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BOUND FOR GLORY
John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays
The Journey to Charlestown 1859 By Angela Smythe May 10, 2012
“The Feast of St. Crispin Speech”
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.”
Henry V by William Shakespeare
The use of the term “brothers” to describe the unity felt amongst men of war did not
start with Shakespeare’s words, yet almost 500 years later, his maxim of “A Band
of Brothers” remains its embodiment.
The men who comprised this journey’s particular “Band of Brothers,” were citizen
soldiers from antebellum Richmond, members of the 1st Regiment of Virginia
Volunteers. In 1859, although many of these men were not familiar with “The
Feast of Saint Crispin” speech or the phrase “Band of Brothers”, they certainly were
familiar as volunteer militiamen with the feelings of unity it represented. On that
autumn night in Richmond on November 19th, the clarion call to arms sending
them to the anticipated “seat of war” in Charlestown was not merely the sound of
the alarm bell pealing in Capitol Square, it was their sense of brotherhood. In just a
few years, all would be familiar with the phrase “We are a Band of Brothers” when
chosen as the opening declaration in the Confederacy’s heralded marching song
“Bonnie Blue Flag.”
Despite the familiarity of that phrase and the frequency of its use, there is no more
fitting definition for these men who on Saturday night, November 19, 1859,
gathered and departed on their journey from Richmond “Bound for Glory.”
That night, “be he ne’er so vile”, they were all “A Band of Brothers.”
This work is dedicated to them
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This article is the third in the continuing series on John Wilkes Booth and the
Richmond Grays. The earlier companion pieces, Has He Been Hiding in Plain
Sight - John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays (May 2010) and Out of Hiding
- John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays (May 2011) , both examined period
militia images, searching for the group militia picture that Asia Booth Clarke saw
which contained her brother:
“He (John Wilkes Booth) left Richmond and unsought enrolled
himself as one of the party going to search for and capture John
Brown…and I have been shown a picture of himself and others in
their scout and sentinel dresses” (Clarke, Asia Booth, The
Unlocked Book; A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by his Sister,
New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938, pg. 111-112.)
“Bound For Glory” is a different search for yet another picture, the true picture of
just how Asia’s brother “unsought enrolled himself” on the evening of November
19, 1859. Among the many men who sought to volunteer that night, John Wilkes
Booth alone was allowed to join his adopted “Band of Brothers,” the Richmond
Grays, when they accompanied Governor Henry A. Wise on a special military train,
deployed to the anticipated seat of war at Charlestown.
Bound for Glory:
Reconstructs that night’s events using period sources
Presents additional information on John Wilkes Booth’s association with the
Richmond Grays
Examines the overlooked recollection by Richmond Gray John O. Taylor,
which
Correctly chronicles how John Wilkes Booth boarded the military train
that evening
Clarifies previously known facts about that event found in other, more
frequently cited, recollections, and
Provides a complete and comprehensive picture of the November 19, 1859
journey to Charlestown.
“All aboard…”
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Table of Contents
I. Saturday Evening, November 19, 1859 -
Reconstructing the Scene that Night
Pages 4
II. Richmond’s Militia Experience -
What did it mean to be amongst a “Band of Brothers”?
Page 9
III. The Richmond Grays -
John Wilkes Booths Adopted “Band of Brothers”
Pages 20
IV. Traveling in “The Cars” in 1859 -
The Railroad Experience
Page 60
V. “Bound for Glory with Henry Wise” -
Chronicling the Trip to Charlestown, November 19-20, 1859
Page 84
VI. Epilogue
Page 116
Credits/Acknowledgments – Page 122
References – Page 123
Sources – Pages 124-125
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SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1859
RECONSTRUCTING THE SCENE THAT NIGHT
“The several companies of the regiment responded quickly, and
the wildest enthusiasm prevailed. They were then only young and
inexperienced soldiers, who had many a bitter lesson to learn
afterwards. But for the moment they were heroes in the eyes of
the assembled mothers, wives and sweethearts, heroes who were
about to risk their lives in the then much talked about
“irrepressible conflict. There were however, in the great
multitude which gathered at the point of departure those who
scanned with anxious eyes the future, of which this was but the
rising of the curtain” (“John Brown”, The New York Sun,
Fireman’s Magazine, Vol. IX, No. 1, January 1885.)
THE CURTAIN RISES
The night was a pleasant one, comfortably warm for November. The remarkable
events of Saturday, November 19, 1859, started off at 6 o’clock sometime before
dinner at the Executive Mansion when Governor Henry Wise received an alarming
telegram sent by Colonel J. Lucius Davis, the officer in command at Charlestown,
tasked with guarding the tried and condemned John Brown while Brown awaited
execution. Davis’ telegram urged Wise to send 500 men immediately, “[a] large
force, armed with pikes and revolvers, is marching from Wheeling!”
Spitting out both tobacco and invective, Governor Wise reacted to the news and
soon runners were seen darting between the magnetic telegraph office along Main
Street and the Executive Mansion. Messengers were dispatched to summon the
Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Colonel, and Adjutant of Richmond’s 1st
Regiment of Volunteers. News traveled like wildfire and soon an immense crowd
assembled near the telegraph office wanting additional information. Realization
that something momentous was happening spread throughout Richmond and in just
a few minutes the entire city would be in pandemonium.
The signal for Richmond’s militia to gather was given. The call’s distinctive
repeating ringing could be heard coming from the nearby Bell Tower in Capitol
Square, the volunteers’ clarion call to arms. While the alarm bell pealed,
Richmond’s citizen soldiers from all walks of life were seen running to their militia
armories and rendezvous points to receive instructions from their captains, then
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darting home to arm and outfit themselves, scrambling to assemble at the
northbound railroad depot for an imminent departure. Excitement mounted with
each peal of the alarm bell. An emergency was at hand.
Families poured out of their homes. Soon volunteers in uniform, muskets in hand,
were seen rushing from every quarter of the city towards the Richmond
Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Depot near the Marshall Theater on Broad
Street from where the evening mail train had just pulled out. The excitement
intensified, hundreds of citizens converged on the Executive Mansion, crowding the
grounds at Capitol Square. What had happened? What was the emergency for
which Governor Wise had called out the militia?
Davis’ initial telegram by this time had been updated. “[t]he Old Dominion had
been invaded by 800 armed men who had crossed from Pennsylvania and Ohio.”
It was believed this invading force was on its way to Charlestown to rescue John
Brown, subverting and preventing the lawful justice of the Commonwealth of
Virginia from being carried out. “Osawatomie” Brown, fresh from bloodshed in
Kansas, had committed murder and mayhem against peaceful citizens in Virginia;
and “Old Brown” had been lawfully tried and convicted. Now, with the aid of
Northern sympathizers would he escape his rightful punishment? Richmond was
fully engulfed in an ever-widening circle of excitement, awash with patriotic
indignation and surging with State pride.
While his 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers readied to depart, Governor Wise
ordered Edwin Robinson, President of the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac
Railroad, to provide a special train for the military’s immediate departure. A
telegram was sent to the railroad’s terminus at Fredericksburg ordering the
connecting steamer carrying the mail to Washington be detained to wait for the
arrival of the special troop train, so that Wise and his men could be forwarded
promptly on their continued journey to Charlestown.
By 7:30 a locomotive and nine cars had assembled on the tracks at the depot, which
ran down the center of Broad Street. “The train took up several blocks opposite the
Marshall Theater.” While waiting for the regiment to form, the sound of the
locomotive out gassing steam created a loud “Hisssss” that interfered with the
scheduled performance at the theater. Manager Kunkel would have a disappointing
house that night. On this evening, his audience would find the greater show to be
the one seen outside on the streets, rather than watching The Filibuster and The
Toodles on stage.
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The 12 acres of Richmond’s Capitol Square containing the Governor’s Mansion
were massed by excited men, women and children. There were thousands more on
the intervening three blocks between Capitol Square and the area of the depot. “By
8:30 reports of up to 10,000 people, comprising almost a third of Richmond’s entire
population, were packed into this small area.” Coming from the depot, the music of
the city militia’s faithful companion, Smith’s Armory Band, could be heard.
By 9 o’clock, the individual companies of the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers
had assembled at the depot, fully armed and equipped. The men knew this would
be “no holiday parade but a summons to actual service,” and their families and
friends knew this as well.
While Smith’s Armory band played “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” the women of
Richmond were both crying and cheering as their husbands, sons, brothers and
lovers assembled in ranks, the roll being taken by their company commanders.
“The feelings were intense. The parting of the volunteers from their families had all
the semblance and in fact the reality, of departing for war.” Children clung to their
fathers and friends wished friends, for such these citizen soldiers were, farewell,
perhaps their last farewell.
Shouts went up from the enormous crowd. The resounding roars echoed through
“to the remotest parts of the city” as each company marched up and formed into
line.
The Richmond Grays
The Richmond Light Infantry Blues
Company F
The Montgomery Guards
The Young Guard
The Howitzer Corp
The Virginia Rifles
Civilians were seized with a military enthusiasm “which would do honor to a
Zouave.”
While the company rolls were taken, large numbers of “independent volunteers”
appeared at the depot, armed and ready to go. “Their services were refused and the
thousands not belonging to any military organization compelled to remain behind
would have gladly exchanged places with those who had gone on, in their zeal to be
permitted to share the glory of those who have left.”
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By this time, Governor Wise had somehow been able to press through the chaotic
scene at Capitol Square and the thousands lining the streets to arrive at the depot.
Somewhere nearby, Wise established a temporary headquarters. In October, Henry
Wise and his 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers had reached Harper’s Ferry too
late to intervene during the initial conflict due to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s
delay in forwarding a connecting train. He and his troops had missed the fight, but
saw its carnage upon their arrival, greeted by the battle’s dead laying on the streets.
Robert E. Lee and the United States Marines had already done their work, and By
God, he, and Virginia would not be late this time. Wise had his armor “buckled on
ready for the fray,” and would now personally lead Virginia and its gallant citizen
soldiers to the anticipated seat of war. “Already known at home as gentlemen” and
with his indomitable “eye upon them,” Wise fully expected these men of the 1st
Virginia to “now earn the character of soldiers.” They knew better than to
disappoint. “All expected a fight and were fired up for one.”
While awaiting last minute updates, Wise telegraphed Washington to ensure that
additional ammunition was available at the Federal arsenal. As he had done in the
October deployment, Wise sent telegrams to President James Buchanan and the
Governor Hicks of Maryland for authorization to pass through their jurisdictions
with armed troops.
Satisfied that all had now been done and accompanied by some of Richmond’s
leading citizens, Wise approached the cars. Smith’s Armory Band saluted the
Governor’s arrival and played “Hail to the Chief.” As he neared the car’s loading
platform, Governor Wise was swamped “by the enormous crowd which pressed
upon him, each man strove to take his hand as he endeavored to advance towards
the waiting train.” Amidst the scene’s wild enthusiasm and deafening shouts of
approval, the high-strung Wise, “the game cock of the Accomac,” was
uncharacteristically calm and collected. On that night, the excitable Henry Wise
was for once the eye of the hurricane.
After all had boarded and the Governor and his staff were settled in the last car of
the train, likely RF&P Railroad President Robinson’s Directors’ car, loaned for the
trip, the signal to pull out was given and the train’s warning whistle began to blow.
While the surging crowd was urged back from the tracks, Smith’s Band played
“Hail Columbia” and the iron horse with valves open and festooned with flags of
the then still “United” States started to move. As the nine cars lurched forward, “the
air was rent with cheer after cheer which seemed to shake the very heavens.”
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In Broad Street’s dim gas lighting, the men who had left their homes and loved
ones, possibly forever, strained for one last look from coach windows, searching for
familiar faces from amongst the thousands. Moving slowly up Broad Street, the
train gathered steam, the crowd’s roars and huzzahs eclipsed the sounds of the
engine and the rattling of the coaches. Smith’s band played “The Old Folks at
Home” while “a sea of white handkerchiefs waved them goodbye in the night”.
Following the last coach, hundreds of men ran behind the train, waving their hats
and shouting encouragements. The non-enrolled members left behind bemoaned
their fate as they followed the cars, carrying the lucky ones, their friends and fellow
citizens, on their way to defend Virginia’s “sacred soil” against the aiders and
abettors of “Old Brown.” As the tracks disappeared into darkness, the train and the
approximate 400 men that it carried pulled out of Richmond into the night to meet
an uncertain future on their journey to Charlestown, “Bound for Glory.”
It was an unforgettable scene. Sometime during those few hours, the “unsought”
John Wilkes Booth had managed to enroll himself as a member of the Richmond
Grays and board that train. “From his connection with the militia on this occasion
he was wont to trace his fealty to Virginia.” He would proudly recall that night and
his next 18 days of uniformed service to Virginia for the rest of his life, and
remember it during his few remaining hours before his death.
That evening, amongst all of those “non-enrolled” men who so desperately wanted
to go and were turned away, how did John Wilkes Booth alone succeed? Out of the
entire 1st Regiment, why did the Richmond Grays adopt Booth as a member of their
“Band of Brothers”?
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RICHMOND’S MILITIA EXPERIENCE
WHAT DID IT MEAN TO BE AMONGST
A “BAND OF BROTHERS”?
In 1851, Richmond’s volunteer companies which formed the core of the 1st
Regiment of Virginia Volunteers were the Richmond Grays, Company F, the
Richmond Light Infantry Blues, the Young Guard, the Montgomery Guards, and
the Virginia Rifles. In 1859, a new company, the Richmond Howitzers provided a
total regimental complement of approximately 412 men and officers.
The militia provided a place for men to share fraternal feelings, a fellowship, which
for the most part cut across social classes and religious affiliations. The officers
and men that comprised these “citizen soldiers” did not follow the rigid ranking of
line military organizations. A private might be, and often was, the social superior of
his 1st Lieutenant. Governor Wise’s November 1859 call up of volunteers included
privates Judge Wheat and Charles W. Russell, Esq., General Counsel for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, who both served in a volunteer company from
Wheeling, Virginia. “There are not a few persons carrying muskets in its ranks
worth from one hundred thousand to near half a million of dollars.” (Volunteers in
Virginia, Nov. 30, 1859, Baltimore Sun)
Between January and October, the militia, marching in full dress parades, honored
certain major holidays. Those regimental events consisted of dates set aside to
commemorate the Battle of New Orleans (January 8th
), Washington's Birthday
(February 22nd
), Independence Day (July 4th
) and ended with the largest civic-
military event of the year, the commemoration of the British surrender at York
Town. (October 19th.)
THE SOCIAL ASPECTS
The militia’s primary function was to serve as a ready fighting force in response to
either an external or an internal threat. However, by the 1850’s the threat of Indian
raids had disappeared and the militia had been become more a social organization
than a military one. Membership in the militia provided the opportunity for male
bonding accompanied by a plentiful supply of alcohol and burdened with a
minimum amount of obligatory drilling. Grateful citizens were always in
attendance to approve and applaud Richmond’s volunteer force who paraded under
their eyes, accompanied all the while by the melodious strains from Smith’s
Armory Band. “Young men will put themselves in handsome uniforms and attend a
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few drills, just to enable them to turn out on public occasions to be gazed at.” (“The
Proposed Military Encampment”, August 27, 1860, Richmond Whig)
Each militia identified days of the month to muster in uniform. A uniform and a
brass band still lent a military aspect to the required musters, but pre 1861, a little
marching went hand in hand with the pronounced social aspects of militia life,
particularly the excursions.
EXCURSIONS: DRILLING, DRINKING AND DANCING
The militia social excursion season ran yearly from May to October. Organized
excursions included drinking, balls, barbecues and grand parades, conducted under
the approving, and hopefully adoring, eyes of “the ladies,” which included sisters,
mothers, and wives, and sweethearts. These were public occasions, tickets were
sold and the proceeds used to benefit the company hosting the event.
For example, the October 19, 1854 The Richmond Enquirer announced Richmond’s
Young Guard militia’s last retreat of the season at Slash Cottage. The article
referred to a separate notice for participants in their advertising column. The notice
ran under “Amusements” in the same issue of the Enquirer. It stated that the
Young Guard would be making their fourth and last excursion of the season on
Thursday. This advertised events of this decidedly “unmilitary” excursion
consisted of:
George Kunkel’s Nightingale Opera Troupe
Balloon ascension by Professor Elliott (The Aeronaut)
Ball for the Young Guard
Cotillion music from Smith’s Armory Band
“All at the cottage at the same evening”
Similarly in 1858, the Richmond Light Infantry Blues announced one of their
“Military Fairs” at Richmond’s Corinthian Hall which would commence on
Monday, July 5, 1858 and run for one week.
“The Hall will be brilliantly illuminated, and handsomely
decorated. The tables will be supplied with every delicacy of the
season and will be superintended by ladies who have kindly
consented to attend them. The Armory Band will be in attendance
each evening. Admission was payable either by the day or for the
week.” (Advertisement, June 29, 1858, Richmond Whig.)
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SLASH COTTAGE (ASHLAND), A FAVORITE EXCURSION VENUE
In 1851 Richmond Frederick & Potomac President Edwin Robinson began building
Slash Cottage, a long, low building with a large room suitable for balls, picnics and
other gatherings. It was called Slash Cottage because it was built in an area known
as “The Slashes,” located approximately 16 miles from Richmond along the
railroad’s line to Aquia Creek. Within just a few years, the initial building was
enlarged and improved and additional ancillary buildings were erected for
entertainment purposes and the accommodation of guests. The improvements
included a large three-peaked roof ballroom, a bowling alley, a billiard hall, a
shooting gallery and a spacious bar. The grounds were also enlarged and improved,
gravel walkways laid, shade trees and foliage planted and a gashouse installed to
provide lighting for the grounds and buildings at night. In April 1855, the two-story
hotel with its intricate gingerbread façade was officially opened during that year’s
annual dinner celebrating the birth of local native son Henry Clay. (Alexandria
Gazette April 16, 1855) In 1858, the area known as “The Slashes” became the City
of Ashland.
Whether termed, outings, excursions or retreats, Slash Cottage provided an ideal
locale for the Richmond militia’s highly social and very public events. Many of the
companies held events on its grounds, including the Richmond Grays. Slash
Cottage not only provided attractive amenities, ballroom, billiard hall, ten pens area,
banquet area, beautiful grounds, shooting gallery, bar and even a racecourse, but
was located on property owned by the popular Edwin Robinson, who was himself
associated with the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. Robinson had served as
Quartermaster during at least one 1st Virginia sponsored event, and was the
purveyor of many a civic feast for the companies’ public ceremonies in Richmond.
His generosity and public spirit marked him as “a prince among good fellows.” His
railroad’s conveniently scheduled accommodation (commuter) trains made for a
pleasant day trip to Ashland and Slash Cottage. Travelers could leave Richmond
and return within a few hours.
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Slash Cottage and surrounding grounds
Courtesy Ashland Museum
Hotel at Slash Cottage circa 1868
Image Courtesy the Ashland Museum
The hotel’s general architectural features and structure would have remained
constant from antebellum years
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1ST
VIRGINIA REGIMENT RETREAT AT ASHLAND
MAY 25 – 28, 1858 “CAMP ROBINSON”
Military Encampment at “Camp Robinson” at Slash Cottage depicts
the 1st Virginia Regimental Retreat held May 25 – 28, 1858.
In Virginia Volunteers 1861-65, the lithograph is from A Richmond Album, by Earl
Lutz, published by Garrett & Massie in 1937.
Print depicts the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers May 25-28, 1858 retreat
including Richmond Grays
Image Courtesy the Ashland Museum
Named in honor of the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad President
Edwin Robinson, “Camp Robinson” was the name of the grounds at Ashland used
by the 1st Virginia Regiment for their last prewar retreat held May 25 – 28, 1858.
The companies participating included the Richmond Grays, the Richmond Light
Infantry Blues, the Virginia Rifles and the Young Guard. The grounds were located
in an area then referred to as Peter Tinsley’s Field in the area now known as
Woodland Cemetery.
The Alexandria Gazette of May 18, 1858 provided Camp Robinson’s day-by-day
schedule. Out of the three days, other than pitching and breaking up of the tents,
there was one lone military activity on Tuesday, sandwiched in between a barbecue
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lunch and a grand ball that evening. Their return to Richmond was timed to ensure
another opportunity “to be gazed at” by their fellow citizens.
The Schedule
“Saturday, May 25th: The men arrive and pitch tents
Sunday: May 26th
Rev. J.L. Burrows officiating as chaplain will
preach a sermon
Monday: May 27th: In the afternoon, the young ladies of the
principal schools of Richmond will pay a visit
Tuesday: May 28th
The regiment will be drilled in the presence of
Gov. Henry Wise, members of the City Council and will be
reviewed by the Governor. Prior to the drill, the guests of the
regiment will be invited to partake of an old-fashioned Virginia
barbecue. That night the grand ball will take place.
Wednesday, May 29th: The camp breaks up in time to return to
Richmond in time to march through the streets to receive the
admiring glances of their masculine fellow citizens and the
approving smiles of the ladies.”
This social aspect of militia life, particularly the drinking, was not confined to the
1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers or Virginia.
During this period in Richmond, whenever parading, drilling or marching was done,
it was always accompanied by plentiful food and drink, especially drink.
A veteran of these excursions, Richmonder Johann Gottfried Lange recalled of one
particular occasion when a Baltimore militia participated.
