Booth's Escape Route

[Laurie Verge]

There is a member of the Surratt Society who has done extensive studies on the history of the Navy Yard Bridge for a book that he is doing on Southeast Washington. I asked him about the placement of guards at the bridge, and here's his response:

"I don't know what kind of hurry you may be in, but here is a quick take on the bridge. My material being disordered, it will take awhile to get exact references.
Marines never guarded the bridge. At first, local German militia did, but they took off for lunch and beer breaks. Then the NY 69th (?) took over until Bull Run, so the responsibility got handed around as time went on, to army units.
The structure to the right of our only picture of the bridge was HQ for guards--I found a classified when the govt was selling the place in 1866 or so--but there was clearly no substantial barrier there. This was the place where ingoing traffic got questioned, since there was no point to doing so on the other side, where rejects would have had to turn around and recross the river. I recently visited the site of the alternative market in old Uniontown, Anacostia, still there as a park. You likely recall John Surratt's remarks about how stupid the questioners were. I think maybe Lafayette Baker's agents if not ordinary soldiers. It only made sense to question incoming people before they crossed.
The other side of the bridge in time grew a more substantial barrier, a kind of palisade. As you know, this figured in the crucial meeting of Booth and his crew in that hotel at 9th and F, when Laughlin and others developed cold feet. A rationale for their fears was that the formidable gates of the enclosure were designed to keep people in rather than out, as if designed to prevent escape from the city. If this is so, outgoing traffic would have been screened a bit back from large swing gates.
The lane visible in the picture clearly accommodated pedestrians, many likely bound for the Union Town market space. My guess would be that they passed pretty freely.
The substantial enclosure Booth's skittish companions cited is not visible in the only photograph, but the perspective is not conclusive."

I am absolutely amazed that no photo exists of the city side of the bridge if such a grand gateway was there and because it did figure prominently in the assassination story. Sorry that I don't know how to post the photo that is mentioned as the only one.

[Jim Garrett]

I've been trying to crack into the Naval Historical Association for their cache of photos. They apparently have a good collection of historic images of the Navy Yard. So far they do not have any other images of the bridge and no pictures of the warves. The Navy Yard was pretty much completely rebuilt in the 1880s and 1890s. The yard would be completely unrecognizeable to Adam Herold.