TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Just watched part of a History Channel show that taps into the article I posted on previously about whether it was really John Wilkes Booth who was shot by Union cavalry. I will summarize it so you won’t have to watch.

The man , so ’tis said, was actually James William Boyd, a former Confederate soldier and Union spy sent by Sec. of War Edwin Stanton. The nefarious Stanton, under intense pressure to nab the president’s assassin, set Boyd up as a patsy, who was then killed so as to tell no tales. The identification and autopsy was carried out in great secrecy to make sure no one figured out the truth.

I would not put anything past Edwin Stanton, but truly we are into Oliver Stone territory here…