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"Through irregular meals and a lot of drinking during these days I
didn't feel so good and was glad to sit in a corner of the train and
take a little nap. But hardly had I fallen asleep when a group of
the Baltimore Law Greys came into our compartment with glasses
and champagne bottles in their hands. No one dared to think of
sleeping. Soldiers were running back and forth and it seemed as if
an extra wagon full of liqueur and wine had been hung onto the
locomotive.” (Kimball, Gregg D., American City, Southern Place,
University of Georgia Press, page 192. Typescript translation of
Lange's manuscript held by the Virginia Historical Society)
Since Mr. Lange himself the proprietor of a lager beer establishment in Richmond,
the amount of drinking which occasioned his remarks must have indeed reached
epic proportions.
The overindulgence in liquor at these excursions no doubt compelled this exchange
published in the Richmond Dispatch on April 17, 1854 between a gentleman in
Richmond and his friend in Petersburg regarding an invitation to attend a militia
ball at Slash Cottage.
“Come over this evening and go with me to the ball at Slash
Cottage”. The response was “I’ll see you d____d first. I’ve
joined the church and don’t go to such places!” The Dispatch
dryly added: “Comment is unnecessary.”
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Target Excursion on Broadway, Circa 1850
New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
Although this militia scene is depicted in New York, the depiction
Was universal, it could have been anywhere.
(Whitman’s Brooklyn, a virtual visit circa 1850)
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THE OLD FIRST’S CONSTANT COMPANION
SMITH’S ARMORY BAND
Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy
(Echoes of Glory)Time Life Books
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum
Courtesy collection of Mark A. Eldrod
(Photograph taken on assignment for Echoes of Glory by
Larry Sherer, assisted by Andrew Patilla.
To date, this is the only known group image of members of Smith’s Armory Band,
undated with no identifications
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A constant companion of Richmond’s militia was Smith’s Armory Band, their
musical renditions were a staple for the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. The
band, led by British born and profesionally trained musician James Bolton Smith
played at all of the formal receptions, parades and militia events held in and around
Richmond. Smith and his Armory Band were in high demand to provide stirring
accompaniment at yearly holiday celebrations, special events, the public concerts
held in Capitol Square as well as cotillions, balls and gala dinners. Advertisements
announcing “music by the band” were guaranteed to draw a good crowd and sell a
lot of tickets. The band’s musical promenades through the meandering pathways of
Capitol Square, either on foot or conveyed upon a flower garlanded wagon, were
greatly appreciated by the belles and beaux of the City.
By 1856, Smith and his Armory Band had become the musical pride of Richmond.
“While they do not make so great a noise as bands composed of 25 men, they
produce that which is much more pleasing to the ear of a musician – perfect
harmony.”(Richmond Daily Dispatch, Nov. 11, 1856)
In August of 1859, the band accompanied the Richmond Grays on a fraternal visit
to New York’s 7th Regiment. Historic newspaper accounts of the period indicate
the band during that visit was composed of 13 members.
James. B. Smith (Leader)
James M. Melton, first coronet
Andrew Muller
Edward Lehman
Fred Fox
Michael Cardona
Joseph Ritterouse
William Tremmer, second coronet
John Boucher, first tuba
John Illig
Thomas Pulling
Alexander Hefferman
Joseph Hirschburg
The above list of men most likely comprised the band for the balance of that year,
including both the October and November John Brown militia deployments orderd
by Governor Henry Wise.
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On the November night when the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers left
Richmond for Charlestown, the band sent them off in style.
“The point of rendez-vous was in Broad Street, near Ninth where
stood a special train ready to take the troops to the scene of action.
Just before the moment of starting Henry A. Wise, the Governor of
Virginia, arrived, and when it was announced that that he had left the
cares of state to engage in the supposed carnage of the coming battle
the cheers for “the game-cock of the Accomac” were long and
vociferous. As he entered the cars, the band, led by James Smith, a
noted coronet player in those days, played “Hail to the Chief”, and as
the train moved slowly up Broad Street, followed by thousands on a
half-run along the sidewalks, the air was changed to “The Girl I Left
Behind Me:, and “The Old Folks at Home”(“John Brown”, The New
York Sun, Fireman’s Magazine, Vol. IX, No. 1, January 1885.)
Apparently, 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers could not be separated from its
band, for within a few days after the militia deployment, Smith and his Armory
Band were in Charlestown, dispatched by Governor Wise.
“A military band from Richmond arrived here this afternoon. This
evening they are merrily serenading Gen. Talliaferro and other
persons of distinction. The air is filled withtheir brilliant strains. The
terror of the populace is forgotten now (“Revelry” - From
Charlestown- , 12/02/1859, New York Herald-Tribune.)
Songs specifically mentioned by newspaper accounts during the 1859 1st Viriginia
Regiment deployments included the following rousing selections.
Star Spangled Banner
Hail Columbia
The Girl I left behind me
The Marseillaise
The Old Folks at Home
In addition to this list, the band undoubtedly played other current favorites,
including “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia” (played during the return of southern
medical students to Virginia later in Dec. 59) and the “Irish Jaunting Car,” a melody
which in 2 years would be used for the Confederacy’s marching standard “The
Bonnie Blue Flag.”
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THE RICHMOND GRAYS
JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S ADOPTED “BAND OF BROTHERS”
The approximate 80 enrolled members of the Richmond Grays that boarded the
November 19, 1859 train came from diverse backgrounds and economic levels. The
First Families of Virginia and those of recent German and Polish immigrants both
contributed to its ranks. One member claimed the most highly prized lineage in all
of Virginia, descent from Pocahontas. Among the occupations represented were
lawyers and editors, laborers and merchants, at least one scholar, clerks of all types,
printers, tailors, painters, upholsterers, house builders, saloonkeepers, jewelers,
watchmakers, pharmacists and a dentist. The lone non-enrolled member that night
was an actor visiting from Maryland, John Wilkes Booth.
The New York 7th Regiment, or National Guard, was held in special reverence in
Richmond. In fact, the Richmond Grays, when organized in 1844 adopted the
color of the New York 7th’s uniform from which the Gray’s derived their name.
By 1858 the Grays were viewed as Richmond’s standard of drilling excellence with
proud comparisons heralding them as the equal of the much-vaunted New York 7th.
“We have, at least, one company in Richmond, which will compare, in some
respects, with any corps in the Seventh Regiment of New York” (City Matters,
Nov. 30, 1858, Richmond Whig.) Governor Henry Wise would himself later toast
to the Grays and state that they were “the best drilled company of Virginia whilst I
was Governor of the State…” (New York Daily Reformer, June 20, 1866.)
On the other hand, some of Richmond’s militia companies fell short. In April 1859
the Richmond Whig contrasted a newly formed volunteer company’s less than
spectacular execution of “flat foots” with the previous day’s fine marching display
put on by the Grays. The article derided the newcomers as a “burlesque” as they
marched through the streets with a martial step “resembling the intrepid progress of
an equine quadruped (sic) towards a peck of oats.” The article went on to decry the
mercifully unidentified company’s failures, including that the… “sojers” appeared
to have great difficulty distinguishing left from right with half of the company
marching while ludicrously smoking cigars”(City Items – The Militia, Richmond
Whig,, April 29, 1859.)
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WHY WAS BOOTH ACCEPTED?
From all accounts, John Wilkes Booth had all of the major qualifications necessary
for acceptance. He was a fellow Southerner, a social favorite, possessed the
demeanor of a “Virginia Gentleman”, shared the Quixotic notions of a “Southern
Knight”, was “One of the Boys,” and he was no “flat foot.” In addition to all of
this, Wilkes Booth was a remarkably handsome, engaging, and very entertaining
young man. He was the total package.
A FELLOW SOUTHERNER
Born and raised in Virginia’s sister state of Maryland, "John
Wilkes Booth was always an intense Southerner in all his feelings
and thoughts… and often heard him give expression to theses
southern sympathies" [Alfriend, Edward M., “Recollections of
John Wilkes Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The Era, October,
(1901), emphasis added.]
“When the John Brown raid occurred, Booth left the Richmond
Theater for the scene of strife in a picked company with which he
had affiliated for some time. From his connection with the militia
on this occasion he was wont to trace his fealty to Virginia”
[Townsend, George Alfred, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, The
Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, (1865), Page 22,
emphasis added.]
John "[j]oined a Virginia regiment at Richmond on the occasion
of John Brown's attack and proclaimed himself a champion of the
South" [John T. Ford's Recollections', Baltimore American, June
8, 1893, emphasis added.]
A SOCIAL FAVORITE
“During the 1858-59 seasons, Wilkes Booth had entered heartily
into the social life of Richmond…handsome, romantic and
dashing“(A History of Richmond, 1607-1861, Wirt Armistead
Cate, 1943 – Unpublished manuscript, Valentine Richmond
History Center, emphasis added.)
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“He was a man of high character and sociable disposition, liked
by everyone with whom he associated…was considered very
handsome…” (Crutchfield, George. Personal Letter to E.V.
Valentine dated July 5, 1904, V.M.T.C. emphasis added.)
“Entertaining chap he was.” (George W. Libby recalls incidents
of the War between the States”, Richmond Times Dispatch, July
7, 1929)
“In Richmond, while connected with the theater, he was a great
social favorite, knowing all of the best men and many of the finest
women. This faculty of social success was heredity…With men,
John Wilkes was most dignified in demeanor, bearing himself
with insouciant care and grace, and was a brilliant talker. With
women he was a man of irresistible fascination by reason of his
superbly handsome face, conversational brilliancy and a peculiar
halo of romance with which he invested himself, and which the
ardent imagination of women amplified” (Alfriend, Edward M.,
“Recollections of John Wilkes Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The
Era, October, 1901, emphasis added. )
“He acted with a brilliant dash and sweep that was irresistible.
To women in such parts he was an imperious fascination.”
“Recollections of John Wilkes Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The
Era, October, 1901, emphasis added.)
“He was a most charming fellow off the stage as well as on, a man
of flashing wit and magnetic manner. He was one of the best
raconteurs to whom I ever listened…He could hold a group
spellbound by the hour at the force and fire and beauty of
him…He was the idol of women. They would rave of him, his
voice, his hair, his eyes. Small wonder, for he was
fascinating”(Wilson, Francis, John Wilkes Booth, Fact and
Fiction of Lincoln’s Assassination, Houghton Mifflin Company,
1929, pg. 17, quoting Sir Charles, emphasis added. )
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A VIRGINIA GENTLEMAN
“I remember encountering on in one of my afternoon walks
uptown a handsome young gentleman, who was dressed a la
mode, and carried himself like a Virginia gentleman to the
manner born. I had seen him on the boards of the Marshall
Theater in a subordinate role, and recognized (him) by face and
figure. It is said commonly that one may know an actor off stage
by the formal strut, the affected manner he uses. If so, Mr. Booth
was an exception to the rule” (Recollection of Charles M.
Wallace, Sr. “Richmond in By Gone Days”, Richmond Times
Dispatch, June 24, 1906, emphasis added.)
The concepts of “manliness” and “brotherhood,” which were integral parts of
antebellum militia camaraderie, were adorned with storybook overtones of chivalry,
gallantry and knighthood. Allusions to knightly behavior, combat in the lists,
facing the fabled black knight, ring tournaments and gallantry, these were cherished
southern romantic associations held by “The Chivalry.” Booth, a fellow southern
boy from Maryland, culturally identified with these traditions, shared the same
romantic allegories, and defined himself within this same idealized image of
manhood.
Henry Wise’s famous remark upon defeating “Know Nothingism” in his 1856
Gubernatorial campaign proudly used the same romantic association of knightly
combat in the lists.
“I have met the Black Knight with his visor down and his shield
and lance are broken!” Henry A. Wise’s speech in Washington,
Baltimore Sun May 26, 1856, Brown Hotel)
The southerner not only read of knights competing “in the lists,” but in their fields,
they recreated that world, or at least the 19th century’s interpretation of it in their
cherished Ring Tournaments. In his article, “The Knights of the Lance in the
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South,” author Hanson Hiss stated, “The tourney (tournament), its inception to the
present day (1897) has been a sport entirely Southern, and peculiarly fitted to the
temperament and environment of the South. The only material difference between
the ancient and modern tourney lies in the fact that instead of tilting at approaching
knights, the rider of to-day dashes down a straight course and with his lance
captures rings suspended from a cross bar. “ (Outing, an Illustrated Magazine of
Sport, Travel and Recreation, Oct. 1897-March 1898, Vol. XXX1, pages 338-341)
National Jousting Association
Civil War Scholars.com
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National Jousting Association
National Jousting Association
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National Jousting Association
JOHN WILKES BOOTH AND THE RING TOURNAMENT
Observance of these fanciful events was most deeply rooted amongst “The
Chivalry” in Virginia and neighboring Maryland. A picturesque area known as Deer
Creek Rocks was near the Booth family farm of Tudor Hall in Bel Air, Maryland.
“The Rocks” was known both as a popular picnic destination and home for the
region’s yearly Ring Tournaments.
Booth’s sister Asia speaks of his highly trained and “beautiful black colt without a
white hair or spot – Cola di Rienzi,” whose mane and tail she plaited in small
braids. (Clarke, The Unlocked Book, Pg. 76.) In 1857, 19 year old John and Cola
(whom Asia noted to have “an Ivanhoe forehead”) were noted to be preparing for
the annual “Knights in Armor Tournament” held at deer Creek Rocks. “John
spent the years from 1855 to 1857 in study with only amateur participation in the
theater or in pageants such as was held at Deer Creek Rocks at annual festivals.
Horses and skill in riding was his love at this point.” (Samples, Gordon, Lust for
Fame, The Stage Career of John Wilkes Booth, McFarland and Company, 1982,
page 17-18) “John liked to take part in local horse tournaments with lances where
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one competed at spearing rings hanging from a tree” (Smith, Gene, American
Gothic, Simon & Schuster, 1992, pg. 61.)
QUIXOTIC NOTIONS
“How absurd, how utterly Quixotic (emphasis added), such a
course seems to us today! Yet in that time, not only was it deemed
no absurdity, but a great number of the community, in fact a
majority, regarded it as natural and manly, evincing chivalry of
the very highest order” (Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era,
Houghton Mifflin, 1899, pg. 66.)
In 1881, John Wilkes’ brother Edwin recalled him too as filled with what he
deemed “Quixotic “notions. “ While at the farm in Maryland, he would charge on
horseback though the woods spouting heroic speeches with a lance in his hand, a
relic of the Mexican war, given to father by some soldier who had served under
(President) Tyler.” (Letter from Edwin Booth to Nathum Capen, Windsor Hotel,
London July 28, 1881).
Edwin’s comments indicate that while a fellow Marylander born and raised in the
same family and in the same household, Edwin failed to comprehend its cultural
significance. To him these actions were indeed inexplicable “Quixotic Notions.”
However, to his younger brother, a southern boy from Maryland, they were the
actions of a “Knight” rehearsing for a Ring Tournament.
Stanley Kimmel stated that Old Belair (sic) newspapers of the time gave a
description of these tournaments that appear to have been the source of Edwin’s
description of John’s “Quixotic” notions.” Kimmel believed that the behavior that
Edwin described was an imitation of knights’ actions that John had observed
previously at these tournaments. Kimmel also says, “[i]f one follows John Wilkes’
boyhood days in Belair (sic) and on the farm this will not seem to indicate any
“freakish” conduct on his part (Kimmel, Stanley, The Mad Booths of Maryland,
Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1940, pg. 341-342.)
Nonetheless, portraying John Wilkes Booth’s participation in these tournaments as
indicating his having a “freakish” character persisted.
“At least his actions were peculiar. He was the one among
Junius’ ten offspring who rode the 200 acre farm near Bel Aire
(sic), Maryland on spirited mounts with desperate avidity”
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(Tucker, Glenn, “John Wilkes Booth at the John Brown Hanging”
, Lincoln Herald Spring, 1976 Vol. 78, No. 1 ,pg 4 emphasis
added.)
To this day, the “freakish” or “peculiar” activity, known as the Ring Tournament,
remains Maryland’s official State game.
The image of a 19th century “Sir Ivanhoe on the Rappahannock,” seemed
incongruous even to some in the South.
“ He who would go about the world today with a metal pot upon
his head, his family tree painted on his plate-covered breast and,
with a pointed pole in his hand, “To ride abroad redressing human
wrong,” would be regarded as worse than a mild lunatic. Yet men
and women still flush over the sentiment that made Lancelot and
the Lion’s Heart immortal.” (De Leon, T.C., Belles, Beaux and
Brains of the Sixties, 1907)
And it certainly seemed incongruous to many in the north, where a southern man’s
“Code of Chivalry” was perceived as enigmatic “Quixotic Notions,” or worse. To
quote Mark Twain, “[t]hey all suffered from the Walter Scott Disease.” Twain
believed that “Sir Walter” had “set the world in love with dreams and phantoms.”
Twain’s distain towards the “Walter Scott Disease,” as he called it, was aimed not
so much at Scott, but more towards Scott’s avid readers whom Twain blamed for
creating a warped reality out of a fairy tale. Claiming this illusion had created a
Southern mindset and behavior, which he felt was responsible for the war, Twain
believed that Scott’s impact on the southern psyche of the time, “did measureless
harm; more real and lasting harm, perhaps, than any other individual that ever
wrote”. (Clemens, S.L. (Mark Twain), Life on the Mississippi, Harper & Brothers
Publishers, 1874, pg. 328.)
“ONE OF THE BOYS”
“Wilkes Booth was one of the first to don his uniform. He had
always been “one of the boys” in Richmond, ready for a fire or a
fray” (Notes and Correspondence of Mary Bella Beale in the
David Rankin Barbee Papers, Georgetown University Library,
Special Collections Research Center, Box 5, folder 280 emphasis
added.)
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Booth was highly skilled in the physical arts of southern manhood, which included
riding and shooting. He was a superb all around athlete. Even in the earlier part of
his career in Richmond, he was proficient with swords and weapons.
HE WAS “NO FLATFOOT”
According to Booth’s sister, Asia, he was drawn to a career in the military, or at the
least to be a volunteer citizen soldier during his time in Richmond.
“John is crazy or enthusiastic about going for a soldier. I think he
will get off. It has been his dearest ambition, perhaps it is his true
vocation.” (Kincaid, Deirdre Lindsay. “Rough Magic: The
Theatrical Life of John Wilkes Booth”, PhD thesis, Univ. of Hull.
2000, pg. 77 [quotes: ML 518, Peale Museum. Written after
Asia’s marriage and before Edwin’s, the date is between May
1859 and June 1860.]; Barber, Deirdre. “A Man of Promise: John
Wilkes Booth at Richmond” Theatre Symposium: Theatre in the
Antebellum South Vol. 2, Tuscaloosa, Al: Univ. Alabama Press,
1994, pp. 113-129]
As a teenager, Booth had three years of military training attending St. Timothy’s
Hall, in Maryland, a military academy of high repute. St. Timothy’s was
principally supported by scholars south of the Mason and Dixon’s line (Clarke, Asia
Booth, The Unlocked Book; A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by his Sister, New
York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938, pg. 157.) [There remains a persistent rumor that
one of the members of the Richmond Grays was a fellow student at St. Timothy’s
who knew Booth from their schoolboy days. The school had students from
Virginia, but alas, no facts have been found to date identifying this individual.]
With his first hand knowledge of drills coupled with witnessing the Regiment on
parade, Booth was not an embarrassing “flat foot,” but someone who could readily
fit in and keep up in parade formation, as he subsequently proved while in
Charlestown where the Grays were lauded for their marching excellence and
precision drilling.
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A “REMARKABLY HANDSOME MAN”
“When John Wilkes Booth was in the Richmond Stock Company
he was very young. In his early twenties…was a little taller than
his brother Edwin, possessed his marvelous intellectual and
beautiful eyes, with great symmetry of features, an especially fine
forehead and curly black hair. He was as handsome as a Greek
god. It is saying a great deal but he was a much handsomer man
than his brother Edwin.” (Alfriend, Edward M., “Recollections of
John Wilkes Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The Era, October,
1901, emphasis added.)
With women he was a man of irresistible fascination by reason of
his superbly handsome face, conversational brilliancy and a
peculiar halo of romance with which he invested himself, and
which the ardent imagination of women amplified” (Alfriend,
Edward M., “Recollections of John Wilkes Booth by Edwin M.
Alfriend”, The Era, October, 1901 emphasis added.)
“George Libby found Booth ‘a remarkably handsome man, with a
winning personality” and remembered that he “would regale us
around the campfire with recitations from Shakespeare” (Kincaid,
Deirdre Lindsay. “Rough Magic: The Theatrical Life of John Wilkes
Booth”, PhD thesis, Univ. of Hull. (2000), pg. 101 emphasis
added.)
“He was a handsome man.” [Quote from Dr. Joseph Southall,
“The John Wilkes Booth Story”, Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2,
1902 , emphasis added.
“Edwin…admired Wilkes, and thought that he had never beheld a
being so perfectly handsome,” (Clarke, Asia Booth, The
Unlocked Book; A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by his Sister,
New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons (1938), Pg. 120, emphasis added.)
“Picture to yourself Adonis, with high forehead, ascetic face
corrected by rather full lips, sweeping black hair, a figure of
perfect youthful proportions and the most wonderful black eyes in
the world. Such was John Wilkes Booth” (Wilson, Francis, John
Wilkes Booth, Fact and Fiction of Lincoln’s Assassination,
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Houghton Mifflin Company (1929), pg. 15, quote of Sir Charles
Wyndham.)
