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Collection Reference Number GLC07738.02
From Archive Folder Photographs of Lincoln assassination conspirators 
Title Albumen of Samuel Arnold
Date 27 April 1865
Author Gardner, Alexander (1821-1882)  
Document Type Photograph
Content Description Inscribed on verso: "Samuel Arnold. Conspirator. Imprisoned for life at Ft. Jefferson Fla. (Dry Tortuges) Pardoned by President Johnson. Released March 21, 1869." Photograph shows Arnold wearing a dark coat, vest, and tie; facing slightly to the right. Arnold is imprisoned aboard the U.S.S. Saugus.
Subjects Lincoln Assassination  Assassination  President  Prisoner  Pardon  Government and Civics  
People Gardner, Alexander (1821-1882)  Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865)  Arnold, Samuel (1834-1906)  
Place written Washington, D.C.
Theme The American Civil War; The Presidency; Law
Sub-collection Papers and Images of the American Civil War
Additional Information Folder Information: Nine large plate albumen prints of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Secret Service head Colonel Lafayette C. Baker selected Gardner to take the photographs of the conspirators while in they were in custody, awaiting trial aboard the U.S.S. Montauk and the U.S.S. Saugus. In the late summer of 1864, John Wilkes Booth recruited Arnold to join the conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond. On March 15, 1865, Arnold met Booth at Gautier's Restaurant in Washington to plan the kidnapping, scheduled for two days later. When Lincoln cancelled plans to attend a play at the Campbell Hospital on March 17, the abduction plans fell through and Arnold returned to Baltimore. A March 27 letter from Arnold to Booth was discovered by investigators during a search of Booth's hotel room after the assassination. On April 17, authorities arrested Arnold in Old Point Comfort, Virginia, where he worked as a clerk.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945