Assassination Trivia

[Steve]

(01-25-2021 06:39 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Is it possible to post a link to the actual Bedee account? What I am reading here in the source posted is different from what is in Good's book.

In his book, Reck says the papers fell out of Lincoln's pockets on 10th St. as the President was being carried to the Petersen House; Reck doesn't mention Mary Lincoln having anything to do with them.

What source did Asa W. Bartlett use to write this inaccurate report of Capt. Bedee's role at Ford's? I honestly do not know whether to blame Bedee or Bartlett. That is why I'd like to read the actual Bedee account to see if Bedee really made these claims.

Roger I had the same thought about reading Bedee's first hand account. According to an Army History article published 5 years ago about one of the battles of the New Hampshire 12th, Bartlett got Bedee's account of the battles from written correspondence between the men in 1892. I assume Bartlett got Bedee's account of the assassination around the same time. According to the article their correspondence is saved among the Asa Bartlett papers at the New Hampshire Historical Society, so Bedee's account is probably located there:

https://www.nhhistory.org/Object?id=747e...19d3bc35ed

The Bedee account from Good appears to be from an Old Farmer's Almanac story about Bedee published following his death in 1908. This site has the full copy of the article:

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nvjack/be..._bedee.htm

It appears that the author based it off of the account in Bartlett's book.

Roger, check page 165 of Reck's book (well the paperback version; its from the Appendix #3 Light on the Missing Dispatch and not viewable from Google Books) for more information on Bedee and the issue of the missing papers which isn't included in the Bartlett book. Apparently Bedee didn't or couldn't deliver the papers from Lincoln's pocket and then negotiated through his Congressman their return without getting in trouble and then he mistakenly got arrested anyway. Or maybe he was arrested and then negotiated with his Congressman and the apology from Gen. Hardie was a way to save face?