“They would rave of him, his voice, his hair, his eyes. Small
wonder, for he was fascinating”(Wilson, Francis, John Wilkes
Booth, Fact and Fiction of Lincoln’s Assassination, Houghton
Mifflin Company (1929), pg. 17, quoting Sir Charles Wyndham,
emphasis added. )
“…he (John Wilkes Booth) is improving fast, and looks beautiful
upon the platform” (Wilson, Francis, John Wilkes Booth, Fact and
Fiction of Lincoln’s Assassination, Houghton Mifflin
Company(1929), pg. 17, quoting Edwin Booth, emphasis added)
“THE TOTAL PACKAGE”
When not on the “platform,” Booth’s remarkable good looks and deportment “as to
the manner born” made him instantly recognizable on the streets of Richmond. He
was “a great social favorite”. An “intense southerner” in outlook and feeling, Booth
identified with, and shared in, the southern culture, particularly in its cherished
“chivalric” overtones. He combined both the manners of a “Virginia gentleman”
with a sense of manly camaraderie to fit in as “one of the boys” who made up the
ranks of Richmond’s militia. With his three years of military training, Booth
probably had as much if not more formal training than many of the enrolled
members.
To the cross section of Richmond’s men who comprised the ranks of its volunteer
soldiers, Booth was a perfect fit. To these men, Booth thought as they did, defined
himself as they did, and responded as they did. It would be natural to be included
as one of them because he was one of them. Added to all of this was the additional
appeal of his lineage. Richmonders loved their theater and and John Wilkes’ late
father, the legendary tragedian Junius Brutus Booth, remained a favored star. While
in Richmond John used the last name of Wilkes as his stage name while he learned
his craft as an actor, but it was no secret whose son the “remarkably handsome” and
engaging young man was.
Booth was known and well liked by his “adopted band of brothers.” Upon the
Regiment’s return to Richmond from Charlestown, they come to Booth’s aid after
the manager at the Richmond Theater terminated him for his absence.
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"It is certain that when Wilkes Booth reached Richmond again,
he was immediately discharged by Kunkel for having
unceremoniously walked off from a performance at the theater,
and was only reinstated upon the insistent demand of a number of
his influential friends, among them members of the regiment he
had accompanied"(A History of Richmond, 1607-1861, Wirt
Armistead Cate, 1943 – Unpublished manuscript, Valentine
Richmond History Center, emphasis added.)
“The managers, Ford and Kunkel, discharged him for going to
Charlestown, and upon this becoming known a large contingent of
the First Virginia Regiment marched to the Theater and demanded
that he be reinstated. And he was.” (“Wilkes Booth a Favorite
Here”, Richmond Times Dispatch, January 22, 1933)
THE SHARED OUTINGS
Was John Wilkes Booth at the Richmond Gray’s “excursions and outings”? The
answer to that is yes. Booth’s participation was documented. As stated previously,
the “outings” and “excursions” were public events traditionally advertised with the
expectation that the proud denizens of Richmond would participate as a show of
support for their citizen soldiers. The public was invited to attend, in fact any civic-
minded Richmonder would be expected to “join in the festivities” (which included
music, picnics, barbecues, balls, cotillions, even balloon launches) as a show of
support, often paying for tickets as a fundraiser for the militia company hosting the
event to defray the cost.
“When the John Brown raid occurred, Booth left the Richmond
Theater for the scene of strife in a picked company with which he
had affiliated for some time. From his connection with the militia
on this occasion he was wont to trace his fealty to Virginia.”
(Townsend, George Alfred, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, The
Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, 1865, Page 22 -
emphasis added. )
“Wilkes Booth, who was not a member of one of the companies,
though he frequently attended the “outings” and parades of the
Grays ---“ (A History of Richmond, 1607-1861, Wirt Armistead
Cate, 1943 – Unpublished manuscript; Valentine Richmond
History Center emphasis added.)
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In 1937, an earlier newspaper article by Richmond’s celebrated newspaperman
Herbert T. Ezekiel said that Booth belonged to the Grays, one of Richmond’s
“crack” militia companies, and frequented Shad’s Garden (a lager beer garden)
located in a grove of trees to the south of Richmond’s College, when it was located
on West Broad Street”[(Richmond News Leader, Feb. 12, 1937 emphasis added.)
“Schad’s Garden—where the shooting at targets and bowling was
indulged in.” (Quoted from Walthall’s “Hidden Things Brought to
Light”, May 6, 1933, Richmond Times Dispatch.)]
“John Wilkes was not a member of the Grays, but he had gone on
several outings with that organization. When it was ordered to
Harper’s Ferry, Booth somehow managed to enlist and go along.”
(Dabney, Virginius, Doubleday & Company, 1976, Richmond,
The Story of a City, pg. 157, emphasis added.)
There was nothing to preclude John Wilkes Booth from participating not only in
events organized for the Richmond Grays, but in any event organized for any of the
Richmond companies. Booth would have been drawn to attend these functions and
likely did so on a regular basis from 1858 – 1860 whenever they coincided with the
theatrical season of each year that he lived in Richmond.
OUT OF ALL RICHMOND’S MILITIA COMPANIES,
WHY DID BOOTH CHOOSE THE GRAYS?
Booth could have associated with any of Richmond’s militia companies, but he
chose the Richmond Grays. What prompted Booth’s association with the
Richmond Grays and not Company F or the Richmond Light Infantry Blues or any
of the other militia companies that comprised the 1st Regiment of Virginia
Volunteers?
The nexus was most likely the Marshall Theater and its connection with two
particular Richmond Grays, theater devotee Edward M. Alfriend and box keeper
Miles T. Philips. Of the two, Alfriend is by far the likelier to have spent his free
time with Booth, and hence served as the means of introduction to other Richmond
Grays. In 1858 Alfriend and Booth were both single 20-year-old men. Edward M.
Alfriend was drawn to follow a career in the dramatic or literary arts.
Unfortunately, as the eldest son, Alfriend was expected to follow in his father’s
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lucrative insurance business. Alfriend escaped from his daily drudge of examining
actuary tables and insurance underwriting by spending his available free time at the
theater, drinking in the creative juices and befriending the actors. From his
association with the Marshall Theater, Alfriend became familiar with John Wilkes
and “knew him [Booth] well” (Alfriend, Edward M., “Recollections of John Wilkes
Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The Era, October, 1901.)
On the other hand, fellow Richmond Gray Miles T. Philips at 35 was 14 years
older, a married man with five daughters to support from his occupation of
wallpaper hanger and upholsterer. Philips’ connection with the theater was strictly
a monetary one, not one drawn from theatrical inspiration. Philips worked at the
theater as a carpenter and as the theater’s box keeper. He was not a young
unmarried man with a flair for the dramatic, rebelling against his prescribed future
by spending his free time at the theater dreaming of following the dramatic or
literary arts.
CLARIFICATION OF THE OCTOBER 17TH
DEPLOYMENT
The travel route from Richmond to Harper’s Ferry required taking the Richmond
Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad to Aquia Creek. Travel by Potomac steamship
to Washington D.C. Taking the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through Maryland to
enter again into Virginia and arrive at Harper’s Ferry.
In responding to John Brown’s initial attack at Harpers Ferry in October, Governor
Wise and Company F left Richmond on the evening of October 17th. The balance
of the 1st Regiment including the Richmond Grays departed the following morning.
Only Wise and Company F were forwarded from Washington to Harper’s Ferry.
By the time the second group, which included the Richmond Grays, arrived in
Washington on the following day, the engine house had already been stormed by
the US marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee, and Brown and his
supporters captured. Bodies were still lying in the streets of Harpers Ferry, but the
fighting itself was over; all of this happened before Wise and Company F had
arrived. Wise sent a telegram to Colonel August in Washington thanking the
balance of the 1st Virginia Regiment for their services, and instructed them to
return to Richmond. (“Speech of Governor Wise at Richmond”, New York Herald,
October 26, 1859, Wallace, Lee A., Jr., 1st Virginia Infantry, 3rd
Edition, H.E.
Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, Va., 1985, pg. 6, The Insurrection at Harper’s Ferry”,
Alexandria Gazette, October 19, 1859, “City Items”, Richmond Whig, October 21,
1859.)
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In many recollections when recalled decades later by men who were involved in
both deployments, some details of both were run together. However, in October,
the Grays never got beyond the nation’s capitol.
Notably, Col. Lee’s departure from Washington during the October deployment has
been cited as the first time that railroads were used to transport soldiers into action.
“First run of railroads to transport soldiers into action. Col. Robert
E. Lee takes soldiers by train to end John Brown’s raid at
Harper’s Ferry.” North American Railroad Chronological Table
Appendix A, page 223: 1859 - (Daniels, Rudolph, Trains across
the Continent, North American Railroad History, Second Edition,
1997/2000 Indiana University Press.)
THE GRAY’S “DRESS REHEARSAL”
WHY DIDN’T JOHN WILKES BOOTH GO WITH THE GRAYS IN
OCTOBER?
In 1940, Stanley Kimmel stated “[y]et he [Booth] did not join the militia when it
was ordered to entrain for Harper’s Ferry to quell Brown’s rebellion. With actual
danger confronting him, Wilkes explained his decision not to go by professing
regard for his mother’s request that he continue in the theater” (Kimmel, Stanley,
The Mad Booths of Maryland, 1940, The Bobs Merrill Company, Pg. 155 emphasis
added.)
Kimmel did not cite the source of this information. Whatever its source, it was
incorrect. John Wilkes Booth could not offer his volunteer services when the
fighting was going on at Harper’s Ferry because he was not in Richmond when the
Grays were deployed. On October 17, 1859, Wilkes Booth was in Lynchburg and
would not return until after both Company F and the balance of the 1st Regiment
returned to Richmond (October 19th – 20.)
“In the week of October 17-21, part of the Richmond Company was in
Lynchburg, where the annual exhibition of the Agricultural and
Mechanical Society was drawing visitors, while the Richmond
Theatre featured visiting star Maggie Mitchell. The Lynchburg Daily
Virginian (Oct. 17) said that 'Messrs. Wilkes, Phillips, Johnson, and
other favorites' were to play during the week. So when news began to
break of Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Booth had no chance of
joining the soldiers: he was preparing for performances of three short
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comedies at Dudley Hall in Lynchburg.” (Sock, Buskin & Musket:
John Wilkes Booth and the John Brown Hanging, a talk given by
Deirdre Barber Kincaid to the Civil War Round Table. Dates
confirmed by Arthur F. Loux in “John Wilkes Booth Day By Day.”
Booth’s absence from Richmond effectively counters Kimmel’s claim that Booth
withheld his services during the earlier fighting at Harper’s Ferry in an effort to
escape any real combat. It also counters claims that Booth went on the second
deployment out of envy, having witnessed the attention shown to men leaving
during the October deployment.
BOOTH’S INTEREST IN MILITARY SERVICE WAS GENUINE
Booth’s interest in military service was genuine, his desire to join the November
deployment, and his success in doing so, were the subjects of family concern
discussed at the time.
“John is crazy or enthusiastic about going for a soldier. I think he
will get off. It has been his dearest ambition, perhaps it is his true
vocation” (Kincaid, Deirdre Lindsay. “Rough Magic: The
Theatrical Life of John Wilkes Booth”, PhD thesis, Univ. of Hull.
2000, pg. 77 [quotes: ML 518, Peale Museum. Written after
Asia’s marriage and before Edwin’s, the date is between May
1859 and June 1860.], Barber, Deirdre. “A Man of Promise: John
Wilkes Booth at Richmond” Theatre Symposium: Theatre in the
Antebellum South Vol. 2, Tuscaloosa, Al: Univ. Alabama Press,
1994, pp. 113-129.]
“Your news regarding the mad step, John has taken -- I confess
did not surprise me -- if you remember, I told you I thought he
would seize the opportunity. Tis a great pity he has not more
sense -- but time will teach him -- although I fear the discipline is
hardly severe enough to sicken him immediately with a "soldier's
life." I hope nothing serious will occur there, for that would
frighten your mother so -- and you being absent too” (The letters
and notebooks of Mary Devlin Booth, Edited by L. Terry Oggel,
Page 22, letter from Mary Devlin to Edwin Booth, (NYPL - TC)
Nov. 28, 1859 emphasis added.)
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On November 19, 1859, when presented with the chance to volunteer, John Wilkes
Booth did so. Notably, out of all those non-enrolled men who offered to go (as
evidenced in historic newspaper reports at the time), only he was accepted. (“Local
Matters – Exciting News from Charlestown – Departure of the Richmond Militia”,
Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 21, 1859.) [His participation was confirmed
by numerous firsthand accounts and militia pay audit records for the period of
November 19 – December 6, 1859 (Record Group 46, Department of Military
Affairs, John Brown’s Raid Muster Rolls, 1859-1860. Accession 27684, Library of
Virginia.)]
HOW DID BOOTH, “UNSOUGHT ENROLL HIMSELF,”AND BOARD
THE TRAIN ON NOVEMBER 19TH
WHEN OTHERS COULD NOT?
First and foremost, unlike the earlier October deployment, Booth was in Richmond
“to seize the opportunity.”
Second, Booth socialized with these men before the John Brown deployment. That
in itself was not exceptional; the men who comprised Richmond’s volunteer
companies were fellow citizens who spent only a portion of their time serving in the
militia and any of these men could have attended the outings and excursions as
well. However, no other non-enrolled man in Richmond boarded that special train
on the evening of November 19th, 1859, and no company other than the Grays
accepted a non-enrolled man.
The overlooked recollection from Richmond Gray John O. Taylor directly
addresses how Booth came to board the train that night.
WHO WAS JOHN O. TAYLOR
A year younger than John Wilkes Booth, John O. Taylor would turn twenty on
November 21 while in Charlestown in 1859. Taylor was the Virginian born son of
the very successful and transplanted New York commercial grocery merchant,
William O. Taylor. After the war, Taylor enjoyed a successful career as a
Richmond businessman. His brother Dr. William H. Taylor served as the coroner
for the City of Richmond for forty-seven years, was Virginia’s State Chemist, and a
Professor at the Medical College of Virginia. Taylor’s other brothers were CSA
Captain Charles F. Taylor and Richard M. Taylor, a Mayor of the City of
Richmond. (“Recalls Event 74 Years Ago, John O. Taylor celebrates his 83rd
Birthday Anniversary in Richmond”, Richmond Times Dispatch, November 22,
1922)
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BEST KNOWN RECOLLECTIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF
JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S “UNSOUGHT ENROLLMENT”
IN THE RICHMOND GRAYS
The most frequently cited and best-known eyewitness recollections of John Wilkes
Booth departing Richmond for Charlestown are those of Richmond Grays Edward
M. Alfriend, Philip Whitlock, and George W. Libby (Alfriend, Edward M.,
“Recollections of John Wilkes Booth.” New Era Magazine 1901; Philip Whitlock,
“The Life of Philip Whitlock, Written by Himself”, unpublished manuscript,
donated to VHS in 1973; Libby, George W. “, John Brown and John Wilkes
Booth”, The Confederate Veteran, Issue 37, April 1930, pg. 138-139 [ See also
Libby, “George W. Libby Recalls Incidents of the War Between the States”,
Richmond Times Dispatch, July 7, 1929.]
However, the common perception of Booth’s “enrollment” in the Grays stems from
an article written by Glenn Tucker 117 years after the event. Tucker’s article,
which has become a widely cited source, paints the events as the clandestine acts of
the young Libby and Bossieux who pulled Booth into the baggage car of the
nonstop train to Charlestown ( Tucker, Glenn, “John Wilkes Booth at the John
Brown Hanging” , Lincoln Herald Spring, 1976 Vol. 78, No. 1, pgs. 3-11. “He
(Libby) was the leading factor in covertly bringing John Wilkes Booth to
Charlestown.”(page 6), “They pulled him into the baggage car and the train rattled
away toward Charles Town (page 9.)”
However, when all the first hand recollections are examined, including the
overlooked recollection of John O. Taylor, a very different picture emerges.
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THE JOURNEY FROM RICHMOND TO CHARLESTOWN
ACCORDING TO RICHMOND GRAY JOHN O. TAYLOR
Taylor’s recollections may be found in the newspaper article, “John Brown
Hanging; Recollections of a Member of the Richmond Grays”, [Richmond Times
Dispatch, May 1, 1904 (“Newspaper Article”)], and in the undated “John Taylor
manuscript,” a two page typescript (“Manuscript”), donated by Taylor’s daughter,
Mrs. Blanch (Taylor) King (1864-1938) to the Virginia Historical Society (File 36-
10-22-T.)
According to Taylor:
“The bells on the Old Market, and the Bell House near Ninth and
Franklin were tolled and the city was in a high state of
excitement. The First Virginia Regiment composed of the
Richmond Grays, Montgomery Guards, Company F, German
Rifles and Second Howitzers, marched up Main Street up to Eight
and Broad, where a long train of cars stood ready for the troops
to embark.” (Newspaper Article)
The Train did not leave on time, but had to wait for Governor Wise; and
Booth arrived just as they were ready to leave:
“We did not get off promptly as we had to wait for Gov. Wise who
accompanied us. Just as we were about to start, Jno. Wilkes
Booth (who killed Lincoln) --- (illeg) and boarded the train. “
(Manuscript)
After all were aboard, Taylor saw John Wilkes Booth, an overcoat over his
arm, come out of the Marshall Theater that evening in the company of Grays
Edward M. Alfriend and board the coach the Grays were in:
“After all of us got on aboard, I saw John Wilkes Booth with an overcoat
over his arm come out of the Marshall Theatre and in the company of Ed. M.
Alfriend, board the coach the Grays were in.” (Newspaper Article)
Grays Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott granted Booth permission to go with the
Grays to Charlestown:
“Capt. Elliot granted him permission to go with us” (Manuscript)
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The troops traveled from Richmond to Aquia Creek, where they boarded a
steamer bound for Washington, arriving at daybreak:
“When we arrived at Aquia Creek we boarded a steamer for
Washington, arriving about daybreak.” (Newspaper Article)
The troops marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, led by Governor Wise with
John Wilkes Booth walking behind him, again Booth with the overcoat over
his arm:
“On marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, Gov. Wise with his
high beaver hat, and his head up in the air, with a pair of silver
specks over his nose, cut a big figure. John Wilkes Booth walked
behind him with his overcoat on his arm.” (Newspaper Article)
In Washington, they boarded a B&O train to Relay House:
“We took a train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and
arrived promptly at Relay House.” (Newspaper Article)
EDWARD M. ALFRIEND, YET AGAIN
Alfriend has already been the subject of an investigation regarding the individual
tentatively identified in the three Richmond Grays images previously examined in
Has He Been Hiding in Plain Sight - John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays
(May 2010) and Out of Hiding - John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays (May
2011.) In two of the images examined in those articles, one individual is seen
exchanging dramatic restraining and attacking motions sharing the same knife with
an individual identified as John Wilkes Booth. The poses indicate that these two
men shared a sense of the dramatic and a familiar relationship. Taylor’s
recollection confirms that on November 19, 1859 Booth and Alfriend shared such a
relationship, evidenced by their leaving the Marshall Theater and boarding the
Grays’ coach together.
THE ACTUAL JOURNEY
The 1859 Charlestown journey was segmented, with roll call undoubtedly taken
periodically. The trip took almost 24 hours, including travel and delays. It crossed
two states and the District of Columbia via three different railroads, one steamship,
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and a 2-mile march in ranks down Pennsylvania Avenue with John Wilkes Booth
marching behind Governor Henry A. Wise. Booth’s arrival at Charlestown could
not have been a surprise, nor was the journey a nonstop express as Tucker’s earlier
cited article implies and other have accepted (See Swanson, James L., Manhunt, the
12 Day Hunt for Lincoln’s Killer Swanson, William Morrow, 2007, pg. 332. “In
1859, he (Booth) caught the train to Charlestown to witness the execution of
abolitionist John Brown…” emphasis added.)
NO SURPRISE
Booth did not “covertly” stow away in the baggage car, confined and undetected, as
“the train rattled away towards Charlestown.” Factually, the train from Richmond
did not continue past Fredericksburg / Aquia Creek. Nonetheless, Tucker’s
influence has led many to interpret Philip Whitlock’s remark of “surprise at seeing
Booth” as surprise upon arriving at Charlestown. Factually, Whitlock “surprise” of
seeing Booth occurred at the Richmond Depot before departure. Whitlock’s entire
remark reads:
“ The 1st Regiment assembled on Broad St. near the depot, which
was then on the corner of 8th where the old Bijou now stands--
that was one Saturday night about the 1st of December, in the year
1859. Many of us were surprised to see John Wilkes Booth, who
was then acting in the Marshall Theatre, in a Richmond Gray
uniform. We afterwards were informed that he joined the
Company in order to go along with us. He is the same John
Wilkes Booth who shot Abe Lincoln just after the war. We got to
Charlestown and there we met a great many soldiers from the
whole State of Virginia.” (Whitlock, Philip. “The Life of Philip
Whitlock, Written by Himself”, Richmond: Beth Ahabah Museum
and Archives Trust, (used with permission).
(Note: Written decades after the events, Whitlock’s dating of the
event as being “about the 1st of December “was incorrect)
ALL FACTS CONSIDERED
NO ONE RODE IN THE BAGGAGE CAR
Contrary to popular belief, Booth did not actually travel in the baggage car with
Libby and Bossieux. First, Libby does not expressly make that claim. Libby’s
claims are somewhat ambiguous, especially in light of the Taylor recollection. In
one article Libby claims “he [Booth]went along.”
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“He hadn’t a uniform and as it was a soldier’s train, I lent him my
coat and my friend Bossieux let him his cap and accoutrements
and he went along.” (Libby, George W., George Libby Recalls
Incidents of the War Between the States , July 7, 1929, Richmond
Times Dispatch emphasis added.)
