Dr. Samuel Mudd set the broken leg of Lincoln's killer, and whether he was an innocent country doctor or part of the plot is still argued.
Samuel Mudd, born in 1833 in Charles County, Maryland, was a doctor and tobacco farmer who owned slaves and backed the Confederacy, the Southern states that broke away from the United States in the Civil War; in November 1864 he met John Wilkes Booth, the actor who later shot President Abraham Lincoln [1].
In the early hours of 15 April 1865 he treated Booth's broken leg at his home while Booth fled with his companion David Herold. A military court (a panel of officers of the Union Army, the army of the United States side in the Civil War, acting as judge and jury) sentenced him to life in prison. He was sent to Fort Jefferson, a prison on the Dry Tortugas islands off Key West, Florida, and was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869 after treating prisoners and guards during a yellow fever outbreak there.
Mudd waited more than a day to report the visit. In his first statement he said he had never seen either man before; in a later sworn statement he admitted he had been introduced to Booth the previous November or December. A 2020 U.S. Army history of the assassination also says Mudd introduced Booth to John Surratt, a Confederate courier.
His family still says he was innocent. The 2020 Army history points to a guard's 1865 affidavit that Mudd admitted knowing Booth, a descendant's finding of three earlier meetings, and a lost confession by George Atzerodt, one of Booth's fellow plotters, saying Booth sent supplies to Mudd's house. Historian George Bryan (1940) calls the question a prejudiced and futile controversy and notes some accept Mudd's account in good faith. Both views stand.
[Report #200] WHO. 'Samuel Alexander Mudd was born on 20 December 1833, in Charles County, Maryland.' (
history.army.mil) 'Working as a doctor as well as a tobacco farmer in southern Maryland, Mudd owned slaves, was pro-Confederate' (
history.army.mil).
BEFORE 1865. 'With a letter of introduction from a Confederate agent in hand, Booth met with Mudd in Charles County, Maryland, in November 1864.' (
history.army.mil) 'Mudd then introduced Booth to Confederate agent John H. Surratt Jr.' (
history.army.mil)
15 APRIL 1865. 'Mudd treated Booth’s broken leg, and, after spending a day recuperating at Dr. Mudd’s house, Booth and Herold traveled further south toward Zekiah Swamp.' (
history.army.mil) From the sworn statement of Mudd: 'On examination I found there was a straight fracture of the tibia about two inches above the ankle.' (
archive.org)
ARREST. 'On 24 April, Dr. Samuel Mudd was arrested when police suspected him of lying about his role in aiding Booth and Herold.' (
history.army.mil)
THE TRIAL. 'In the end, only eight individuals would stand trial as apprehended conspirators, accused of conspiracy to murder Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant.' (
history.army.mil) 'The trial began 10 May 1865, three weeks after Lincoln’s assassination, and ended on 30 June.' (
history.army.mil) Under its rules 'only a majority vote was needed to gain a conviction, although a two-thirds vote was necessary to give the death penalty' (
history.army.mil). 'Mudd had waited more than twenty-four hours to report Booth and Herold’s visit to authorities, and he changed his story several times while under interrogation' (
history.army.mil). 'In his first statement, Mudd lied, stating, “I never saw either of the parties [Booth and Herold] before, nor can I conceive who sent them to my house.”' (
history.army.mil) 'In the second statement, Mudd admitted, “I have seen J. Wilkes Booth. I was introduced to him by J. C. Thompson, a son-in-law of Dr. William Queen, in November or December last.”' (
history.army.mil)
VERDICT AND SENTENCE. 'For the same crime, the commission sentenced Arnold, Mudd, and O’Laughlen to life imprisonment.' (
history.army.mil) Bryan: 'Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, and Michael O'Laughlin were to be imprisoned at hard labor for life; Edman Spangler was to be imprisoned at hard labor for six years.' (
archive.org) 'Their accomplices—Arnold, Mudd, O’Laughlen, and Spangler—were sent to prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West, Florida.' (
history.army.mil)
PARDON. 'For this humanitarian work, Mudd received a pardon from President Johnson and was released from prison in 1869.' (
history.army.mil) Bryan: 'Mudd, released from Fort Jefferson on March 8th, arrived at Key West on the 12th, and got back to his home on the 20th.' (
archive.org)
DISPUTED: WHAT HE KNEW. Army guide: 'To this day, Mudd’s family continues to claim his innocence' (
history.army.mil); it cites 'an affidavit recorded in 1865 from Capt. George C. Dutton, a member of Mudd’s military escort to the Dry Tortugas prison, in which Dutton claims that Mudd confessed to having met Booth prior to the assassination.' (
history.army.mil) 'Robert K. Summers (Mudd’s great grandson) proved that Mudd had a total of three encounters with Booth before the assassination.' (
history.army.mil) The lost confession of Atzerodt: 'Booth had sent provisions to Mudd’s house about two weeks before the assassination' (
history.army.mil). Bryan (1940): 'To what extent certain persons in Lower Maryland, especially Dr. Samuel Mudd, had knowledge of the plot, or whether indeed they knew of it at all, has often been the subject of prejudiced and futile controversy.' (
archive.org) 'Others, in view of the unusual conditions, accept Mudd's statement as given in good faith.' (
archive.org) Both held.
HELD. 'Uncertainties remain over the veracity of the evidence, the witness statements, and the degree of guilt of those who were tried by the commission.' (
history.army.mil)