Edición en Inglés
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, famous for being convicted along with seven others in the 1865 Lincoln assassination trial, had nine slaves. This is their story.
The Slaves of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd tells the history of slave-owning in the Mudd family, going back to Dr. Mudd's great-great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Mudd, who came to America from England around 1680, and used slave labor to grow tobacco.
The book describes what it was like being a slave in southern Maryland in Dr. Mudd's time, how local newspapers carried ads for buying and selling slaves, how some escaped to freedom in Washington, D.C., and how some enlisted to fight in the Union Army. It also includes an interview of one of Dr. Mudd's slaves, who tells of the breakfast of chicken and biscuits she prepared for John Wilkes Booth the morning after the assassination.
Some of Dr. Mudd's slaves testified against him in the Lincoln assassination trial, but some testified for him. Their complete testimony is included in the book.
Following the trial, Dr. Mudd was sent to the Fort Jefferson military prison, located on an island in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon after arriving there, he learned that black Union soldiers would be arriving to garrison the fort. Afraid of his treatment by the soldiers, many of whom were former slaves, he tried to stow away on a visiting supply ship, but was discovered, and thrown into the fort's dungeon for several months.
In 1867 there was a terrible yellow fever epidemic at Fort Jefferson. When the fort's military physician died at the start of the epidemic, Dr. Mudd was asked to take over his duties, and did so. Many soldiers survived the epidemic only because of Dr. Mudd's tireless work. Towards the end of the epidemic, Dr. Mudd himself contracted yellow fever and almost died.
President Johnson pardoned Dr. Mudd shortly before he left office in 1869, citing his heroic work during the epidemic.
After the pardon, Dr. Mudd returned home to his family and farm where he resumed his work as a physician and farmer. Some of his former slaves had remained as paid workers on the farm after emancipation. Dr. Mudd passed away in 1883 when only 49 years old.
Título : The Slaves of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
EAN : 9798227619662
Editorial : Robert K. Summers
El libro electrónico The Slaves of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd está en formato ePub
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