The Evening Bugle

Author : Robert K. Summers
Publisher : Robert K. Summers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 108 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dr. Samuel Mudd at Fort Jefferson written by Robert K. Summers and published by Robert K. Summers. This book was released on 2024-10-27 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1865, the Fort Jefferson military prison housed Union soldiers whose offenses included murder, manslaughter, robbery, grand larceny, and desertion. It was a rough crowd. A standing order said: If a prisoner refuses to obey orders the sentinel must shoot him, and then use his bayonet, at the same time calling for the guard. The fort was located on a remote island in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles due west of Key West, Florida. On July 24, 1865, four new prisoners, all civilians, arrived aboard the Navy warship U.S.S. Florida. They were Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. They had recently been found guilty in the President Abraham Lincoln assassination trial. Four others had also been found guilty, but they were now dead, executed by hanging for actively assisting John Wilkes Booth in the assassination. The four new arrivals at Fort Jefferson had no role in the assassination, but were convicted for otherwise conspiring with Booth. Booth had broken a bone in his left leg escaping the assassination, and had sought out Dr. Mudd to fix the break. Dr. Mudd didn't know of the assassination, but he did know Booth because he had met him a couple of times before. Unfortunately, he told those hunting Booth that he didn't recognize the man with the broken leg. General August V. Kautz, one of the trial's military judges, said: Dr. Mudd attracted much interest and his guilt as an active conspirator was not clearly made out. His main guilt was the fact that he failed to deliver them, that is, Booth and Herold, to their pursuers. This is the story of Dr. Mudd's time at Fort Jefferson, including his failed attempt to escape on a visiting supply ship, his confinement in the fort's dungeon, and his heroic work during a terrible yellow fever epidemic at the fort. Three hundred thirteen soldiers, 54 prisoners, and 20 civilians - a total of 387 people - were at the fort at the time of the epidemic. Two hundred seventy of them contracted yellow fever. When the fort’s doctor died at the beginning of the epidemic, Dr. Mudd and a civilian doctor from Key West took over and cared for those struck down by the disease. Every surviving soldier at Fort Jefferson signed a petition asking President Andrew Johnson to pardon Dr. Mudd for his heroic work during the epidemic. Johnson pardoned Dr. Mudd on March 8, 1869, in large part because of his work during the epidemic. After his release from prison, Dr. Mudd returned home to his family, and resumed his life as a country doctor and farmer. He died from pneumonia in 1883 at the age of 49. In 1906, Dr. Mudd's daughter Nettie Mudd published The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, which includes several letters written by Dr. Mudd while at Fort Jefferson. It is widely available on the internet, and is recommended for further reading.