Dave Taylor / Davey Herold Question

[L Verge]

To our knowledge, Powell was never in Surrattsville - and I don't think he ever intended to go there. He was a Mosby man, trained to skedaddle, not follow the pack. Booth and Herold had worked on the southern escape route; Powell had plans to head north to Baltimore and friends. Atzerodt knew his way to Charles County and Montgomery County, so he was on his own. Once the deeds were done, it was safer to split in all directions because they did not need each other from that point on.

[JMadonna]

Wasn't Powell Booth's most trusted stalwart and reliable team player? Atzerodt on the other hand was a known drunk. Why then would Booth instruct Herold to ensure Powell did the job, rather than Atzerodt. If he was that good a judge of character?

Because it was Herold's job to assassinate Johnson when Atzerodt told Booth to stuff it.

[John E.]

I, too believe the same - that Powell knew his way back to the Surratt House sure enough and more or less also knew his way to the Seward House; especially if he was checking the place out over the period of a week while flirting with a maid-servant. I think that Herold was probably the "point man" of the affair....

I agree with you Betty. Seward's home near Lafayette Park was a straight shot down to the Executive Mansion on Pennsylvania Ave. It wasn't hard to find whatsoever and Powell wouldn't need guidance on how to get there.

After the attack, Powell took off with a purpose - to escape or to hide. Once he found that the bridge north to Baltimore was closed, he went in to hiding. He certainly knew how to find his way to the boarding house - as we already know.

[JMadonna]

Which left Herold running around like a lost dog trying desperately to get his gun out of Atzerodt's locked room. Failing that he decided to join Booth at the bridge.

[L Verge]

For the life of me, I cannot picture Herold ever becoming an assassin! There is a lot of difference between shooting birds and rabbits and killing a person. There is also a lot of difference between letting someone like Booth think that you could commit murder and actually doing it. If Herold was so set on helping the Southern cause, he would have taken up arms against the Union in 1861 or so just like so many of his peers did.

I think his sole purpose from day one was to see that everyone did their job and then get Booth out of the city and to the underground in Southern Maryland. He was looking for adventure and never imagined that he would end up on the gallows. I taught dozens of teenagers who would have done something similar, but none of them had the killer instinct. Frankly, I'm not sure that Booth cared whether or not Johnson got killed. To me, his vendetta was against Lincoln solely, and if they managed to take out Seward, even better.

[JMadonna]

For the life of me, I cannot picture Herold ever becoming an assassin! There is a lot of difference between shooting birds and rabbits and killing a person. There is also a lot of difference between letting someone like Booth think that you could commit murder and actually doing it.

Yet everyone seems to think Atzerodt could be a killer when there is no evidence that he even shot birds. Atzerodt was a barfly who would pal with anyone buying the drinks, he was no killer even though Booth tried to bully him into it. Yet no one believes his story that when he refused to do the deed, Herold was assigned.

Whether Herold could have been induced to do the deed or not is not the question. The question was where was he during the assassination. IMO he was a lost dog looking for his master.

[L Verge]

I believe that Booth let Atzerodt think that Herold was assigned -- and maybe Herold was. I just don't think Herold intended to commit anything other than "aiding and abetting" Booth in getting to the Potomac River. I agree with Mike Kauffman's theory that Herold was assigned to be point man. Make sure Powell got into the Seward home, check on Atzerodt, and then head across the Navy Yard Bridge to rendezvous with Booth and lead him into Southern Maryland. Of any of them, Herold was the least likely to be a lost dog in D.C. He knew the plan and stuck to it.

[John E.]

I agree with those who believe Booth's faith in his minions (except for Powell) was quite a reach. I doubt that any of those guys (save for John Surratt) were capable of killing. They just weren't as committed as Booth and Powell were. It wasn't about making a quick buck for those two men, it was about ideology. Booth and Powell were just as willing to die for their cause as they were to kill someone else for it.

I maintain that Herold was the "signal" man responsible for signaing the others to go forward with their assignments. After Booth signaled Herold to alert the others that the plan was on, Davey rode down to the corner of Penn. Avenue and Lafayette Park and signaled Powell. I think Herold went looking for Atzerodt but after he found no one in the hotel room, he split to go meet up with Booth.

He didn't abandon Powell, nor did Powell want Herold around.

[KateH.]

Herold was no assassin. He didn't have it in him to kill a man. If he wanted that life, he could have enlisted or become a spy like John Surratt. Booth wanted Lincoln dead so he took that job. Powell was the next one in line willing to risk it all for the South so he went after Seward. If Herold was the point man and the guide, Atzerodt was the only one left to fill any other jobs. Booth might not have cared as much about Johnson being killed. Furthermore, his mind was locked solely on his hatred of Lincoln. When he spoke to Lloyd at the tavern, he only mentioned the assassination of Lincoln and Seward. Maybe he didn't think Johnson would die. Or maybe Johnson being alive or dead wasn't the most pressing issue on his mind.

