April 14 - 26, 1865 - Chasing Lincoln's Assasin and Accomplices
April 14 - 26, 1865
Chasing Lincoln's Assassin and Accomplices
Washington, D.C. > Southern Maryland > Virginia
* No obscure skirmish here! Most will have heard this story, read the book, or seen the movie/miniseries, so the ~15 stops of this glorious driving tour are presented with minimal commentary to speak for themselves.
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| Oh, how I wish all my daytrips could be represented by timelines grafted onto maps. This was a fun day, from top to bottom (Feb. 2025)! Only that cottage defied detection. |
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| First, witness the still-preserved Presidential box at Fords Theatre, where I happened to catch a great performance of Scott Bakula as Lincoln (Winter 2024)! |
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| Outside Fords Theatre |
And the house directly across the street, where Lincoln actually died.
After he shot Lincoln, jumped onto the stage (breaking his leg), and ran, the chase was on...Booth's first stop was just outside D.C., in Maryland.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=154461 Surratt Tavern Confederate Safe House —John Wilkes Booth - Escape of an Assassin— Owned and operated by the ardently pro-Southern Surratt family, this building was used by Confederate agents as a safe house during the Civil War. Built in 1852, the structure was a tavern, hostelry, and post office. Surratt's son, John, Jr., a Confederate courier, came into contact with actor John Wilkes Booth in the fall of 1864. Booth planned to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln, and Surratt was to help convey Lincoln to Richmond. The tavern was to serve as a way-station during the kidnapping. Weapons and supplies were secreted here. In December 1864, Surratt's mother, Mary E. Surratt, rented out the tavern and moved to her other home on H Street in Washington. Booth visited there often, and two of his conspirators boarded with her briefly. Eventually the kidnapping plan turned to assassination, and after Booth shot the president on April 14, 1865, he and accomplice David A. Herold came directly here to retrieve the weapons the conspirators had stashed earlier. They arrived at midnight, then headed south toward the hamlet of T.B. Mrs. Surratt's tenant here later gave damaging testimony that sent her to the gallows on July 7, 1865—the first woman executed by the federal government. Her son fled to Canada but later returned, was tried and acquitted, and moved to Baltimore. Yea, actually Jr. married a cousin of Francis Scott Key and had seven kids. He lived to the age of 72 in Baltimore and was burried in New Cathedral Cemetery there. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=60164 |
John Wilkes Booth
Escape of an Assassin
—War on the Chesapeake—
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylanders’ hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and families at odds in Maryland and faraway battlefields. From the Eastern Shore to the suburbs of Washington, eastern Maryland endured those strains of civil war in ways difficult to imagine today.
Those strains continued even after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. John Wilkes Booth used the help of Southern Maryland’s Confederate underground during his flight from Washington, D.C. after shooting President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865.
(Sidebar):
Discover the story of Booth’s escape and other fascinating history for yourself as you drive through some of Maryland’s prettiest countryside and most charming small towns. Follow the sign of the bugle to learn about the war on the Chesapeake, visit the site of the war’s largest prison camp and follow Booth to his eventual capture south of the Potomac River.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=141912 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3612 The assassin of Lincoln stopped here at the house of Mrs. Surratt to secure ammunition on the night of April 14, 1865. He rode on to "T.B." and then to Dr. Mudd's who set his broken leg. Oddly, no other mentions of what "T.B." is! It's a point on the map, marked only "T.B.", but there don't appear to be any CW historical markers there - and the next stop on the Driving Route is Dr. Mudd's house. Confirmed: TB, Maryland is the unincoporated town's real name. |
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| Gotta start the "Chasing Lincoln's Assasin"-Trail early if you want to reach Bowling Green, VA - and I did. |
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Like the Surratt House, I got to Dr. Mudd's house too early for an inside tour. That's OK. Here it is:
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=920 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=921 |
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
Treating an Assassin
—John Wilkes Booth-
–Escape of An Assassin—
This house was the home of Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd and his wife, Sarah Frances Dyer. Early on the morning of April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth arrived here with a companion, David E. Herold, and asked Mudd to set Booth’s broken leg. Afterward, as Booth rested in an upstairs bedroom, Mudd rode into Bryantown, then returned home late in the afternoon to find his visitors departing.