And in another article Libby claims that he and Bossieux “took him in the car, and
carried him with us.”
“Louis F. Bossieux and I were placed as a detail from the Grays in
the baggage car of the train in charge of the company’s baggage.
Booth appeared at the door of the car and asked if he could go
with us to Harper’s Ferry. We informed him that no one was
allowed on that train but men in uniform. He expressed a desire
to buy a uniform, since he was very anxious to go. So, after some
consultation with him, Bossieux and I each gave him a portion of
our uniforms, took him in the car, and carried him with us.” (Libby,
George. W., John Brown and John Wilkes Booth, The
Confederate Veteran 37, April 1930, 138-139 emphasis added)
For safety reasons, the railroads during this period specifically did not allow
passengers to travel in boxcars or baggage cars. (The American and English
Encyclopedia of Law, Second Edition Volume 5, 1897 Edited by David S. Garland
and Lucius P. McGehee, Re: Carrier of Passengers, page 677) , “Accident;
Potomac; Winchester; Baggage; Passengers,” Alexandria Gazette, April 30, 1859,”
“Keep your Seats in the Cars”, Alexandria Gazette, November 17, 1859, Alvarez,
Eugene, Travel on Southern Antebellum Railroads 1828-1860, University of
Alabama Press, 1974, pg. 121 )
True, Libby and Bossieux as junior members of the Grays were initially assigned to
the baggage car to take on baggage and guard it prior to the train pulling out of the
depot, but once secured they most likely joined the rest of the Grays in a passenger
coach. Thus, when Libby states, “took him in the car, and carried him with us,”
Libby is referring to one of the Grays passenger coaches. Any claim that a special
guard detail was needed to guard the baggage car during the trip, and therefore the
ordinary railroad ban on traveling in the baggage car did not apply, is not
persuasive, because the train was a dedicated military transport, with no additional
passengers or baggage taken on after departure.
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Additionally, there was the location of the the baggage car that night in relationship
to where Taylor sat on the train. In the standard configuration of the day, of the 9
cars, the baggage car would have been located immediately after the locomotive’s
tender and before the 8 passenger cars (White, John H. Jr., The American Railroad
Passenger Car, Parts I and II, Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology,
(1978) 453, Chapter Six: Head-End Cars.) The entire train stretched for blocks
down Broad Street. Taylor, sitting on the Gray’s coach had an immediate sightline
to the Marshal Theater when he saw Booth and Alfriend exit the theater and board.
Taylor had to have been in one of the last cars, and thus out of position to see the
baggage car, which was at the opposite end of the long line of cars next to the
locomotive. Taylor clearly relates seeing both Booth and Alfriend boarding the
coach the Grays were already in.
Booth riding in the Grays’ coach is also confirmed by the recollection of Dr. Joseph
Southall.
“[o]n his way to the depot about 8 o’clock in the evening,
I noticed Wilkes Booth was walking just ahead of me on
his way to the theater, where he was going to play that
night. The play had been drawing great crowds. Just
before we got as far as the theater I saw Booth, who had
been walking at a brisk pace, stop suddenly as if he had
forgotten something. Just as our group reached the spot
where he had stopped, Booth deliberately turned back.”
Southall then continued to the depot and “ [t]hey (the
group he was with) had not been there ten minutes before
Booth reappeared wearing his uniform and with musket in
hand, and immediately boarded the train where the rest of
the troops were” [Quotes from Dr. Joseph Southall, “The
John Wilkes Booth Story”, Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2,
1902 (emphasis added).]
Wherever Booth may have gone after Southall first sees him stop and turn is
unclear, but Southall’s recollection again confirms that Booth boarded the cars in
uniform where the rest of the troops were and not the baggage car.
WHAT ABOUT BOOTH’S MUSKET THAT NIGHT?
Notably, Southall also said that he saw him (Booth) with a musket. According to
Southall, “[o]n his way to the depot about 8 o’clock in the evening, I noticed Wilkes
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Booth was walking just ahead of me on his way to the theater, where he was going
to play that night. The play had been drawing great crowds. Just before we got as
far as the theater I saw Booth, who had been walking at a brisk pace, stop suddenly
as if he had forgotten something. Just as our group reached the spot where he had
stopped, Booth deliberately turned back.” Southall then continued to the depot and
“ [t]hey (the group he was with) had not been there ten minutes before Booth
reappeared wearing his uniform and with musket in hand, and immediately boarded
the train where the rest of the troops were” [Quotes from Dr. Joseph Southall, “The
John Wilkes Booth Story”, Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2, 1902 (emphasis added).]
Edward M. Alfriend in his recollection also stated that Booth “…procured a
uniform and a musket…” (Alfriend, Edward M., “Recollections of John Wilkes
Booth by Edwin M. Alfriend”, The Era, October, 1901 emphasis added)
THE GRAY’S MINIÉ MUSKETS
On May 24, 1859 the Richmond Grays were on parade to receive the "Minnie"
(Minié) muskets, tendered to them by Governor Henry Wise. The ceremonial
presentation took place in Capitol Square that evening (City Items, Richmond
Whig, April 26, 1859.) The Minié rifle was developed in 1849 and was designed to
allow rapid muzzle loading, an innovation that brought about the widespread use of
the rifle as a mass battlefield weapon. These valuable weapons were owned by the
Commonwealth of Virginia, issued to each enrolled militia member, who was
responsible for the rifle’s maintenance and safekeeping. Each of the men who
boarded the train that night would have their issued weapon with them. This fact
might explain the remark made by Isabella Pallen Beale as recalled by her daughter,
Mary Bella Beale.
“1859 when the drums beat to summon the Jefferson Guards to
start to Aquia Creek --- Wilkes Booth was one of the first to don
his uniform. He had always been “one of the boys” in Richmond,
ready for a fire or a fray. My mother (Isabella Pallen Beale) who
was one of Virginia’s most devoted admirers, and one of the most
rebellious of rebels, gave Wilkes Booth her blessing and even
offered him an ancient carbine that was rusty, not having been
used since the war of 1812”(Notes and Correspondence of Mary
Bella Beale in the David Rankin Barbee Papers, Georgetown
University Library, Special Collections Research Center, Box 5,
folder 280.)
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Isabella Pallen Beale was the wife of noted Richmond physician and theater patron
Dr. James Beale. Dr. Beale was Booth’s physician. The Beale home on 9th Street
was in close proximity to the Marshall Theater, the RF&PRR Depot, Capitol
Square, and Booth’s hotel the Powhatan House. As a non-enrolled member
frantically trying to volunteer that night, Booth's lack of a musket might have been
the reason he visited the Beale home that evening, as recollected by Mrs. Beale's
daughter. Booth thought well of both Dr. and Mrs. Beale.
“I called on Dr. Beale soon after I arrived here. He and his
Lady seem a very nice couple. I like them very much” (John
Rhodenhamel and Louise Taper, editors, Right or Wrong,
God Judge Me, the Writings of John Wilkes Booth,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2001, Pg.
45.)
The Beales were also fond of Booth, and he was a frequent visitor in their home.
WHERE DID BOOTH GET HIS MUSKET?
However, the ancient musket “offered” by Mrs. Beale was probably not the same
one that Booth was subsequently seen with when he was observed boarding the
train. The Gray’s state-issued arm, the Minié Rifle, was an innovation standard,
which fired and required the unique and greatly improved projectile, the Minié
bullet. Militia rifles were stored in the armory located in Capitol Square’s Bell
Tower. (Dowdey, Clifford, 1992, A History of the Confederacy: 1832-1865, Barnes
& Noble Books, pg. 63) In order to be issued one of these weapons a bond was
required by law. In 1860, an additional condition would be added requiring an
order from the Adjunct General. (“Virginia News”, Alexandria Gazette, December
25, 1860) Whatever its source, from the sequence noted in Southall’s recollection,
the gun was apparently acquired in a very short period of time.
BOOTH’S DISTINCTIVE OVERCOAT THAT NIGHT
On the subject of Booth’s overcoat ,which Taylor noted him carrying that night and
in Washington D.C., Richmonder George Crutchifeld, who claimed to have known
Booth “quite well,” remarked that in Richmond “he frequently wore, when on the
streets, a fur trimmed over-coat”. (Crutchfield, George. Personal Letter to E.V.
Valentine dated July 5, 1904, V.M.T.C.) Could this be the same coat?
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John Wilkes Booth,
Carte de Visite taken by Charles D. Fredricks New York (1863)
Library of Congress.
A coat matching the one that Crutchfield described appears in
several later photographs of John Wilkes Booth. The stylish coat
had a unique Inverness style attached cape and Astrakhan (curly
lamb) fur collar. Its design would make it memorable and Booth
evidently was fond of it. There are numerous instances of Booth
being described wearing this coat. It stood out even during his
1864 career as an oilman in Pennsylvania [ “…impressively
handsome in an overcoat with astrakhan collar and flowing over-
cape” (Dolson, The Great Oildorado, pg. 148).] Even his sister
Asia remarked about this distinctive garment: “[h]e was known
everywhere by his large loose-hanging light overcoat, with its
deep sleeves and cape… His was not a face or figure to go
unremarked. He was easily recognizable” (Clarke, Asia Booth,
The Unlocked Book; A Memoir of John Wilkes Booth by his
Sister, New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1938, pg. 118 – emphasis
added)
So was his overcoat.
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GOVERNOR HENRY ALEXANDER WISE
Henry Alexander Alexander Wise
Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
(Shown with his “high beaver hat” Taylor described but alas, no spectacles)
1856-1860
(Library of Congress)
Amongst the first hand Grays recollections found to date, Taylor’s alone states that
Governor Henry Wise accompanied these men, and unexpectedly, that John Wilkes
Booth marched behind him down Pennsylvania Avenue. Thanks to the Governor’s
flamboyant personality and the national press coverage it always drew, Wise’s
presence on this journey ensured that the deployment’s progress was chronicled in
leading newspapers. From reading the articles documenting Wise’s journey, a
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complete and remarkable picture of Booth’s journey with the Grays emerges. Wise
indeed “cut a big figure” while leading his regiment down Pennsylvania Avenue, in
fact his march was a national sensation, as was the man himself.
WHO WAS “THE FANTASTICAL” HENRY ALEXANDER WISE?
In 1859, the 53-year-old Wise was in the last year of his 4-year term as Governor of
the Commonwealth of Virginia. Previously, Wise had served as a four time U.S.
Congressman (representing the Accomac (Accomack) region of Virginia’s Eastern
Shore) and American Minister to the Court of Brazil. Wise’ legal and political
career was colorful from the very start, distinguished by a dazzling intellect,
impassioned eloquence and a volatile temperament. When electrified during a
soaring flight of oratory, the tall but small boned Wise resembled an animated
tobacco spewing corpse, a fascinating sight, impossible to forget and in some cases,
depending on Wise’s rhetoric, impossible to forgive. Henry Wise’s contemporaries
either hated or loved him, sometimes holding both emotions concurrently. Deemed
patriot or lunatic, “Knight of the Old Dominion” or “Disgrace to the
Commonwealth”, everyone had their opinion, Henry Wise left no one without one.
In an 1858 editorial, Richmond Whig editor Robert Ridgway had been inspired by
Wise’s rhetoric to refer to him as some form of “ass” no fewer than 11 times. (“The
Kansas Question”, Richmond Whig, January 12, 1858. ) A year later, playing upon
John Brown’s nickname of “Osawatomie” Brown yet another one was added for the
governor, “What-an-ass-am-I” Wise. (“Governor Wise”, Alexandria Gazette,
December 22, 1859)
Henry Wise knew best on all subjects and at all times and would do any talking that
needed to be done and on any and all sides of the issue at hand. The last word was
always his, regardless of how many words or pages of newsprint it took for Wise to
get the last word. In 1851 at Virginia’s Constitutional Convention, it took five
days. When Wise finally got the last word, he had outdrawn John’s father the great
Junius Brutus Booth who was appearing at the Marshal Theater. And no wonder:
“The speech of Henry A. Wise is one of the most remarkable harangues
ever delivered to a deliberative body. Whether considered in respect of
its magnitude or the manner of its delivery, or the doctrine it
promulgates, it is a phenomenon – an intellectual monster. No man
who has not seen and heard him in his present performance can have
the least conception of the matter or the manner. The attitudes and
gesticulations of the man are in themselves a marvel. Now he stands
erect, with uplifted hand, imploring the favor, or imprecating the wrath
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of heaven; again he sinks almost to the floor in the agony of some
extreme passion. Now he whispers forth the accents of persuasion,
anon he hisses out some withering anathema. At one time his voice
rings like the blast of a sufferent call; again it sinks to the solemn sound
of a Sunday sermon. At one moment his face beams with gentleness,
presently it flames with all the passions of a fury. He strides up and
down the floor, he tosses and wings his arms, he shakes his fist and
points his finger – he stamps, and raves and scowls. Every topic is
discussed by the orator, no matter what its irrelevancy. Now he is
speculating about the origin of society, in a moment he launches into an
invective against race-horses. Now he is complimenting Jesus Christ
and now abusing John Randolph; at one moment he quotes
Shakespeare, at another the Bible, Magna Carta and King John, the
Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson, the Medes and the
Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, the French and the English, the
whites and the blacks – all figure in this comprehensive medley. In
power, in interest, in effect, no man in the Convention can compare
with him. Crowds flock to hear him, just as they go to the playhouse, to
be amused and excited by comic passages, and by brilliant declamation.
Booth was playing Hamlet at the theater, and Wise Harlequin at the
Capitol, and the latter drew the crowd” (Southside Democrat;
Petersburg, Va., Henry A. Wise, May 12, 1851, Daily Alabama
Journal.)
Whether playing aristocrat as a common man, or a common man among aristocrats,
Wise scripted and changed his role as necessary. Standing between political
parties, Wise’s constituents were governed by Wise and not Wise by his
constituents. From the time he entered political life until the day of his death,
Henry Alexander Wise was at all times the head of the dragon and never its tale.
Whether viewed as Democrat or Demagogue, Henry Wise knew himself to be an
exceptional man who openly gloried in his genius and reveled in his eccentricities.
Wise’s many colorful antics included the following.
Acting within the definition of gentlemanly conduct as prescribed in the
South’s “Code Duello Wise had engaged at age 27 in a duel and wounded the
man, Richard Coke, whom he had narrowly defeated for his first term in
congress. A few years later, Wise incurred life-long notoriety as a duelist
resulting from his role as a second in the deadly, Cilley-Graves duel.
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Outside the scope of gentlemanly conduct, Wise initiated several truly
remarkable brawls while in the House of Representatives, at least one of
which engulfed the entire House floor in a scene of mayhem. He was
infamous for having threatened to shoot a Congressional witness during the
man’s testimony in the House chambers. His intense hatred of House
Speaker (and future president) James K. Polk was legendary. Wise’s verbal
and physical abuse of Speaker Polk actually culminated in his storied pulling
of Speaker Polk’s nose.
During a dispute with the Royal Court of Brazil over a a new-born princess’s
baptism, American Minister Henry A. Wise threatened to have the American
warships anchored in the harbor at Rio open fire on the town.
In 1856, as the newly elected Governor of Virginia, Wise vowed to march his
state’s entire militia to Washington and take over the Capitol if John C.
Fremont had won the 1856 Presidential election.
During his time as governor of Virginia, Wise had engaged in a widely
publicized physical altercation in his office within the Capitol building,
during which he contributed a deft punch in the nose and a strong kick in the
seat of the pants to vanquish his opponent.
In 1858, Henry Wise had set his sights on the 1860 Democratic presidential
nomination. In August, Wise corresponded with New York Democrat party
committee chairman and professed admirer, Bernard Donnelly. In an exchange of
personal correspondence regarding the upcoming convention, Wise, in a fatal
indiscretion, discussed with Donnelly the possibility to suborn the New York
delegation as a means to secure Wise the nomination. Wise’s letter was
subsequently published in the New York papers, seized upon, and widely
distributed. It caused a tremendous negative reaction that effectively derailed
Wise’s prospects for the nomination. However, in 1859 the aging dragon had lost
none of his fire or his presidential aspirations. In his last few months as Governor,
Wise was hoping to somehow still pursue the nomination when John Brown’s raid
at Harper’s Ferry hit Virginia and Henry Wise like a lightning bolt. In October,
Wise had been denied the opportunity, and the glory, to defend Virginia’s “sacred
soil,” arriving too late at Harper’s Ferry to take part in the battle. However, when
lightning struck a second unexpected time in November, it seemed fate had handed
Henry Wise another chance to both redeem Virginia’s honor and salvage his
presidential prospects.
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BOOTH’S MOVEMENTS NOVEMBER 19, 1859
A LIKELY RECONSTRUCTION
Booth’s first stop before boarding the train was likely the baggage car where he
obtained a cap and a jacket from Libby and Bossieux. After obtaining the cap and
jacket, Booth then obtained a musket. After obtaining the musket, Booth returned
to the theater and he exited with Alfriend carrying his distinctive coat over his arm,
musket in hand. In the last few moments before the train pulled out, Booth and
Alfriend board one of the coaches that held the Grays.
BOOTH’S PERMISSION TO BOARD
LIBBY AND BOSSIEUX WERE BOYS WITH NO AUTHORITY
Contrary to the impression that Tucker’s article conveyed, neither Libby nor
Bossieux, two junior members of the Grays, delegated to guard the company’s
baggage, had the authority to grant Booth’s permission to accompany the Gray’s to
Charlestown. Further, Taylor’s recollection claims “Capt. Elliott granted him
permission to go.”
CAPTAIN WYATT MOSELY ELLIOTT
A MAN WITH AUTHORITY
Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott (1823-1897)
Image Courtesy VMI
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According to Taylor’s manuscript, the individual who authorized Booth getting on
the train that night was Richmond Grays Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott. That night
Elliott, who was 36, would also be functioning as 1st Regimental Commander due
to the illness of Colonel Thomas P. August. Col. August would travel and join the
Regiment separately a few days later.
ELLIOT GRANTED PERMISSION
BUT WAS IT SOLELY ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY,
OR WAS IT AT THE DIRECTION OF SOMEONE ELSE?
Elliott, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institution, “VMI,” known as the West
Point of the South, would have followed accepted military protocol that night and
observed the understood mandate that only enrolled members be allowed to board
the train. Why would Elliott deviate from protocol and authorize Booth to go along?
There was no known connection between the two men. Elliott never provided any
recollections of knowing Booth. Even if Elliott, as acting regimental commander,
granted Booth permission to go, it is unlikely that Elliott would have done so on
solely his own authority when the ultimate authority, the tempestuous Governor
Henry A. Wise, a political adversary, would be on that same train.
Richmond Grays Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott was the proprietor of the Richmond
Whig, a Wise opposition paper. That evening Elliott was in a very delicate
position. His editor, Robert Ridgway, was amongst Wise’s most fervent political
enemies. In less than two years the Governor’s son, O. Jennings Wise had been
involved in eight duels defending his father’s honor and had beaten Ridgway in a
very public canning over repeatedly calling his father an “ass” in an editorial which
had appeared in Elliott’s own paper. Wise and his son and champion, O. Jennings
Wise, a Private in Company F, would both be on this same train.
As acting Regimental Commander that night, would Elliott have further strained his
relationship with the Governor or his son by authorizing an unproven volunteer to
accompany the Regiment without first obtaining either Wise’s consent? Without
that consent, Elliott would be held responsible for any subsequent embarrassment
caused by the man’s actions. Even worse, his inclusion in the first place could be
construed by the combustible Governor to have been an intentional act by Elliott to
politically sabotage Wise’s hopes to salvage his 1860 presidential aspirations.
(“Shall the Charleston Convention Nominate Henry A. Wise”, National Era,
November 7, 1859). Could the authority behind Elliott’s permission have been the
Governor’s son, “Private” O. Jennings Wise?
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“PRIVATE” O. JENNINGS WISE
A MAN WITH MORE AUTHORITY
“Private” O. Jennings Wise was in a unique position to add authority, if sought, to
Elliott’s permission. O. Jennings Wise, Obie, the eldest son of Governor Henry
Wise and Editor of the Richmond Enquirer, was Virginia’s most unusual and
powerful private.
Under the laws of the State of Virginia, any man who participated in a duel, either
as a principal or second, was barred (disenfranchised) from holding commissioned
rank or elected office. Virginia granted periodic amnesties, but any known dueling
activity that stemmed subsequent to the last declared amnesty period resulted in
disenfranchisement until the next amnesty was adopted. This law led to some very
unusual privates during the 1859 militia deployments, the most famous being
Obadiah (O.) Jennings Wise himself.
“Obie’” held the singular distinction of having engaged in a record eight duels in
less than two years while defending his father’s honor, in one even borrowing a flint
rifle from the State Armory (“To the Public”, Richmond Whig, November 26,
1858.) Despite being the Governor’s son, under the laws of Virginia, until the next
amnesty was adopted, Obie’s very public dueling record held him, officially at
least, to the rank of a private in Richmond’s Company F.
During the November 1859 deployment of the 1st Virginia Regiment to
Charlestown Col. J. Lucius Davis, then commanding on site, (the same man whose
alarmed telegram to Governor Wise on November 19th set the special train in
motion) proudly recounted to the northern newspapermen present that he had served
as Obie’s second in a recent “affair of honor.” (John Brown’s Invasion, November
19, 1859, New York Herald Tribune) The public knowledge of this detail, was
seized upon with Northern glee and spread beyond Virginia. Once widely known,
Gov. Wise was compelled to appoint, in a delicately worded order of substitution,
General William B. Taliaferro in Lucas’ stead (“Morsenographic for the Public
Ledger from Charlestown, Va” Public Ledger November 24, 1859, and “Military
Orders”, Alexandria Gazette, November 28, 1859.)
