Dr. Samuel A. Mudd at Fort Jefferson

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was one of the eight persons convicted of conspiracy in the 1865 Lincoln assassination trial. The four who had participated in the actual assassination were executed by hanging. Dr. Mudd and the other three were found guilty of otherwise conspiring with the assassin John Wilkes Booth, and sent to the Fort Jefferson military prison, located on a remote island in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. Dr. Mudd and two of the other three were sentenced to life imprisonment. The fourth was given a six year sentence.Life at Fort Jefferson was governed by harsh discipline, where a standing order authorized guards to shoot prisoners who refused to obey commands. Shortly after arriving at Fort Jefferson, Dr. Mudd attempted to escape by stowing away on a visiting supply ship, but was discovered and spent several months in the fort's dungeon as punishment.Then, in the summer of 1867, yellow fever came to Fort Jefferson. When the fort's military doctor died early in the epidemic, Dr. Mudd was asked to help, and he did. Along with a civilian doctor from Key West, he cared for the sick and dying until he too contracted the disease and nearly died.When the epidemic was finally over, three hundred surviving soldiers signed a petition asking President Andrew Johnson to pardon Dr. Mudd for his work. Johnson granted the pardon in 1869, noting that Dr. Mudd's conviction rested on aiding Booth's escape rather than participating in the assassination itself.The book includes several photos of Fort Jefferson and historic documents about Dr. Mudd's life.