54 pages • 1 hour read
James L. SwansonChasing Lincoln's Killer
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 6-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Stanton’s investigation progressed rapidly, and by 4:00 a.m. Booth’s strange, unsent letter had been discovered; this indicated the likelihood of a conspiracy. The letter gave clues that pointed toward a Confederate plot, as well as other things that were not exactly true. Meanwhile, the President was brain dead and his life was fading; he died at 7:22 a.m. Stanton took a lock of hair and sent it to Mary Janes Welles, the wife of the Secretary of the Navy. Welles had cared for the Lincolns before in times of need, and Stanton thought she deserved this memento.
After death, Lincoln was taken to the Executive Mansion in a plain pine box. Swanson notes that the coffin was fitting for this unpretentious figure. Likewise, the modest parade that escorted him, made of a carriage and a few officers on horse and foot, would have likely fit his tastes.
At 11:00 a.m., Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President in his room at Kirkwood House by Chief Justice Salmon Chase.
Meanwhile, John Surratt was in Elmira, New York, nowhere near the assassination plot. Learning of the assassination, he knew he could be a suspect, so he fled to Canada. From there he went to Rome, and enlisted in the pope’s army; however, after a year he was captured.
Army Lieutenant David Dana pursued the investigation in Maryland, but was confronted by a host of false leads.
The morning of Lincoln’s death, Atzerodt fled his room in the Kirkwood House. He discarded his knife, which was eventually spotted on the ground and provided a clue.
Over the next day or so, sanity was restored, as it appeared the plot was no longer in action and that no military attacks were imminent. Meanwhile, Herold and Mudd were closed in a net that they could not perceive. In the morning, with Mudd still unaware of the deed that his guests had perpetrated, Herold awoke and asked for a pair of crutches for Booth, which Mudd provided. Around the same time, Atzerodt had reached Georgetown; he pawned his pistols and set out to a presumably safe location.
The same day, Herold went to Bryantown to reconnoiter the next step in the escape. As it turned out, this was where Lieutenant Dana and his troops were stationed to prosecute their search. Herold retreated; Mudd, unaware yet of the plot, went into Bryantown soon thereafter. Mudd was shocked by the present of the troops, and even more shocked to hear the Booth was sought for killing the president. Mudd returned to the farm without revealing anything to the man hunters. Mudd insisted that Booth and Herold leave, and gave them the names and locations of two likely assistants, the Confederate operatives William Burtles and Captain Samuel Cox. Their next stop was Cox’s farm, which they reached on Easter Sunday (April 16).
Chapter 7 Summary
Stanton protected the crime scene at Ford’s Theater to improve the odds of a successful investigation. The scene was photographed by Matthew Brady, the same photographer who was present at many of Lincoln’s other important moments.
Upon being approached by Booth and Herold, Cox was suspicious but allowed himself to be persuaded by the eloquent actor. He hid them in a pine forest and went to summon an expert smuggler, Thomas Jones, to take them across the Potomac. Though Jones did not know either man, he agreed to help them escape and to provide them with supplies in the meantime.
Meanwhile, Atzerodt made his way to Montgomery County, Maryland, to the home of Hekeziah Metz. He jokingly answered yes to a request by one of Metz’s dinner guests as to whether he had killed Lincoln, and another guest reported this to authorities. Atzerodt made his way on to the home of Hartman Richter.
Mudd, for his part, mulled over the fact that his involvement in abetting the conspirators after the killing would eventually become known. He sent a Unionist cousin, George, to the authorities to report the visit of Booth and Herold and thus clear him from being part of the conspiracy; however, for whatever reason the message was not delivered.
When he returned to Booth and Herold, Jones brought food and newspapers reporting the killing. During this visit, cavalrymen searching the forest came dangerously close to the trio, but rode away without seeing them.
Chapter 8 Summary
Finally, the Surratt house (not the tavern) was searched. The officer in charge was Major W. H. Smith, who arrived to arrest Surratt and her boarders. In the midst of this process, a man with pickax appeared at the door. This was Lewis Powell. He claimed to be a laborer arriving to fix a gutter, but Surratt denied any knowledge of him (despite in fact knowing him). He soon surrendered, fortunately without violence, and his capture marked the first breakthrough since the assassination.
Under questioning, Mary Surratt did not bend, and though she admitted knowing Atzerodt she did not reveal anything about Booth’s visit to her tavern to retrieve supplies and weapons. Surratt, like many of the other prisoners, was sent to Old Capitol Prison after her interrogation. By Monday, April 17, several of Booth’s comrades had been captured. Some of them confessed to participating in Booth’s previous plot to kidnap Lincoln. Sadly, Edman Spangler, the stagehand at Ford’s Theater who assisted Booth merely by holding his horse, was also apprehended and imprisoned.
Chapters 6-8 Analysis
One of the lamentable facts of this assassination has to do with those caught up in the net of the investigation, such as Surratt. However, if Surratt, like Mudd and others, had never dreamed of grandiose schemes, they would not have lost their freedom. Mudd even somewhat cynically sent his cousin to report on the visit of the conspirators after the fact, but for some reason this message was not delivered. Perhaps a more lamentable example is Edman Spangler, who merely agreed to hold Booth’s horse and had no knowledge of any evil intentions. All of these add to the chaotic picture painted of the entire ordeal.
Again in this section, Swanson notes the macabre curiosity of the American people, which extended even to the surgeons who arguably performed an unnecessary autopsy on Lincoln’s corpse. They pulled out the bullet as a historical object. They even went so far as to jar his blood, on top of cutting open his brain and his body. Thus, none are immune to moral ambiguity, even those who are on the “right side” of the law.
One important aspect of this period of the manhunt is how often Booth and Herold came close to capture, such as when Herold rode into Bryantown or when the cavalry came close to them in the forest. This demonstrates the fugitives’ luck, but also the inevitability of their capture due to the dense network of man hunters and their poor planning. Their success also reveals how powerful the network of Confederate operatives was in the near proximity of the capital. In a way, the aftermath of the assassination seems to have uprooted this hidden network by removing many important figures within it, as is seen in some of the large-scale arrests that took place.
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