eyewitnesses or solid evidence that this happened.

Some authors have implied that Powell didn't know his directions, and Herold was needed to guide him to Seward's. Yet George Robinson, a male nurse at Seward's, apparently saw Powell "scouting" the Seward residence on the mornings of the 13th and 14th. There is no mention of Herold. And we know Herold was on a scouting mission "in the country" on April 13th. So it would seem Powell could find the Seward residence without assistance.

As far as the trial goes, I can think of only two witnesses who even said they saw Herold in Washington on the 14th. These men were John Fletcher and Silas Cobb. Their testimony does not help in pinning down exactly what Herold's role was in Booth's scheme for the 14th. Atzerodt's statement also does not answer the question of whether Herold was with Powell at Seward's.

When Powell knocked at the door and William Bell opened it, did he see Herold in the street with the horses? It was dark, and maybe this would not be possible, but Bell never said he saw Herold.

Did Herold return to the Kirkwood House after leaving Powell at Seward's (if he was at Seward's and that's a big if)? Mrs. Jones, wife of the Kirkwood House's bookkeeper, said she heard a person moving quickly towards Atzerodt's room, trying excitedly to open the door without success and then running back downstairs. Was it Herold whom Mrs. Jones heard? Impossible to say for certain. Apparently Mrs. Jones never opened her door to see who was making all the racket in the hallway.

When at Lloyd's, Booth apparently told Lloyd that he was pretty certain that both Lincoln and Seward had been assassinated. There was no mention of Johnson. Did Herold tell Booth that Powell entered the Seward residence, and he heard screams, then rode off? Or did Booth simply have a high degree of confidence that Powell would carry out his assignment? Did Herold ride to the Kirkwood House and while there realize that Atzerodt had made no attempt to kill Johnson?

Was Herold himself supposed to kill Johnson but didn't do it?

I think there are a lot more questions than answers regarding Herold's actions in Washington on April 14th.

[Jim Garrett]

Thanks Laurie for starting this thread and thank you Roger for laying out the ifs and wheres. I think I remember that someone thought maybe it was never Herolds intent to stay with Powell and that it was his original intent to ditch Powell. Was it the idea that 2 had a better chance than 3 of not getting caught? Were they to meet up further along, after the victorious reception in the South?

Not that there was any exchange between prisoners, but I bet Powell's eyes were throwing some mighty big daggers (or maybe Rio Grand Camp Knives) at Herold.

[Linda Anderson]

When Powell knocked at the door and William Bell opened it, did he see Herold in the street with the horses? It was dark, and maybe this would not be possible, but Bell never said he saw Herold.

Bell testified that he saw no one when he (Bell) ran out the front door after the attack.

"Q. [Judge Advocate] Had you ever seen this man about the door before?
A. I never saw him before, that I know of.
Q. When you came out, did you observe any persons about the door or the pavement?
A. No, sir: no one at all."

"Q. [Doster] You say, that when the prisoner, or the person that you saw, struck Mr. Seward, you went away?
A. Yes, sir: I came down stairs.
Q. Did you find any soldiers there in the passage?
A. No, sir: the passage was free; nobody was there; the door was closed. I came down and opened the door, and ran on down to the corner.
Q. Did you not notice the horse there when you came out?
A. No, sir: I did not know he had a horse until I saw him run out, and get on the horse."

Ben: Poorley Poore transcript

[Linda Anderson]

Seward's next door neighbor was Benjamin Ogle Tayloe who had strong ties to the Confederacy. According to an April 16, 1865 article in the Daily National Intelligencer, Tayloe's servant saw Powell ride up to Seward's house. There is no mention of anyone accompanying Powell.

"A servant boy of Mr. Ogle Tayloe, who resides next door to Mr. Seward, saw the assassin ride up to the door of the latter and fasten his horse to the lamp-post. A few minutes afterwards Major Seward came to the door and told the boy to cry 'Murder!' asserting, at the same time, that the murderer was still in the house."

According to the Daily National Republican dated April, 18, 1865, Tayloe's servant, Ben, gave a statement that he saw Powell run out of the house after Powell attacked Seward. I have not been able to find the paper's "extra of Saturday."