[JMadonna]

Herold was no assassin. He didn't have it in him to kill a man. If he wanted that life, he could have enlisted or become a spy like John Surratt. Booth wanted Lincoln dead so he took that job. Powell was the next one in line willing to risk it all for the South so he went after Seward. If Herold was the point man and the guide, Atzerodt was the only one left to fill any other jobs. Booth might not have cared as much about Johnson being killed. Furthermore, his mind was locked solely on his hatred of Lincoln. When he spoke to Lloyd at the tavern, he only mentioned the assassination of Lincoln and Seward. Maybe he didn't think Johnson would die. Or maybe Johnson being alive or dead wasn't the most pressing issue on his mind.

Or Herold told him he didn't complete his assignment.

[Cliff Roberts]

I think Booth doubted that Atzerodt would have the nerve to kill the Vice President, but I don't think he ever intended for Herold to kill Johnson or anyone else. After Lincoln, Seward was the main target, which is why Booth assigned his best man to the job. Powell was the only conspirator Booth could be certain of to complete his assignment (which he would have, had it not been for that steel neck brace). With this in mind, it makes no sense that Booth intended to leave Powell on his own after killing Seward, in effect, abandoning his best man. Powell spent only a short time in Washington, seldom venturing out except with others, so there's no reason to suppose that he was "familiar" with the city or its environs, nor is it likely he'd head toward Baltimore, a city where he was known to military police and ordered out of. Herold's primary assignment that night was guiding Powell to Surrattsville; at that point, it could be decided to split up or stay together. The idea of Booth assigning young Herold to manage the actions of the various conspirators, as someone suggested, doesn't sound plausible; Davy Herold, as assassination stage director? Of course, absent any definitive evidence as to exactly what assignments the various conspirators were given that night, all we are left with is conjecture. Incidently, it was Atzerodt who stated that Booth was the one who visited a pretty chambermaid at Seward's house and learned that Dr. Verdi was treating Seward, which likely led to the ruse Powell used to get into the house. Seward's nurse, Robinson, did testify at trial that Powell looked like the man who visited the home earlier that evening, but he later amended that testimony by stating he wasn't sure about it.

[KateH.]

Herold was no assassin. He didn't have it in him to kill a man. If he wanted that life, he could have enlisted or become a spy like John Surratt. Booth wanted Lincoln dead so he took that job. Powell was the next one in line willing to risk it all for the South so he went after Seward. If Herold was the point man and the guide, Atzerodt was the only one left to fill any other jobs. Booth might not have cared as much about Johnson being killed. Furthermore, his mind was locked solely on his hatred of Lincoln. When he spoke to Lloyd at the tavern, he only mentioned the assassination of Lincoln and Seward. Maybe he didn't think Johnson would die. Or maybe Johnson being alive or dead wasn't the most pressing issue on his mind.

Or Herold told him he didn't complete his assignment.

Or he said he found no evidence that Atzerodt did anything.

[JMadonna]

Or he said he found no evidence that Atzerodt did anything.

Which is what Atzerodt had already told Booth to his face when he gave him the assignment.

[KateH.]

Or he said he found no evidence that Atzerodt did anything.

Which is what Atzerodt had already told Booth to his face when he gave him the assignment.

So why was Atzerodt asking strange questions about Johnson to the bartender? And why was he arrested and executed for attempting to kill Johnson? Why was he still in town if Booth gave his job to someone else?

[Linda Anderson]

Robinson told Gus Seward when Gus went to visit him at Douglass Hospital that a man who fit the description of Powell had visited the Seward home on the mornings of April 13 and April 14. Gus wrote a letter to Col. Wells dated April 21 relating what Robinson had told him. When Robinson first saw the man at Seward's door at the time he made the attack, "I thought I recognized him to be the same person, he having on at this time a brown hat." The Evidence, Edwards and Steers.

Robinson also related this incident in an interview he gave to the Evening Star which was published on April 18.

I checked Poore's transcription of the trial of the conspirators and Robinson did not testify about Powell at the window.

Also, there is some misunderstanding about what Seward was wearing on his jaw at the time of Powell's attack. He was wearing a splint made of wire and mesh. The metal splint wasn't made for him until a few weeks after Powell's attack. The wire and mesh splint may have distracted Powell but it was George Robinson who saved Seward's life.