James William Boyd (1822 – after 1865) was an American

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

military officer who was alleged in a conspiracy theory to have been killed in the place of

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

, the assassin of U.S. President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, due to their resemblance. Boyd was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1822, and lived in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson ...

, where he married Caroline A. Malone in 1845, and had seven children. Steers, Edward Jr., and Chaconas, Joan L.,
Dark Union: Bad History
", ''North & South'', Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2004, pg 19 Boyd was a captain in the

6th Tennessee Infantry Regiment The 6th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry was an infantry regiment from Tennessee that served in the Confederate States Army. Notable battles that the regiment fought in include the Battle of Shiloh. A notable officer of the Regiment was Captain Jame ...

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, Company F, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

.M231 roll 5, National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Boyd was captured at Jackson in 1863 and held as a prisoner of war by the Union.M598 roll 98, Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. In December 1864, while a prisoner of war, he requested permission to be released so he could return home to take care of his seven motherless children. Boyd's wife Caroline had died while he was incarcerated.

Edwin M. Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

, the

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, approved Boyd's petition on February 14, 1865. Boyd's official whereabouts following his release remain a mystery. His son James received a letter to meet Boyd in Brownsville, Texas, for a trip to Mexico, but Boyd never showed up for the rendezvous and no further contact was ever received from him.

Alleged role in the Lincoln conspiracy

According to a theory put forth by the 1977 book and subsequent film ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'', Boyd was mistaken for John Wilkes Booth and killed on April 26, 1865, at Richard Garrett's farm, near

Bowling Green, Virginia Bowling Green is an incorporated town in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,111 at the 2010 census. The county seat of Caroline County since 1803, Bowling Green is best known as the "cradle of American horse racing" ...

. The theory adds that the U.S. government was aware of the error, but covered it up and, thus, enabled Booth to escape to freedom. James L. Swanson counters this claim by stating, "The survival myth of John Wilkes Booth, roaming across the land, evokes the traditional fate of the damned, of a cursed spirit who can find no rest. There is no doubt that Booth was the man who died at Garrett's farm."Swanson, James L. (2006) ''Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer''. William Morrow. p. 385.

Death

Boyd's death is widely disputed amongst historians. Conventional accounts assert that he was murdered in 1866.Jackson Tenn Riverside cemetery transcription p.94
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Alleged role in the Lincoln conspiracy

Death

References

Further reading