Laura Redden - Booth's Misidentified Friend

[Dave Taylor]

Today, I published an article on my site regarding one of the images found on John Wilkes Booth when he was killed. As I previewed in a recent post in the "Who is this person?" thread, I do not believe the woman historically identified as Helen Western to be correct. Two years ago, I shared my concerns with Michael Kauffman, Tom Bogar, Steve Miller, and Scott Schroeder, and all four agreed that the veiled woman image found on Booth's body does not match known images of Western.

In my new post, I discuss how the photographs were originally identified, explain my doubts about the Helen Western identification, and finally delve into the life of the woman I believe this photograph actually shows: Laura Redden Searing.

Laura Redden was a deaf poet, journalist, and author. She lived quite an amazing life, especially during the Civil War years. She was friendly with the Lincolns, General Grant, countless Congressmen, and also John Wilkes Booth. I believe that I have built a strong and convincing case that Redden presented her photograph to John Wilkes Booth in February of 1865, two months before he assassinated Lincoln.

The piece is long (unsurprising when it comes to me), but I hope you will give it a read if you have a chance:

Under the Veil: Revealing the True Identity of John Wilkes Booth's Photograph