Lincoln assassins' gravesites in Washington and Baltimore

 

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the death of President Abraham Lincoln,  volunteers on Saturday led tours at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to the graves of several who were associated with the president's assassination in Washington on April 14, 1865, and his death the next day. A volunteer guide at the cemetery, Steve Hammond, quoted some who claim that because Ulysses S. Grant did not go with President Lincoln to Ford's Theatre that night, it was "one of the reasons Lincoln was assassinated....Grant's wife couldn't stand Mary Todd Lincoln."/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Looking towards the entrance of Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Volunteer guide Steve Hammond talks about conspirator David Herold, hanged on July 7, 1865 for his role in President Lincoln's assassination.  Hammond said Herold is buried beneath this grave of Elizabeth Jane Herold at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C., but Wikipedia says Herold has a gravestone at the cemetery:

 

On February 15, 1869, David's mother and 5 of his sisters interred his remains in Congressional Cemetery ( Washington, D. C. ) in an unmarked grave, next to the grave of his father Adam.^[6][7] The gravestone memorializing David now present in Congressional Cemetery was placed there in July 1917, at the time of the burial of his sister Mary Alice ( Herold ) Nelson (October 16, 1837 – July 1, 1917) in the cemetery. Mary Alice was the wife of Frederick Massena Nelson (January 1827 - May 11, 1909) of Pomonkey, Charles County, Maryland/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This is the grave of Charles Forbes, who "was someone who should have been fired," based on his actions (or inactions) on the day of the Lincoln assassination, said Steve Hammond, a guide at Congressional Cemetery, on Saturday.  Supposedly before he shot Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth gave Forbes his business card when he "walked up to Forbes and said something," but Forbes carried the remark with him to the grave. The marker (above) reads:  

 

"Charles Forbes

Died October 11, 1895

Age 60

Margaret Forbes

Died October 26, 1881

Age 53

Charles Forbes Served As

Personal Attendant

to President Lincoln

1861-1865

He Accompanied The

Lincolns To Ford's

Theatre On The Night of

April 14, 1865 And Was

Seated Just Outside The

Box When The President Was Shot. 

 

The Lincoln Group

of Washington, 1983

/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Peter Taltavull (1825-1881) owned the Star Saloon, next door to Ford's Theatre where John Wilkes Booth stopped for a drink of  whiskey and water shortly before the assassination, according to Taltavull's testimony at the conspiracy trial. After Lincoln was shot, the medical team briefly considered taking the president to Taltavull's saloon before the president was taken across the street to Petersen's boarding house. Taltavull's grave is at Congressional Cemetery/Photo by Patricia Leslie

John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Lincoln, and two others associated with the assassination, Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlen (O'Laughlin), are buried in Baltimore at Green Mount Cemetery where a chapel sits atop the hill/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Booth Family plot, Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD, where John Wilkes Booth was buried in 1869.  His small unmarked gravestone with Lincoln pennies on top is almost in the center of the photo/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The unmarked grave of John Wilkes Booth in the Booth Family plot at Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD, where visitors leave Lincoln pennies/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003, ph. 202-543-0539 

  

Green Mount Cemetery, 1501 Greenmount Ave., Baltimore, MD 21202, ph. 410-539-0641

 

 

 

 

 

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Ford's Theatre confirms 'The Widow Lincoln'

 

Mary Bacon as Mary Lincoln in the Ford’s Theatre world premiere of James Still’s The Widow Lincoln, directed by Stephen Rayne/Photo by Carol Rosegg

If you know anything about Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), you know The Widow Lincoln now playing at Ford's Theatre will not be a happy presentation, especially since it takes place in the days after Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865.  

The dark script contains few surprises, but the best effects of the play are the conversations it will spark about Mrs. Lincoln. 

Everything is bleak, and there's no variation from the negative stereotype of Mary Todd Lincoln, a shrill, emotional, unbalanced woman, the mate of our most beloved president.  She was more.

I thought I read somewhere that the play was to be a sympathetic portrait of her, but I saw little evidence. She brought class to the White House.  Abraham Lincoln married her, and they had four children, two of whom died before reaching adulthood (Eddie, age 3, and Willie, age 11 when the Lincolns were in the White House). Her husband was shot at her side at Ford's Theatre.  She was supposed to be balanced? 

I did not know she stayed in the White House for five weeks after the president died April 15, 1865, nor that she did not accompany his funeral train which traveled 1,654 miles from Washington to 180 cities in seven states before it reached its destination of Springfield, Illinois where he was buried on May 4. Nor that she did not attend his funeral. 

James Still wrote The Widow Lincoln on commission from Ford's as part of Ford's 150, a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. 

Under the direction of Stephen Rayne, Mary Bacon, in her Ford debut, does a distinguished job (if her Southern accent is a trifle exaggerated) as Mary Todd Lincoln, who is mostly hysterical, besot by ghosts, hosting seances in the White House, and dreaming that  Queen Victoria of England comes to call.  The script has several disquieting pauses and too many Lincoln soliloquies.

Mary Bacon as Mary Lincoln with the cast of the Ford’s Theatre world premiere of James Still’s The Widow Lincoln, directed by Stephen Rayne/Photo by Carol Rosegg

Surrounding the first lady during most of the production are women positioned on top of her mountains of trunks which randomly move up and down stage. (Mary Todd Lincoln was charged with buying too many clothes.) Those associates become at different times, the naysayers, friends, and ghosts who speak in choruses, and individually steal quietly from their perches to frequently enter the stage in different apparel as new characters:  Sarah Marshall is Queen Victoria and assumes another role when she joins other cast members (Kimberly Schraf, Gracie Terzian, and Melissa Graves) in excerpts from Our American Cousin, the play the Lincolns went to see that night at Ford's. 

