At 3 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 15, the National Geographic Channel will re-air “The Hunt For Lincoln’s Assassin”. This little flick means a lot to me, since I was fortunate enough to appear on camera. The documentary, which originally aired in April of this year, spotlights Everton Conger, the man whose biography I have been researching now for the past few years.
Conger was a detective in Lafayette Baker’s National Detective Police at the time Lincoln was murdered. In fact, in one of those ironic situations that history is so full of, when Lincoln was at Ford’s Theater watching “Our American Cousin” Conger was in Richmond watching a group of Connecticut soldiers put on a play. He went back to Washington that weekend where he joined Baker and other NDP operatives in the investigation.
Conger, Luther Byron Baker (Lafe’s cousin) and Edward P. Doherty, commander of the 16th New York Cavalry, were among the men who surrounded Richard Garrett’s tobacco barn in Virginia after Booth and David Herold were locked in by one of Garrett’s sons, who was afraid they would steal the family horses. For his services, Conger received $15,000 (about $150,000 in today’s money) of the reward money, some of which he lost in a Michigan hotel venture that was spearheaded by his old boss, Lafayette Baker.
There are a couple of problems with the documentary. It was made with the thought in mind that it would air around the time the Harrison Ford movie “Manhunt” was supposed to come out. Ford had been set to play Conger (although he is in his 60s and Conger was in his 30s when he captured Booth) but then decided to pull out of the project. Even though Conger was technically in charge of the posse, it was a group effort. However, the National Geographic show makes it appear that Conger was called into the hunt by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, which never happened. Conger and Stanton never met until after Herold was captured and Booth killed. I think the film company sold it to the NGC as a sort of supplement to the movie. Also, it makes it appear that before Conger left 11 days after Lincoln’s death, he was in the field looking for Booth. This never happened either, because Conger was suffering from two severe war wounds (he had been shot in the hips, in 1862 and then again in 1864). He never should have been on the patrol to Garrett’s farm, but there is some evidence that he knew the area when he rode with the First District of Columbia Cavalry.
By and large, the documentary gets 90 percent of the story right, which for television is saying something. Also appearing in the show (and much better known, I might say) are Michael Kauffman, author of American Brutus , Thomas Reed Turner, Thomas Goodrich, Terry Alford and my good friend Steve Miller. If you watch, look for a young man who is at the ropes of a wagon, hauling the actors who played Booth and Herold. His name is Justin and he was my driver while I was in Washington, D.C., being interviewed. This young man is going to be the next Spielberg someday!
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