22. Making certain the assassin was the man killed at the Garrett farm
Booth’s body was conveyed by wagon to Belle Plain, placed on a steamer to Alexandria, where it was transferred to a tugboat. The latter carried it to the Washington Navy Yard and USS Montauk, which later served as a prison for the conspirators as they were rounded up. In Washington, Booth’s body was viewed and confirmed as he by ten individuals who had known him in life. Among them was Washington photographer Alexander Gardner, who had photographed the actor in life, and did so again in death. None of the persons who viewed the body expressed any doubt that it was John Wilkes Booth.
Nonetheless, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rumors of Booth’s escape from the manhunt persisted. In 1869 Booth’s body was released to his family (it had been interred in a Washington prison) and was again positively identified by family members and associates in life, including John T. Ford, the owner of Ford’s Theater at the time Lincoln was assassinated. He was buried in the Booth family plot in Baltimore, though his grave is unmarked. Rumors that Booth was not the man killed at Garrett’s farm in 1865 continued into the 21st century, despite overwhelming evidence that he was.