Civil War Travels With Ms. Rebelle: John Wilkes Booth Escape Route

April 14, 1865 will live in history forever as the date that Civil War President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It also begins a twelve day odyssey where John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice, Davy Herold, escaped from Washington City across the Navy Yard Bridge (the 11^th Street Bridge today) to Southern Maryland where Booth was killed by Sgt. Boston Corbett of the 16^th New York Cavalry on April 26, 1865.

Ms. Rebelle has become extremely interested in John Wilkes Booth and has taken the escape route tours with the Surratt Society, the Smithsonian tour with historian Ed Bearss, several Roundtable tours, and doing parts of it by car.  I wanted to do this at as close to the exact time as possible to April 14.  So a friend and I took off for that foreign country, Washington, DC, on April 12 to start the tour.

As you can see by my picture, I do not look like a terrorist but in Washington, D.C., people of authority tend to think I look like a terrorist. Our first stop was 10^th Street to take a picture of Ford’s Theatre and the Peterson House where Lincoln died. To steady my camera I brought along my monopod. I was busy setting up the shots when a policeman from Ford’s came up to me and asked me what I was doing. Always being honest, I told the truth, and told him I was working on a possible documentary of the Booth Escape Route. Right away he asked if I had a permit. It seems a common citizen cannot use a tripod on the street, and it wasn’t even a tripod. Finally I said it was just a dream, so he let me keep taking my pictures.

The next stop was Baptist Alley behind Ford’s Theatre where Booth ran out of the theatre after mortally wounding the president. He jumped on his horse held by Peanuts Burroughs and took off in the night. We drove the car right down the alley. How cool is that? There was a whole crowd of people there on a tour. Guess who the tour guide was? None other than Michael Kauffman, author of American Brutus. How both of us wished we could just hop on their bus. The tour was through the Surratt Society. The front of the bus said “John Wilkes Booth Tour.”  Since I’ve read so much about John Wilkes Booth’s personality, somehow I think he would really enjoy his notoriety, and the fact that all these years later, people are still interested in him and his escape.

Now comes the real terrorist threat. The Washington Navy Yard seemed to be the best vantage point for taking a picture of the 11^th Street/Navy Yard Bridge. This was the bridge that both Booth and Davy Herold crossed over into Uniontown, now known as Anacostia. This was also the only bridge out of the city open for crossing after the assassination. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton has closed all the other bridges out of the city. I contacted three people at the Navy Yard. One gentleman said he would leave my name as a visitor at the gate. Again, I was honest about what I wanted to do. All three of them said it wouldn’t be a problem. 

So I presented my license, insurance card, and my car registration to two young Marines at the gate. They didn’t have me listed as a visitor and said they would have to call their sergeant. It took forever for the sergeant to appear. We knew we were in trouble just by his demeanor when he came walking up, studied my license plate, and his tone. Being honest didn’t help one bit here. He said the bridge was right there if I wanted to take a picture of it – that is – outside of the Navy Yard. Needless to say, we didn’t get in there. We just crossed over the Navy Yard Bridge, went into Anacostia Park, and I was able to take a decent picture there.

We both heaved a huge sigh of relief to be out of D.C. into Maryland. My friend had been studying internet topography maps trying to find Soper’s Hill where Booth and Herold met up. There had been some discussion on the tours as to where exactly it was. Just after going under the Beltway on Route 5, we turned right on Linda Lane, and right again on Old Branch Avenue. You go down a long hill, and that is Soper’s Hill. Henson Creek is at the bottom. I remember reading that Herold “halloed” for Booth at the top of the hill there. There is some discussion over whether Booth’s leg was broken in his jump from Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theatre or was broken on Soper’s Hill when his horse fell on him. 

Then it was on to the Surratt House, and the tour bus was already there. We got to talk to Michael Kauffman. That was awesome. We went on to T.B. – named for Thomas Brook. The ruins of Brook’s house sit at the intersection of Route 5 and Brandywine Road. Davy Herold spent the night there on his March visit to Southern Maryland. The nightshirt he wore is in the Surratt House Museum.