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Members of Governor Wise’s staff at Charlestown
Quarter Plate (Ambrotype taken by Lewis Dinkle at Charlestown 1859 Museum of
the Confederacy)
Left to Right (Standing) - James Lyons Esq., Major Alexander G. Taliaferro,
Private O. Jennings Wise. Seated: General William B. Taliaferro, Military Secretary
Samuel Bassett French.
[James Lyons was the brother of Governor Henry Wise’s third wife, Mary (Lyons)
Wise, who was Obie’s Stepmother. In the above ambrotpe, Lyons is seen facing
and saluting in the direction of a whimsically smiling “Private” O. Jennings Wise.]
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JENNINGS WISE AND WILKES BOOTH
O. Jennings Wise, Cropped from Charles Dinkle Group Ambrotype
Charlestown, 1859
While in Charlestown, Elliott performed double duty as both Captain of the
Richmond Grays and reporter for his newspaper the Richmond Whig. Obie, Editor
of the Richmond Enquirer, did likewise, serving both as a private in Company F
and as reporter for his own newspaper (Boyd Stutler database; NY Semi-Weekly
Tribune article dated November 25, 1859.) Both papers represented opposing
political views. The Enquirer, partially owned by Henry Wise, and edited by his
son, was known as “Wise’s Organ.” Elliott’s paper, the Richmond Whig and its
editor Robert Ridgway, were political opponents.
The often quoted “sock and buskin” reference to John Wilkes Booth at Charlestown
(see below), commonly associated with the December 1, 1859 New York Herald,
was actually a stringer from earlier articles that appeared on November 29, 1859 in
both Elliott’s and Wise’s newspapers, the Richmond Whig and the Richmond
Enquirer. As such, the original article must have been written and telegraphed by
one of the only two reporters who could have filed the story from Charlestown,
Wyatt M. Elliott or O. Jennings Wise.
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“The Richmond Grays and Company F, which seem to vie with
each other in the handsome appearance they present reminded one
of uncaged birds, so wild and gleesome they appear. Amongst
them I notice Mr. J. Wilkes Booth, a son of Junius Booth, who,
though not a member, as soon as he heard the tap of the drum,
threw down the sock and buskin and shouldered his musket and
marched with the Grays to the reported scene of deadly conflict”
(“The Harpers Ferry Trouble”, New York Herald, December 1,
1859, reprinted from: “ Charlestown Intelligence”, Richmond
Whig, November 29, 1859, and “Charlestown Intelligence”,
Richmond Enquirer, November 29, 1859 emphasis added.)
Of additional interest is that the article addressed both respective companies, O.
Jennings Wise’s Company F and John Wilkes Booth’s Richmond Grays.
Notably, another period article that comments on Obie’s dueling disqualification,
astonishingly links both Obie’s and John Wilkes Booth’s presence at Charlestown
in the same sentence.
“In the ranks of Company F from Richmond are O. Jennings
Wise, the Governor’s son and a younger brother of Edwin Booth,
the tragedian. The later left the theater immediately after a
performance and hastened to join his corps. Mr. Wise who would
occupy a higher post were he not a duelist, and thus disqualified
from holding office, shares the privations of his associates – a fact
which the citizens point to with astonished pride. He takes his
turn at the picket guard and the cook shop manfully with the rest”
(“The Harper’s Ferry Troubles”, Commercial Advertiser,
December 1, 1859.)
The source of the article is attributed to the New York paper, Commercial
Advertiser, but like the “Charlestown Intelligence” article, it might too have been a
stringer from an earlier Richmond newspaper. If so, then along with the “sock and
buskin” article referencing Booth at Charlestown, there could only have been two
sources, reporters Wyatt Mosely Elliott (The Richmond Whig) or O. Jennings Wise
(The Richmond Enquirer).
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AN ADDITIONAL CONNECTION BETWEEN
O. JENNINGS WISE AND JOHN WILKES BOOTH
In a letter from noted researcher James O. Hall to Dr. Constance Head, dated March
17, 1982, Hall wrote that in the “Booth effects listed in M599 is the signature, O.
Jennings Wise on the back of a little card of some sort” (M599; Investigation and
Trial Papers relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln, NARA, National
Archives, Washington D.C., Catalog ID: 595601.) The card had no bearing on the
events of 1865. Thus, the card was not cataloged and is buried in over at thousand
feet of microfilm, making it a challenge to locate.
Until that card is located, there can only be theories as to what it might be and what
light it can shed on the relationship that existed in 1858-1860 between Jennings
Wise and Wilkes Booth. It is known that John Wilkes Booth left Richmond by the
end of May 1860. The card bearing O. Jennings Wise’s signature had to predate
that departure. Perhaps the card pertained to some event held in Richmond,
possibly at the Governor’s Mansion. It is also possible that the card played a role in
the events of November 19th. Perhaps Booth in the last few minutes at the depot
presented the card to Captain Elliott: It authorizing Booth to board the train.
Perhaps the card was used to obtain a State issued gun [Militia rifles were stored in
the Bell Tower in Capital Square (Dowdey, Clifford, 1992, A History of the
Confederacy: 1832-1865, Barnes & Noble Books, pg. 63)] However, the existence
of the card establishes that a relationship of some sort existed between the two men.
Whatever its meaning, the card was important enough to Booth for him to keep for
the remainder of his life, winding up in the cataloged “Booth effects” in 1865.
Perhaps it even served as a reminder of when his sister Asia said John had
“unsought, enrolled himself” on that remarkable night.
WHO WAS O. JENNINGS WISE?
In antebellum Richmond, the gallant O. Jennings Wise, eldest son of Governor
Henry Wise, was the personification of all things Southern and Chivalrous.
Richmond Gray Edward M. Alfriend’s brother, noted author Frank Alfriend, would
leave a recollection of Obie.
“he [Obie] had become, at the time of his death (1862), a sort of idol
to worship and model to imitate. He was the highest type of their
class, the purest reflection of their time-honored code of chivalry, the
champion of their state pride and the fitting exponent of their
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unrivalled traditions.” (Alfriend, Frank, “Recollections of O. Jennings
Wise”, Crescent Monthly, Vol. 1, April 1866.)
Others would comment on Obie’s embodiment of the concepts of gentility and
chivalry, velvet and steel.
”…it would be difficult to imagine a human being more modest,
kindly and simple…yet with these softer traits …his nerve had in
it something antique and splendid, as of the elder days of chivalry,
when neither monster nor magician, giant nor winged dragon,
could make the heart of the good knight quail, or move him from
his steadfast purpose. Indeed you would have said that the Creator
had breathed into this clay the loveliest traits of humanity, and
raised up in the prosaic nineteenth century a “good knight” of old
days, to show the loveliness of honour.” (Cooke, John Esten, The
Wearing of the Gray, 1867)
“Gentle as was that brother – tender and loving as he was to
everyone, devoted as a slave to his father, deferential to his
mother as if she had been a queen, courteous and considerate
towards the humblest servant who ministered to his wants,
honored and beloved by everybody with whom he was thrown he
was nevertheless as fearless and uncompromising in certain things
as the fiercest knight who ever entered the lists. He was, more
emphatically than any man I ever knew, the type of the class to
which he belonged.” (Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era,
Houghton Mifflin, 1899, pg. 65 – emphasis added)
In 1859, Obie, the 19th century’s “good knight,” was the “idol to worship and
model to imitate.” He was Richmond’s “Prince of the City.”
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WHY WOULD O. JENNINGS WISE
AUTHORIZE BOOTH TO GO ALONG THAT NIGHT?
According to John Sergeant Wise, Obie’s youngest brother,
“[o]ne night we attended the play of “East Lynne” at the old Richmond
Theatre. The performance was poor enough, to be sure, to a young man
fresh from Paris, but I thought it was great. On our way home, he [Obie]
remarked that the only performer of merit in the cast was the young
fellow, John Wilkes Booth. In him, he said, there was the making of a
good actor. The criticism made an impression upon me, who remembered
the man and the name. Little did I imagine then that in seven years[1865]
my beloved companion would be one of the victims of our great national
tragedy or that, at its close, the callow stripling who played before us that
night would shock the civilized world with the awful assassination of the
President” (Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era, Houghton, Mifflin and
Company, 1899, pg. 65.)
Given the social aspects of antebellum Richmond and the signed card found in the
Booth’s 1865 effects, it is more than likely that O. Jennings Wise and John Wilkes
Booth were acquainted. John Sergeant Wise’s recollection of a single observation
of one performance some 40 years later might have been a loving brother’s
protective post-assassination distancing. We know from John Sergeant Wise that
Obie enjoyed the theater, they went often, and Alfriend stated that Booth in
Richmond “was a great social favorite, knowing all of the best men and many of the
finest women.” Certainly O. Jennings Wise more than qualified as one of those
“best men” in Richmond.
Dr. Beale’s daughter would recall that their home was an almost nightly site for
after-theater parties with John Wilkes Booth often present.
“Many a night he (Booth) would return home with my father after the
play was over. There was always a warm supper and a warm welcome
for my father’s guests after the theater doors were closed…Almost
every night my father would drop in the Richmond Theater, where he
had a box, and it was seldom that he came home alone.” (Notes and
Correspondence of Mary Bella Beale in the David Rankin Barbee
Papers, Georgetown University Library, Special Collections Research
Center, Box 5, folder 280)
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Dr. James Beale was a prominent Richmond physician. John Wilkes Booth was a
frequent guest at his house…and here the young actor met the cream of Richmond
Society (John Rhodenhamel and Louise Taper, editors, Right or Wrong, God Judge
Me, the Writings of John Wilkes Booth, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and
Chicago, 2001, Pg. 46.)
The “best men” were very social beings, and “sociability” was one of the marks of
being a gentleman. Obie’s home at the Governor’s Mansion in Capitol Square, the
Marshall Theater, the Beale residence, and Booth’s hotel room at the Powhatan
House, were all within a few blocks of each other, providing the opportunity for
Obie and Booth to socialize, and they would have.
To the class of men who represented “the Chivalry” of Richmond, which O.
Jennings Wise personified, the young Wilkes Booth, the southern boy from the
Maryland countryside with his “Quixotic notions” would have already been
accepted as one of them. On the night of November 19th
, determined to board the
train, Wilkes Booth would likely have sought out and appealed to the acknowledged
leader of that class of men, Jennings Wise, for permission to prove his fealty to
Virginia.
“When the John Brown raid occurred, Booth left the Richmond
Theater for the scene of strife in a picked company with which he
had affiliated for some time. From his connection with the militia
on this occasion he was wont to trace his fealty to Virginia.”
(Townsend, George Alfred, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, The
Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, 1865, Page 22
emphasis added)
GOVERNOR HENRY A. WISE
THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY
The final decision on who could allow Booth to board the train that evening would
have rested with the ultimate authority, both on that train and within the
Commonwealth of Virginia, its indomitable Governor Henry Alexander Wise.
Henry Wise was a flamboyant individual with a volatile temper. That night, the
stakes could not have been any higher for Henry Wise who was risking both his
personal and State’s honor as well as his own political future on the conduct of his
1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers.
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Henry Wise had “his eye upon these men” and when he cautioned them “he relied
upon them for his honor” they were well aware of the responsibility those words
carried and the consequences of failure. All of Virginia and certainly these very
same men knew of his rage at missing the earlier October opportunity to defend its
sacred soil. Upon his arrival and dismay at finding the combat ended, Wise was
likened to “a man who in a violent passion had kicked at a door, only to find it
open” (David Hunter Strother’s Lecture on John Brown, Cleveland, 1868.)
After arriving too late in October, Wise was determined that on his second
unexpected chance to defend Virginia, he and his men would arrive in time and that
they would face up to any challenge encountered. As with the earlier deployment,
Wise fully expected these men to again be able to “preserve their order, composure,
dignity and discipline in the midst of highest excitement and confusion.” It would
be “no holiday parade, but a summons into actual service; “there must be no child’s
play; and you must, and I am sure you will, observe strictly the orders and
requirements of the service in which you are engaged” (“The Harper’s Ferry
Outbreak; Speech of Governor Wise at Richmond”, New York Herald, October 26,
1859 and “Governor Wise’s Speech at Richmond on the Subject of the Harper’s
Ferry Rebellion”, Alexandria Gazette, October 27, 1858.) And of course, there
was that coming presidential election as well.
Under the circumstances, it is highly unlike that someone below Wise in the chain
of authority that night would countermand the sole military aspect of that evening’s
special train and risk embarrassing or incurring the wrath of the Governor of
Virginia, especially that governor with so much riding on this deployment’s
success.
For very different reasons, neither Richmond Grays Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott
(the Acting Regimental commander that evening) or his son, O. Jennings Wise,
would have put the governor in a position to risk everything on an unknown and
untrained participant without first clearing it with him. The time to bring to Henry
Wise’s attention the existence of a volunteer non-enrolled member requesting
permission to accompany the 1st Regiment would have been prior to the train
pulling out, and certainly not later.
In spite of all of the odds against him going, the fact that John Wilkes Booth
actually went that evening and was observed by Taylor marching behind Governor
Henry Wise in Washington likely proves that Wise himself, the ultimate authority
that night, at a minimum ratified the decision allowing Booth to board.
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TRAVELING IN “THE CARS” IN 1859
THE RAILROAD EXPERIENCE
THE DISJOINTED RAILROADS OF VIRGINIA
In 1859 Virginia, the concept of railroad consolidation remained a distant one.
Virginia’s railroads had not been designed to create a comprehensive transportation
network connecting the major cities in the state. Railroads had been independently
chartered and financed. Initially, the focus was on transporting goods (farm
products), and most track ran east and west. Gradually the transportation of goods
included passenger traffic.
Once its specific track was laid and its own needs met, little, if any, thought was
given to any “next” logical extension. Adding to the segmented aspect of Southern
railroads was the non-standardized track gauges. In the same city, railroads built
terminals/depots, in separate locations requiring ground transportation between
depots, even if the two points were merely blocks away from each other, as was the
case in Richmond with both the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and
the Richmond Petersburg Railroad depots along 8th Street.
The route of the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad was unique in that
rather than running east and west across Virginia, it ran north and south, carrying
passengers and freight between Richmond and Fredericksburg. From there,
passengers and freight were transferred to steamboats sailing from Aquia Landing
up the Potomac River to reach Washington D.C. From Washington D.C. the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad offered transit to Baltimore and up through its
connecting network fanned out east and west.
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THE RICHMOND FREDERICKSBURGE & POTOMAC DEPOT,
8TH
& BROAD
Sources for Map are from the 1859 Richmond Directory:
Map of the City of Richmond, Va.
From a survey by I.H. Adams, Assist. U.S. Coast Survey, 1858
With Additions from Smith’s Map of Henrico County, 1853
Prepared at the U.S. Coast Survey Office,
A.D.Bache, Supt.
1864
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RF&PRR Depot at 8th & Broad Streets (circa 1866)
Library of Congress
RF&PRR Depot at 8
th & Broad Streets (circa 1866/65)
National Archives
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The Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad’s (RF&PRR) first station in
Richmond was a combined freight and passenger depot and was located on the
north side of H Street (later renamed Broad, perhaps in recognition of its 120 foot
width) between 7th and 8th. It was not an impressive structure. John Sergeant
Wise would describe it as “dingy” (Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era, Houghton,
Mifflin and Company, 1899, pg. 84.) Trains loaded and unloaded passengers and
freight in the middle of Broad Street, which was unpaved, and the tracks then
continued up the middle of the street on an embankment to what was later called
Harrison Street. The RF&PRR track’s terminus along Broad Street did not end at
the depot, but continued, most likely via a wye, to the RF&PPRR yards, warehouses
and workshops located along the two blocks paralleling Broad, along Marshall and
Clay Streets.
The Marshall Theater was located immediately adjacent to the RF&PRR depot on
the Southeast corner of 7th and Broad Streets. This close proximity meant that any
train noises (whistles, bells, steam) could easily be heard by theatergoers and
disrupt performances. Thus, no trains were scheduled to arrive or depart between 7
o’clock and Midnight (The Stranger’s Guide and Official Directory for the City of
Richmond Virginia”, Geo. P. Evans & Co., Printers.)
THEATRICAL CONSEQUENCES OF A “SPECIAL TRAIN”
An extra or special train was an unscheduled train, one not found in the railroad’s
normal timetable (“Train Rules ad Kindred Subjects”, from The Railroad
Trainmen’s Journal, January, 1906.) In 1859, there were two special trains that left
Richmond during theater hours, both in response to the “affairs at Harper’s Ferry,”
and, both disrupted the performances at the Marshall Theater. On October 17,
1859,
“The notable comedian Ben Rogers was playing in “Tom and Jerry”
when he was unexpectedly greeted by a loud hiss”…Don’t get mad
Philips (Stage Manager Israel B. Phillips) – its only the “keers” (cars)
letting off steam!” That was the truth. The depot being directly
opposite the theater, the hissing came from the locomotive which had
just arrived and was steaming”(“A Theatrical Joke”, New Hampshire
Patriot, November 23, 1859 based on “Hissing an Actor by Steam”,
October 19, 1859 in the Alexandria Gazette, reprinted from the
Richmond Whig)
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The timing of the special train on Saturday evening, November 19th, would again
interfere with that night’s scheduled performance of “The Filibuster” and “The
Toodles.” From the time the alarm bell started ringing on Saturday, November
19th, it is doubtful that Manager Kunkel at the Marshall Theater had any hope of
salvaging his box office that evening when “most of the audience poured out of the
theater to witness the proceedings, leaving the performers to play to vacant seats”
(Exciting Reports from Charlestown – Departure of the Richmond Military”,
Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 21, 1859.)
THE AMERICAN RAILROAD TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL…
“There is a great deal of jolting, a great deal of noise, a great deal
of wall, not much window, a locomotive engine, a shriek, and a
bell. The cars are like shabby omnibuses, but larger; holding
thirty, forty, fifty people. The seats, instead of stretching from
end to end, are placed crosswise. Each seat holds two persons.
There is a long row of them on each side of the caravan, a narrow
passage up the middle, and a door at both ends. In the center of
the carriage there is usually a stove, fed with charcoal or
anthracite coal, which is for the most part red-hot. It is
insufferably close; and you see the hot air fluttering between
yourself and any other object you may happen to look at, like the
ghost of smoke---Tears the mad dragon of an engine with its train
of cars; scattering in all directions a shower of burning sparks
from its wood fire; screeching, hissing, yelling, panting, until at
last the thirsty monster stops beneath a covered way to drink, the
people cluster round, and you have time to breathe again.”
(Dickens, Charles, “American Notes for General Circulation”,
1842)
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THE IRON HORSE
“Harness me down with your iron bands,
And be sure of your curb and rein:
For I scorn the strength of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns the rain!”
“Rambles in the Path of the Steam-Horse”
An Off-Hand Olla Podrida”
Ele(Eli) Bowen
1855
Typical 4-4-0 Engine with boxcar and passenger car
Steam locomotive styles were commonly described by their progressive series of
wheel arrangements. In 1859 the American Design locomotive industry standard
would have had (4) driving wheels and a swiveling (4) wheel truck and no (0)
trailing wheels; designated by a 4-4-0 configuration.
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The inventory of the RF&PRR taken March 31, 1861 showed the following
locomotive engines; all referenced to be in good order. Any of these could have
been the engine, which pulled the special train on the November 19th 1st Virginia
Militia Deployment:
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Name of Locomotive
John A. Lancaster 1856
Thomas Sharp 1849
James Bosher 1851
Eclipse 1846
Nicholas Mills 1847
Tecumseh 1845
Henry Clay 1844
George W. Munford 1853
North Star 1852
G.A. Myers 1855
GPR James 1858
Type
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
4-4-0
(David L. Bright,
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The American Railroad Locomotive with “cow catcher” and all the other “Fixins”
Complete showing 4-4-0 engine
The New World in 1859: Being the United States and Canada
The “iron horse” consumed large quantities of coal or wood for fuel and water.
The heat generated by the fuel turned the water into steam and the steam drove the
engine that pulled the iron horse’s cart, the cars. Attached to the engine was the
iron horse’s feedbag, its “tender”. The tender had a compartment for fuel (wood or
coal) and one for the water. Both water and fuel need to be replenished about
every 50 miles. In 1859, trains travelled at approximately 20-25 miles per hour
during the day. Running at night, which was less frequent, the train’s speed would
have averaged between 12-18 mph. (David L. Bright,
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Taking on Water
Library of Congress
THE CARS (ROLLING STOCK)
THE BAGGAGE CAR
The Head End Cars, the freight, baggage and mail cars, were commonly placed at
the front of the train immediately after the locomotive and tender to separate the
passengers from the large amount of smoke and cinders that the locomotive emitted.
This placement of cars was also done for passenger safety in the event of a
derailment, because the first few cars following the locomotive were typically
derailed along with it. Railroads enforced strict rules of “no passengers” on freight
or baggage cars.
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THE PASSENGER CAR
Circa 1856 - Baltimore & Ohio RailRoad Passenger car,
arched roof, eight wheel car
Capacity 50 passengers, weight, 22,000 lbs.
The American Railroad Passenger Car
Side View, End Elevation, Interior layout with Stove and WC
(The Passenger car, (Part One) (White, John H. Jr., The American Railroad
Passenger Car, Parts I and II, Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology,
1978)
“Bound for Glory” has utilized the contemporary (1856) Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad specifics as provided in White, John H. Jr., The American Railroad
Passenger Car, Parts I and II, Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology,
(1978.) It is unknown if the RF&PRR cars reflected these exact specifications.
