The Assassin's Doctor is a biography of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, one of the eight persons convicted by a military tribunal in the 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassination trial. He was found guilty by a 5-4 vote of the nine military judges. If this had been a civilian trial requiring a unanimous verdict, he would have been freed. The conviction remains controversial today.
The Assassin's Doctor tells the story of Dr. Mudd's family, his education, and his life as a Southern Maryland tobacco farmer using slave labor. It tells how he became involved with Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, why he was convicted of conspiring with Booth, how he saved the lives of many people during a yellow fever epidemic at his prison, and his life afterwards.
The book also contains several historic photos and the full text of many historic documents about Dr. Mudd's life.
You'll love this book because it's the story of the fall and redemption of a man who had lost everything -- his home, family, children, reputation, and freedom -- only to recover everything by risking his life, and almost losing it, to save the lives of those who imprisoned him.