We decided to follow the Surratt Society’s route and went to the Mudd House after a quick stop at St. Peter’s Church, Dr. Mudd’s home church. We found the grave of Edman Spangler, one of the conspirators, buried in the Old St. Peter’s Cemetery. The Surratt and Mudd Societies have placed a nice stone on his grave.  The cemetery is at the intersection of Brandywine and Gardiner Roads. The road must have been named for the Gardiner family. George Gardiner was a close neighbor of Dr. Mudd and sold Booth the one-eyed horse that he rode.  We found the site of George Gardiner’s farm at the intersection of Malcolm and Poplar Hill Roads. 

When we got to the Mudd House the Surratt Society bus was there. The sky was a dark, deep cloudy blue from the impending rainstorm, which showered us when we got to the Bryantown Tavern. It rained from there to the site of Oswell Swann’s house. Swann guided Booth and Herold through the Zekiah Swamp. We stopped at Rich Hill, the home of Colonel Samuel Cox who aided them and sent them on to Thomas Jones, his adopted son, who hid them in the Pine Thicket for six days and nights. We actually found the Pine Thicket across from a house at 9185 Wills Street in Bel Alton. We didn’t venture in the woods but were certainly close to where Booth & Herold were.

Huckleberry was our next stop – the home of Thomas Jones. We took the road down to the river where the Loyola Retreat is. With 95% certainly, I would say we found the road that leads down to Dent’s Meadow where Booth and Herold got into the flat-bottomed 12-foot skiff to cross the Potomac. We verified this by an old picture on a Civil War Trails sign across the street from Captain Billy’s Restaurant about Dent’s Meadow. Yes!  

We had a nice lunch at Captain Billy’s, and guess who appeared after we pulled up? The Surratt Society tour bus. This was the last time we saw them, however.

Now it was on to see Thomas Jones’ other house, sitting 80 feet up on a bluff over the Potomac River near the Route 301 Bridge. Zooming in on the house gave me a nice photo. It’s a lovely house. It would have been nice to see it close up. We crossed the Route 301 Bridge into Virginia. We felt like we were shadowing Booth and Herold all day. 

Mrs. Quesenberry’s house on Machadoc Creek was the next stop. We checked out Gambo Creek where Booth and Herold landed on their second attempt at crossing the Potomac. We went on to Dr. Richard H. Stuart’s Cleydael where Davy Herold knocked on the door asking to stay the night and was refused. From there it was on to Port Conway, which we are pretty sure we found as well. Booth and Herold crossed from Port Conway to Port Royal. 

There is a gravel road parallel to the northbound lane of Route 301 just before the Rappahannock Bridge. It goes down to the water across from Port Royal. There is a sign there “Warning, keep out, snake sanctuary." We got a kick out of that but I suppose if you don’t want people around, having a sign like that will do the job. 

We checked out Port Royal and the Peyton-Brockenbrough House before heading to Bowling Green. The young girls at the house refused aid to Booth and Herold as well. We found the location of the Star Hotel at Bowling Green next to the Caroline County Courthouse where Willy Jett was staying. The Star Hotel is now gone but a new building which houses an insurance agency has taken its place. It’s a charming little town.

Our last stop – the Garrett Farm site - where John Wilkes Booth was killed. It’s always sad and a little creepy to go in there. One has to enter the site from northbound Route 301 in the median strip. The farm has been long gone. Every time I go, something else has been added.  Someone has placed a small metal cross at the stone and pipe there. Thus ended our trip closest to the actual time as possible.

Ten things I have learned on this trip are: Ms. Rebelle looks like a terrorist, you can’t use a tripod or monopod in D.C., I look too suspicious to get into the Navy Yard, but we found Soper’s Hill, the house in T.B. where Herold spent the night, Ned Spangler’s grave, George Gardiner’s farm, the Pine Thicket, Port Conway which is full of snakes, and Bowling Green, site of young Private Willie Jett’s squealing on Booth’s whereabouts.  It was an awesome day.

I would certainly recommend doing the Booth Escape Route. Most of the places are still around after 148 years. Both the Surratt Society and the Smithsonian tours are very well done.  I would heartedly recommend Michael Kauffman’s book American Brutus. Mr. Kauffman did so much research to write his book down to climbing a ladder to Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theatre (actually the one across from the actual one) and jumping to the stage and rowing across the Potomac at night. 

The cast of characters of the Lincoln conspirators is amazing. What an unlikely bunch to pull off the first assassination of an American president. It is a fascinating subject.