Questioned later by U.S. authorities, Mudd claimed he did not recognize Booth or know that he was being sought, and only learned of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in Bryantown. Other witnesses stated, however, that late in 1864, Booth had met Mudd at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, below Bryantown, while visiting Charles County ostensibly to purchase real estate. He then came here, spent the night, and bought a horse from Mudd’s neighbor. Mudd allegedly accompanied Booth into Bryantown and introduced him to a friend, Confederate agent Thomas Harbin. A few days later, a witness stated, Mudd met Booth again in Washington and introduced him to John H. Surratt.
Charged with conspiring with Booth from the beginning, Mudd claimed that the earlier meetings were innocent, Booth had been disguised on April 15, and he had only done his duty as a physician. Convicted and sentenced to life in prison at Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys, Mudd distinguished himself treating sick prisoners and guards alike during a deadly 1867 yellow fever epidemic. President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in 1869. Mudd died here on January 10, 1883.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=922 |
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Next, a short ride South into the aforementioned Village of Bryanstown, and then slightly farther to St. Mary's Church.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=181678 |
Village of Bryantown
Commercial Center
—John Wilkes Booth—
-Chasing Lincoln's Assassin—
This building is the Bryantown Tavern, constructed about 1815. On April 15, 1865, the morning after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Lt. David D. Dana made it his headquarters while pursuing John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, with a detachment of the 13th New York Cavalry. Unknown to Dana, Booth was only four miles north at the home of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who treated Booth's broken leg. Though Booth had visited Bryantown several times in 1864, he did not pass through here during his escape, but swung east after leaving Mudd's house. Col. Henry H. Wells, in overall command of the pursuing forces, soon occupied the tavern, and it later served briefly as the headquarters of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, who arrived on April 27. In the interim, Mudd and others were brought here for questioning, and several (including the doctor) remained here before they were transferred to jail in Washington.
The crossroads village of Bryantown dates to the colonial era, and by its heyday in the 1850s, it had become a commercial center with stores, mills, and taverns. During the Civil War, James H. Montgomery operated the tavern. Of its seventeen antebellum building, only four remain standing, and one of these is the Bryantown Tavern. The tavern is the oldest commercial structure in Charles County. It served as an inn and post office for more than a century, and is now a private home.
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| Somebody still/now lives in the house where they interogated Dr. Mudd. |
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Church: not pictured.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=924 St. Mary’s Church and Cemetery Mudd Meets Booth —John Wilkes Booth– -Escape of An Assassin— On November 13, 1864, here at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was introduced to John Wilkes Booth, the future assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. Booth had come to Charles County to contact the Confederate underground here and recruit men to help him kidnap the president. Mudd’s wife, Sarah, later wrote: “The first time I ever saw John Wilkes Booth was in November 1864. My husband went to Bryantown Church [St. Mary’s] and was introduced to Booth by John Thompson, an old friend from Baltimore, who asked my husband if he knew of anyone who had a good riding-horse for sale, to which, he replied, ‘My next neighbor has one.’ Booth came to our home that evening to see about buying the horse. The next morning after breakfast Booth and Dr. Mudd walked across the field to Squire George Gardener’s. Booth soon returned, came in, got his overcoat, and rode away. The horse he purchased was sent to him at Bryantown that evening.” Booth and Mudd met several more times before the doctor set Booth’s broken leg at Mudd’s home on April 15, 1865. The Mudds are buried in the church cemetery by the parking lot, to the left of the church. Dr. Mudd was born on December 20, 1833, and died on January 10, 1883. Sarah Frances Dyer, his wife, was born on March 15, 1835, and died on December 29, 1911. The church cemetery contains the graves of several Mudd and Dyer relatives. (Caption) The center part of St. Mary’s Church was built in 1846, then in the 1890’s it was enlarged to how we see it today. In 1866 the rectory was gutted by a fire and rebuilt. In the mid 1950’s it was torn down and replaced with the current brick rectory. |
