Samuel A. Mudd
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
Samuel Alexander Mudd (1833-1883) was the fourth of Henry and Sarah Mudd’s ten children. He represented the seventh generation of Mudds in America. He was born, raised, and received his early education at Oak Hill, his father’s tobacco plantation. One wing on the ground floor of Henry Lowe Mudd’s home included a schoolroom where the governess, Miss Peterson, home-schooled the Mudd children.
In 1849, when Sam was 15 years old, his parents sent him to boarding school at St. John’s College in Frederick City, Maryland. At the time, college was generally a six or seven year high school-college course. The first two or three years were called the Preparatory Department or Junior Department, and the last four years the Senior Department. St. John’s College offered a six year program, while Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. (now Georgetown University) offered a seven year program.
St. John’s College was a friendly rival to Georgetown College. Both were run by the Jesuits, known for their intellectual rigor and strict discipline. However, in the springtime at the end of Sam’s second year at St. John’s, almost all the upper level collegiate students at St. John’s withdrew from the school in protest over the school’s strict discipline. Many families, unhappy with the situation at St. John’s, looked for another school for their child to attend. The Mudds settled on Georgetown College, which 17 year-old Sam entered on September 17, 1851.
But young Sam’s career at Georgetown College was cut short. Shortly after his sophomore year began, on October 17, 1852, he was expelled. Sam and a number of fellow students were protesting what they considered the unfair discipline of a fellow classmate, but they carried the protest a bit too far. The Jesuits identified Sam and five other boys as protest leaders, and expelled them as a warning to the other students. On Tuesday, October 26, 1852, Henry Lowe Mudd arrived in his carriage at Georgetown College, collected his son Sam, and returned with him to the family farm. There is no record of what Sam’s father said to him during the long 30 mile ride back home.
If Sam Mudd had not been expelled from Georgetown, he would probably not have become a doctor. He would most likely have completed his liberal arts education and become a successful businessman or politician. Instead, back at home, he had to rethink his goals, and began to consider medicine, a profession several other Mudd’s had followed.
One of those Mudd doctors, Dr. George Dyer Mudd of Bryantown, took Sam under his wing. He became Sam Mudd’s Preceptor - his medical mentor and tutor. In the mid-1800’s it was common for someone interested in medicine to gain one or two years practical experience and training by apprenticing with a practicing physician before enrolling in medical school. After two years back home training with Dr. George Mudd, 21 year-old Sam entered the University of Maryland Medical Department in Baltimore on October 9, 1854. Sam completed the two-year course of instruction, wrote his 40-page graduation thesis on dysentery, and graduated on March 5, 1856. The young 23 year-old doctor then returned to his Charles County home to practice medicine.
Sam Mudd married his childhood sweetheart Sarah Frances Dyer in 1857, a year after completing his medical studies at the University of Maryland Medical Department in Baltimore. He was 23; she was 22. Family and friends knew Sarah by her nickname “Frankie” or “Frank,” taken from her middle name Frances.
As a wedding present, Sam’s father bought the young couple a small farm adjoining his own property. However, the farm house burned down, and a new house built to replace it turned out to be unsatisfactory. Sam’s father then gave his son a choice piece of his own land, known as St. Catherine’s. This 218 acre parcel adjoined the Dyer farm where Sarah grew up, and was about a half mile from Dr. Mudd’s father’s farm. Like his father, Dr. Mudd grew wheat and corn as well as tobacco. There was no house on St. Catherine’s, so while one was being built, Sam and Sarah lived with her older brother Jeremiah on the Dyer farm.
Sam’s father retained legal title to the land he gave Sam and his other children. Sam and his siblings obtained legal title to their land in 1878 when their father’s estate was probated.
Young Sam Mudd represented the seventh generation of Mudds in America. All six generations before him had been slave-owners. It was therefore natural that he became a slave owner like all of his ancestors before him.
In 1849, when Sam was 15 years old, his parents sent him to boarding school at St. John’s College in Frederick City, Maryland. At the time, college was generally a six or seven year high school-college course. The first two or three years were called the Preparatory Department or Junior Department, and the last four years the Senior Department. St. John’s College offered a six year program, while Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. (now Georgetown University) offered a seven year program.
St. John’s College was a friendly rival to Georgetown College. Both were run by the Jesuits, known for their intellectual rigor and strict discipline. However, in the springtime at the end of Sam’s second year at St. John’s, almost all the upper level collegiate students at St. John’s withdrew from the school in protest over the school’s strict discipline. Many families, unhappy with the situation at St. John’s, looked for another school for their child to attend. The Mudds settled on Georgetown College, which 17 year-old Sam entered on September 17, 1851.
But young Sam’s career at Georgetown College was cut short. Shortly after his sophomore year began, on October 17, 1852, he was expelled. Sam and a number of fellow students were protesting what they considered the unfair discipline of a fellow classmate, but they carried the protest a bit too far. The Jesuits identified Sam and five other boys as protest leaders, and expelled them as a warning to the other students. On Tuesday, October 26, 1852, Henry Lowe Mudd arrived in his carriage at Georgetown College, collected his son Sam, and returned with him to the family farm. There is no record of what Sam’s father said to him during the long 30 mile ride back home.
