The Bryantown Tavern, built about 1815 in the colonial-era crossroads village of Bryantown, became a focal point in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after President Lincoln’s assassination. On April 15, 1865, Lt. David D. Dana used the tavern as his headquarters while pursuing Booth with a detachment of the 13th New York Cavalry, unaware that Booth was only four miles north at the home of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who treated his broken leg. Although Booth had visited Bryantown several times in 1864, he did not pass through the village during his escape, instead turning east after leaving Mudd’s house. Col. Henry H. Wells, who commanded the pursuing forces overall, soon occupied the tavern, and it later briefly served as the headquarters of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock after his arrival on April 27. In the meantime, Mudd and others were brought there for questioning, and several, including Mudd, remained there before being transferred to jail in Washington. By its heyday in the 1850s Bryantown had become a commercial center with stores, mills, and taverns, and during the Civil War James H. Montgomery operated the tavern. Of the village’s seventeen antebellum buildings, only four still stand, including the Bryantown Tavern, the oldest commercial structure in Charles County, which served as an inn and post office for more than a century and is now a private home.