Backstage At The Lincoln Assassination

[LincolnMan]

Just started listening to Tom Bogar's book and can tell you it is a "must-read." tom makes an interesting statement in the second chapter. He states that when Booth jumped down on the stage, shards from the picture frame also fell to the floor. Of course, this must be referring to the Washington picture? I had never heard that the frame of the picture had been damaged.

[L Verge]

You can actually see a small gauge in the frame where damage was done. I had always understood that Booth caused it, but Mike Kauffman used to speculate on Booth tours that a later souvenir seeker may have done it.

[LincolnMan]

For Booth to have caused it means his boot/spur nicked the frame and got caught in the flag-sounds unlikely? I know know. Was the picture situated close enough to the flag for Booth to have contacted both?

[L Verge]

Yes, the picture hangs just below the Treasury Guard flag.

[Tom Bogar]

My source for that was an interview with John T. Ford in 1890, in which he said, "At my home is the picture of George Washington that hung outside the private box which Lincoln occupied and it was the frame of the picture which caught Booth's spurs, causing him to fall and break his leg. The frame still bears the impress of the spur." Numerous other accounts, of course, have the regimental bunting catching the spur(s), and two have Booth stomping to free his foot from pieces of that. I tended to give credence to Ford, yet concluded (to play it safe) that it was best to mention both obstructions.

[J. Beckert]

Both incidents (the flag and picture frame)are mentioned in eyewitness accounts. Booth somehow kicked the frame with his spur on his way over as more than one witness stated it was knocked askew or upside down. The damage to the frame is actually visible from outside the back of the box.

[BettyO]

Just started reading this yesterday - facinating!! Please don't miss this book -

Extremely well researched and I love Dr. Bogar's writing style.... it certainly holds your interest. The book itself is also very handsomely published and the illustrations of all the actors and theatre folk are facinating.

[LincolnMan]

I love the book so far. Just when you think there could be nothing more written about the Lincoln assassination- comes a book like this. Tom's description of Washington in 1865, is absolutley fascinating.

[LincolnMan]

There is an interview with Tom about his book featured today at Townhall.com
Can someone provide a link to it please?

[RJNorton]

Bill, there is an interview with him here.

There is also a book review here.

[LincolnMan]

Awesome. Thanks, Roger!

[L Verge]

As you all know by now, I love Backstage... and have written so in a review I did for Amazon. One thing I enjoyed most was a really good portrayal of John Ford and what a kind man he was and what he endured from the federal government. There is one quote from Ford that Tom used that really impressed me as to "how everything old is new again."

Even after his own release, Ford continued to fight for the release of Edman Spangler. When the ex parte Milligan case was decided in 1866, Ford asked Thomas Ewing and Reverdy Johnson to draft a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Spangler; and the three men appealed directly to Andrew Johnson -- but were rebuffed, pretty much saying that there was too much "political excitement" still going on.

In the book, Tom quotes Ford having written to Ewing, "Alas our poor country -- she bleeds from every vein." He looked "with fear to the future and entertain a vague regret that I am father to children who may inherit the wreck of our once proud country."

That immediately made me think of very similar, modern comments - mainly related to the economic and social conditions that the U.S. faces today. Like so many straight-thinking Americans now, John T. Ford was thinking about what the present was going to do to the future.