J. W. Booth?

Question

John W. Booth. Was he killed or not?. Or is this like an elvis that people have seen someone like him/or his look alike at different places? Are there any facts to all of that?

Answer 1

The answer, with a couple of corrections for doggiebike:
1) Booth was never "executed". He was killed in the midst of the effort to capture him (by an officer shooting him against orders).

Of course, with such characters there will ALWAYS be rumors that it was someone else (a look alike) who died, and that the real culprit actually escaped, but the government kept it up. But, as with most conspiracy theories, there is NO evidence to back up such tales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth#The_assassination_and_aftermath

2) The expression, "Your name will be mud." is NOT based on the shattered reputation of Dr. Samuel Mudd. It would have to have arisen in the 1870s or later, but in fact, this use of "mud" to refer to besmirching someone's reputation (such as "the mud press" and "throwing mud") was around long before the death of Lincoln. In fact, the term "mud" was slang for "fool" as far back as 1708!
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/4/messages/974.html
http://www.postgazette.com/columnists/20020526gene0526fnp1.asp
http://www.word-detective.com/100297.html#nameismud

(As for Dr. Mudd, while it is not clear whether he was part of the conspiracy to kill Lincoln, but the stories that he was ignorant or Booth's actions and completely innocent are questionable. He certainly was a southern sympathizer and did have some interactions with Booth before the assasination.)

Answer 2

The recenty published book "Manhunt" , which I just finished, chronicles the J. W. Booth demise. New information and witness accounts have been discovered by the author in his research, and, yes he was killed 12 days after the assassination of Linclon. I recommend you read this book. It is a page turner, hour-by-hour account of the assssination and the hunt for Booth. Soon the be released as a major movie. Enjoy!

Answer 3

J.W.Booth was being pursued by Union Soldiers lead by Lieutenant Edward p Doherty through southern Maryland across the Potomac & Rappahannock rivers to a farm owned by Richard Garrett in virginia. On the 26th April 1865 soldiers ordered him to surrender, when he refused it was ordered that the barn in which he was hiding be set on fire, but a Sergeant Boston Corbett acting against orders fired at Booth hitting him in the neck and severing his spinal cord with the bullet, he died on the farmhouse porch. His body was taken to Ironclad USS Montawk where it was identified and buried in a cell in the old peniteritiary in Washington. In 1867 the body was exhumed and put in a pine box and placed in a warehouse at the prison. In 1869 the body was once more identified before being released to the family, who buried him in an unmarked location in the family plot at Greenmont Cementary in Baltimore.

Answer 4

"Booth's body is carried up the Potomac and buried beneath the floor of the penitentiary in Washington, DC. "

Excerpted from "The Death of John Wilkes Booth, 1865," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1997).

Answer 5

He was captured and executed. He broke his leg when he jumped to the stage. He yelled "Sic semper tyrannis" (death to tyrannts). The doctor who set his leg was named Mudd. He too was captured. This was the origin of the insult "your name is Mudd", later to become mud!!!