Booth escape route north

[Troy Cowan]

Prior to the 14th, Booth may have considered many escapes routes including going through Canada to England. As a Roman Catholic, he would have been given assistance by the Church.

On the 14th there was a plan to kidnap Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward and take them to a blockade runner waiting offshore at Benedict, Maryland. On the afternoon of April 14, 1865 this kidnapping plan fell apart and became an assassination. After the assassination, I believe that Booth wanted to use that same blockade runner to get away and that is why he went south.

When his horse stumbled and rolled over Booth's leg, breaking it, he sought medical assistance from his friend Dr. Mudd. After receiving treatment, Booth traveled to his farm in the Shenandoah Valley. There he lived with his wife, Izola, for a year-and-a-half.