Booth's Horse Fell....

[J. Beckert]

While we'll never figure out definitively where Booth broke his leg, I think Rick brings up an interesting point - what an exhaustive night Booth had since leaving 10th. St.

Up late the night before, writing his mother a letter in the early morning hours, then up early the next morning and having an extremely busy day with little, if any, rest. Drinking throughout the day (more than he should have, with what he had in mind) and a long jump that surely injured his back. Landing awkwardly and leaving "a rent in the Baize green carpet" (See photo, with it visible between the lower boxes, possibly enhanced by souvenir hunters) on the stage and a semi-circular indentation in the stage (his boot heel), he then mounted his horse and began the 14 mile ride to the Surratt Tavern. While today we think of a 14 mile ride as nothing, this ride took him almost 2 hours, part of it (or maybe all of it) with his leg broken. Riding a skittish horse, trying to control it with half his riding faculties useless and painful, using every muscle in his body to keep him in the saddle and to keep the horse moving him south on a cold and wet night, he had to be completely exhausted by the time he got to Mudd's, almost 30 miles south of Washington.