“The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad passenger car specifics for 1856
stated that its ceiling had been raised to 7 feet, deep cushions, high
padded backs and footrests added to the seating. A water closet,
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dressing room and water cooler were provided. Lighting inside
the car was very primitive, dimly light by candles or kerosene
lamps. “
“The windows opened but on some cars, tiny ventilators were
placed high between the windows so that air could be admitted
near the ceiling without opening the windows (to avoid ash and
cinders flying into the car. The overall length was 45 feet, 6
inches, the width of the body overall was 8 feet 9 inches; height
10 feet 7 inches; truck centers, 26 feet; truck wheelbase 4 feet 3
inches. On average each car could accommodate 40-50 passengers
with minimal carryon baggage.”
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In the universal American-style “open” passenger car, double passenger seats were
placed along a center aisle, which greatly contrasted with the European styled car,
which was comprised of a series of private compartments. Travel in the
compartment was characterized by immobility, whereas the American car provided
a great deal of mobility throughout the trip, both within the car itself and the
connecting ones.
Within passenger cars, the plainer cars were deemed “Accommodation Cars” with
the “Best Cars” being just that, offering the best accommodations and amenities.
Often a railroad’s most elaborate car was reserved for use by its president and board
of directors and was loaned out for VIP needs. The Richmond Fredericksburg &
Potomac Railroad had just such a car and its President Edwin Robinson most likely
loaned it for Governor Wise’s use during the October and November special trains.
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SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS
On November 19th the sleeping accommodations would be the seats.
White, John H. Jr., The American Railroad Passenger Car, Parts I and II, Johns
Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology, (1978.)
“Sleeping Cars” on southern railroads remained years in the future. During this
period of time, a unique sleeping configuration was that of men reclining on the
seats with their feet up on either the seat in front of them or out the window. It was
not uncommon for a train to go by with rows of feet seen sticking out of both sides
of the trains’ windows (Alvarez, Eugene, Travel on Southern Antebellum Railroads
1828-1860, University of Alabama Press, 1974, pg. 57. ) Perhaps Governor Wise
and his staff had better accommodations in the RF&P Directors’ car, but the men.
Any of the men able to drift off to sleep amidst the excitement and apprehension
would likely have assumed the standard sleeping position.
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The Railroad Passenger Car, An Illustrated History of the First
Hundred Years with Accounts by Contemporary Passengers
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THE STOVE
The iron stove, both blessing and curse, was usually located in the middle of the
passenger car. Despite railroad signs advising that “Gentlemen are Requested Not
To Spit on the Stove,” the stove, fired by firewood or anthracite coal, provided a
tempting target for tobacco chewing men. The monotony of a long journey was
often interrupted by the sizzle of success, the sound of a direct hit coming off the
stove’s hot iron. (Alvarez, Eugene, Travel on Southern Antebellum Railroads
1828-1860, University of Alabama Press, 1974, pg. 62 )
Despite its popularity as a target, the stove’s primary purpose was to provide heat,
and this it did poorly. In addition, the passenger cars were poorly insulated. The
end result was that people near the stove were too warm and everyone else too cold.
The stove’s haze of smoke added to the general passenger discomfort, and in the
case of a heavy jolt or hard braking, or worse an actual derailment, everyone in the
coach, particularly those sitting nearest it, faced a potential life-threatening hazard
from the stove (See “Railroad Accident”, Alexandria Gazette, February 9, 1859.
LIGHTING THE WAY
When railroads first started running trains at night, they kept a bonfire lit on a flat
car pushed by the engine. By the late 1830’s, a kerosene lamp was mounted on the
locomotive’s front aided by a reflector in back of the flame. By the 1840’s the
familiar box shaped light with enhanced reflector was in common use. The light
was strong enough for the engineer and fireman to see clearly down the track at
night. During this same time period a bell was added to warn people of an
oncoming train.
In the passenger cars, illumination would be by candles, placed at the ends of each
car or arrayed in fixtures that ran down the center of the coach above the aisle.
Gentlemen wearing high stovepipe hats needed to be cautious that they did not
catch on fire.
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THE “NECESSARY”
“The necessary” on the end of each train car was given esoteric labels such as
salon, lavatory, dressing room, washroom, water closet and retiring room, even the
term “loafing room” was employed. In reality during this time frame they were
airless, cramped closets barely 3 feet square which contained the toilet and in some
instances, a wash basin. The toilet itself was nothing more than a wooden box with
a circular hole (sometimes two) cut out on the top for a seat and the refuse dropped
directly onto the tracks. Sometimes two compartments were provided to separately
accommodate ladies. However primitive the arrangement, at least passengers on
long rides were no longer expected to solely “tend to their needs” before the start of
a journey or wait until the next station. (White, John H. Jr., The American Railroad
Passenger Car, Parts I and II, Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology,
1978)
REFRESHMENTS
Other than any liquor flasks carried on board, the only refreshments in each car
consisted of a water barrel and communal tin cup attached with a chain. Normally a
20-minute rest stop to allow for a quick meal would coincide with the train taking
on water and fuel. But things that night for this special train were not normal and to
our knowledge there were no delays for meals along the route. Even with a stop
along the way, with its unusual 9:30 p.m. departure time from Richmond, the train
would have left after the usual supper period and departed from Fredericksburg on
the Potomac Steamers prior to the breakfast period. Lastly, a train with 9 cars
would have far exceeded the usual number of travelers normally anticipated.
Without sufficient advance warning, 400 men would have swamped any way
station’s service capacity, most certainly within a 20-minute period. That night in
Richmond, other than a hastily grabbed biscuit eaten on the run between a man’s
dash home and his sprint to the depot, there would be nothing but a hoped for meal
somewhere along the way later on. Even Governor Wise left without his dinner
that evening. (“The Harper's Ferry Invasion; Terrible Excitement in Richmond -
Our Richmond Correspondence – Richmond, Va. November. 20, 1859” New York
Herald, November 23, 1859)
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THE FOOD THEY WOULD HAVE EATEN
IF THEY’D STOPPED
In addition to hosting Richmond’s militia companies’ retreats and excursions
Ashland’s “The Cottage Hotel” or more simply “The Cottage”, operated by its
genial proprietor, Mr. J. L. Thompson, served as the breakfast house for the
Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad’s train going north from
Richmond, the mid-day dining house for the train on its way south to Richmond,
and as the supper house for the evening train. Speeding by, the men on board this
night’s special train would have been familiar with the stop and the food but would
see neither on that evening’s journey.
The following meal selections were provided from “Railroads in America” in The
New World in 1859: Being the United States and Canada, Illustrated and Described
in 1859 and likely reflect standard fare.
Breakfast Station – Early a.m. “The breakfast station, with its plenty of good
cheer, in hot coffee, tea, toast, potatoes, ham and eggs, beef steaks, mutton
chops, bread and butter, eggs (boiled, poached and fried) with a tumbler of
iced-water.”
Dinner Station – 12:30 – 1:00: “Normally at the country way station; Most of
the dishes are cut up, all ready, and between soup, delicious trout from the
mountain streams at hand, farm-yard poultry, mutton, beef, pork, vegetables
and pies and tarts innumerable, with for desert –in summer season – water
melons, musk melons, huckleberries, and several fruits”
Tea or Supper Station - Generally about 5 o’clock: “The fare presented is
similar to breakfast, with the addition of pies, tarts, etc. with all kinds of
preserves.”
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THE DANGERS OF THE RAIL
Whenever possible, “[w]hen a trail derailed, which was not uncommon, everyone,
including the passengers, had to help place it back on the rails.” (Daniels, Rudolph,
Trains across the Continent, North American Railroad History, Second Edition,
1997/2000 Indiana University Press)
Original track of the RF&P RR consisted of cross ties about 12 inches square and 7
feet long laid 5 feet apart. The rail, a straight flat strip of iron ½ inch thick and 2
inches wide, was laid by nailing it down to wooden stringers that were wedged into
the cross ties. Shown contrasted with a “modern” rail circa 1980. The rail weighed
only 16 pounds to the yard and was often the cause of serious accidents.
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Snapped rail was also responsible for derailments including the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad passenger car derailment depicted below in Western Virginia. This is the
same area and terrain where the November special train would be traveling.
Depiction of historic derailment of B&ORR –Two passenger cars tumbled
100 feet down at steep cliff at Cheat River in West Virginia Mountains 1853. Cars
were derailed by a loose rail. Train Wrecks a Pictorial History of Accidents on the
Main Line
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SNAKEHEADS
Another danger was from “Snakeheads.” If a nail became loose, the thin strap
would bend up in what was known as a “snake’s head” which occasionally was
known to thrust itself through the wood floor of coaches, injuring, maiming or
killing passengers. Sledgehammers were kept handy to pound the offending
snakehead back onto the wooden stringer. (Griffin, William E., Jr. , One Hundred
Fifty Years of History: Along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.
Richmond: Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Co., 1984.)
Snakehead” circa 1861
Train Wrecks a Pictorial History of Accidents on the Main Line
THE “DANGERS OF TOBACCO”
THE NOXIOUS WEED – TRAIN ETIQUETTE
The southern man’s love of his “noxious weed” in all of its forms was legendary.
Smoked, chewed or sniffed, it would be embraced by many, if not all of the men of
Richmond, including those who comprised its 1st Regiment of Volunteers. That
night on the train many of these 400 men, most certainly including Governor Wise,
engaged in all of these pursuits; whether smoking against the rules on the train’s
platforms or spitting on the stove – tobacco was in the air one way or another, and a
prodigious amount of it too.
Sometimes the presence of ladies (certainly not present on this night’s special
military train) would shame a man’s smoking or chewing on “the cars” into a
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temporary submission; or force men to smoke or spit concealed in the water closets.
The absence of ladies that night meant that a man could light up at will in his seat,
or on the car platforms to get a breath of fresh air, or spit as he pleased on the hot
stove in each car without censure.
THE “SEGAR”
Cigars or “Segars” were prominently and incongruously on display when an
unidentified volunteer company chose to smoke them while on parade (City Items –
“The Militia”, Richmond Whig, April 29, 1859.) The inundation of segars in
Virginia was decried in the article “Inveterate Smoking”, which complained about
the invasion of segars everywhere one looked. (Alexandria Gazette, August 3,
1848)
THE DANGERS OF SMOKING
While disapproving ladies were absent that night on the train, a gentleman’s need for
his segar coupled with the dangers of smoking on a moving train remained. Sudden
train movements were common and an unprepared gentleman enjoying his segar on
the car’s platform could find himself and his segar deposited along the tracks or
crushed between the cars. While no accidents was reported that night, incidents like
these were common. The railroad prohibitions against standing on the platforms to
smoke or secreting oneself in the baggage car to do so were routinely ignored in the
love affair between a gentleman and his segar.
“THE JUICE”
“Although the offensive cigar in “everybody’s mouth” caused smarting
of the eyes within the coaches, the tobacco-chewer was believed to
have had no manners at all ….[t]he most disgusting passenger was the tobacco chewer.” (Alvarez, Eugene, Travel on Southern
Antebellum Railroads 1828-1860, University of Alabama Press, 1974,
pgs. 130 &131)
One could always extinguish a cigar, but remedying a mouth full of saliva required
a receptacle, an open space, a handkerchief, or a nonchalant attitude as to where it
was deposited. On the railroad cars of the day, the heating stove positioned in the
middle of each car made for a handy target. This practice of whiling away the time
spent on a journey by spitting at the car’s stove was not held in universal high
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regard but with inveterate chewer Governor Wise on board setting the example, and
the absence of any ladies, likely the tobacco juice was flying that evening.
“The Richmond Compiler very properly exposes the offensive and
disgusting practice of many passengers upon the Rail Road Cars,
in spitting great streams of tobacco juice on the heated stoves,
thereby rendering the confined atmosphere not only offensive, but
sickening to those who have no taste for the “vile weed.” But this
is not all. Every corner and space under the seats is also filled by
the filthy saliva, so that, if by accident you drop your
handkerchief, gloves or cloak, they are rendered unfit for decent
hands ever after.” (“Hit them Again”, Alexandria Gazette, January
12, 1846)
“In railroad cars-it was not uncommon to see the floor covered with the filthy scum.” (Alvarez, Eugene, Travel on
Southern Antebellum Railroads 1828-1860, University of
Alabama Press, 1974, pg. 130)
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“BOUND FOR GLORY” WITH HENRY WISE:
CHRONICLING THE JOURNEY TO CHARLESTOWN
NOVEMBER 19-20, 1859
Governor Henry A. Wise Library of Congress
The Route to Charlestown
Richmond, Virginia - Saturday, November 19, 1859
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Depot: 8th & Broad Streets
6:00 PM - Capitol Square Bell Tower alarm rings calling for assembly of troops to
be sent to Charlestown.
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Capitol Square circa 1850
From Urban Scale Richmond
“Total area, fourteen (14) acres and three (3) quarters; two acres of which is taken
up by the grounds of the Executive Mansion, leaving twelve (12) acres and there
(3) quarters as the area of the Square proper. “ Capitol Square, June 21, 1872
(Richmond Whig)
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6:00 PM to 9:00 PM - 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers gather at the Richmond,
Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&PRR) Depot at 8th
and Broad Streets
under the command of Richmond Grays Captain Wyatt Mosely Elliott, Acting
Colonel Commanding. (Colonel Thomas P. August was ill and would follow
separately)
Richmond Grays 80
Richmond Light Infantry Blues 78
Company F 75
Montgomery Guard 50
Young Guard 40
Howitzer Corps 46
Virginia Rifles 35
1st Regiment 404
“The number given above – a little over 400 men – is as nearly correct
as we could ascertain it in the confusion of the moment” (Local Matters
-Exciting Reports from Charlestown – Departure of the Richmond
Military, Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 21, 1859.)
The company breakdown provided in the article did not include Governor Wise and
his staff who left that evening as well. Average passenger coach capacity would be
approximately 50. Some of the companies occupied multiple cars.
9:30 - 10 PM – Special (unscheduled) dedicated military train departed from the
Broad Street Depot consisting of one class 4-4-0 engine pulling 9 cars (8 passenger
cars, 1 baggage car) and transporting approximately 400+ men including Governor
Wise and staff. Governor Wise and Staff most likely riding in RF&PRR President
Edwin Robinson’s coach car. Destination terminus at Fredericksburg/Aquia Creek.
The train followed the same route as the Great Southern Mail, The RF&PRR from
Richmond to Fredericksburg with a transfer via the Potomac Steamships at Aquia
Creek for the remainder of the trip to reach Washington. D.C.(Advertisement,
Alexandria Gazette, January 13, 1855, Daily National Intelligencer, February 12,
1855)
11 PM – Ashland. The first stop along the RF&PRR line from Richmond to the
railroad’s terminus at Fredericksburg would normally have been at Ashland, 16
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miles from Richmond. Ashland’s familiar grounds and its hotel, “Slash Cottage,”
was the site of many a gala social event held under the guise of a militia excursion.
On the night of November 19th however, the special train carrying these men would
not be stopping and the journey on which they were embarking would be no
excursion.
Milford, Virginia - Sunday, November 20, 1859
1 AM – A “Special Train” (an unscheduled train taking a direct route) would not
have stopped until the mandatory 50 mile interval to take on wood and water. This
stop would most likely have been at the Milford Depot. There was an approximate
delay of 1 hour at Milford.
Fredericksburg/Aquia Creek, Virginia - Sunday, November 20, 1859
From/To: Richmond to Aquia Creek, Virginia
Distance Traveled: 76 miles
Arrival Time: 4:00 am (approximate)
Travel Time: 5 hours
Travel Speed: 12 mph (average reduced night running speed)
4:00 AM – The train arrived at RF&PRR terminus at Fredericksburg located near
the wharf at Aquia Creek where the Potomac steamship already loaded with the
Great Southern Mail, had been kept waiting. The troops disembarked and baggage
transferred from the train to the steamship for the next travel segment to
Washington D.C. “There was no delay in forwarding either the men or the mail”.
(“The Harper’s Ferry Invasion” , New York Herald, November 24, 1859.)
Travel Notes
In 1859, Aquia Landing was located at the confluence of Aquia Creek and the
Potomac River in Stafford County, Virginia. Aquia Landing had served as a
steamship wharf as early as 1815. In 1842 the Richmond, Fredericksburg &
Potomac Railroad was extended north to Aquia Landing, completing its line from
Richmond to the Potomac River. Aquia Landing was the only direct rail to
steamboat transfer point on the Potomac River between Richmond and Washington
D.C. The connection between Richmond and Washington normally took nine hours
by rail and steam. This 9-hour travel time included additional stops for meals,
which the special train did not make.
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Northern Terminus RF&PRR at
Aquia Creek
One Hundred Fifty Years of History
Along the Richmond, Fredericksburg
and Potomac Railroad (Circa 1861)
Aquia Creek Landing where the
RF&PRR transferred its passengers
To steamships for the run up to
Washington D.C. The line of track can
be seen curving to the right in the
middle of the picture (Circa 1862)
David L. Bright,
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Aquia Creek Battlefield Shoreline Erosion Map
Showing location of original RF&PRR railway, siding & wye (1862)
Stafford County, Virginia
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The Potomac River - Sunday, November 20, 1859
From/To: Aquia Creek, Virginia to Washington City, District of Columbia
Distance Traveled: 55 miles
Arrival Time: 7:00 am
Travel Time: 3 1/2 hours
Travel Speed: 12 mph
4:30 AM - The journey continued by steamboat on the Potomac River to
Washington City, District of Columbia, passing in view of Mount Vernon.
Travel Notes
“In the distance, the just risen moon was throwing its beams
across the rippling waters of the Potomac and at the wharf lay the
noble steamer careening as company after company marched with
heavy tramp to her spacious decks. The loud tones of command
of the busy officers and the hurried rush of the baggage porters
were the only sounds that disturbed the stillness of the night.”
(Richmond Dispatch, Nov. 21, 1859)
The above recollection provided to the Richmond Dispatch by a member of the
Richmond Howitzers who went on the train indicates that a single steamship was
used. The ship could have been the Mount Vernon, the Powhatan or perhaps the
larger steamship the Baltimore (“Local Items”, Alexandria Gazette, December 23,
1859.)
During the initial October deployment, Governor Wise made a speech on the
steamship to the only company with him during that trip, Company F. His words
below were most likely repeated in some fashion during this second trip to his
entire Regiment. The most dramatic point of course for Wise to have made the
comments would have been when passing Mount Vernon, invoking the memory of
George Washington.
“I thank you for your prompt response to the call made upon you
at an hour’s notice. You are already known as gentlemen at home
and you are now, for the first time, to prove yourselves soldiers.
Called to restore order, you will be careful to preserve order in
your own ranks. On no holiday parade, but summoned into actual
service, there must be no child’s play; and you must, and I am
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sure you will, observe strictly the orders and requirements of the
service in which you are engaged. It may be my duty to proclaim
martial law; it will be yours to enforce it with the sternest
discipline, and strictest regard to military rule. I shall be jealous
of your honor, as I am confident you will be of mine. I rely upon
you. “ (The Harper’s Ferry Outbreak; Speech of Governor Wise at
Richmond”, New York Herald, October 26, 1859.)
Potomac Steam Ship (circa 1860)
One Hundred and Fifty and Fifty
Years of History along the Richmond,
Fredericksburg and Potomac RailRoad
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Broadside for
Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Steamships circa 1856
Library of Congress
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Washington City, District of Columbia, Sunday, Nov. 20, 1859
Sixth Street Wharf, Washington DC (circa 1865)
Library of Congress
7 AM – 10 AM The steamship docked at the 6th
Street Wharf landing at
Washington at the foot of 6th
Street and the Washington Channel. The men
disembark, form ranks, and follow Governor Wise on a two-mile march through the
city, to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&ORR) depot at New Jersey Avenue and
C Street, arriving there at 10AM. (Richmond Dispatch, Nov. 21, 1859)
Travel Notes
There would be an approximate 3-hour layover in Washington City, more than
enough time for Henry Wise to shake things up in the Nation’s capitol. In 1851,
Wise’s flamboyant “5 day speech” made in Richmond at the Constitutional
Convention was noted in contemporary newspaper accounts as having outdrawn
John’s father, the great Junius Brutus Booth who was then performing at the
Marshall Theater (Southside Democrat; Petersburg, Va., “Henry A. Wise,” May 12,
1851, as reprinted in Daily Alabama Journal.) Both performances would pale in
comparison to the show that Henry Wise put on that morning in Washington.
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“Sunday was a day of great excitement in Washington, and our
old woman, together with some of the democratic politicians are
not entirely over it. Troops were continually marching through
the city (on the Sunday mentioned; this would be Sunday, Nov.
20th) and the wildest rumors were flying over the town. Some had
it that John Brown had escaped, others that a terrible battle was
going on near Charlestown – that five hundred men all armed to
the teeth, had come down from the Western Reserve
(Pennsylvania) to the rescue of Brown.” (“Washington; Gov.
Wise”, St. Albans Messenger, December 1, 1859)
“Governor Wise is a thousand times more dangerous at large and
clothed with a little brief authority, than Osawatomie Brown. He
is going to hang the brave old man for treason against Virginia,
and with his hand upon the throat of his victim he threatens to
“break up the Union!” A late Washington letter, in noticing the
tramp through the National Capitol of Governor Wise and his
Virginia militia says: Since I commenced this letter, the gallant
Governor has passed through Washington on his way to
Charlestown and John Brown. He was accompanied by five
hundred troops and several pieces of cannon. (“Henry Wise -
Breaking up the Union”, Cleveland Leader, November 29, 1859
emphasis added,)
“Governor Wise passed through this city with five hundred men,
armed for war…certainly enlivened an early morning Sunday in
Washington…”(“Mr. Lovejoy’s Address”, Constitution, Nov. 26,
1859.)
