Shipwreck on the Potomac: Disaster in Pursuit of Lincoln’s Killer

They Didn’t Need to be There

It was a calm, moonless night in late April 1865. Robert E. Lee had surrendered. Abraham Lincoln was dead. Assassin John Wilkes Booth and accomplice David Herold, previously hiding in the swamps of Southern Maryland, had crossed the Potomac River to safety. The barge Black Diamond was anchored with the Potomac Flotilla near Blackistone Lighthouse, hoping to prevent that crossing and catch the perpetrators. All onboard were unaware that they were too late. The steamer Massachusetts was running downriver carrying U.S. soldiers back to their regiments. By dawn, the Black Diamond was on the bottom of the river, the Massachusetts was crippled and eighty-seven men were dead. Author Karen E. Stone reveals the story of a heroic pursuit turned tragic.

Karen Stone has been the museum division manager for St. Mary’s County, Maryland, since 2017. She did her undergraduate work at Gettysburg College and obtained her master’s degree from Penn State University; she has been working in the museum field ever since. She has been a Lincoln fan and student of his assassination since childhood, so she was fascinated when she first heard this story with its connection to Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. And she was surprised to find that it had been overlooked by history. In her spare time, Karen sings with the Chamber Chorale of Fredericksburg and at as many Fredericksburg Nationals baseball games as she can.