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Then they reached another "safe" house...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=129036 Rich Hill The Fugitives Seek Shelter —John Wilkes Booth- -Escape of an Assassin— After leaving Dr. Samuel A. Mudd's house on April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, and his accomplice David E. Herold avoided Zekiah Swamp and made a wide arc around the village of Bryantown. Unsure of their surroundings, they soon enlisted the aid of a guide, Oswell Swann, who led them across the swamp to Rich Hill, the home of Samuel Cox. They arrived here shortly after midnight on April 16. According to Swann, Cox admitted the pair to the house where they remained "3 or 4 hours." Cox, however, later denied that they came into the house, and a young servant girl supported his testimony. Nevertheless, Cox did arrange to conceal the pair in a nearby pine thicket for several days, where they received food, newspapers, and information. Rich Hill is now a private dwelling. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=129049 |
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| A[nother] private dwelling. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=186737 |
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| the Pine Thicket |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39528 Pine Thicket "… the instrument of his punishment" —John Wilkes Booth– -Escape of an Assassin— After assassinating President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice, David A. Herold, fled Washington for Southern Maryland, a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers. After leaving the home of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd near Bryantown, Booth found a guide who brought them to the home of Samuel Cox in the early morning hours of April 16. After some negotiating, Cox agreed to place them in the care of friends in the Confederate underground. He sent them to a dense growth of pines a mile west of his house and enlisted his foster brother, Thomas A. Jones, to help them reach the Potomac River, two miles farther west, over which they could cross into Virginia. For several days, Jones’ and Cox’s overseer, Franklin Robey, brought food and newspapers to the fugitives as they waited for a chance to continue their journey south. Booth learned from the newspapers how strongly the world condemned the assassination. Shocked, he tried to justify his act by writing of Lincoln in his pocket diary, “Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment.” On April 20, Jones saw an opportunity to get his charges to the Potomac. After dusk, he led them southwest, past his own home near Dent’s Meadow, and down to the river. I love that part: Booth's tragic anagnorisis, all the more satisfying by a peripetia before his final catastrophe. Classic. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39524 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=129119 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=128809 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=128807 Crossing the Potomac Off into the Darkness —John Wilkes Booth– -Escape of an Assassin— After assassinating President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice, David A. Herold, fled Washington for Southern Maryland, a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers. Concealed for several days in a pine thicket two miles northeast of here, the pair made their way over rough terrain to the Potomac River on the night of April 20, 1865. Guided by Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate signal agent, they traveled about a mile to the mouth of a small stream where Jones had hidden a rowboat. Before pushing the fugitives off into the darkness, Jones recommended they follow a compass heading that would take them across the river to Mathias Point and downstream to Machodoc Creek and the home of Elizabeth Quesenberry at present-day Dahlgren, Virginia. The pair did not reach Virginia that night; disoriented, they rowed into Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland, near John J. Hughes home. They spent the next day resting and reached Quesenberry’s on their second try. Then they continued south, crossing the Rappahannock River and hiding at the home of Richard Garrett just past Port Royal. Early in the morning of April 26, U.S. troops surrounded the barn where they were hiding. When Booth refused to surrender, Sgt. Boston Corbett shot him in the back of the neck. Soldiers pulled Booth to the farmhouse porch, where he died within a few hours. Herold was captured, tried, convicted, and hanged on July 7 for his role in Lincoln’s assassination. |
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| The lesson here is: if you see a new looking historical marker then maybe get out of the car and take good pics. This one is not in the database, but I'll leave it to someone else to add. |
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Right before crossing the Potomac to Virginia...(forgive the time skip).
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3827 |
The home of Major Roderick G. Watson is two miles north of this marker. At the start of the Civil War many persons crossed the Potomac River to Virginia in this area. From 1862 to the end of the war, Thomas A. Jones served as a Confederate agent forwarding mail from the South to the North and Canada. Mary, daughter of Major Watson, hung a signal in a dormer window of Cliffton when it was not safe for the mail boat to cross from Virginia.
