BOOK REVIEW
THE CONSPIRACY BETWEEN JOHN WILKES BOOTH AND THE UNION ARMY TO ASSASSINATE ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By Dr. Robert E. Arnold © 2016 WaveCloud Corporation
Reviewed by
Andy Dzenitis, MD with Aaron Burch
The retired Louisville surgeon Robert Arnold, MD, upon completion of his naval duties, has written a book recording events surrounding Abraham Lincoln’ s assassination. Shelves are full of books on the subject. What makes this account, The Conspiracy Between John Wilkes Booth and the Union Army to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln, unique is its interpretation of original documents. Dr. Arnold gained access to records of the National Archives, and has carefully studied the handwritten documents that might have been ignored or glossed-over, which contradict the commonly accepted accounts of the event.
Dr. Arnold asserts that any of the documents on the proceedings, inquiries and records have never been touched since they were filed some 160 years ago, according to this book. For instance, the alleged cervical spine of John Wilkes Booth, along with other documents, was simply stored in a drawer. On Dr. Arnold’ s examination of the specimen, the angle of the bullet tracked raises the question of the accuracy of previous accounts.
The assassination was no sudden decision of a sociopath with a supporting gang of dissidents. The fingerprints of a highly placed government official, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, are evident throughout the account. Spying, planning, negligent security, executed assassination and getaway all come in to play. Tracking, capture, arrest and identification of John Wilkes Booth’ s remains are all reminiscent of Keystone Cops incompetence. Even the post-mortem examination of Booth’ s body with positive markings was poorly conducted.
Where is the fractured fibula, the most positive identification of John Wilkes Booth’ s descent to the stage? Absent! Dr. Arnold has included many handwritten pages from the microfilms, purposefully left in to show the authenticity of the events.
There are many players in this tragi-comedy: the escape, tracking, arrest, trials and finally the executions. Several sinners walk free. A couple of inadvertent participants suffer the pain of life imprisonment( Dr. Sam Mudd) or death by bungled hanging( Mary Surrat).
Exhaustively researched and well-written, the book stands as an important historical document of one of our most trying times.
Dr. Dzenitis is a retired neurological surgeon.
Thanks and congratulations to GLMS member Dr. Arnold for authoring such an interesting book on the assassination of President Lincoln.
FEBRUARY 2017 9