If Sam Mudd had not been expelled from Georgetown, he would probably not have become a doctor. He would most likely have completed his liberal arts education and become a successful businessman or politician. Instead, back at home, he had to rethink his goals, and began to consider medicine, a profession several other Mudd’s had followed.
One of those Mudd doctors, Dr. George Dyer Mudd of Bryantown, took Sam under his wing. He became Sam Mudd’s Preceptor - his medical mentor and tutor. In the mid-1800’s it was common for someone interested in medicine to gain one or two years practical experience and training by apprenticing with a practicing physician before enrolling in medical school. After two years back home training with Dr. George Mudd, 21 year-old Sam entered the University of Maryland Medical Department in Baltimore on October 9, 1854. Sam completed the two-year course of instruction, wrote his 40-page graduation thesis on dysentery, and graduated on March 5, 1856. The young 23 year-old doctor then returned to his Charles County home to practice medicine.
Sam Mudd married his childhood sweetheart Sarah Frances Dyer in 1857, a year after completing his medical studies at the University of Maryland Medical Department in Baltimore. He was 23; she was 22. Family and friends knew Sarah by her nickname “Frankie” or “Frank,” taken from her middle name Frances.
As a wedding present, Sam’s father bought the young couple a small farm adjoining his own property. However, the farm house burned down, and a new house built to replace it turned out to be unsatisfactory. Sam’s father then gave his son a choice piece of his own land, known as St. Catherine’s. This 218 acre parcel adjoined the Dyer farm where Sarah grew up, and was about a half mile from Dr. Mudd’s father’s farm. Like his father, Dr. Mudd grew wheat and corn as well as tobacco. There was no house on St. Catherine’s, so while one was being built, Sam and Sarah lived with her older brother Jeremiah on the Dyer farm.
Sam’s father retained legal title to the land he gave Sam and his other children. Sam and his siblings obtained legal title to their land in 1878 when their father’s estate was probated.
Young Sam Mudd represented the seventh generation of Mudds in America. All six generations before him had been slave-owners. It was therefore natural that he became a slave owner like all of his ancestors before him.
Dr. Mudd's first 5 slaves - 1860 Federal Census, Slave Schedule
Records show that Dr. and Mrs. Mudd acquired at least eight slaves between 1859 and 1864. We know their names from testimony at the Lincoln assassination trial, and from post-war census records. Their first five slaves were documented in the 1860 Federal Slave Census. They were a 26 year-old man, a 19 year-old girl, a 10 year-old boy, an 8 year-old girl, and a 6 year-old girl. The 26 year-old man was Elzee Eglent. The 19 year-old woman was his sister Mary Simms. The 14 year-old boy was their brother Milo Simms. The two little girls were called sisters, but their different last names suggest they were not. We do know they were orphans. The 8 year-old girl was Lettie Hall. The 6 year-old girl was Lettie’s sister Louisa Cristie.
Three additional slaves were acquired between 1860 and 1864. They were Richard Washington, Melvina Washington, and Rachel Spencer. Rachel Spencer probably came from the plantation of Henry Lowe Mudd where her mother Lucy Spencer, sister Maria Spencer, and brothers Baptist Spencer and Joseph Spencer were slaves. Maria Spencer was married to William Hurbert, a slave on Susanna Mudd’s plantation in nearby Prince George’s County. Richard and Melvina Washington probably came from the Dyer plantation. Jeremiah Dyer said at the assassination trial that he had given Melvina Washington to Dr. Mudd just before the war.
Trial testimony identified others, such as Julia Ann Bloyce, who sometimes worked at the Mudd farm as servants, but were not specifically identified as slaves. Oral history has identified others such as Richard Stewart and Caroline Wade as slaves of Dr. Mudd, but no written documentation has yet been found to support these claims. The story of a slave named Richard Stewart may have arisen out of confusion with the real Richard Stewart who lived with his wife Laura and family in a small house on the Mudd farm in the early 1900's, reportedly as sharecroppers. The Mudd family children at the time knew them affectionately as Uncle Dick and Aunt Laura.
Sam Mudd was probably not the best, or the worst, slave owner. At the Lincoln assassination conspiracy trial, there was testimony that Dr. Mudd once shot his slave Elzee Eglent in the leg with a shotgun for being “obstreperous.“ Another former slave of Dr. Mudd’s, Mary Simms, testified at the trial that she ran away from Dr. Mudd’s farm after he whipped her. However, another witness testified that Simms was lying, and said that Dr. Mudd never whipped Simms or anyone else.
Explaining why he once tried to escape from his imprisonment at Fort Jefferson, Dr. Mudd wrote:
...it is bad enough to be a prisoner in the hands of white men, your equals under the Constitution, but to be lorded over by a set of ignorant, prejudiced and irresponsible beings of the unbleached humanity, was more than I could submit to...
In Dr. Mudd’s favor, some of his former slaves testified at the conspiracy trial that he was a good master. When emancipated in November 1864, slaves Frank Washington, Lettie Hall and Louisa Cristie chose to remain with Dr. and Mrs. Mudd, living and working on the Mudd farm for many years.
