After assassinating President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice, David A. Herold, fled Washington for Southern Maryland, where Confederate sympathizers were common. Concealed for several days in a pine thicket two miles northeast of here, they crossed rough terrain to the Potomac River on the night of April 20, 1865. Guided by Confederate signal agent Thomas A. Jones, they went about a mile to the mouth of a small stream where he had hidden a rowboat. Jones directed them to steer by compass across the river to Mathias Point and then downstream to Machodoc Creek and the home of Elizabeth Quesenberry at present-day Dahlgren, Virginia. They failed to reach Virginia that night and, disoriented, rowed instead into Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland, near the home of John J. Hughes. After resting the next day, they reached Quesenberry’s on a second attempt, then continued south, crossed the Rappahannock River, and hid at the home of Richard Garrett just past Port Royal. Early on April 26, U.S. troops surrounded the barn where they were hiding. When Booth refused to surrender, Sgt. Boston Corbett shot him in the back of the neck. Soldiers carried Booth to the farmhouse porch, where he died within a few hours. Herold was captured, tried, convicted, and hanged on July 7 for his role in Lincoln’s assassination.