John Wilkes Booth and the Women Who Loved Him by E. Lawrence Abel

Author:E. Lawrence Abel
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781621576198
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2018-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

After several mishaps, on April 23, 1865, the fugitives crossed the Potomac River into Virginia and made their way to Port Conway where they met William Storke Jett and two other Confederate soldiers, Major M. B. Ruggles and Lieutenant A. R. Bainbridge. The three men, former members of Colonel John Singleton Mosby’s cavalry, were waiting to take the ferry across the Rappahannock River to Port Royal.

Herold introduced himself as David E. Boyd and John as his brother, James William Boyd. James, he said, had been wounded in the leg while escaping from prison where they had been held for some time.8 Jett and the others became suspicious Herold was hiding something. Never one to keep a secret, Herold soon bragged, “we are the assassinators of the President. . .Yonder is J. Wilkes Booth, the man who killed the President.”9

While they were talking, John hobbled over to the group on his rough-hewn crutch. He was no longer the handsomest man in America. He was wearing his now seedy, black slouch hat, dark clothes, a cavalry boot on one foot, and a black stocking on the other, inside a shoe cut away at the top. His injured leg was noticeably swollen. His face was haggard. He was bearded, not having shaved for several days. His eyes were sunken, but they still had their peculiar bright glow.

“I suppose you have been told who I am?” he asked. Ruggles nodded. Shifting his weight onto his crutch, John yanked his gun from his belt.

“I am worth $100,000 to the man who captures me,” he said. There was no emotion in his voice.10 The three men replied they didn’t sanction his killing Lincoln, but “were not men to take ‘blood money.’”

John put his gun back in his belt. Ruggles hoisted John onto his horse, and they all crossed the river. After landing, Jett led them a short way to the home of William Peyton, a Port Royal friend of his. Peyton wasn’t home but his daughter was. Jett asked her to take care of the wounded man travelling with him until the day after tomorrow when he would return for him. Miss Peyton agreed at first, but on seeing the seedy, unshaven man she changed her mind. She protested the impropriety of keeping a man in the house with her alone. She suggested Jett take him to the Garrett house down the road.

Richard H. Garrett’s farmhouse was a large wooden framed building with broad porches on every side. It rested on a little hill with rolling fields spread out in every direction. Jett introduced himself as a local boy. He had a wounded Confederate soldier with him, he said, by the name of John W. Boyd, who was on his way home and needed to rest because of his wound. Could Garrett take care of him for a day or two until Jett would return for him?

The Garretts hadn’t heard about the assassination and took Jett at his word. Jett went on to Bowling Green while Ruggles and Bainbridge continued on their journey home.

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