Lincoln Assassination

President Abraham Lincoln once said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt! “ President Jefferson Davis once said, "I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.“ More than 150 years later, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most significant events in United States history. It continues until this very day, attracting the interest of scholars, writers like myself, and armchair historians. This series is very special to my heart. It begins with the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861, and passes by the four war years and continues with his assassination by David Edgar Herold, a 23-year old pharmacist who was living in Washington City. Wait! Did you just say who? If you did, then follow this book from start to finish and you will find out that not only did John Wilkes Booth die for his involvement in the assassination, but so did four others. Many novels define John Wilkes Booth as a lone deranged actor and a madman who struck from a twisted lust for vengeance. This is not true. He was neither alone nor was he mad. According to the U. S. federal government, over 250 people were taken into custody and interrogated. Later books in the series will take you through the actual military trial of the other's conspirators, including the first woman ever executed by the United States Government. This novel will also cover that fateful night of Lincoln's assassination. It will follow the 12-day chase for John Wilkes Booth and David Herold. Then, it will follow the burial route and final resting place for Lincoln. The trial will not be covered in this novel, but the day of execution of the conspirators is included along with the burial of the other assassins. Then, the chase and capture of Jefferson Davis is told, along with his two year imprisonment by the federal government. Are you aware that it wasn't until 1977 during Jimmy Carter's term in office that Davis was posthumously forgiven for his role in the civil war and made a U. S. Citizen? The novel includes the inauguration, the assassination, the funeral, capture of John Wilkes Booth, the execution, the arrest and imprisonment of Jefferson Davis and later his funeral held in Metairie, Louisiana. Below are a few words his wife said while traveling down Poydras in downtown New Orleans. The funeral procession was over three miles long as mourners paid their respect to the South's President, Jefferson Davis. “Dear, I was thinking out loud how sad a day this has been. The United States War Department did not recognize your father. The United States flag did not fly at half-mast. It flew at half-mast throughout the south." Varina began to cry again. She raised her handkerchief up to blot the tears running down her cheek. "He is the only former Secretary of War not given the respect and honor due him by the United States Government." She sighed, clasping her slender hands together in her lap, and stared at them, lost with her emotions. “Mother, don't fret about it. Father's funeral service was, I am sure, attended by far more people than those who attended Abraham Lincoln's. The South loves him. We love the South."

Lewis Thornton PowellThe Conspiracy to Kill Abraham LincolnLincoln Assassination SeriesBook 3"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." – Abraham LincolnReporters were denied access to Lewis Thornton Powell and David "Davy" Herold, conspirators in the Lincoln Assassination while held captive on the USS Montauk. Furthermore, the press was held at bay, but not Alexander Gardner, a favorite photographer of the government in Washington City at the time.On April 27th, Gardner was busy taking photographs of those who had been arrested in the government's dragnet. Say a derogatory word against the government or Abe Lincoln, one could find themselves locked up in the slammer with three hundred others.Each of the prisoners were brought on deck and photographed in a few different poses. Far more photographs were taken of Lewis Powell than anyone else. He was a camera hound and gave his time to the celebrated photographer. Powell cooperated with Gardner's requests and posed sitting down, standing, with and without restraints, and modeling the overcoat and hat he wore the night of the Secretary of State Seward's attacks. The one used in most discussions was where he stood against the gun turret of the USS Saugus, staring right at the camera, relaxing in a calm manner.Powell was shackled with a form of manacles known as "lily irons," riveted handcuffs with two separate iron bands on each of his wrists, preventing him the ability to bend his wrist or use either of his hands. Like most of the male prisoners on board, he drug around with him a heavy iron ball at the end of a six foot long chain manacled to one of his legs.In LEWIS THORNTON POWELL – The Conspiracy to Kill Abraham Lincoln, a military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, was chosen as the prosecutorial venue. The government officials at the time thought the Commission might be more lenient in regards to the evidence allowing the court to get to the bottom of what they perceived as a vast conspiracy.Conviction required a simple majority of the judges, while imposition of the death sentence required a two-thirds majority. The only appeal available to the prisoners was to go directly to the President of the United States.From all indication, enough preliminary witnesses had placed Powell in the same room with Secretary of State Seward. Finding legal counsel was difficult, and after three days waiting, Powell was finally able to locate representation for the trial that began on May 12, 1865. William E. Doster took over representation for the defense of Lewis Powell. Doster was a graduate of Yale and Harvard and the former provost marshal for the District of Columbia.William Doster for the Defense opened his case on June 21st, 1865, for Lewis Thornton Powell. The weight of the evidence against Powell was so overwhelming, the Defense, instead of trying to disprove his guilt, characterizes Powell's actions as those of a soldier who aimed at the Secretary of State instead of the lesser corps of the Union.This court case in its entirety for Lewis Thornton Powell was brought to paper for the reader to determine from the evidence and the testimony of witnesses whether or not Lewis Thornton Powell should have been hung or be turned free.

