Book Excerpt
The first pursuer
The first stage of the mythological journey—which we have designated the “call to adventure”—signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown.
— Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
ON THE AFTERNOON OF GOOD FRIDAY, April 14, 1865, prominent Washington City lawyer Joseph B. Stewart walked home from his office when he passed near Ford’s Theatre and suddenly realized he had forgotten to purchase tickets for Our American Cousin, as he promised his family earlier in the day. The performance that evening would be the final run of the comedy starring Laura Keene, the luminary English actress and theater manager who achieved acclaim in America. Even better, President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant planned to attend.
Stewart could be excused for his absent-mindedness. Besides the maelstrom surrounding the end of the Civil War, he had urgent personal and business affairs preoccupying his mind. Before departing his office, Stewart sent a letter to Thomas C. Durant, the vice president and general manager of Union Pacific Railroad, introducing him to a Texas political operative who had access to Confederate cotton—with Stewart vouching for him as “a gentleman worthy of the highest confidence and respects and whose word can be relied upon for all purposes.” Stewart hurried inside Ford’s Theatre and the ticket agent informed him the best remaining block of seats was in the front row of the orchestra section. He purchased four tickets at one dollar each—compared to twenty-five cents in the family circle—before returning to his home at 349 K Street. Stewart disliked sitting close to the orchestra, but he still looked forward to a well-needed comedy.
By the time Stewart sat down to the play, he had already lived a consequential life as a firsthand witness to key moments that shaped America’s first century. He would live another lifetime that night at Ford’s Theatre. As a lawyer, lobbyist, political booster, and railroad executive, Stewart shaped numerous impactful events, and many of his obituaries neglected his chase of Lincoln’s assassin. Despite having access to presidents, cabinet officials, senators, business tycoons, and other notables—and despite the many controversies he endured—history has overlooked Joseph B. Stewart. The backroom nature of how Stewart operated explains part of this, as he remained obscured in the shadows of more prominent figures. Nonetheless, as the nucleus of history often forms in the shadows, Joseph B. Stewart’s story is compelling in its own right.
The conventional account of the Lincoln assassination portrays the Ford’s Theatre audience frozen in its seats as John Wilkes Booth alighted on the stage, shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” and ran out of the building. This is not completely true, and Stewart is the notable exception. There is something cathartic about Stewart seeing through the confusion and pursuing Booth out of the theater. We cannot change how that terrible night ended, but Stewart allows us to imagine what might have happened had he seized Booth and delivered him to justice. With Joseph B. Stewart, we can take a small measure of comfort President Lincoln did not suffer the fatal blow with the audience sitting down.
The most intriguing question about Stewart is what motivated him to act. What unique quality—among thirteen hundred theatergoers—impelled him to spring from his seat and pursue the assassin? Considering the wide historical fascination with Lincoln’s killing—of which there are over 120 books, and counting, on the subject—it is natural to assume at least one historian has published Stewart’s actions in minute detail. However, a standard internet search yields sparse insight. Yet, underneath the surface and scattered among abundant primary sources, Stewart’s life reads like a veritable highlight reel of nineteenth century America.
From the frontiers of Kentucky and Kansas to the urban sprawl of Washington, D.C. and New York City, Stewart was an active participant in America’s uneven growth across the continent and onto the world stage. He felt the republic’s divisions firsthand in Louisville, and he backed presidents Lincoln and Grant through Union victory. He was intimate with the key players in the Transcontinental Railroad, and as a lobbyist, he paid a heavy price after its completion. His business ventures exposed him to racial inequality and lingering injustice in both the nation’s capital and the post-Reconstruction South. His meddling contributed to the ouster of US and foreign officials, and the imperiling of a treaty with a fledgling ally. He saw vast fortunes come and go, and—along with several notorious colleagues—experienced scandal and misfortune. Through his successes and failures, Stewart provides unique insights into what happened behind closed doors within the corridors of power.
Joseph B. Stewart’s motivations do not conform to the idealistic image of America’s almost-hero following President Lincoln’s assassination. He was familiar with corruption and scandal. Yet, despite being afflicted with the familiar vices of more powerful and better-known men, it would be equally facile to dismiss him as merely a corrupt and greedy lobbyist. Stewart was, after all, an influential lawyer in the nation’s political and financial capitals during a consequential time in American history. There is wisdom to glean from the almost-hero, or the flawed figure who stumbles in the arena, and beyond the lessons in the arc of Joseph B. Stewart’s story, the trials he faced mirror the challenges America encounters today.