The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Lincoln's Blood Relics-- Part 11: Broadside Announcing Booth's Death

Booth died at sunrise on April 26th.  One of the leaders of the patrol; chasing him, Col. Everton Conger, rushed back to Washington, D.C., to report to his superior, detective Lafayette Baker.  Together they reported at about 5:30 p.m., to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's home to give him the news.

"We have got Booth," Baker told him.  The exhausted secretary had no energy for grand language.  The statement he drafted and which the War Department telegrapher transmitted across the nation contained this:

"War Department, Washington
April 27, 9:20 A.M.
Maj. General Dix, New-York

Booth was chased out of a swamp in St. Mary's county, Maryland, by Col. Barker's [i.e., Baker] force, and took refuge in a barn on Garrett's farm, near Port Royal.

The barn was fired and Booth shot and killed.  His companion,Harrold [David Herold] was captured.  Harrold and Booth's body are now here.

E.M. Stanton, Secretary of War."

--Old Secesh




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