Food for Thought

[L Verge]

(08-17-2019 09:26 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(08-17-2019 08:07 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(08-17-2019 06:17 PM)Anita Wrote:  Bob,
Thanks for posting the links.

Roger,
What a fantastic purchase!

Laurie,
Here's a an article on the the Mudd family's recent descendant gathering this past July 2019. https://www.pressreader.com/usa/maryland...0752807832

Thanks, Anita. The Maryland Independent that carried this story originally is one of the local newspapers in Southern Maryland, so I had already seen it. I couldn't get the text to slide to the left here, so I don't know if this version carried the photos also, but there is a nice one of Mary Mudd McHale, a great-granddaughter (daughter of Dr. Richard), who has been very supportive of the Surratt House and Society through the years. If there are photos of the Mudd docents who did reenactments of Dr. Mudd's return, the lady portraying Frankie Mudd is Kate Taylor, wife of Dave Taylor.

Does the article also mention that there was a very bad traffic accident that involved some of the younger Mudd descendants en route home from the gathering? Thankfully, no one received very serious injuries.

The article didn't mention the accident. Glad no serious injuries. Laurie, if you click on the text, hold it and move the mouse to the right it takes you to through the pages, photos. Yes, it sure is Dave Tayolor's wife!

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(08-17-2019 08:47 PM)bob_summers Wrote:  

(08-17-2019 06:17 PM)Anita Wrote:  Here's a an article on the Mudd family's recent descendant gathering this past July 2019. https://www.pressreader.com/usa/maryland...0752807832

Anita: thanks for the link to the story. I hadn't seen it. One comment: In the article, Mr. Collins says that 87 black soldiers trained near the Mudd farm. I'm not sure where that figure comes from. There were actually about 4,000 black troops training nearby. The 7th, 9th, 19th, and 30th U.S. Colored Troop regiments, 1,000 men each, trained just 10 miles away at Camp Stanton (Benedict, Maryland) during the fall and winter of 1863-64.

Bob, That's a big discrepancy. While looking into this I came across interesting references to Dr. Mudd's slaves who ran off. This is all new to me. https://books.google.com/books?id=kBEVAAAAYAAJ

I agree with Bob that the only USCT training camp in the vicinity would have to be Camp Stanton at Benedict. Unfortunately, the only thing that remains of the camp is a historic marker and any artifacts that might be underground. In the last 40 years or so, I believe that archaeologists and historians have even changed their minds about the exact location of the camp.

I have an original, hard-bound copy of American State Trials sitting here on my desk looking at me right now. I was able to repair water damage sustained during a flooded basement, but I seldom open it because it is fragile. However, I remember thinking how useful it was in interpreting the trial transcripts produced by Pitman, Perley Poore, and Peterson. Those are like deciphering the Rosetta Stone to me!

I did skim the section on Dr. Mudd from the online source you gave, and made another discovery. Many of the former slaves who testified in defense of Dr. Mudd make mention of not coming to live on the farm until just before or after Christmas of 1864. I don't know to whom they had been previously enslaved, but when they got to the Mudds, they would have been given their freedom under the new Maryland state consitution that went into effect on November 1, 1864.

If they had not resided on the farm previous to that, they were not qualified to testify as to Dr. Sam's treatment of his slaves -- and surely, he would have been careful not to mistreat those who had their new-found freedom. Bob, am I making a correct assumption here?

One thing I remember from the text was an article published after the conspiracy trial by Clampitt, one of Mrs. Surratt's inept lawyers. For years, many of us have wondered where the revolver(s) came from that Booth apparently picked up on his escape. Clampitt claimed that a revolver was included in the field glass package that we know Mrs. Surratt carried to John Lloyd on the afternoon of April 14. I don't think either Lloyd or his sister-in-law, Emma Offutt, ever made mention of that (and Emma may not have been present when Lloyd opened the package).

Another thing that Clampitt mentioned that was news to me: He says that Mrs. Surratt was due at the county courthouse in Upper Marlboro that day to answer to the Calvert claims about unpaid lands. The claim is that she had to go through Surrattsville to get to Upper Marlboro, so she agreed to take the package for Booth.

Unlikely. First, she left after 2 pm that Friday for a trip that would take close to two hours to get to Surrattsville, and the county seat trip would have taken about another hour. When would the court house close?

Also, there was another route to Upper Marlboro that was probably shorter and would take less time. Even if she used that route, she would have to double-back to Surrattsville to deliver the package and then hustle to get across the bridge into Washington before it closed.

There is always something new to ponder.