109 Nottingham, Nerdsville USA

Category: 50 Books

55. so i just finished up The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd: Containing His Letters from Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas Island, Where He Was Imprisoned Four Years For Alleged Complicity In The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln edited by Nettie Mudd (his daughter), a three hundred-some page book of letters that Dr. Mudd wrote while he was imprisoned, probably wrongfully, for setting John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.

i enjoyed reading the letters and was suprised by two things.

1. they were not as bitter or whiny as i would have thought them to be. this could be because Nettie weeded out the letters that would make her pop look like a whinebag, i don’t know.

2. he called his wife, Sarah Francis Mudd, Frank. he always called her Frank.

it was pretty interesting, but only if you like stuff about Abraham Lincoln/US Civil War. the parts i found most interesting was that the mail delivery was not as spotty as i thought it would be and was in fact, pretty fast unless there was a storm or other bad weather. also, he was able to keep up with what was going on in the newspapers even though he was basically in the middle of Nowhere Swampland, Florida.

in other books about Lincoln and his assassination they usually talk about Dr. Mudd and how, while in prison, he would work the prison hospital because of all the Yellow Fever epidemics. i always thought that meant that there wasn’t another doctor around, but there was (it was a military fort too, so i don’t know what i was thinking). also, in his letters the only time he was ever all, “gosh, i’m sick of this.” was when he worked the hospital. i suppose i’d hate it too, what with people dying of yellow fever and dysentery.

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things you might be curious to know which i did not learn from this book but looked up the info myself cos i was curious:

Tortugas is spanish for turtles. and the Dry part was to let people know that there was no fresh water on the island. word to the nerd.

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