In her later years, Lettie Hall didn't even recall that Dr. and Mrs. Mudd had slaves. She remembered being born a slave, but also being treated as an orphan and family member by Dr. and Mrs. Mudd. In an interview she gave in 1929. she said:
I was born a slave in Maryland... When I was quite small, my mother and father were sold and I never knew where they went. So far as I know, I never saw them again. Dr. Samuel Mudd was a son of Dr. Henry Mudd, who owned a lot of slaves in his day, but Dr. Samuel Mudd did not keep any slaves, as his wife did not believe in slavery. She took my younger sister and I to raise, and she was very good to us. My sister’s name was Louisa, and mine was Lettie Hall.
Dr. Mudd’s medical practice also included caring for slaves as well as whites. James V. Deane, a former slave on the Mason plantation not far from Dr. Mudd’s farm, said:
When the slaves took sick, Dr. Henry (sic) Mudd, the one who gave Booth first aid, was our doctor.
Another former slave, William Marshall, testified at the conspiracy trial that Dr. Mudd treated his wife when she was sick.
And Dr. Mudd’s sister Mary testified at the trial that:
During this time [early March 1865], on one of the days, a negro woman on the place was taken very sick of typhoid pneumonia. My brother saw her every day until the 23d of March.
Dr. and Mrs. Mudd were certainly slave owners. That was the society in which they were born, raised, and lived. However, all the evidence taken together seems to indicate that they probably treated their slaves better than most.
Three additional slaves were acquired between 1860 and 1864. They were Richard Washington, Melvina Washington, and Rachel Spencer. Rachel Spencer probably came from the plantation of Henry Lowe Mudd where her mother Lucy Spencer, sister Maria Spencer, and brothers Baptist Spencer and Joseph Spencer were slaves. Maria Spencer was married to William Hurbert, a slave on Susanna Mudd’s plantation in nearby Prince George’s County. Richard and Melvina Washington probably came from the Dyer plantation. Jeremiah Dyer said at the assassination trial that he had given Melvina Washington to Dr. Mudd just before the war.
Trial testimony identified others, such as Julia Ann Bloyce, who sometimes worked at the Mudd farm as servants, but were not specifically identified as slaves. Oral history has identified others such as Richard Stewart and Caroline Wade as slaves of Dr. Mudd, but no written documentation has yet been found to support these claims. The story of a slave named Richard Stewart may have arisen out of confusion with the real Richard Stewart who lived with his wife Laura and family in a small house on the Mudd farm in the early 1900's, reportedly as sharecroppers. The Mudd family children at the time knew them affectionately as Uncle Dick and Aunt Laura.
Sam Mudd was probably not the best, or the worst, slave owner. At the Lincoln assassination conspiracy trial, there was testimony that Dr. Mudd once shot his slave Elzee Eglent in the leg with a shotgun for being “obstreperous.“ Another former slave of Dr. Mudd’s, Mary Simms, testified at the trial that she ran away from Dr. Mudd’s farm after he whipped her. However, another witness testified that Simms was lying, and said that Dr. Mudd never whipped Simms or anyone else.
Explaining why he once tried to escape from his imprisonment at Fort Jefferson, Dr. Mudd wrote:
...it is bad enough to be a prisoner in the hands of white men, your equals under the Constitution, but to be lorded over by a set of ignorant, prejudiced and irresponsible beings of the unbleached humanity, was more than I could submit to...
In Dr. Mudd’s favor, some of his former slaves testified at the conspiracy trial that he was a good master. When emancipated in November 1864, slaves Frank Washington, Lettie Hall and Louisa Cristie chose to remain with Dr. and Mrs. Mudd, living and working on the Mudd farm for many years.
In her later years, Lettie Hall didn't even recall that Dr. and Mrs. Mudd had slaves. She remembered being born a slave, but also being treated as an orphan and family member by Dr. and Mrs. Mudd. In an interview she gave in 1929. she said:
I was born a slave in Maryland... When I was quite small, my mother and father were sold and I never knew where they went. So far as I know, I never saw them again. Dr. Samuel Mudd was a son of Dr. Henry Mudd, who owned a lot of slaves in his day, but Dr. Samuel Mudd did not keep any slaves, as his wife did not believe in slavery. She took my younger sister and I to raise, and she was very good to us. My sister’s name was Louisa, and mine was Lettie Hall.
Dr. Mudd’s medical practice also included caring for slaves as well as whites. James V. Deane, a former slave on the Mason plantation not far from Dr. Mudd’s farm, said:
When the slaves took sick, Dr. Henry (sic) Mudd, the one who gave Booth first aid, was our doctor.
Another former slave, William Marshall, testified at the conspiracy trial that Dr. Mudd treated his wife when she was sick.
And Dr. Mudd’s sister Mary testified at the trial that:
During this time [early March 1865], on one of the days, a negro woman on the place was taken very sick of typhoid pneumonia. My brother saw her every day until the 23d of March.
Dr. and Mrs. Mudd were certainly slave owners. That was the society in which they were born, raised, and lived. However, all the evidence taken together seems to indicate that they probably treated their slaves better than most.