You can't understand the Lincoln Assassination without understanding the Knights of the Golden Circle, the most powerful and secret society in all America at that time. It is somewhat unusual to know how very little has been written about this organization, especially when I've just finished six novels in the series based on hundreds of newspaper articles, periodicals, and magazines. Their existence was well established before the Civil War.The organization grew out of Southern Rights Clubs in the South who were mostly interested in opening up more territory to slavery. These secret clubs financed slave ships that continued to illegally abduct Africans after the slave trade became officially abolished in 1808.In 1855, George Bickley, a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, organized the Southern Rights movement into the highly secretive Knights of the Golden Circle, also known in abbreviated form as the KGC, a volunteer militia initially formed for a new invasion of Mexico.The words in this book were actually written by a member of the Order who never revealed his name. This book will give great insight into who the KGC were and what their purpose was for existence.The Knights of the Golden Circle merged with the expansionist Order of the Lone Star in 1858 and planned an invasion of Mexico which was eventually aborted by a senator from Texas, his name Sam Houston. After calling off the attack, the KGC aimed at fueling secession. State regimental leaders, in concert with folks like John Pettus, Henry Wise, and Texas Ranger Ben McColloch, helped the Knights of the Golden Circle evolve into the paramilitary spearhead of the secessionist movement. These military units came to be known as the Minute Men in South Carolina and the Texas Knights in Texas, over 8,000 strong.There were many discussed attempts on Abraham Lincoln's life, beginning with one organized by the Knights of the Golden Circle in February 1861. The person involved was a hairdresser from Baltimore by the name of Cipriano Ferrandini. He was accused but never indicted for plotting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on February 23, 1861.There has been much discussion of the Knights of the Golden Circle and their influence on the events of that fateful night in Washington City on April 14, 1865.Newspaper articles across the nation advertised the need for troops to muster in Brownsville, Texas in 1860 to eventually attack Mexico. These plans were called off due to the tension between the North and South, and the constant talk of secession.Names associated with the Knights of the Golden Circle (not necessarily proven to be a member) were: President Franklin Pierce, George W. L. Bickley, Brigadier General Elkanah Greer, John Wilkes Booth, Buckner Stith Morris, Lambdin P. Milligan, Jesse James, and Samuel Mudd, one of the accused Lincoln Assassination conspirators.