And here's the view from the Virginia side...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=267329 Mathias Point Booth & Herold Flee to Virginia —John Wilkes Booth- -Chasing LInconl's Assasin— John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, and his accomplice David E. Herold, fled Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, for Southern Maryland, a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers skilled at evading Union surveillance. On April 20, Confederate signal agent Thomas A Jones led them to Pope's creek in Charles County, Maryland, about two and one-half miles upstream from here, where he had hidden a rowboat. There, the river's currents were strong. Jones showed them a course to Machodoc Creek in Virginia, about three miles southwest of here, and Mrs. Elizabeth R. Queensberry's house, but the wing and current pushed them due west toward Mathias Point instead. Disoriented, they rowed back to Maryland. On the night of April 22, the pair tried again, crossing the river to the eastern side of Mathias Point, then rowing south along the Virginia shore to Gambo Creek. Mrs. Queensberry gave them a meal and her neighbor Thomas Harbin escorted them farther on their attempted escape. Booth's death and Herold's surrender on April 26 at Richard H. Garnett's farm in Caroline County ended their flight. The Mathis Point peninsula was thick with Confederate sympathizers. On August 15, 1861, Acting Master William Budd took gunboat USS Resolute, a steam-powered converted tugboat, to Mathias Point and then to Persimmon Point, a mile north of here. There, he spotted a grounded schooner and sent a small crew to take her off. Confederates fired from bushes on shore, killing three and wounding one. Budd drove them off and recovered the schooner. (sidebar) First Naval Casualty In May 1861, Confederate forces began constructing a battery northwest of here at Mathias Point to stop Federal vessels on the Potomac River from transporting supplies and troops to Washington, D.C. On June 27, Union Commander James H. Ward, USS Thomas Freeborn, attacked the battery, which returned fire and killed Ward, the only Union casualty and the first U.S. naval officer killed in the war. (captions) John Wilkes Booth Courtesy Library of Congress David E. Herold Courtesy Library of Congress USS Resolute, Harper's Weekly, July 20, 1861 USS Thomas Freeborn, 1861, with sailors reenacting the death of Ward while sighting his gun — Naval History & Heritage Command |
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| I don't like missing things, but here's what I know: there is no registered historical marker down there. And, from my perspective, I drove 1.25 miles and then hit the water. I'm going to declare this site non-essential and say, "You can't find'em all!" |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=138070 |
Dr. Richard H. Stuart built a T-shaped house just southeast of here in 1859 as a summer residence for his family. John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice David Herold, guided by a local farmer, arrived here on 23 April 1865 while attempting to escape after Booth had assassinated Pres. Abraham Lincoln. The fugitives asked to spend the night and sought medical attention for Booth's injured leg. Suspicious of his visitors and aware of Lincoln's assassination, Stuart gave them dinner and then sent them away. He directed them to the nearby house of William Lucas, a free African American farmer, where they evicted the family and slept.
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Bonus VA Suprise - stopping at the birthplace of James Madison, as the conspirators did. Like the sign says, it is a private home now, though you can maybe stay at their BnB. Either way, it is Madison's birth-home, not his boy-hood home: mom gave birth while visiting.
Belle Grove Plantation
Booth's Pursuer's Close In
—John Wilkes Booth-
-Chasing Linconl's Assasin—
Early in the afternoon of April 25, 1865, six horseman trotted up to the Belle Grove house in front of you, dismounted, and searched it and the outbuildings. They were troopers from Lt. Edward P. Doherty's 25-man detail of the 16th New York Cavalry and detective Everton J. Conger of the National Detective Bureau in Washington, D.C. The detail was searching for President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, who had fled into Virginia.
