Samuel Alexander Mudd I, M.D.

Posted on | November 11, 2009 | No Comments

Dr. Mudd was a slave owner and farmer from Bryantown, MD, he met John Wilkes Booth in December 1864. The circumstances of their meeting are unclear. Obviously, Booth assassinated then President Lincoln, but Mudd’s involvement and knowledge of the conspiracy to assassinate the President remains somewhat unclear.

The only solid evidence that shows that Dr. Mudd was complicit in the conspiracy is that after the murder of Lincoln, Booth broke his leg and reappeared at the Mudd’s farm where Mudd set the leg and ordered a carpenter to make crutches for Booth. There would have been no way for Mudd to know when Booth appeared at the farm that Booth had murdered the President unless Booth told Mudd about the murder or that Mudd was complicit in the conspiracy. However, later in time and in compliance with a search warrant, Mudd turned over Wilkes’ old boot that he cut off the patient at the time he set the leg. Nonetheless, the act of setting Booth’s leg either shows that Mudd knew or should have known what was going on, or he was extremely stupid. Some historians argue that Mudd knew while others argue he did not know.

After being found guilty at trial, Mudd was imprisoned at Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys. While in prison, there was a yellow fever outbreak that caused many deaths including the prison doctor. Mudd was given the opportunity to take over as doctor of the prison during the yellow fever scare and was able to quell the fever and stop the deaths in the prison. The soldiers at Fort Jefferson urged then President Andrew Johnson to pardon Mudd for his work. Apparently this was enough for Johnson to grant him a full pardon. Johnson is regarded as one of the worst Presidents in United States history.

Samuel Alexander Mudd I, M.D.

Comments