Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy: Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission, and a Review of the Trial of John H. SurrattHarris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey)
History
Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy: Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission, and a Review of the Trial of John H. Surratt
Harris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Assassination; Surratt, John H. (John Harrison), 1844-1916
John Matthews gives us the substance of a paper put into his hands
by Booth on the afternoon of the assassination, which closed as
follows: "Men who love their country better than their lives--Booth,
Payne, Atzerodt, and Herold."[33] It will be observed that Booth here
identifies Atzerodt with the conspiracy and the evidence shows that he
relied on Atzerodt at that time to perform the part he assigned to him:
to assassinate Vice-President Johnson. He had transferred Atzerodt from
the Pennsylvania House, where he had been boarding, to the Kirkwood
House on the morning of that day, having engaged his room but for one
day, and paying for it in advance. This change was made because the
Vice-President was stopping at the Kirkwood.
That Booth had visited Atzerodt at his room during the day was shown
by the fact that his coat, containing his bank book and handkerchiefs
marked in his name, was found in Atzerodt's room where he had hung it
up and then forgotten to take it again when he left. That the purpose
was a murderous purpose was shown by the fact that a pistol, loaded
and capped, together with a large dagger, were found hid away in the
bed. Booth had been there schooling Atzerodt in his part, and had
had such assurances from Atzerodt that he felt safe in coupling his
name with his own and those of Payne and Herold in the paper referred
to. Matthews stated that whilst he was in conversation with Booth,
General Grant passed rapidly down the Avenue in an open carriage,
having his baggage along with him; that he called Booth's attention to
this fact, when Booth left him abruptly and galloped down the avenue
after General Grant. Why did he do this? What did this mean? When
Atzerodt had made his way into the country, and was eating his dinner
on Sabbath, the 16th, at the house of Hezekiah Metz, he was asked if
it was true, as had been reported, that General Grant had been killed,
answered, "If the man who was to follow him had done so, it was likely
to be true." This explains Booth's purpose in galloping after General
Grant when he saw that he was about to leave the city. He hurried to
inform O'Laughlin of the fact and to have him follow the General and
assassinate him on the road or at the end of his journey, and had
told Atzerodt of this arrangement. We can in this way account for the
fact that Atzerodt knew that a man had had orders to follow him. The
fact that Booth, in the paper referred to, coupled Atzerodt's name
with his own and those of Payne and Herold as "men who loved their
country better than their lives" shows that he fully expected Atzerodt
to perform the part he had assigned him in the tragedy. O'Laughlin
was no doubt the man who had orders to follow the General, but upon
reflection, wisely declined to do so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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