Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln
Rewards totaling 100,000 were promised for the capture of John Wilkes Booth and two others involved in the assassination plot Booth had expected to be a hero in the South and he was dismayed when even Southern newspapers labeled him a villain
CHAPTER 2 WITNESS TO HISTORY ix years earlier John Wilkes Booth had a different experience with soldiers He played one not on the stage but in a real-life drama prior to the Civil War S John like his two older brothers had taken up acting They were all sons of the deceased Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth and acting ran in the Booth family blood During a November 24 1859 rehearsal at a theater in Richmond Virginia for the comedy Timothy Toodles John stepped outside to take a break The streets were filled with uniformed soldiers waiting to board a train to Charlestown Virginia They had been called to duty to maintain order at an execution scheduled for December 2 The condemned man was John Brown a radical abolitionist who had been using violent means to fight against slavery Brown and his followers had tried to gain control of federal weapons stored in the town of Harper’s Ferry Virginia He planned to arm slaves and lead them in a revolution to abolish slavery But the plan had been foiled Brown and six of his followers were captured by soldiers and Brown was the first sentenced to hang The governor feared Brown’s supporters might show up at the execution to free him by force so he had called up 1,500 military men to act as guards Outside the Richmond theater John Wilkes Booth struck up a conversation with the waiting soldiers Upon hearing their destination Booth was eager to join them He claimed he wanted to find out what it felt like to be a soldier Given his political beliefs he may also have been keen to see an abolitionist swing by the neck
Soldiers from the Richmond Grays gathered at the execution of John Brown a crusader who turned to violence in his effort to abolish slavery in the United States Someone provided him with a gray Richmond militia uniform To the delight of the soldiers the young actor boarded the train and joined them on their journey When the other soldiers asked who would take his place on stage that night Booth said he neither knew nor cared John Wilkes Booth was relishing the rank of make-believe private His skills as an actor served him well as he camped with his new military acquaintances For their amusement he spent each evening reciting dramatic poems and bits and pieces of plays John was so engaging and charming that a reporter there to cover the execution even wrote a story about him for the Richmond Enquirer newspaper Amongst them I notice Mr J Wilkes Booth a son of Junius Brutus Booth who though not a member as soon as he heard the tap of the drum shouldered his musket and marched with the Grays 1 Far away from Charlestown Edwin Booth’s fiancée Mary Devlin didn’t share the
reporter’s admiration for her future brother-in-law Replying to Edwin’s letter describing his brother’s action she wrote Your news concerning the mad step John has taken I confess did not surprise me Tis a great pity he has not more sense but time will teach him 2 While John entertained troops and played soldier Edwin Booth had begun to settle down into a stable life at least a life as stable as an actor could have at the time He traveled most of the year performing Shakespeare like his father before him As a rising star of the stage he began to make powerful friends One year before the execution of John Brown 24-year-old Edwin was invited to the home of Dr Samuel Howe and his wife Julia Ward Howe The Howes had just seen him perform at the Boston Theater Dr Howe ran a school for the blind and his wife would soon gain fame for writing the song The Battle Hymn of the Republic They were among Boston’s elite social families They were also dedicated abolitionists Their home called Green Peace had served as a stop on the Underground Railroad It provided safe harbor for runaway slaves for more than 10 years While others in their social circles turned up their noses at the thought of rubbing elbows with common actors the Howes considered Edwin Booth a great artist of the stage Julia Howe wrote about him in her diary In every word and every gesture the touch of genius made itself felt 3 In the fall of 1858 Julia threw the first of several parties in Edwin’s honor to introduce the young actor to Boston society Their friendship would last throughout their lives Through the Howes Edwin Booth’s social circle overlapped with John Brown’s The Howes had hosted Brown at their home and Dr Howe had met with him on several occasions He also had introduced Brown to others who shared their views on slavery and politics The Howes along with their wealthy friends provided much of the money Brown needed to arm his supporters and obtain land in Harper’s Ferry In fact Dr Howe was one of the Secret Six a group of Brown’s most reliable financial backers
