_Manhunt_
James L. Swanson
He'd not intended to murder President Lincoln, not at first. No, the
initial plans of John Wilkes Booth were to Kidnap Father Abraham rather
than to kill him. Booth and his co-conspirators would lie in wait for
the President as he rode out with his wife, pull the man from his cart,
and sneak him far to the south, thus using the President to leverage
for a peace that favored the southern states and undo the indignities
heaped upon the Confederacy, including the idea of emancipating slaves.
After all, John Wilkes Booth was the ideal of a southerner, for all
that he'd spent much of his adult life appearing in plays throughout
the North, especially in Washington, D.C.
When it came time to carry out this grandiose plan, however, it
appeared that things just weren't ready, and finally the armies of the
Confederacy began to sue for peace. And it was while he stood watching
Abraham Lincoln giving speeches extolling the northern victory that his
plans changed--he, John Wilkes Booth, would kill Lincoln while two of
his fellows would assassinate the Attorney General and the Vice
President, and bring the entire nation to a halt. He even wrote a long
letter to the editor of his favorite Washington newspaper that would
explain it all, how Lincoln had to die that the nation should live!
This examination of the plans and actions of John Wilkes Booth proved
fascinating, poking into the depths of Booth's megalomania and
grandiose image of himself as the avenger of the South, and the sheer
self-centered attitudes that led to him being caught in a tobacco barn
in Virginia where he ended up being shot in the neck by a soldier of
the Republic who was as nutty as he was rather than making it safely
into the deep south or far west where it would have been easy for him
to escape detection for years. It is a relatively short book and
eminently readable. Swanson apologizes for the relatively short
bibliography, but still cited about a hundred sources, including the
original autopsy reports on the condition of Booth's body--and, yes, it
was the body of John Wilkes Booth, complete with his childhood
home-done tattoo on his hand of his initials, and with careful
identification both by family members and friends as well as
comparisons with Booth's beloved photo-cards he used to advertise his
participation in plays wherever he appeared.
Both sides made great mistakes in the search for Booth and his
accomplices, and Booth was certainly not the only hero in his own play
taking part in the manhunt. Swanson describes the action and shakes
his head at the absolute silliness of great men and some who only
considered themselves great during the days following the death of
President Lincoln.
Recommended.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