Earlier that morning, 6 AM, Dohertyhad split off Conger's party to scour the country near the Rappahannock River. Doherty and the rest of his men rode inland to King George Court House and then to Port Conway, arriving here around 2 PM. While Conger and the rest of the detachment rested at Belle Grove, Doherty and another detective, Luther B. Baker, interrogated the local ferry owner, and confirmed they were on Booth's trail. The day before, the 24th, Booth and his accomplice David E. Herold were transported in a wagon to Port Conway from a cabin a few miles southwest of present-day Dahlgren. While awaiting the ferry boat, they convinced three former Confederate soldiers to help them cross the Rappahannock and find lodging. After they disembarked at Port Royal, they made a brief stop at the Randolph Peyton house, and then traveled on to Garrett's Farm. After learning they had narrowly missed the assassin, Doherty's full detail crossed the river on the 25th and caught up with Booth and Herold on April 26 at Garrett's Farm, where Booth was killed.
Remodeled Mansion Belle Grove's center section was built for John Hipkins ca. 1791, in the Federal style. In 1839, Carolinus Turner (ca. 1813-1876) bought the property, remodeled the house in the Classical Revival style, and added the porticoes and terminal wings. By 1861, he owned property worth $272,500, including 92 enslaved people.
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A bunch of stuff in Port Royal...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=133746 Port Royal Colonial Seaport Following the first treaties between the English and the Powhatan confederacy, colonial settlement expended up the Rappahannock River. One of the earliest land patents was held by Col. John Catlett. In 1670 he was killed defending the small settlement that was to become Port Royal from an Indian raid. Following Catlett, the land around the small port town was patented and settled by Lawrence Smith, Robert Taliaferro, Thomas Gouldman, and Anthony Buckner, among others. All around the land was planted in "sweet-scented" tobacco, which had become the main export and currency of the royal colonies. In 1673 Gov. William Beverly authorized landowner Anthony Buckner to charter a tobacco inspection warehouse near the location of the present-day bridge. In 1719 John Roy acquired the business. After Roy's death, his widow Dorothy Buckner Roy became one of America's earliest business women. In 1735 she secured the title of Roy's warehouse. She also gained the title to the ferry that was chartered in 1732 to link Port Royal with Port Conway on the river's north shore. Previously, she had used her political influence to convince the Court of the need for a road connecting points west of current Bowling Green to the Roy warehouse. The "Rolling Road" was created in 1731 and secured the Port Royal area as a flourishing seaport for the continuing export of tobacco, and for regional commerce. In 1744, by an act of the General Assembly, the prosperous Town of Port Royal was established. In the second half of the 18th century, Port Royal withstood embargos and the capture of several residents' trade vessels by the British. The 19th century brought the efficiency of the steamboat and a surge of coal imports, but it was the railroad that made inland water transport obsolete. The port was destroyed during the Civil War by Union gunboats, and the harbor was occupied for a short time in 1864 by the Union Army. Ferry operations resumed in 1865 and continued until the James Madison Memorial Bridge was opened in 1934. |
Port Royal
Union Supply Depot
Port Royal possessed the finest harbor on the middle reaches of the Rappahannock River. Although the town's permanent wharf had been destroyed by Union gunboats before the Battle of Fredericksburg, the excellent harbor made Port Royal an obvious choice for a supply depot when the Army of the Potomac moved south after ther Battle of the Wilderness. On May 20, 1864, Brigadier General John J. Abercrombie, then commanding the Union supply base at Belle Plain on the Potomac River north of Fredericksburg, was ordered to abandon Belle Plain and relocate to Port Royal. General Abercrombie established his headquarters at Riverview, a waterfront home in the town, and the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a floating wharf on pontoons. The Port Royal harbor was soon choked with ships bringing in supplies and evacuating wounded troops. This frantic activity lasted only two weeks, until the establishment of a new base on the North Anna River closer to Richmond. Residents of the area were actually sorry to see General Abercrombie and his staff depart, because the general had earned the gratitude of property owners by providing guards to help protect their property from marauders, both Union soldiers and Confederate deserters.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22248 This site represents an important part of the heritage and development of Caroline County. After the chartering of the town of Port Royal in 1744, this excellent harbor served the large tobacco trade between local plantations and London. A warehouse and ferry were located nearby. During the Civil War, Union gunboats and troops took possession of and evacuated the town. After the assassination of President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth sought refuge here. He was killed two miles outside of the town. Regular steamboat service included stops here from 1828 to 1932. The construction of railroads caused the harbor to dwindle in usage and importance. |
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| The aforementioned Riverview |
Still there
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=57545 |
One last stop beofre the end...
