Sam Mudd's Great-Great-Granddaughter

[bob_summers]

Hi Elsabet. Welcome to Roger's Lincoln Symposium.

I think most historians agree that Dr. Mudd was innocent of having anything to do with the assassination of President Lincoln, but was guilty of lying to those hunting Booth after the assassination.

One of the military judges said after the trial that "Dr. Mudd attracted much interest and his guilt as an active conspirator was not clearly made out. His main guilt was the fact that he failed to deliver them, that is, Booth and Herold, to their pursuers."

Andrew Johnson's pardon said essentially the same thing: "I am satisfied that the guilt found by the said judgment against Samuel A. Mudd was of receiving, entertaining, harboring, and concealing John Wilkes Booth and David E. Herold, with the intent to aid, abet and assist them in escaping from justice after the assassination of the late President of the United States, and not of any other or greater participation or complicity in said abominable crime."

Dr. Mudd knew Booth well, having hosted him overnight at his farm house in November 1864, and meeting him again a month later in Washington.

So, why did Dr. Mudd mislead those hunting Booth?

He may have been afraid a captured Booth would implicate him in an earlier plot of Booth to kidnap the president. While there is no evidence that Dr. Mudd was ever part of that plot, he would have known about it if Booth had tried to recruit him into it during their two meetings.

You mentioned Dr. Dick Mudd and his son Tom Mudd. We are indebted to both for their hard work in researching and preserving what is known of Dr. Mudd's life. Dr. Dick's 2-volume Mudd Family of the United States is a genealogical treasure chest. He donated many of his research records to the Special Collections Division of the Lauinger Memorial Library at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Well worth a visit.

When Dr. Dick passed away, Tom Mudd invited the Family Search genealogists to digitize his father's files, which can be found at:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/cata...%20Library

You will also find a tremendous amount of well-researched information about Dr. Mudd at David Taylor's lincolnconspirators.com web site, and the many YouTube videos Dave has submitted.

And, of course, the members here at Roger's Lincoln Symposium are a wonderfully smart and non-judgmental resource always willing to contribute their helpful knowledge.

Happy hunting!