One of the most powerful performances is delivered by Caroline Clay as Elizabeth Keckly, Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker and close friend.

The role of the young guard is played by Ms. Graves whose gender is never in question.  Some women did cut their hair, join the military, and went off to war in search of husbands, brothers, and other loved ones.

Other cast members are Lynda Gravatt and Brynn Tucker. Neither man nor sufficient contrasting dialogue comes forward to lighten the script or stage design.

Mary Todd Lincoln's first gown in the show (by Wade Laboissonniere) is a big blossoming magnolia which appears to be designed after an original, with a pink floral pattern on the skirt's front, but after a few moments, becomes the president's blood stains, reminiscent of the suit worn by another first lady whose husband was assassinated while sitting beside her and who was attacked for her clothing expenditures. 

I don't believe Mary Bacon left the stage once during the entire performance, and, in the style of the day, changed garments on stage.

Lighting (by Pat Collins), shadow effects (projection by Clint Allen), and sounds of the Lincoln funeral train (by David Budreis and Nathan A. Roberts) are enduring and skillfully woven.   

Civil War era music composed by Mr. Budreis and Mr. Roberts fills the venue before and during parts of the the play, sounding as if an orchestra is in the pit, but none was found on-site or in the program. 

Other key crew members are Tony Cisek, scenic design; Anne Nesmith, wigs and make-up; Lynn Watson, dialects; Kristin Fox-Siegmund, director of programming; Brandon Prendergast and Hannah R. O'Neil, stage managers.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one woman in her time plays one part

What:  The Widow Lincoln

When: Through Feb. 22, 2015 on most Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Where: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004

Tickets: From $15-$62 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and those younger than 35

Duration: About two hours with one intermission

For more information: 202-347-4833

Metro stations: Metro Center or Gallery Place-Chinatown

To read other local reviews of shows still playing, go to Other Reviews on DCMetroTheaterArts.

The Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington, Kentucky/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The back of the Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington, Kentucky/Photo by Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

12 Hours Chasing John Wilkes Booth

Yes, it is possible to do it on your own. But the time! The wonderful little side trips and the hard-to-find locations. Plus all the spoken history as you ride. The camaraderie of like minded individuals who have the same curiosity as you.

I am speaking of another of the Smithsonian’s excellent day trips, this one entitled, “John Wilkes Booth’s Escape Route,” a 12-hour tour of the places and stops he made after he shot Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, in Washington, D.C. which Ed Bearss, the famous historian and narrator, led last Sunday.


(One of my new comrades told me: “When you see Bearss is the guide, jump on it (the trip) since his tours sell out quickly.”)

Bearss is the retired chief historian for the National Park Service who also leads tours to Civil War battlefields and other places more than 200 days per year, one of the day trippers said.

Whatever, Sunday’s trip was superb.

We began at 8 a.m. sharp (don’t be late or you’ll miss the bus) making the first stop at Lafayette Park, the location of the home (now demolished) of Secretary of State William Seward. Mr. Bearss laid the groundwork for the evening of April 14 describing an attack upon the Secretary in his home by one of the conspirators. (Seward survived.)

From there, we stopped at (hold on):

the Peterson House (where Lincoln died on April 15),

the alley behind Ford’s Theatre (the theatre is closed for renovation),

Mary Surratt’s boarding house a few steps from Sixth and H streets (now a Japanese/Chinese restaurant),

the Surratt Tavern in Clinton, Maryland,

Samuel Mudd’s home near Bryantown, Maryland where lovely costumed Civil War ladies greeted us standing out beside tents. Uniformed Confederate soldiers fired muskets into the field. One played “Dixie” on a flute.

We stopped briefly at St Mary’s Church where Dr. Mudd met Booth in 1864 and where Dr.and Mrs. Mudd are buried, and:

Rich Hill, the home of Samuel Cox,

a thicket like the one where Booth and his accomplice David Herold hid for four nights (the exact location is unknown),

Cleydael, the home of Richard Stewart, where friendly horses, sheep, the current homeowner and four McCain signs greeted us,

Port Royal where Booth and friends crossed the Rappahannock River,

the Peyton House (now boarded up and unlikely to be restored, Mr. Bearss said because a Kansas museum, I think it was, owns most of the artifacts. Kansas? ),

and ending at the location of the Garrett House and Barn where Booth was shot and died.

All that remains of the Garrett structures on the hill between highway lanes amidst vines, trees, and a leaf-strewn path is a small plaque placed within the past year, Mr. Bearss said, by the 21st Century Confederate Memorial group to honor Booth.

And there was more, but don't ask me what.

Mr. Bearss knows all the details of the tragedy and the players upside down and backwards, and after speaking almost non-stop all day, answering questions and describing events and people, times, and places, he took questions on the way back.

The dictionary does not have enough superlative adjectives to adequately describe the day. An excellent detailed map is supplied so you can easily follow the route and timing by the half hour in some cases.

The price ($114 for Smithsonian Associates members) includes a delicious, quick lunch at Captain Billy’s Crab House in Popes Creek, MD, and light refreshments on the way back. (The "Smithsonian Sherry" is better left undrunk.)

A splendid trip in every regard, but perhaps I exaggerate.

Kudos for sure to Kay Weston, the Smithsonian representative, and to “Winfield,” the bus driver.

Because of all the steps and stairs and climbing throughout the day, I do not recommend this trip for handicapped persons, but I can recommend the book about the chase of Booth: Manhunt by James Swanson.

Oh, would that money were no object.