New Eyewitness Account?

[RJNorton]

As always, many thanks to Steve for sending this information. Steve writes, "I have some more Bedee documents to post to the Forum."

Firstly, before I go any further I feel I need to emphasize that nothing I'm about to write about in anyway diminishes the conclusion I presented earlier the Capt. Bedee did indeed hand over the documents from Pres. Lincoln's pockets to Sec. of War Stanton at Petersen House on the night of the assassination. The surviving documentation still supports that. But Bedee also claimed to be the soldier who climbed up into the box with Dr Taft, and Bedee's level of honesty is important in evaluating those claims.

Bedee, unfortunately, wasn't very honest about his military record. In a May 1866 letter to Sec. of War Stanton, Bedee claimed to have risen to the rank of sergeant in his first unit -- E co. of the 3rd New York Infantry. Two decades later when corresponding with the historian of the 12th New Hampshire regiment, Bedee claimed he reached the rank of lt. in his earlier unit. However, looking at the muster records of the 3rd New York, it turns out that Bedee never reached beyond the rank of private in the 3rd and he hadn't been discharged from the unit, he deserted after the regiment was assigned to garrison duty at Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor. (For some reason Bedee's last is recorded as Dodge in the muster, but I went through the regiment's muster and this was the only match.) A year later Bedee enlisted in the 12th New Hampshire was quickly made sergeant-major and during the rest of the war eventually rose to the rank of captain.

I also haven't been able to find any evidence that Bedee was actually breveted a Major at the close of the war. Normally, in a situation like this I would assume that the brevet record was missing in Bedee's compiled (carded) military service record. But I'm inclined to believe he invented the brevet to Major as well and never rose beyond the rank of captain.