...by James L. Swanson. 2006. 388 pages, ~$15 in paperback.
A detailed recounting of a sordid event. Fascinating in the details it provides of every day city and country life in the 1860's (the assassins used rented horses to escape, horse rental agencies, who knew?).
Fascinating too in the details of inconsistent medical expertise circa 1860. That Lincoln had a fatal brain injury was obvious from the outset, and the doctors at the scene knew enough to periodically remove the clot from the entry would to relieve the swelling of his brain... those same doctors probing the wound with their unwashed little fingers.
The mixed reactions of Southerners to Booth was interesting, a couple rejecting and/or betraying him in a heartbeat when their own lives and families were in danger.
The oddest details? The cavalry sergeant who actually shot Booth had castrated himself on religious grounds earlier in life, the man eventually disappearing from history upon his escape from confinement in a lunatic asulum later in life. Likewise, the Union Officer in the box with Lincoln that night later murdered his wife (his fiance at the time of the assassination, also present in the box) and was confined to an asylum himself.
Remember Dr. Mudd, the guy who set Booth's leg? Last I remember Dennis Weaver portrayed him as an innocent victim sent to a brutal prison in a 70's TV special.
Turns out that Mudd knew exactly who Booth was, having been part of a prior plot to kidnap Lincoln.
Along those lines, it is astonishing how freely the Presidents of both sides roamed their respective Capitols back then, travelling even at night entirely without an escort.
Birdwatcher
