Civil War

This Week in the Civil War

00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.

This Week in the Civil War - #1106

Texas Public Radio | By Texas Public Radio

Published June 4, 2015 at 3:49 PM CDT

Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted of conspiracy in Lincoln’s death, narrowly escaping the death penalty but was sentenced to life imprisonment. While there is no evidence to suggest that Mudd actively participated in the conspiracy, he failed to admit meeting Booth on at least two occasions before the assassination and did not immediately inform authorities after he set Booth’s broken leg. That evidence convicted Mudd. Sent to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico, Mudd took over when a yellow fever outbreak took the life of the prison doctor and successfully stemmed the disease. After the fort’s soldiers petitioned Andrew Johnson lauding Mudd’s care, the president pardoned the doctor in 1869. Mudd returned to his Maryland home, slowly restoring his medical practice until his death in 1875.