"Mr. Tayloe's servant, Ben, corrects his statement published in our extra of Saturday, in relation to what he saw and heard as he stood at Mr. Seward's door Friday night. It was Governor Seward's servant and not Major Seward, who came first to the door and gave the alarm. He preceeded the assassin in coming out of the house, and said to Mr. Tayloe's servant, 'A man is in the house murdering everybody; run for your life and cry murder!' This was done by Ben who ran to the corner of Madison Place and Pennsylvania Avenue, and returned immediately, followed by several unarmed soldiers. When nearly opposite Mr. Seward's house again, a man came out of it, with a dagger in his hand, mounted his horse, and set off at a deliberate pace towards the north, until he reached Sixteenth street, when he went off at full speed, and disappeared around the corner of Governor Morgan's house, on Fifteenth and I streets, going towards the east."

Of course, this does not prove that Herold wasn't there either!

[L Verge]

It couldn't have been too dark in front of Seward's house, assuming that the lamp post that Powell tied his horse to was lit. It is also safe to assume that there was more than one street lamp on the Square.

Mr. Kauffman used to claim on the Surratt Booth Tours (when he was a narrator years ago) that Herold was a point man sent to make sure that Powell got into the Seward house to do his duty, then Herold was to check on Atzerodt's status, and then high tail it to the Navy Yard Bridge to catch up with Booth. That sounds reasonable to me.

[RJNorton]

That is pretty much how Mr. Kauffman explains it in American Brutus. He has Herold accompanying Powell to Seward's but leaving to go to Atzerodt at the Kirkwood House prior to Powell even knocking on the door. He says Powell had to delay his attack because one of Seward's doctors was there.

[Linda Anderson]

That is pretty much how Mr. Kauffman explains it in American Brutus. He has Herold accompanying Powell to Seward's but leaving to go to Atzerodt at the Kirkwood House prior to Powell even knocking on the door. He says Powell had to delay his attack because one of Seward's doctors was there.

William H. Bell said in his statement that he thought Powell came to the door about five minutes after the doctor left but I can find nothing in Kauffman's footnotes about Powell sending Herold back to tell the others to hold off.

From American Brutus:

"Lewis Powell and David Herold had already gone to Lafayette Park. The Park superintendent always called out the time as he locked the gate, and as soon as that happened, Powell would approach the Sewards' house. He would knock on the door, and then tell the servant he had medicine to give the secretary. It seemed an excellent plan, but at the last minute a complication arose: one of Seward's doctors was still in the house. Now Powell had to either come up with a new cover story or delay his attack. Since nothing came to mind, he sent Harold galloping away to tell the others to hold off."

[RJNorton]

I agree, Linda. As far as I can tell, Mr. Kauffman's explanation is unique among all assassination authors. I have never seen that information in another Lincoln assassination book. I do wish there was a footnote for his statement.

[Wesley Harris]

The simple truth is we have no idea if Herold was with Powell. Zero evidence that he was; zero evidence that he wasn't. We need to quit perpetuating the idea that he was without even a hint of evidence to support it.

[BettyO]

Too bad there is no footnote -- I'd love to see that myself.... Brutus is STILL however, my favorite assassination book - and to my mind, the BEST researched and written out there!

As one of my professors said, "Document, document, document....."

[RJNorton]

Do we know the name of the doctor who departed? I am assuming there was a horse or buggy in front of Seward's home when Powell and Herold(?) arrived, but how would they know it belonged to a doctor?

It must have really seemed strange to William Bell...one doctor departs and then five minutes later a "messenger" shows up with medicine from Dr. Verdi. I am assuming the doctor who departed was not Dr. Verdi.

[BettyO]

Good question, Roger. I wondered myself. Obviously it was NOT Verdi -whom I thought was the ONLY doctor attending Seward.

Perhaps Linda would like to chime in here?!

Thanks!

[Linda Anderson]

Good question, Roger. I wondered myself. Obviously it was NOT Verdi -whom I thought was the ONLY doctor attending Seward.

Perhaps Linda would like to chime in here?!

Thanks!

Betty, other doctors were called in after Seward's devastating carriage accident nine days before the attempted assassination. "Physicians were sent for, and Dr. Norris, the Army Medical Director, making a careful examination, found his [Seward's] right shoulder badly dislocated, and his jaw broken on both sides. His partial return to consciousness was accompanied by agonizing pain. The Surgeon-General and others of the medical staff were summoned, anxious consultations were held..." Seward in Washington, Frederick Seward.

Kauffman cites Seward in Washington as his source for Dr. Norris being the last doctor to attend to Seward before Powell's attack.

"Night came; and about ten o'clock, Dr. Norris, the last of the physicians who called during the evening, had taken his leave."

Does this mean that Powell was watching Seward's house, saw Dr. Norris enter at some point and then waited for him to leave? William H. Bell said in his statement that Powell came to the door about five minutes after Dr. Norris left.