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Apr 26, 2023 11 tweets 8 min read Read on X
John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Abraham Lincoln, was found and killed by a detachment of @USArmy soldiers #OTD in 1865, in a tobacco barn on the Garrett Farm near Port Royal, Virginia. #CivilWar #ConfederateHeritageMonth 🧵 ImageImageImage
Having escaped from Washington after the assassination, Booth spent nearly two weeks evading capture and seeking treatment for the leg he injured when he jumped to the @fordstheatre stage. He was accompanied by David Herold, one of his co-conspirators. #ConfederateHeritageMonth ImageImageImageImage
They were guided to the Garrett Farm by a former confederate solider, Willie Jett. The Garrett family was unaware of who Booth was, or even that Lincoln had been assassinated, since the confederate mail system had stopped. #ConfederateHeritageMonth ImageImage
A reward for Booth's capture had been set, and a detachment of the 16th New York Cavalry had been sent to track him down. They were commanded by Lt. Edward Doherty, and were accompanied by Lt. Col. Everton Conger, an intelligence officer. #ConfederateHeritageMonth ImageImageImageImage
They found Jett, and after interrogation by Conger, he admitted that Booth was hiding in the Garrett's barn. The detachment arrived at the barn in the pre-dawn hours of April 26, and ordered Booth and Herold to surrender. Herold did, but Booth refused. #ConfederateHeritageMonth Image
Conger set fire to the barn, but before Booth could leave it, Sgt. Boston Corbett saw Booth moving inside and shot him. The bullet went through Booth's neck, severing his spine. He was pulled from the barn and brought to the porch of the farm house. #ConfederateHeritageMonth ImageImageImage
Paralyzed by the bullet, Booth asked the soldiers to raise his hands so he could see them. Looking at them, he said “Useless, useless". Seeing Jett nearby, he asked "Did Jett betray me?" These were his final words before dying on the porch at sunrise. #ConfederateHeritageMonth ImageImage

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More from @CivilWarOTD

May 23, 2023
General Ambrose Burnside was born #OTD in 1824. A one time commander of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside was a genial man but a subpar commander. He entered politics after the #CivilWar, becoming Governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator from that state.🧵 ImageImageImageImage
As a young officer, Burnside had been engaged to a woman named Charlotte “Lottie” Moon, but she left him at the altar by proclaiming “No siree Bob!” to the minister’s question of whether she took Burnside to be her husband. She later became a confederate spy. ImageImage
Burnside left two more lasting legacies. First, he wore such unusual whiskers that they began to be commonly called “burnsides”, which later evolved into the word “sideburns”. The second was his election as the first president of the National Rifle Association. ImageImage
Read 7 tweets
May 23, 2023
The Battle of Front Royal, VA, was fought #OTD in 1862. The engagement was part of Thomas Jackson’s campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, capturing supplies and tying up @USArmy units from reinforcing General George McClellan’s offensive against Richmond. #CivilWar🧵 ImageImage
General Nathaniel Banks commanded 9,000 men in the Valley, and concentrated near Strasbourg. A smaller force of about 1,000 under Colonel John Kenly held Front Royal, which Jackson approached on the morning of May 23rd. ImageImageImage
Jackson had more than three times as many men as Kenly, and used the rest of his force well to cut off mountain passes and prevent U.S. reinforcements, including Banks’ main body, from reaching Front Royal. ImageImageImage
Read 6 tweets
May 23, 2023
The Battle of North Anna began #OTD in 1864. Part of General @USGrantNPS's Overland Campaign, the battle was actually a series of engagements between parts of The Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. #CivilWar🧵 ImageImage
After Grant was unable to defeat Lee at the two-week long Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, he met with his commanders and determined to move the army around Lee's flank to the south, hoping again to draw him into a full-scale battle on open ground. ImageImage
Lee, with interior lines of movement, was able to shift his army southward and arrive at the North Anna River before Grant. Once across, Lee didn't have his men entrench, not knowing if Grant intended to confront them there. This gave Grant's two lead Corps an opportunity. ImageImage
Read 9 tweets
May 22, 2023
The War Department issued General Order No. 143 #OTD in 1863. It created the Bureau of Colored Troops and authorized the organization, recruitment and training of the United States Colored Troops for service in the #CivilWar, replacing the state level units created to that point. ImageImageImageImage
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May 22, 2023
Representative Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the US Senate #OTD in 1856. The violent attack is considered a key turning point in the breakdown of discussion between abolitionists and pro-slavery groups in the years before the #CivilWar.🧵 ImageImageImage
Two days earlier, Sumner had given a lengthy speech critical of slaveholders and of the politicians responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, including Brooks' cousin, Senator Andrew Butler. ImageImageImage
Brooks was enraged at the insult to his family. After consulting with two colleagues, Reps. Laurence Keitt and Henry Edmundson, Brooks determined that Sumner was not worthy of challenging to an honorable duel, and instead determined to humiliate him by beating him publicly. ImageImage
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May 21, 2023
Albert Gallatin Jenkins died #OTD in 1864. Born in 1830 to wealthy parents on a plantation in Cabell County, near what is now Huntington, WV, Jenkins attended @marshallu and graduated from @wjcollege in 1848 before completing a law degree at @Harvard_Law in 1850.🧵 ImageImageImageImage
He opened a law practice in Charleston, WV, and was elected as a Democrat to the US House of Representatives in 1856, and again in 1858. Upon his father's death, he inherited his plantation, Green Bottom, in 1859. ImageImage
At the outbreak of the #CivilWar, despite coming from the part of Virginia that separated and remained loyal to the United States, Jenkins elected to resign from Congress and raise troops for the confederate army. He became commander of the 8th Virginia Cavalry. ImageImage
Read 9 tweets

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