(03-01-2018, 08:15 PM)JMadonna Wrote: (03-01-2018, 06:18 PM)J. Beckert Wrote: If that's true, (regarding the two 25 cent pieces) it shows a little more of the kindness Booth was noted for and puts another chink in the old "He was a racist" rant from those those that view him through a 21st. Century prism.
Don't go rewriting history so quickly. William Lucas certainly wasn't given compensation when Booth & Herold threw him and his family out of their cabin on the last leg of their journey.
Just remember that, while at Mudd's, Booth and Herold were really at the beginning of their journey (that they thought would be triumphant) and were not as mean-spirited as they became ten or more days later after being rejected by folks they expected sympathy and assistance from - especially once they crossed the Potomac.
The rejection by Dr. Richard Stuart had to be one of those proverbial last straws. One of the richest men in America and a known Confederate sympathizer with strong ties to the Lees and the Calverts turns him away and sends him to the home of a free black? Excuse me folks, but I suspect you would be feeling a bit "testy" at that point also -- even if you were sent to a poor white man's cabin.
One of the points in reading and understanding history (as we have repeated numerous times on this forum) is to put oneself in the position of the folks one is studying -- understand their times, culture, social standards, and the circumstances that have led to their actions at any given point. Don't judge them based on what you believe many years later.
Dr. Mudd's slave who cooked breakfast for JWB and David Herold