“Arrival here yesterday (Sunday, Nov. 20, 1859) morning of
Governor Wise of Virginia, with a regiment of Virginia
Volunteers from Richmond, four hundred and four strong in rank
and file. They left Washington by railroad for Harper’s Ferry and
Charlestown at 10 o’clock a.m., Governor Wise accompanying
them. “ (“Local Matters”, Washington Daily National
Intelligencer, Nov. 21, 1859,)
“Gov. Wise of Virginia, accompanied by nearly 400 troops,
arrived here by special conveyance (special train) and at twenty
minutes past ten a.m. today left by express train (Baltimore &
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Ohio Railroad) of cars en route for Charlestown, Va.
(“Movements of Governor Wise and the Military”, Washington
Daily National Intelligencer, Nov. 20, 1859 and Correspondence
of the Baltimore Sun, Nov. 21, 1859)
The sight of Henry Wise “cutting a big figure” while parading through Washington
at the head of his 400 armed and uniformed 1st Regiment of Virginia was a matter
of grave concern and got the entire city’s attention. The concern stemmed, in part,
from Wise’s threat to invade Washington D.C. three years earlier with the entire
state’s militia.
Henry Wise’s Threatened March on Washington – 1856
In 1856, the then newly elected Governor Wise had threatened that if Republican
John C. Fremont were elected President he would march at the head of twenty
thousand men on Washington to take possession of the Capitol and prevent his
inauguration, thereby saving the “Confederation of States” (the United States,) from
the disunion which would ensue from Fremont’s abolitionist platform.
“Gentlemen: Are you aware of the fact that this madcap, Wise –
for I declare upon my honor I would say he was a crazy man – are
you aware that Wise has issued his proclamation for offering all
the militia of the state and to hold themselves in readiness for his
call?” (“Botts Vs. Wise”, National Era, October. 9, 1856,
emphasis added)
“The scheme of Gov. Wise to take forcible possession of the
public offices at Washington and turn out Col. Fremont, in case he
should be elected….”(“Gov. Wise”, Milwaukee Sentinel,
February 16, 1860 quoting from the Knoxville Whig)
Wise received more than criticism. There were calls for his arrest, even within
Virginia from a former United States Congressman:
“I address you this note to request that you will, at the earliest
practicable moment, publish in your paper the speech of his
Excellency, Henry A. Wise, Governor of the Commonwealth of
Virginia – Let them see what this madman of their own selection
is prepared for them. I have often listened to the insane ravings of
a lunatic in the asylum but never, never in the whole course of my
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life have I heard, read or witnessed the workings of a disordered
brain more strongly stamped with madness than in this instance –
this man is either a natural born fool, a lunatic, or conspirator in
fact, and a traitor in his heart… Is he a natural born fool? I do not
think he is. Is he a lunatic? I believe before God he is partially
deranged, and I have believed so for the last six years – of his
daily conversations as reported in the public streets, of his
intention in the event of Fremont’s election, to take possession of
Old Point Comfort (Washington) – and then tell whether he is
lunatic or conspirator, and whether it has not become the duty of
the proper authorities to have him immediately arrested. Where is
Judge Taney? Where is Judge Halliburton? Where is the District
Attorney? Where is the Grand Jury of this Eastern District of
Virginia – Finally, where is the President of the United States?”
Letters John M. Botts – Botts Declares Gov. Wise a Madman”,
October 7, 1856, New York Herald.)
Henry Wise’s March on Washington - 1859
Driving the intense public interest over the early Sunday morning’s fine display of
military was Wise’s well-remembered 1856 threat to “march on Washington.”
“We all remember that Governor Wise, in 1856, threatened in the
event of Freemont’s election, to march a southern army upon
Washington to seize the treasury and archives of the federal
government, and to march off with them, and set up an
independent Southern Confederacy.“(Reprinted in New York
Herald, Dec. 26, 1859)
The flamboyant Henry Wise was “good for it” and every politician and
newspaperman in Washington, including the man who had won the 1856 election,
President James Buchanan, certainly knew. It was also common knowledge that the
eccentric and ambitious Henry Wise made no secret of his desire to sit in the chair
Buchanan then occupied.
Unlike his threatened march in 1856, Wise during the October 1859 militia
deployment followed proper protocol and requested authorization to pass through
the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland with his armed Virginia
regiment. It was likely that Wise followed the same advance notification for the
November deployment.
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“Telegrams were also sent to the Governor of Maryland and
President Buchanan for authority to pass through the District of
Columbia and Maryland with armed troops that route being the
quickest to Harper’s Ferry” (Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era,
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1899, pg. 84.)
Having sent proper notice of his and the Regiment’s arrival, Henry Wise fully
expected President James Buchanan to formally receive him and his Regiment at a
public welcome at the White House. Wise did not take a direct route from the 6th
Street Wharf to the next departure point, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Depot at
New Jersey Avenue and C Street. Instead, after arriving at the wharf, Henry Wise
conspicuously, and with as much fanfare as possible, marched his staff, officers and
troops of the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, which by some accounts now
included the addition of several cannon (perhaps acquired at Fredericksburg or
borrowed from somewhere in Washington) down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the
White House. All of Washington took note of the “fine military display” that Wise
put on except for President Buchanan who, apparently with blinds drawn, remained
oblivious and unavailable inside the White House.
Incredulous, Wise marched at the head of his parade of approximately 400 men as
they circled the White House and its slumbering president at least once and by some
accounts as many as three times, still with no reception or greeting extended.
Embarrassed and enraged, Wise finally gave up and led his regiment towards the
Baltimore & Ohio Depot no doubt spewing both tobacco and invective as he
marched along. Henry Wise considered the act an insult to the Commonwealth of
Virginia, the men of the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers and, of course, to
Henry Alexander Wise himself, both personally and as Governor.
“Leaving Richmond soon after dark, the soldiers arrived in
Washington before daylight the following morning. Hoping to be
recognized by President Buchanan, the regiment marched past the
White House, but the heavy tramp of a thousand men (Note: here
the article greatly exaggerated the total) failed to disturb the
slumbers of the Chief Magistrate, or at least he did not show
himself which caused Wise to indignantly declare, “Were I
President of the United States, no body of armed men should
march through the capitol of the Union without my knowing it!”
And he never forgave Buchanan for what he termed a studied
slight.” (“John Brown, New York Sun”, Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen’s Magazine, Vol. 9, Jan.
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1885)
A month after the march itself and the subsequent events at Charlestown had
concluded, Wise was still fuming over the insult. If he could not actually pull
Buchanan’s nose as he had done James Polk’s, then he at least wanted to “poke his
fist under it.” On December 22, 1859, the return of 200 southern medical students
and the press covering their welcome at the Governor’s Mansion in the last few
days of Wise’s term provided just such an opportunity. “Gov. Wise in his recent
fantastical speech…,”New York Herald Tribune, December 31, 1859,)
“The recent speech of Gov. Wise to the returning medical students
at Richmond is the subject of much comment in the Northern
papers – and some of the comments are ill-natured enough. Our
Governor is an impulsive man – and may write and talk too much
but his patriotism and state pride none can doubt” (Gov. Wise;
Richmond, December 30, 1859, Alexandria Gazette emphasis
added)
“I (if elected President) won’t let a Virginia regiment pass three
times back and forth by the White House without poking my head
out of the window and asking “Brothers! - what’s the matter!?”
(The Vital Questions of the Day, Great Union Speech of Gov.
Wise, December 26, 1859, New York Herald)
“His allusion to a Virginia Regiment passing three times by the
White House, without inducing the President to poke his head out
of the window, was in bad taste and betrayed, we fear, a little
sourness of temper still existing which the Governor should have
kept to himself. “ (The Vital Questions of the Day – Great Union
Speech of Gov. Wise, Dec. 26, 1859, New York Herald)
Henry Wise never learned to keep anything to himself, especially an insult.
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White House, taken in June 1859
Library of Congress
Whether circled, once, twice or three times,
The view of the White House as seen that morning.
John Wilkes Booth Walks Behind Governor Wise Down Pennsylvania Avenue
Amidst all of this drama, or comedy, John Wilkes Booth walked behind Governor
Henry A. Wise down Pennsylvania Avenue. That morning, in a reversal of roles,
Booth the actor was in the audience with the best seat in the house.
“On marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, Gov. Wise with his
high beaver hat, and his head up in the air, with a large pair of
silver specks over his nose, cut a big figure. John Wilkes Booth
walked behind him with his overcoat on his arm.” (John O.
Taylor’s article entitled “John Brown Hanging, the Recollections
of a Member of the Richmond Grays”, Richmond Times
Dispatch, May 1, 1904,)
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Henry Wise Continues the Show at the B&O Depot
Profanely ill disposed after enduring the snub by President Buchanan, Governor
Wise arrived at the Baltimore & Ohio Depot only to find that the special train,
which should have been waiting to convey them without delay to Relay was not
ready.
Wise was now particularly incensed because it was a repeat of the same thing which
in October had prevented him from arriving at Harper’s Ferry prior to Robert E. Lee
and the U.S. Marines during the initial outbreak. A subject he continued to
complain about even after the November deployment.
“Had I reached Harper’s Ferry before these men were captured
and I would have reached there in time, had I been forwarded as I
ought to have been from Washington and the Relay House!”….
Henry A. Wise letter to Fernando Wood, December 4, 1859)
Wise felt that the same President Buchanan who had just snubbed him had been
responsible for the October delay, which had denied Virginia, and Henry Wise the
opportunity and glory to deal with Brown’s insurgency on the State level. Already
furious over the morning’s insult, Wise probably now assumed that Buchanan had
interfered with his plans yet again.
While waiting for the train to arrive that morning, Governor Wise did what he was
famous for – he talked.
“Gov. Wise made a speech to his soldiers at our railroad depot, in
which he displayed his well known qualities. A friend who heard
the speech declared him to be insane; but he is mistaken. Gov.
Wise is playing what he supposes to be a deep game in this
matter. He is trying to force himself upon the South as a
presidential candidate. It is his policy to keep the south in a
continual panic till after the Charleston Convention (pertaining to
the 1860 Democratic Presidential Nomination) has met.”
(“Washington; Gov. Wise,” St. Albans Messenger, December 1,
1859 emphasis added)
“He made a speech at the Railroad depot, in which he proved
himself a madman. He told his soldiers that they would drive off
the d—d Yankees and hang John Brown before they returned;
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and, added the valiant Governor, “We will put an end to this state
of things on the border, or break up the Union!” (“Henry Wise -
Breaking up the Union”, Cleveland Leader, November 29, 1859
emphasis added)
Despite the criticism that Wise was drawing, it seems that the Northern press was
more than happy to join in on taking a swipe at the beleaguered and unpopular
President Buchanan because the article then continued:
“How came Gov. Wise to make a speech in Washington of a
Sunday morning, to his troops? Why didn’t he make it on
Virginia soil! Simply that he might defy the Government and
poke his fist under Mr. Buchanan’s nose. I really believe that if
Gov. Wise were to demand the public buildings in Washington,
Mr. Buchanan, the cowardly old doughface who shakes in the
Presidential chair would give it to him. The panic in Washington
is great, while I write, and many of our citizens predict that the
present is the last Congress that will meet here.” (“Henry Wise -
Breaking up the Union,” Cleveland Leader, November 29, 1859)
Between seething, “speechifying” and sending yet more telegrams during the delay
at the Depot, Wise spent his spare time fielding interviews from the press while his
men, or at least some of them, ate a quick morning meal of some description,
perhaps biscuits and coffee.
“After being detained in Washington just long enough to get
breakfast…” (Article signed by Rambler, “Letter from Harper’s
Ferry,” Richmond Whig, Nov. 22, 1859,)
Waiting at the depot for the train’s arrival, the troops would have had the
opportunity to view the citywide commotion that their presence and their Governor
had caused while reporters vied with each other to cover the event.
In typical Henry Wise form, the Governor took advantage of one reporter’s question
to get off a memorable retort, a phrase that would be often repeated during the days
prior to Brown’s execution whenever the likelihood of a rescue attempt was
mentioned in conjunction with an overabundance of troops at Charlestown:
“Governor Wise and staff, with about four hundred men left the
Washington Depot on Sunday morning. While the troops were
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embarking on the cars at Washington (B&ORR Depot at New
Jersey Avenue and C Street) someone approached Governor Wise
and said that the people were laughing at such a great military
display, when there was no actual necessity for it. “Well, said the
Governor, “I would much rather meet General Ridicule than
General Disgrace. This answer silenced the laughing.” (Local
Items, Alexandria Gazette, November 22, 1859)
Link to Rumsey’s Washington D.C. History Circa 1861 Map Overlay
(Click on hyperlink to open)
Street Map Showing B&O Railroad Depot
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Unfinished Washington Monument circa 1859
Library of Congress
View of Washington looking down Pennsylvania Avenue
Towards the unfinished Capitol
National Hotel, Washington DC
Library of Congress
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View of the Capitol
Appletons’ Railroad and Steamboat Companion 1859
View of unfinished capitol dome circa 1858
Government Printing Office
S. DOC. 106-29 –
History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and
Politics
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Baltimore & Ohio RR Depot, Washington New Jersey Avenue & C Street
B&ORR Depot in Washington, New Jersey Avenue & C Street
Washington Historical Society
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Depot opened in this location in 1851. The
Italianate styled building, with its distinctive 100 foot clock tower, was located just
north of the U.S. Capitol at the corner of New Jersey Avenue and C Street and was
one of the busiest locations in Washington for a very good reason; only one railroad
connected Washington to the outside world; The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. From
this depot the line ran northeast into Maryland and forked at the Relay House
Junction, as known as the Washington Branch Junction approximately 9 miles
outside of Baltimore. This was the next route on the journey to Charlestown. A
short branch from there continued into Baltimore where travelers could then make a
connection taking them to the middle Atlantic and New England states. The other
branch turned west, towards Harper’s Ferry and “the seat of war” to which the men
were going.
This depot where the men were delayed waiting for the next train on their
continuing journey could not be more different from the one from which they had
departed in Richmond.
“The B&O Depot was 106 feet wide and 68 feet deep, Once
inside, passengers entered a beautiful hall to board their trains. A
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ticket office, freight office and ladies and gentlemen’s salons were
also located within the depot. The main carhouse, which was 60
feet wide and 330 feet in length, ran diagonally through the
square, the iron roof supported by granite pillars. One downside
to this elegance; it made the depot a prime location for
pickpockets to operate. “(Washington National Republican, Dec.
12, 1861)
10:20 -10:30 AM - The train arrived at the depot and Governor Wise and his men
departed to Harper’s Ferry via Relay, Maryland. Henry Wise had put on quite a
show that morning in “Washington’s City”.
Washington District of Columbia to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia - Sunday,
November 20, 1859
From/To: Washington City, District of Columbia to Relay, Maryland
Distance from Washington City: 40 Miles
From/To: Relay Maryland to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
Distance from Relay to Harper’s Ferry: 73 Miles
Total Miles: 107 (approximate)
Arrival Time Harper’s Ferry: 4 PM
Travel Time: 5. 5 hours
Travel Speed: 20 mph
From Washington, the B&ORR line ran northeast 40 miles into Maryland and
forked at the Relay House Junction, as known as the Washington Branch Junction
approximately 9 miles outside of Baltimore. This was the next route on the journey
to Charlestown. The continuing “Special” (unscheduled train) would have required
a stop for fuel and water every 50 miles – stop/s unidentified. Potentially at Relay
and Monocacy/Frederick Junction
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Travel Notes
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&ORR) was one of the oldest railroads in the
United States and the first common carrier railroad. At first this railroad was located
entirely in the state of Maryland with an original line from the port of Baltimore
west to Sandy Hook. At this point to continue westward, it had to cross into
Virginia (now West Virginia) over the Potomac River, adjacent to the confluence of
the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. From there it passed through Virginia from
Harpers Ferry to a point just west of the junction of Patterson Creek and the North
Branch Potomac River.
Relay House, Maryland
The B&O Railroad started its westward course 9 miles south of Baltimore at Relay
House or “Relay”, Maryland. From here it moved westward, initially following the
course of the Patapsco River where the river divided into the west and south
branches, continuing on its western route following the west branch of the river. It
continued to Monocacy Junction, also known as Frederick Junction. There the
main line of the B&O turned south going across the Monocacy River on an iron
railroad bridge onto Point of Rocks, before resuming its westward route to Harper’s
Ferry following the banks of the Potomac River. At Harper’s Ferry the B&ORR
left the relative comfort of the river valley and proceeded through the hilly terrain
of northern West Virginia to Martinsburg. Monocacy Junction provided a two story
brick building containing the railroad and telegraph offices, a water tank and a
block house for housing a military detachment. (Collins, Joseph V., Battle of West
Frederick, 2011)
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Approaching Harper’s Ferry
Harper’s Ferry by Moonlight
Library of Congress
The scenery the men would have seen on this leg of the journey was breathtakingly
beautiful, almost otherworldly.
“The scenery around Harper’s Ferry is beautiful description”
(“Letter from Harper’s Ferry”, Richmond Whig, Nov. 25, 1859)
“The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crosses the Potomac at the
place on a magnificent bridge, and the Winchester and Potomac
Railroad has its northern terminus in the town…The Maryland
Heights rise in successive plateaus to an altitude of thirteen
hundred feet above the surrounding country and two thousand feet
above the level of the sea.” Between the Maryland Heights and
the Loudoun Heights ran a “gorge of savage grandeur” No person
with the least poetry in his soul will consider his (Jefferson’s)
assertion extravagant. It is truly, a sublime spectacle.” (Barry,
Joseph, The Annals of Harper’s Ferry, 1872)
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“Harper’s Ferry is situated in Jefferson County, Va., at the
confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, at the passage
of these streams through the Blue Ridge, here upwards of 1,200
feet in height. The scenery here is all of the wildest and most
majestic description. “Jefferson’s Rock” is a pile of huge
detached rocks, leaning over the steep cliffs of the Shenandoah,
and looking into the mountain gorge of the Potomac. It is a wild
“eagle’s nest” which, as Jefferson truly declares, is worth the trip
across the ocean to behold. It is not, however, equal to the
enchanting scene presented to the view from the opposite
mountain, about a mile and a half up, on the Maryland side. From
this height the beholder surveys with admiration a large extent of
country, fields, woodlands, and plantations; while the beautiful
Shenandoah, as it breaks upon this magic picture, appears like a
series of beautiful lakes.” (Appleton’s Railroad and Steamboat
Companion, 1858)
To enter this beautiful scene, a bridge 750 feet long crossed from the Potomac River
from the Maryland side.
The New World in 1859: Being the United States and Canada
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1859 View of Lower Town Harper’s Ferry and the covered
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Viaduct
Historic Photo Collection, Harper’s Ferry National Park
Sunday, November 20th
, Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
4:00 PM Governor Wise and the 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers arrive at
Harper’s Ferry.
4:30 – 5:00 PM transfer via Winchester & Potomac Railroad (W&PRR) for
Governor Wise and his staff along with The Richmond Grays, Company F, Virginia
Riflemen and Young Guard. The balance of the regiment was forwarded the
following day: “The companies which came to Charlestown were the Richmond
Grays 76; Company F 65; Virginia Riflemen 41; and Young Guard 55; - 250
.”(“From Charlestown”, Alexandria Gazette, Nov. 23, 1859)
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Travel Notes
Travelers from Baltimore and Washington took the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to
Harper’s Ferry where the B&ORR had its terminus. The B&O crossed the Potomac
River through the Harpers Ferry River gap over a covered railroad bridge and went
west along the bank of the Potomac River a distance of several hundred yards
before going across land. This was necessitated because the land adjacent to the
river was owned by the federal government and was the site of the U S Musket
Factory at Harpers Ferry.
To travel the remaining 10 miles to reach Charlestown, a transfer to yet another
railroad, the Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&PRR) was required. The
exhausted men who had left Richmond almost 24 hours earlier would have to now
do this as well.
“The Winchester and Potomac came into Harpers Ferry along the
Shenandoah River and ended at "The Point." While, the B&O and
W&P lines were within yards of each other, passengers and
freight were offloaded or onloaded from each. The juncture of the
Shenandoah River and Potomac River occurred at "The Point" at
Harpers Ferry.” (P. Douglas Perks, Director Charles Town
Library)
The Winchester & Potomac Railroad
The Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&PRR) was incorporated in 1832 to
connect the town of Winchester with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Harper’s Ferry.
At the start of the Civil War in 1861, W&PRR owned six locomotives: Ancient,
Pocahontas, Farmer, President, Virginia and Potomac, all of which were the most
modern engines (4-4-0) with the exception of the Farmer (4-2-0). The B&O train
carrying the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers and Governor Wise and his staff
would have been pulled by one of these locomotives.
The W&PRR’s rolling stock (cars) consisted of only 4 passenger cars, one
mail/baggage car, 48 freight cars and 8 repair cars. The limited number of available
rolling stock (passenger cars) mandated why some of the companies of the 1st
Regiment of Volunteers were left at Harper’s Ferry and not forwarded until the
following day.
