Atzerodt Confession

[John Fazio]

(02-20-2017 06:50 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  AHA! I think I got it.

When Atzerodt described Wood he said: Wood is a tall man with black hair; straight. He is a strong stout-made man; no hair on his face; rather poor; he is rather a good-looking man. I can’t remember faces or features well enough to describe them.

If he couldn't remember faces or features he would not have been able to remember Powell at the earlier meeting at Gautier's because Booth introduced him as "Mosby".

Jerry:

You may be on to something here, but bear in mind that Gautier's was on March 15 and this introduction was therefore only one month later. It is a little hard to imagine that Atzerodt could not distinguish a face he met only one month previously, but it is certainly possible. It is as good an explanation as any other offered, but we still have the problem of "Woods" at the Navy Yard. Smoot said that co-conspirators were prepared to receive only three assassins in Virginia. That would appear to be Booth, Herold and Atzerodt, the latter being needed for navigation. This squares with the questions put to Cobb by Herold when he crossed the bridge and with the conversation between Atzerodt and Booth at the 8:00 pm Herndon House meeting, wherein Atzerodt agreed to be their guide that night. Atzerodt's decision not to follow the other two, but to head for his cousin's farm near Baltimore instead, was most likely motivated by his failure to kill Johnson and his fear of being berated as a consequence. In any case, Powell does not appear to have been contemplated to be with Booth and Herold, which squares with the evidence we have as to his destination that night. Why, then, would he be at the Navy Yard, far from where his horse was later found. If he was not at the Navy Yard, then who is "Woods".

John