Your Name is Mudd
27 April 2009 | Ft Jefferson Dry Tortugas
Scott Trefethen
"Your name is Mudd" During the Civil war the fort was used as a prison. Its most infamous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd a Maryland physician who set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after he shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater and jumped from the balcony. Mudd had this cell area, which is located over the Sallyport, and it is from here he spent 6 years writing letters to his wife and friends asking help in getting him released. During his last years there a yellow fever epidemic broke out and he tended to the victims. For his service the prisoners signed a petition for his release, which he finally received.