David Herold
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David Edgar Herold (June 16, 1842 - July 7, 1865) was one of the conspirators behind the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 in the Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. After the shooting of Abraham Lincoln, Herold accompanied John Wilkes Booth to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who attended Booth's broken left leg. The two men escaped through Maryland and into Virginia. He remained with Booth until they were discovered by Union troops in Richard Garret's farm. Herold surrendered, only for Booth to be murdered by Boston Corbett before being captured and tried. In the coming months, Herold was charged with the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. Along with Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt, Herold was sentenced to be hanged on July 7, 1865.
Biography edit
Early Life edit
David E. Herold was born on June 16, 1842 and was the sixth of eleven children of Adam George Herold and Mary Ann Porter. As the only son to survive to adulthood, he and his family lived in a boarding brick house at 636 Eight Street in Washington D.C near the Washington Navy Yard. A student at the Conzaga College High School and Rittenhouse Academy, Herold worked as a pharmacist clerk for a doctor. A lifelong friend to Mary Surratt's son, John, since they first met in Charlotte Hall Military Academy in the 1850's, they met the famous actor and Confederate actor John Wilkes Booth.
Assassination Plot and Escape edit
After their original plan to kidnap Lincoln failed, the new plan is to kill Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, after Booth arrived to pick up his mail at Ford's Theater, he learned that Lincoln will attend Our American Cousin and Ford's Theater and went to inform his henchmen about his only change in the plan.
At the Herdon House at 8:45 pm, they were in a last meeting to save the South. Herold and Lewis Powell were told by Booth to kill Secretary of State William Seward at his mansion, while Atzerodt would kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Booth himself would kill President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater.
Just a little after 10 pm, Herold guided Powell to the mansion of William Seward, who was recovering from a broken jaw in a carriage accident and was wearing a metal canvas splint.
Inside the mansion, Powell seriously wounded Seward, his two sons, a male nurse, and the State department clerk. The noise in the house caused Herold to escape, leaving Powell on his own to escape from the mansion. A half hour after Booth traveled through the Navy Yard Bridge, Herold crosses the bridge and met Booth at Soper’s Hill, just outside of Washington D.C. It was at this point that Booth was suffering a broken left leg. Nevertheless, they arrive at the tavern before midnight and within four hours, they arrive at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who examines Booth's broken left leg.
The next day, Booth and Herold arrived at the home of Samuel Cox, who refused to shelter them and made them sleep in a thicket. He provided food, drinks, and newspapers to Herold and Booth, who was shocked to learn that he was not a hero as he was to be, as written in his diary. Within two weeks, the two fugitives went on a rowboat that would take them to Virginia and arrived at the farm of Richard Garrett on April 24, 1865. Two days later, they were discovered and trapped in a barn by Union soldiers. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to surrender. Suddenly, the bullet fired by Boston Corbett severely damaged Booth's spinal cord, which led to his eventual death at 7:29 am, just three hours later after a gunfight.
Trial and Execution edit
The next month, Herold, Mary Surratt, and six other conspirators were held before a military tribunal. The trial began on May 10 and were charged for the conspiracy to kill President Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward on May 12. The trial lasted until June 30 when all the defendants were found guilty. While Dr. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, and Ned Spangler (an employee at Ford's Theater) were sentenced to be taken to another prison in the Dry Tortugas, Herold, along with Surratt, Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt, were sentenced to death by hanging. On July 7, they were hanged in Fort Lesley J. McNair. After strangling for five minutes, they strangled to death. His mother and five sisters interred David in an unmarked grave, next to his father Adam at the Congressional Cemetery.