Early life

David E. Herold was born in Maryland, the sixth of eleven children of Adam George Herold (1803–1864)^[1][2] and Mary Ann Porter (1810–1883).^[3][4] Adam and Mary were married on November 9, 1828, in Washington, D.C. David was their only son to survive to adulthood. His father Adam was the Chief Clerk of the Naval Storehouse at the Washington Navy Yard for over 20 years. Herold's family was well-off financially and lived in a large brick house at 636 Eighth Street SE in Washington, D.C., near the Washington Navy Yard. David attended Gonzaga College High School, Georgetown College, Charlotte Hall Military Academy (at Charlotte Hall, St. Mary's County, Maryland), and the Rittenhouse Academy. In 1860 Herold received a certificate in pharmacy from Georgetown College. He then worked as a pharmacist's assistant and as a clerk for a doctor and was an avid hunter. He became acquainted with John Surratt while attending Charlotte Hall Military Academy classes in the late 1850s. A few years later, in December 1864, Surratt introduced him to John Wilkes Booth.

Assassination plot

Herold's grave in Congressional Cemetery is marked only by the tombstone of his sister, buried beside him.

Herold and a group of co-conspirators had originally plotted to kidnap Lincoln, but later decided to kill him, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy's cause.^[5]

Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865, at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. Digitally restored.

On the night of April 14, 1865, Herold guided Lewis Powell to Seward's house. Inside, Powell attempted to kill Seward, severely wounding him and other members of his household. The ensuing commotion frightened Herold and he rode off, leaving Powell to fend for himself. He then met with Booth outside of Washington, D.C., and they proceeded to Surrattsville, Maryland (now Clinton, Maryland) where they picked up weapons that Mary Surratt had left earlier for them at her property. Another conspirator, George Atzerodt, was supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, but never made the attempt after thinking it over.

It was at this point that John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford's Theater. When Booth jumped onto the stage of Ford's Theater, some witnesses speculate that he broke his fibula. When Booth went across the bridge into Maryland, he met Herold there. They retrieved their weapons cache from a saloon and within four hours, they went to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's leg. Mudd let Booth and Herold rest at his home for a few hours. The pair headed to the house of Samuel Cox, a Confederate sympathizer. He refused to let the two into his house and insisted they stay in a thicket behind his house. He continued to bring food, whiskey, and newspapers to Booth and Herold where Booth realized he wasn't a hero (like Marcus Junius Brutus) as he longed to be, written in his diary. After a close encounter with the Union, Herold slaughtered the horses he and Booth rode, worrying they would give the two away. Cox later gave Booth a skiff to cross the Potomac River. Due to a foggy night, Herold and Booth landed in Maryland, not in Virginia as planned. They threatened a farmer and forced him and his family to sleep outside, as they slept in the bedrooms. They left in the morning and requested to stay at another farm owned by Richard Henry Garrett. Unaware of what they had done, he accepted. After Booth got drunk, Garrett made the two sleep in the barn. Soon, they woke to the sounds of horses.^[6]

Herold and Booth were trapped by Union soldiers on April 26, 1865. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to lay down his arms and was shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett through a crack in the barn wall. He died less than few hours later.