Dahlgren and Herold, Part Three

Was Herold aware that Booth intended to kill Lincoln or was he still – like some others in the group – of the opinion that any plan by Booth involved an attempted kidnapping?

I am not knowledgeable enough to know when those who had been enticed into the conspiracy on the belief that it was a kidnapping rather than an assassination learned (if some ever learned) that the plan had been changed. Of course, Paine/Powell and Atzerodt knew as they had been sent off to kill their respective targets but one has to wonder if Herold was an ‘assassin’ in the true sense of the word. He seems more to have been ‘an appendage’ of Booth’s like the poor wretch Spengler rather than a moving force in the plot. Like others in the group, his actions seem almost inexplicable. For instance, he remained with Booth who had been crippled by the injury to his leg when simple self-preservation would have told him to get as far away from the known assassin as possible and ‘go it alone’ to try to avoid capture. Again, I would refer to Booth’s ‘Svengali-like’ affect on so many of those who were attracted to his cabal.

Of course, I doubt that Dahlgren considered himself an ‘assassin’ either. He probably saw himself as a man whose duty it was to shorten a bloody war by removing the head from the serpant of secession – the Confederate government. Few soldiers become assassins in the accepted meaning of that word. Such an act appeals more to the ‘covert’ types like the ones who worked under Pinkerton and Baker – or, Conrad on the Confederate side.

Perhaps, at least to me, the greatest difference between the two men is their leadership role. Dahlgren was undoubtedly at least a ‘co-leader’ if not THE leader in the raid while Herold was without doubt a mere pawn of Booth’s. Though both men were involved in what were clearly plans to kill the leaders of their enemy’s government, it would seem from all reports that this is where the comparison may end.

Thanks Eric, I was planning on walking that area & the Navy Yard area, next time I’m downtown.
Also, I’m glad your elbow is better!

Should be interesting. It’s good timing considering the ongoing “discussion” in North & South’s letters section on whether Lincoln was involved in/informed of Dahlgren’s plan to assassinate Jefferson Davis.