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“The companies which came directly to Charlestown were the
Richmond Grays 76; Company F 65; Virginia Riflemen 41; and
Young Guard 55.” (“From Charlestown”, Alexandria Gazette,
Nov. 23, 1859,)
This unexpected circumstance also added to the train’s delay leaving Harper’s Ferry
as noticed by the welcoming party awaiting the Governor’s arrival at Charlestown.
Sunday, November 20th
, Charlestown, Virginia
From/To: Harper’s Ferry to Charlestown, Va.
Distance from Harper’s Ferry: 10 miles
Arrival Time: 6:00 p.m.
Travel Time: 1 hour
Travel Speed: 12-15 MPH
6:00 PM Charlestown, Virginia
Finally, the long journey ends…at least for some
“At four o’clock on Sunday afternoon almost the entire population
turned out and made their way to the depot. It was soon
announced that a dispatch had been received and the cars would
not be in until five o’clock…About six o’clock the shrill whistle
of the iron horse was heard, and citizens flocked to the courthouse
and vicinity, where the solders would have to pass. The line was
formed under the command of Colonel Gibson…The appearance
of the troops as they marched down the main street was fine, and
all were impressed with the soldierly tread of the visitors.
Gov. Wise was met by Hon. Andrew Hunter, and he and his staff
conveyed to that gentleman’s residence. It was with great difficulty
that sufficient accommodations could be obtained for them, coming as
they did after night, and not having had anything to eat for twenty-
four hours. The companies which came to Charlestown were the
Richmond Grays 76; Company F 65; Virginia Riflemen 41; and
Young Guard 55; - 250 (sic). The companies remaining at Harpers
Ferry for the night were Richmond Blues 68; Montgomery Guard 46;
and Howitzer Company 51. The latter companies will be brought up
to-day.”(“From Charlestown”, Alexandria Gazette, Nov. 23, 1859
emphasis added)
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For John Wilkes Booth and The Richmond Grays, the journey which had started at
9:30 pm on Saturday, November 19th in Richmond had passed from Virginia, up
the Potomac Creek, across the nation’s capitol, through the state of Maryland,
returned into Virginia and had finally brought them to the anticipated “seat of war,”
Charlestown, on Sunday evening, November 20th at 6:00 pm. The route required
travel over three different railroads and one steamship and during its continuous 20
travel hour period, the men covered over 200 miles. For those companies that
remained at Harper’s Ferry awaiting the arrival of the required passenger cars, their
journey ended the following day.
THE LAST WORDS, AS ALWAYS,
BELONGED TO HENRY WISE
“I KEPT MY EYE UPON YOU…”
Henry Wise delivered the following speech upon the return of the troops from the
initial October militia deployment to Harper’s Ferry, but the sentiments and thanks
he expressed then could also easily pertain to the November one.
“If you and I never had a fellow feeling before, we have it now.
Rumors of insurrection, invasion, robbery and murder by ruffians on
our border, called you to the field, to exert the authority of your state
to protect the safety of her people. You, fellow citizens, and citizen-
soldiers were ready to start, and did start on the path of duty at a
moment’s warning --- I thank you – I thank all who joined you and
were ready to join you, with my whole heart, for this whole people,
not only for your being ready, for the manner in which your duty was
performed. It is due to you and your fellow citizens that I should say,
and that they should know, that you were ready to do, and if
necessary, to die in their defense. I kept my eye upon you, and I
proudly attest that you were men. – On the way, on board the steamer
at the Potomac, I reminded you that you were already known at home
in the character as gentlemen, and that then you were called upon to
win the character as soldiers. That character you have won.
Although not commanded to charge a bayonet or pull a trigger, you
preserved order, composure, dignity and discipline in the midst of the
highest excitement and confusion I have ever witnessed.”(“Governor
Wise’s Speech at Richmond on the subject of the Harper’s Ferry
Rebellion”, Alexandria Gazette, October 27, 1858,)
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From what we know of the Governor, Henry A. Wise “keeping his eye upon”
anyone, friend or foe, was a daunting experience. The already heavy burden, and
expectations, on the men who made the journey to Charlestown were only
heightened by Wise’s lingering resentment over the October deployment. In
addition to missing the fight, Wise was enraged and embarrassed that the local
Jefferson County militiamen who had surrounded Brown’s insurgents had refused
to storm the engine house, preferring to await the arrival of the U.S. Marines.
“The fiery furnace of his wrath which had been kindled to
consume the Abolition invaders now blazed out against the
unlucky volunteers and militia officers. They were not allowed a
hearing for explanation or justification. They were overwhelmed
with contempt and opprobrium.” (David Hunter Strother’s
Lecture on John Brown, Cleveland, 1868 emphasis added)
Adding fuel to Wise’s fury, the town’s hostages while unarmed had outnumbered
their captors, but had not attempted to overpower them.
“The Governor expressed his mortification at the disgrace which
had been brought upon the state. He would rather have lost both
legs and both arms from his shoulders and hips than such a
disgrace should have been cast upon it.” A hostage’s justification
that “…there were ten of them (prisoners) and nine insurgents but
that the latter were each armed with three Sharpe’s rifles and two
colt revolvers” explaining to the enraged governor that “We were
huddled in like a flock of sheep” prompted a sneering reply;
“Yes, said the disgusted Governor, “you were in a corner, and you
were very much like sheep – They certainly cornered all the sheep
at Harper’s Ferry!” (The Harper’s Ferry Outbreak”, New York
Herald, October 21, 1859,)
During his last few waning days in office, the November militia deployment to
Charlestown provided Governor Wise through his 1st Regiment of Virginia
Volunteers a second chance to redeem the state’s honor, and his.
Wise’s citizen soldiers again readily responded to the likelihood of armed conflict,
and his men, all of them, including one non-enrolled actor, did not disappoint.
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Governor Henry A. Wise’s official comments that he entered into the Virginia
public record pertaining to the November deployment were these:
“Information from all quarters---came of organized conspiracies
and combinations to obstruct our laws, to rescue and seize
hostages, to commit rapine and burning along our borders on
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, proceeding from these
states and from New York, Massachusetts and other states and
Canada. These multiplied in every form for weeks; and at last, on
the 19th of November, a call was very properly and timely made
by Col. Davis for an additional force of 500 men. These reports
and rumors, from so many sources of every character and form, so
simultaneously, from places so far apart, at the same time, from
persons so unlike in evidences of education, could be from no
conspiracy to hoax; but I relied not so much upon them as upon
the earnest continued general appeal of sympathizers with the
crimes. It was impossible for so much of such sympathy to exist
without exciting bad men to action of rescue or revenge. On this I
acted”
“I ask for special favor to the gallant militia corps who have
volunteered so spiritedly for public defense. They have rivaled
each other in a patriotic and martial spirit – I cannot distinguish
among the corps, except in training and drill. The 1st Regiment of
Volunteers is now worthy of being the pride of the state. Foster it,
and never let it be less in numbers or lower in discipline.”(Journal
of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
1859-1860 Session, Governor’s Message Number 2. emphasis
added)
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EPILOGUE
Henry Alexander Wise leading his 400 men of the 1st Regiment of Virginia
Volunteers down Pennsylvania Avenue was as momentous a sight as their send off
from Richmond. That event would be particularly fateful in the lives of both of the
men so remarkably and unexpectedly linked together in John O. Taylor’s
recollection, Governor Henry Alexander Wise and John Wilkes Booth.
HENRY WISE
Henry Wise’s triumphant morning march through Washington on Sunday,
November 20th 1859 proved to be his high water mark. Leading “his boys” of the
1st Virginia Regiment down Pennsylvania Avenue, his beloved son and champion
at his side and the White House looming before him, Wise’s future looked as bright
as that morning’s sun. Wise never got any closer to the White House but his role in
history was far from over. While the “union of states” strained to their breaking
point, Wise would first try to fight for Virginia “In the Union” before being
instrumental in leading Virginia out of the Union in 1861.
A year later at the disaster of Roanoke Island, the gallant O. Jennings Wise would
be a blood sacrifice when CSA Brigadier General Henry Wise, trapped between a
hopeless defense of the strategic island and abandoning his new nation’s honor, was
forced to order his son and his regiment into a lost battle. From a lifetime of
eloquent words and lengthy superlatives, Wise’s own anguished few while holding
his son’s body; “He died for me! He died for me! He died for his father!” were his
most profound. Weighed down by loss, the proud old dragon would still somehow
soldier on to the bitter end. At the surrender of Appomattox, Union General Joshua
Lawrence Chamberlain’s ill-timed offer of national forgiveness would be met with
a venomous response spit back at him by the ragged-looking profane scarecrow of a
general; “You may want to forgive us but we won’t be forgiven. We HATE you
sir!”
After the war, Henry Wise, by then the self-described “Ex everything”, Ex-
Congressman, Ex-Governor, Ex-General, would have one thing left to define him.
The “Confederate Prisoner on Parole” Henry Wise lived “Unforgiven and
Unforgotten” until his death in 1876, the nation’s centennial year.
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JOHN WILKES BOOTH
“We are all the unconscious actors and spectators in the world’s
theater. The parts we play, and the scenes we applaud, are the
double substance of the current attraction.” (Anecdotes of Public
Men, John W. Forney, 1873)
In May 1860, John Wilkes Booth would finish his two year internship at the
Marshall Theater and embark upon what the actress Clara Morris would later recall
poignantly as his “three little years” as a star. Over his few remaining years, one
can wonder if Booth ever really left the Richmond of 1859 and the events from
which “he traced his fealty to Virginia.” How could he forget the unforgettable -
memories of John Brown, of this journey to Charlestown, of his brothers in arms, of
the “Fantastical” Henry A. Wise, Governor of Virginia, and Wise’s son, the Gallant
O. Jennings Wise, the South’s “Sir Galahad in Gray”. In 1862 while in Boston, did
Booth hear the minstrels’ popular song set to Yankee Doodle, which mocked Obie’s
death at Roanoke?
“There’s the Burnside Expedition,
It is the nation’s pride,
For it has lately struck a blow, which cannot be denied;
For by surprise took Jennings Wise—
Nothing could be finer,
How are you North Carolina?
Alone among the laughing audience, did he silently grieve the loss of the man who
had signed “that little card of some sort” later found in his effects?
Did the card serve as a treasured reminder of that train ride “to glory,” the parade
down Pennsylvania Avenue when with his adopted band of brothers; Wilkes Booth
had proudly marched next to Obie’s father, Governor Henry Wise, on his
unforgettable parade around the White House on their way to defend Virginia. Did
he remember when he too was once included as “worthy of being the pride of the
state”? Along with his other mementos of that time, his uniformed picture and John
Brown pike, did that little card also serve as both balm and accuser, tangible proof
of when he had “traced his fealty” to the South but silent accuser for his inactivity
in the following years when “Every Marylander worth his salt was fighting for her.”
Booth risked a fine while singing “Bonnie Blue Flag” while men that he had known
risked, and lost, their lives fighting for it.
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By 1864, the tide of the war had turned against “the Cause”. With Booth’s “only
friends in the South now beneath the sod” the star still strode the boards, took his
bows and was well paid for playing at fighting so convincingly and looking so
handsome while doing it. Did that little card and its memories serve as silent
sentinel, a constant reminder of the wrong road taken in 61 when “the hidden lie
amongst his country’s foes” had promised his frantic mother to stay clear of the
war?
Was it these memories, which drove him forward when his justifications for not
doing so previously could at last no longer suffice?
“I have only an arm to give; my brains are worth twenty men, my
money worth a hundred. I have free pass everywhere, my
profession, my name is my passport, my knowledge of drugs is
valuable, my beloved precious money – oh never beloved till
now! – is the means, one of the means, by which I serve the
South!”
In the last days of the war, Booth stood on a street in Washington, perhaps upon
that very same street where once he marched, faced Richmond and cried repeatedly,
‘Virginia – Virginia.” Shedding tears for a lost cause, and perhaps for the lost
opportunities to have caught up with that band of brothers he had left behind in
1860.
By April 1865, Wilkes Booth “having come to despise his existence” would beg to
rejoin them and Virginia, “to triumph or die, even if only in that last ditch.”
In his life’s concluding scene at the Garrett’s barn, a lone cripple would desperately
cling to the shreds of honor in his soaring challenges to fight his pursuers’ entire
command. Booth’s epitaph “I died for my country” exists only in his dying words
gasped for his mother. His shroud was not the flag of Virginia or the Stars and
Bars, but a horse blanket stamped U.S. Army. He has no tombstone and remains
unclaimed by any “Country.”
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1883 - THOSE WHO REMAINED
Smith’s beloved Armory Band had remained a constant companion to the “Old
First” and its men throughout their lives’ changing seasons. Their music played at
their militia musters, parades, balls and cotillions, and during Richmond’s balmy
evenings, serenaded all who strolled throughout the grounds of Capitol Square. In
1859 at Richmond’s depot, as that special train pulled out on the night of November
19th amidst the “shouts of the crowd rising to the heavens,” Smith’s music was there
to inspire and salute the men as they departed and hearten the loved ones they had
left behind.
Smith’s band was such an important a part of the “Old First” themselves that
Governor Wise sent a special train to take the band to Charlestown to provide “his
boys” with a welcomed reminder of home. They were at the Charlestown depot on
December 3rd
. playing “Goodbye” as the Richmond Grays (and one volunteer)
departed from Charlestown for the return to Richmond. Once back home, Smith’s
Armory Band played a welcome for the returning companies at the Richmond
Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Depot, as each man came home to embrace
“The Girl He’d Left Behind Him.” Smith’s band was on hand to welcome the
hundreds of Southern medical students who had returned to Richmond in the last
few days of an undivided nation. The band played “Carry Me Back to Old
Virginia” and escorted them to the Executive Mansion where during his last speech
as Governor they heard Henry Wise fire off his final salvo at President Buchanan
over an insult neither forgiven nor forgotten.
Smith’s Armory Band played at the birth and death of the Confederacy.
In the heady days during Richmond’s secession fervor, Smith and his band lent
soul-stirring accompaniment to torch-lit processions. They serenaded the gallant O.
Jennings Wise from his balcony at the offices of the Richmond Enquirer when he
accepted the captaincy for “the storied command” that of the Richmond Light
Infantry Blues. They serenaded his father’s successor, Governor John Letcher
when Virginia seceded and they played at Jefferson Davis’s inauguration at the
birth of a new country.
The faithful band provided the patriotic tunes played as background music for mass
enlistments calling for men to defend that country. It was Smith’s band, who
proudly accompanied the gallant volunteers at Richmond’s depots when “all of the
boys marched off to war.” For an endless march of “Bands of Brothers” the
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lighthearted, “The Irish Jaunting Car,’ had become the Confederate Marsellaise,
“The Bonnie Blue Flag.”
A year later, Smith’s band met another “special train” this one returning Jennings
Wise’s body home for burial. With all of Richmond draped in mourning, Smith’s
band accompanied its lost prince during his state funeral. Enfolded in the Flag of
Virginia and the Stars and Bars, the “Good Knight’s” epitaph at Hollywood’s
hallowed ground would simply and truthfully state, “Died for his Country”. The
sadness would not end with Obie’s death, nor would Richmond’s parade of
funerals…
Over the next 3 years, men continued to fight and “Die for their Country”. During
innumerable sad processions to Hollywood, Smith’s rendition of Saul’s Death
March conveyed an army of men, including the honored dead of the “Old First”
among them, men who had earlier gone on this story’s journey to Charlestown, on
their sad final homecoming. At the end, in the aftermath of Richmond’s evacuation
fire, the strains of the band’s familiar music in Capitol Square provided scarce
consolation amidst the ruins of a city and a people caught in the death throes of
their county.
The 1st Virginia Infantry by Lee A. Wallace, Jr. contains a poignant 1883
recollection from The Daily Dispatch of an aged James B. Smith, the venerable
leader of Richmond's beloved Armory Band, playing at a reunion for the “Old
First” at Richmond’s B[l]enner’s (sic)Park at the head of Marshall Street.
(Wallace, Lee A, 1985, 1st Virginia Infantry, H.E. Howard, Inc., pg. 61)
Wallace does not provide the names of the tunes played, merely telling readers that
the “old musicians entertained with tunes reminiscent of the war.” The program
most likely included sentimental favorites like Dixie, Bonnie Blue Flag and
Maryland, My Maryland. At the conclusion of the band’s selections, its leader, now
a frail old man of 68, slowly mounted the bandstand to play before the few
surviving veterans of the “Old First” a concluding ballad guaranteed to moisten all
eyes present - "The Last Rose of Summer."
Eighteen years after that war’s conclusion, James Bolton Smith and his Armory
Band still served as a faithful reminder to those remaining few of all who had gone,
and their world that had passed. In that touching vignette at Blenner Park, Smith,
now an old man bent with age and afflicted with arthritis, softly, lowly, and perhaps
quavering, played his last fitting tribute to all that remained of the “Old First” in his
haunting rendition of “The Last Rose of Summer.”
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Those few remaining men, and their constant companion, Richmond’s beloved
Armory Band, were indeed the last rose of that world’s summer. Their companions
all gone, they only awaited the gardener’s hand or a gentle breeze to join those who
waited for them. James Bolton Smith himself would do so three years later.
**********************************************************
“They say that in the end, all you have is memories…”
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.”
“Have you ever seen Booth Mr. Boyd? Is he an elderly man?”
“I saw him once in Richmond, about the time of the John Brown
raid, and I thought he was rather a young man.” John Wilkes
Booth, spoken as “Mr. Boyd” to Richard Garrett on the evening of
April 25, 1865, less than 12 hours before his death at the Garret
Farm (“Richard H. Garret; An Authentic History of the Capture of
J. Wilkes Booth at the Garrett Farm”, Alexandria Gazette, April
29, 1868)
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CREDITS/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and always – to my husband David, Editor, Webmaster and Sounding Board,
without whose love, support and patience none of this would have been possible.
Professor Terry Alford (My special thanks for bringing to my attention the
existence of the undated “John Taylor manuscript,” donated by Taylor’s daughter,
Mrs. Blanch (Taylor) King to the Virginia Historical Society )
David L. Bright
Mark Greenough
William E.Griffin
John Hennessy
Noel Harrison
Bruce and Nancy Haynes
Nancy Kackley
Arthur F. Loux (My special thanks for informing me of the letter from James O.
Hall to Dr. Constance Head, dated March 17, 1982, which disclosed the existence in
“the Booth effects listed in M599” of the (yet to be examined) card signed on the
reverse by O. Jennings Wise.)
Alice & Brandon Martin
Fred O’Callaghan
Betty Ownsbey
P. Douglas Perks
Roseanne Shalf
Errol Sommay (My special thanks for providing me with the article; “Exciting
Reports from Charlestown – Departure of the Richmond Military”, Richmond Daily
Dispatch, November 21, 1859
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REFERENCES
Bright, David L.
www.csa-railroads.com
Daniel, Rudolph, Trains Across the Continent
North American Railroad History, Second Edition
Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1997/2000
Griffin, William E. Jr.
One Hundred and Fifty Years along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac
Railroad, Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, Va., 1984
Martin, Alice & Brandon
Old Dominion Chapter, NRHS
Mencken, August, The Railroad Passenger Car, an Illustrated History of the First
Hundred Years with Accounts by Contemporary Passengers, The Johns Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore & London, 1957
Mordecai, John B.
A Brief History of the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, Old
Dominion Press, Richmond, Va., 1940
White, John H. Jr.
The American Railroad Passenger Car
Part I and Part II; Studies in the History of Technology The Johns Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore & London, 1978
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SOURCES
Reconstructing the Scene that Night
Wise, John Sergeant, End of an Era, Houghton Mifflin, 1899
Alfriend, Edward M., “Recollections of John Wilkes Booth.” New Era Magazine
1901
Whitlock, Philip, “The Life of Philip Whitlock, Written by Himself”, unpublished
manuscript, donated to VHS in 1973
Libby, George W. “, John Brown and John Wilkes Booth”, The Confederate
Veteran, Issue 37, April 1930, pg. 138-139
Libby, “George W. Libby Recalls Incidents of the War Between the States”,
Richmond Times Dispatch, July 7, 1929
“John Brown Hanging; Recollections of a Member of the Richmond Grays”,
[Richmond Times Dispatch, May 1, 1904
“John Taylor unpublished manuscript,” Virginia Historical Society (File 36-10-22-
T.)
“Dr. Joseph Southall, The John Wilkes Booth Story”, Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2,
1902
Notes and Correspondence of Mary Bella Beale in the David Rankin Barbee Papers,
Georgetown University Library, Special Collections Research Center, Box 5, folder
280
“A Theatrical Joke”, New Hampshire Patriot, November 23, 1959
“John Brown”, The New York Sun, Fireman’s Magazine , Vol. IX, No. 1, January,
1885
“The Insurrection at Harper’s Ferry”, Alexandria Gazette, October 19, 1859
“Exciting Reports from Charlestown – Departure of the Richmond Military”,
Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 21, 1859
“The Harper’s Ferry Invasion; Terrible Excitement in Richmond – Our Richmond
Correspondence – Richmond, Va., November 20, 1859”, New York Herald,
November 23, 1859
“John Brown”, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen’s Magazine,
Vol. 9, Jan. 1885
“The Alarm of Saturday Night”, Charleston Mercury, November 23, 1859
“Promptness of the Richmond Military”, Providence Evening News Press,
November 26, 1859
“The Capture and Execution of John Brown by an Eye Witness”, Lippincott’s
Monthly Magazine, Vol. XLIII, January - June 1889
“Late Excitement at Richmond”, National Intelligencer, November 22, 1859
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“Recent Affair at Harper’s Ferry”, New York Clipper, December 3, 1859
“The Harper’s Ferry Outbreak”, New York Herald, October 26, 1859