The trial of Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the end of the Civil War after Robert E. Lee's surrender, came to a dramatic conclusion on July 7, 1865. Andrew Johnson did not declare, however, an end to the War Between the States until August 1866. In 1851, Mary Jenkins Surratt and her husband John stood outside their home and watched as it burned to the ground in Maryland. They elected not to rebuild the home, and, instead, built a home in combination with a tavern for weary travelers to partake in drink, near Mary's parent's place, a small area called Surrattsville. John Surratt, Sr. died in 1862. Mary moved with her daughter Anna in 1864 to their Washington City location she and John purchased in 1853. This location plays a vital role in the many meetings held by Booth, John Surratt, Jr., and others. On April 11th, Mary traveled with Louis Weichmann to her tavern in Surrattsville she had leased to John Lloyd. They passed Lloyd on the road to Uniontown, and from testimony given by Louis Weichmann, Mary told Lloyd the "shooting irons" would be needed soon. This was associated with other testimony given in the trial about rifles that were hidden at the tavern by some Booth conspirators. The book will allow the reader to determine for themselves if, in fact, Mary Surratt should have received the penalty handed down to her at the completion of the trial. In numerous novels on this subject, some say Mary Surratt is guilty as sin. Many say Mary Surratt was only in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it was the United States Government out for revenge... out for blood. In the trial of Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt, a military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, was chosen as the prosecutorial venue. Why? Because the government officials at the time thought it might be more lenient in regards to the evidence allowing the court to get to the bottom of what they perceived as a vast conspiracy. From all indications, enough preliminary witnesses mentioned Mary Surratt's participation as responsible for providing the nest that hatched the egg, her boarding house in Washington City. One thing in the proceedings that appeared suspicious was on the night she was arrested, she denied having ever seen Lewis Thornton Powell when he appeared at her boarding house. According to numerous witnesses in the trial, Lewis had been there on multiple occasions to meet with her son and others. Was Mary lying, or was it just too dark when she was asked if she recognized him in front of the boarding house. Mary Surratt was on trial with seven men. Her attorneys were John Clampitt and Frederick Aiken. In prison, Lewis Powell continued to tell anyone who would listen that keeping Mary shackled and in prison was wrong as she had nothing to do with the assassination of the President. Testimony given by John Lloyd and Louis Weichmann weighed heavily in the Military Commission's final decision. During the trial, Mary dressed in total black. Her head was covered in a black bonnet. The expressions on her face were barely recognizable hidden behind the netting of her silk veil. This court case, in its entirety for Mary Surratt, is depicted in this novel, the fifth novel in the Lincoln Assassination Series. The reader will have the opportunity to determine from the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses whether or not Mary Elizabeth Surratt should be hung or be turned free.

The Lincoln Assassination Series Books 1 — 5 Written as Creative Historical Nonfiction BOX SET President Abraham Lincoln said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt!" President Jefferson Davis said, "I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the War, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the War came." BOOK 1 — THE LOST CAUSE — The Lincoln Assassination The assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, and his death at 7:22 am on April 15 is covered in this first novel. His funeral train back home is narrated along with the ending punishment phase of the conspirators. Much of the life of Jefferson Davis is brought to life, including how the United States didn't fly a flag at half-mast honoring him. He was the only former Secretary of War not given this respect in the history of the United States. BOOK 2: PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH. General Robert E. Lee said, "There's a terrible war coming. These young men who have never seen War can't wait for it to happen. But, I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this War!" This novel will follow John Wilkes Booth and the federal forces' extensive manhunt to capture him. Still, there are questions. In the memoirs of one of the soldiers who captured the assassin, said the man they killed had a "red" mustache. Booth's, of course, was black. BOOK 3: LEWIS THORNTON POWELL — The Conspiracy to Kill Abraham Lincoln. Winston Churchill once said, "History is written by the victors. "From all indication, enough preliminary witnesses placed Lewis Thornton Powell in the same room with Secretary of State Seward. William E. Doster took over representation for the defense of Powell. Doster was a graduate of Yale and Harvard and the former provost marshal for the District of Columbia. BOOK 4: KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE — A Most Secretive Organization. This book is more of a reference manual for writing the other four novels in the series. You can't understand the Lincoln Assassination without an understanding of the Knights of the Golden Circle, the most powerful and secret society in all America at the time of the Civil War. The organization grew out of Southern Rights Clubs in the South who were mostly interested in opening up more territory to slavery. The actual words written in this reference novel were written by a member of the Order who never revealed his name. BOOK 5: MARY ELIZABETH SURRATT — First Woman Executed by the Federal Government The entire court case for Mary Elizabeth Surratt is depicted in this novel, the fifth novel in the Lincoln Assassination Series. The reader can follow the trial and determine for themselves from the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses if she should be found guilty or innocent. A military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, was chosen as the prosecutorial venue. Why? President Andrew Johnson did not declare an end to the War Between the States until August 1866. Was Mary Elizabeth Surratt in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was the United States Government out for revenge... out for blood! President Andrew Johnson said, "Mary Elizabeth Surratt kept the nest that hatched the egg!" This quote suggests that Johnson was bolstering his belief that she was guilty and deserved the harshest sentence allowed. An exciting conclusion in this five-novel series on the Lincoln Assassination.