Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

Printed broadside, announcing a $30,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of John Wilkes Booth, and the as-yet unnamed man (Lewis Powell) "who Attempted to Assassinate Hon. W. H. Seward", providing detailed descriptions of both Booth and Powell; 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (197 x 248 mm). Creasing from old folds; repaired tears to bottom right and top left corners; mounting remnants on verso.

EDWARD PAUL DOHERTY'S COPY OF THE "COMMON COUNCIL" REWARD BROADSIDE, THE EARLIEST AND RAREST OF THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION REWARD BROADSIDES.

As John Wilkes Booth stared through the peephole he'd carved into the door of the presidential box at Ford's Theatre, his co-conspirators Lewis Powell and David Herold arrived at the home of Secretary of State William Seward. As Herold waited outside, Powell went into the house and mounted a savage attack on the household, nearly killing Seward and his son Frederick. Upon rushing outside to make good his escape, Powell found that Herold, frightened by the attention that the screams coming from inside might bring, had mounted his horse and fled into the night. And so Powell, with no additional orders to follow, mounted his horse and rode away. On 17 April, he arrived at Mary Surratt's doorstep just as she was being led away by detectives for questioning. When the detectives realized that Powell matched the description of Seward's attacker, he was arrested as well.

Following the assassination, Booth and Herold met in southern Maryland, and for the next eleven days hid in the woods and in various homes throughout Maryland before crossing the Potomac into Virginia on 23 April. Meanwhile, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Colonel Lafayette C. Baker mounted a wide-ranging manhunt for them. The following day, Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty and a detachment of 26 soldiers from the 16th New York Cavalry were dispatched by the War Department to follow the assassins' trail into Virginia. It ended at the farm of Richard H. Garrett in the early hours of 26 April. Garrett, who became suspicious of the two bedraggled men claiming to be Confederate soldiers, had had his youngest son lock the two in his tobacco barn, with the intention of kicking them off of his property the next morning.

Doherty's men surrounded the barn, and he ordered Booth and Herold to surrender. After a back and forth between the two in which Booth offered to fight Doherty's entire detachment, Herold finally surrendered while Booth remained inside. Doherty ordered the barn set ablaze, and while Booth desperately searched for an escape, one of the regiment's soldiers, Boston Corbett, peered inside, found Booth, and pulled the trigger. Booth fell, mortally wounded, and died on the Garretts' front porch a few hours later. It is believed to have been Doherty himself who, at Booth's request, raised the now-paralyzed assassin's hands in front of his face as the sun broke over the horizon, at which time Booth uttered his last words: "Useless, useless."

The "Common Council" broadside is believed to have been issued by Lafayette C. Baker on 16 April, it includes both a detailed description of John Wilkes Booth and of Seward's then-unknown assailant, Lewis Powell. The initial reward offered was $30,000; however, as Booth remained at large and the true nature of the conspiracy began to unravel, this was increased to $100,000 for the captures of Booth, Herold, and John Surratt. The description of Booth given here is quite detailed: "Height 5 feet 8 inches; weight 160 pounds; compact built; hair jet black, inclined to curl, medium length, parted behind; eyes black, and heavy dark eye-brows; wears a large seal ring on little finger; when talking inclines his head forward; looks down." Powell's description is even more detailed, comprising a full ten lines of text, and adding details of the overcoat he was believed to be wearing.

RARE: ONE OF APPARENTLY ONLY FIVE EXTANT COPIES. The other known examples of this broadside include: Library of Congress; a copy owned by descendants of L.C. Baker (Sotheby's, 12 December 1991, lot 127); another copy (Christie's, 5 December 1998); another copy, owned by James Milgram (Freeman's | Hindman, 3 November 2022, lot 455).

Provenance:

Edward Paul Doherty (1838-1897), Canadian-American Civil War officer, thence by descent; previously sold at Swann Galleries 6 October 1988, sale 1477 lot 124.

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

Blood on the Moon, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, 19 April-16 October 2005