Port Royal
Booth Turned Away
—John Wilkes Booth–
-Escape of an Assassin—
In front of you is the Brockenbrough-Peyton House where fugitives John Wilkes Booth and David Herold accompanied by three former Confederate soldiers arrived about 2:30 pm April 24, 1865, 10 days after Booth shot Lincoln.
The owner, Randolph Peyton, was not at home when the group arrived. His sister, Sarah Jane Peyton, admitted the men. Booth was described as a wounded Confederate soldier looking for a place to stay.
Booth made himself at home in the parlor, but Miss Peyton soon reconsidered and told the group that it would be improper for them to stay when the man of the house was not home. She directed them to the Garrett Farm.
(Sidebar): The Garrett Farm
Richard Henry Garrett operated a modest farm about three miles south of here. Booth and company arrived there during the afternoon of April 24, 1865. While Booth settled in with the Garretts, Federal soldiers were closing fast. In the early morning hours of April 26, members of the 16th New York Cavalry cornered Booth and Herold in the Garrett tobacco barn. Herold surrendered, but Booth stayed in the barn, which was set on fire. Booth made a break for the door but was shot. He died on the Garrett house front porch. Herold was later executed.
And a few more very old houses in Port Royal...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=21457 |
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| Somehow this occasionally-refurbished 200-year old tavern is still standing. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22246 |
Booth died there, but only after the law circled back based on a tip from Bowling Green, VA.
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| Bowling Green, VA |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=207706 Star Hotel Conspirator's Lair Built approximately 1820, the Star Hotel was one of two taverns serving Bowling Green. During the Civil War, it was operated by the Henry Gouldman family, and became a notorious Confederate spy headquarters and safe haven to those who aided Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. About 12:30 a.m. on April 26, 1865, a 26-member Union posse comprised of the 5th New York Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Edward P. Doherty and two members of the National Detective Police, arrived at the hotel, following a tip that a Confederate named Willie Jett would likely be found there. Earlier, Jett had been spotted near Port Royal when he escorted Booth and his accomplice David E. Herold across the Rappahannock. Troops surrounded the building, entered and found Jett asleep in a room with the Gouldman’s son Jesse, who was badly wounded from the battle of Petersburg. Expecting to find Booth, the soldiers mistook Jesse for the assassin, and nearly shot him which forced Jett to reveal he had left Booth at the Garrett farm. When he learned the troops had already passed there, Jett expressed grave doubt they would find Booth when they returned. Under arrest, Jett led the posse back to Garrett’s, where he had left Booth for safe hiding. Shortly after this 1880s image was taken, the Star Hotel was purchased by a dentist and fully restored. Demolished in the 1940's, bricks from the hotel's massive cellar adorn the exterior of the present building (on the corner straight ahead), which was built as the Bowling Green Grille. The hotel's wraparound porches and windows were added to an 1825 Bowling Green estate known as Broadhurst, located a few blocks away on Virginia Avenue. * This is the home of Richard Henry Garrett, as it looked during Booth's visit. The Garrett house fell to ruin in the late 1930s. Its site is situated in the median of U.S. Route 301, nine miles north of Bowling Green. The famous barn in which Booth was trapped was located on the right-of-way of present-day U.S. Route 301 South, approximately 300 feet from the house. * Private William Storke Jett, a CSA commissary agent assigned to Caroline, as he appeared in the mid-1870's. Jett met Booth and Herold at the Port Conway wharf, and took them to safe haven, leaving Booth at Garrett's, and Herold nearBowling Green. Jett's sweetheart, Izora, was the daughter of the Gouldmans. After Booth's killing, their engagement was ended, and Jett left Virginia in disgrace. |
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| Looking back over my shoulder as I return to Maryland |
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https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=8932&Result=1
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Some sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Surratt
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