Edward Steers Jr. is an American scientist and historian. He is a noted authority on U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and has received awards in both the fields of scientific research and history. [1]
Edward Steers Jr. is an American scientist and historian. He is a noted authority on U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and has received awards in both the fields of scientific research and history. [1]
Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Edward Steers gained an early appreciation for science by attending classes as a young boy taught by his father, who headed the Science Department at Moravian College. Steers received his AB degree in Microbiology in 1959 and his PhD in Molecular Biology in 1963 from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and joined the staff of the National Institutes of Health (1963–1994). Recruited out of graduate school by Nobel Laureate (Chemistry) Christian B. Anfinsen, Steers learned his research skills working alongside one of the world's leading biochemists. [2] From 1966 to 1986 Steers served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the George Washington University School of Medicine. From 1984 to 1994 he served as the Deputy Scientific Director for Intramural Research in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases and Kidney Diseases. [3]
After his retirement in 1994, Steers turned his research skills to full-time writing in the field of history. [1] He has published numerous articles and more than 26 books, including titles on topics as diverse as WWII and Abraham Lincoln. Steers is also fascinated by dissecting fraudulent claims appearing in popular history, publishing books such as Hoax, Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President, and Getting Right with Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions about our Greatest President. [4]
Edward Steers is recognized as a leading authority on Abraham Lincoln and his assassination. [1] He has authored or edited more than a dozen books on Lincoln's life and death, including Lincoln, The Quotable Lincoln, Blood on the Moon, The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, His Name is Still Mudd, The Trial, The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence, Lincoln Legends, and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia. [4] His book Blood on the Moon alleges that the Confederate Secret Service was intimately involved with John Wilkes Booth ultimately leading to the assassination of President Lincoln. His book His Name Is Still Mudd presents the case for Dr. Samuel Mudd's complicity with John Wilkes Booth's plot to capture President Lincoln ultimately leading to his assassination.
Among his honors, Steers was elected to American Men and Women of Science, and as a Fellow in the Company of Military Historians. He served as Review Editor for the Lincoln Herald, and he is an Associate Editor of North & South magazine. [1] Steers was appointed to the West Virginia Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (appointed by Governor Joe Manchin) and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Advisory Board (appointed by Senator Richard Durbin). For his historical writing Steers was awarded the Lincoln Group of New York's "Award of Achievement", the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia's "Man of the Year Award", [5] and The Lincoln Forum's "Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement". [6]
Steers is the author of a number of books, including:
John Wilkes Booth 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 theatrical family from Maryland, he was a noted actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer; denouncing President Lincoln, he lamented the then-recent abolition of slavery in the United States.
Samuel Alexander Mudd Sr. was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Mary Elizabeth Surratt was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Sentenced to death, she was hanged and became the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government. She maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and remains controversial. Surratt was the mother of John Surratt, who was later tried in the conspiracy, but was not convicted.
George Andrew Atzerodt was a German American repairman, Confederate sympathizer, and conspirator in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was assigned to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, but lost his nerve and made no attempt. Atzerodt was tried by a military tribunal, sentenced to death for conspiracy, and hanged along with three other conspirators.
Joseph Holt was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. As a leading member of the Buchanan administration, he succeeded in convincing Buchanan to oppose the secession of the South. He returned to Kentucky and successfully battled the secessionist element thereby helping to keep Kentucky in the Union. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army. He served as Lincoln's chief arbiter and enforcer of military law, and supporter of emancipation. His most famous roles came in the Lincoln assassination trials.
Lewis Thornton Powell was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, he later served in Mosby's Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. John Wilkes Booth recruited him into a plot to kidnap Lincoln and turn the president over to the Confederacy, but then decided to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson instead, and assigned Powell the task to kill Seward.
Clara Hamilton Harris was an American socialite. She and her then fiancé, and future husband, Henry Rathbone, were the guests of President Abraham Lincoln the night he was shot at Ford's Theatre. Rathbone's mental state deteriorated after the assassination, and in 1883, Harris was murdered by him.
Lafayette Curry Baker was a United States investigator and spy, serving the Union Army during the American Civil War and under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.
The Confederate Secret Service refers to any of a number of official and semi-official secret service organizations and operations performed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Some of the organizations were directed by the Confederate government, others operated independently with government approval, while still others were either completely independent of the government or operated with only its tacit acknowledgment.
John Harrison Surratt Jr. was an American Confederate spy who was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln; he was also suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother, Mary Surratt, was convicted of conspiracy by a military tribunal and hanged; she owned the boarding house that the conspirators used as a safe house and to plot the scheme.
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died of his wounds the following day at 7:22 am in the Petersen House opposite the theater. He was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.
Michael O'Laughlen, Jr. was an American Confederate soldier and conspirator in John Wilkes Booth's plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and later in the latter's assassination, although he ended up not directly participating.
Edman "Ned" Spangler, baptized Edmund Spangler, was an American carpenter and stagehand who was employed at Ford's Theatre at the time of President Abraham Lincoln's murder on April 14, 1865. He and seven others were charged in conspiring to assassinate Lincoln and three other high level government officials. Spangler was the only one found not guilty of the conspiracy charge. Even so, he was found guilty of helping Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escape and sentenced to six years of hard labor.
Samuel Bland Arnold was an American Confederate sympathizer involved in a plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He had joined the Confederate Army shortly after the start of the Civil War but was discharged for health reasons in 1864.
The Lincoln Conspiracy is a book by David W. Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr. promoting certain conspiracy theories concerning the 1865 assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
The Surratt House is a historic house and house museum located at 9110 Brandywine Road in Clinton, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The house is named for John and Mary Surratt, who built it in 1852. Mary Surratt was hanged in 1865 for being a co-conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. It was acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in 1965, restored, and opened to the public as a museum in 1976.
John Minchin Lloyd was a bricklayer and police officer in Washington, D.C., in the United States. He was one of the first police officers hired by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia when its Day Watch was first formed in 1855. He played a role in the trial of the conspirators in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. Arrested but never charged in the conspiracy, Lloyd's testimony was critical in convicting Mary Surratt.
Farnham is an unincorporated community in Richmond County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Joseph Hanks (1725–1793) was the great-grandfather of United States President Abraham Lincoln. It is generally accepted that Joseph was the father of Lucy Hanks, the mother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. There is also a theory that Joseph and his wife, Ann ("Nannie"), had a son named James who married Lucy Shipley, sired Nancy Hanks, but died before Lucy and Nancy came to Kentucky.
Manhunt is an American historical drama miniseries created by showrunner Monica Beletsky, adapted from James L. Swanson's book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. The series follows Edwin Stanton's search for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Directed by Carl Franklin and starring Tobias Menzies, the series was produced for Apple TV+, and released on March 15, 2024.
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