Annual Civil War tour will follow the escape route of John Wilkes Booth, July 23

Instead of visiting a nearby battlefield, this year’s annual Civil War tour for National Press Club members on Saturday, July 23, will follow the escape route of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.

Club members and their guests will trace Booth’s escape from Washington the night of April 14, 1865, after shooting President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater.

The group will depart by bus promptly at 8 a.m. from the F Street side of the National Press Building, returning at approximately 4:30 p.m.

There is no charge the trip but Club members are limited to one guest each. Lunch will be provided. Reservations are required and can be made with Richard Meyer of the Travel Committee at 703-356-6884.

Accompanied by an expert guide, the tour will visit the Surratt House in Clinton, Md., where Booth and accomplice David Herold stopped to pick up guns and supplies they had stored there.

The tour will proceed to the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd, where Mudd put a splint on Booth’s broken leg and let him and Herold rest. Other sites to be visited are Rich Hill, where Booth and Herold stopped at the home of Samuel Cox and took refuge in a nearby pine thicket, and the Potomac River location where the pair departed Maryland by boat and crossed into Virginia.

Booth was tracked down and shot by Union troops near Port Royal, Va., and died on April 26.

The trip is being hosted by the Civil War Trust for the 12th straight year pursuant to a reciprocal arrangement with the Club.