16 Oct 2017

History:

Lost Capitol Hill: John Wilkes Booth Leaves the Hill

I have written of the connections between John Wilkes Booth and Capitol Hill a few times before. Today, I want to look at the coda of the whole affair.

After the death of Lincoln’s assassin, one of the uppermost thoughts of those in charge of his body was that neither it nor any part of it be allowed to fall into the hands of those who would use it as some kind of rallying point for the now-deceased Confederacy. The trip from Garrett’s Farm to the Washington Navy Yard was therefore done under strict security and under the watchful eye of Colonel Lafayette C. Baker (pic) of the United States Secret Service.

Baker later described the difficulties he had in keeping relics from being removed from the body, including his having to forcibly remove a “lock of the black, curled, and beautiful hair” from the “fair hands” of a lady who had somehow evaded the guards around the Montauk.

After the autopsy, the body was sown back into the shroud that had housed it since Booth’s death, was loaded onto a rowboat and then …. it disappeared. That is what was written at the time, anyway. The Daily National Republican simply said that the Government had “put his carcase out of sight, and we presume the place of his interment will not be made known.” The Cleveland Morning Leader was similarly matter-of-fact:

What disposition was made of Booth’s body after the autopsy upon it, it is impossible to ascertain, but that a fitting disposal, in keeping with his ignominious character was made, is certain.

George Alfred Townsend, in town to write of the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination asked Baker what had happened to the body. His answer:

“That is known to only one man living besides myself. It is gone. I will not tell you where. The only man who knows is sworn to silence. Never till the great trumpeter comes shall the grave of Booth be discovered.”

Townsend added that indeed, a small rowboat had “received the carcass” on the previous day, (i.e. April 27) and disappeared into darkness, “and out of that darkness it will never return. […] The river-bottom may ooze about it laden with great shot and drowning manacles. The earth may have opened to give it that silence and forgiveness which man will never give its memory. The fishes may swim around it, or the daisies grown white above it; but we shall never know.”

Detail of picture showing Booth’s body being dropped into the river from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (LOC)

It must have come as a surprise to the readers of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on May 20th of that year to see a picture of a shrouded body being slid into the water from a small row boat, above which was the following assurance:

The sketch below was furnished by one of the two officers employed in the duty of sinking the body of Booth in the middle of the Potomac. Although not authorised to divulge his name, I am able to vouch for the truth of the representation. –F. Leslie, New York, May 10th, 1865.

How far this picture went to convincing the American public that the bottom of the Anacostia was, indeed, the final resting place of the presidential assassin is impossible to say at this late date. Next week, we will look at how the truth of the final disposition of Booth came out.


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