Edward P. Doherty

Edward Paul Doherty (September 26, 1838 – April 3, 1897) was a Canadian-American American Civil War officer who formed and led the detachment of soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, in a Virginia barn on April 26, 1865, twelve days after Booth had fatally shot Lincoln.

Doherty was born September 26, 1838, in Wickham, Lower Canada, to immigrant parents from Sligo, Ireland.

Assigned to Colonel Ambrose Burnside's 2nd Brigade of Brigadier General David Hunter's 2nd Division, he was captured by the Confederates during the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the American Civil War, fought on July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia.

On April 24, 1865, 10 days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Acting Assistant Adjunct General A. R. Sewell sent an order to the Commander of the 16th New York Cavalry, Captain Joseph Schneider, to assign a reliable and discreet commissioned officer with 25 men to report to Colonel L. C. Baker at once.

Two days later, the men of the 16th NY Cavalry Regiment, accompanied by two detectives of the intelligence service, Luther Baker, cousin of Lafayette C. Baker, and Everton J. Conger, caught up with Booth and his accomplice David E. Herold in a tobacco barn near Port Royal, Virginia, owned by Richard H. Garrett.

For his service in the capture of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, Doherty was promoted to captain and was given a $5,250 reward, but he remained in the cavalry.

He is buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. His tombstone reads: "Commanded detachment of 16th N.Y. Cavalry which captured President Lincoln's assassin April 26, 1865."