Lost History of GATH & The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy

900 Arnoldtown Road,Jefferson MD 21755

10 April, 2021

Description

Learn the lost and untold history of George Alfred Townsend "GATH" & the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy at the War Correspondent's Arch George Alfred Townsend (1841 - 1914) rocketed to international fame when within weeks of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln he published The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth (1865). Known as GATH, Townsend became one of the most notable journalists of his era with a public career spanning more than a half-century. Among his close friends were Mark Twain, his former roommate in Washington City, Frederick Douglass, a fellow Eastern Shoreman, Congressmen, Senators, diplomats and presidents. In late 1884 GATH purchased 15 acres on South Mountain in Western Maryland and proceeded to erect several buildings on the estate he named Gathland. A dozen years later Townsend, along with support of nationally and locally known journalists, authors, artists, politicians, diplomats, veterans and philanthropists erected the War Correspondent's Arch, which stands today as the center piece of Gathland State Park. Learn the lost and untold history of George Alfred Townsend from the leading international GATH scholar. --- Tour will include background on George Alfred Townsend, his reporting on the Lincoln Assassination, friendship with Mark Twain and others, his life at Gathland and his continued legacy. Tour will be entirely outside. Visit to small museum at Gathland State Park and/or an accompany hike on the Appalachian Trail (south to Harpers Ferry and north to Washington Monument in Boonsboro) is not included. Tour will be limited in size; please sign up to confirm attendance. Tour will encourage all proper public health protocols. Photography is encouraged. Tour will be rain or shine. Please bring liquids and make appropriate accommodations to the weather conditions. --- This walking tour is offered by an independent internationally known historian; this is not a program nor initiative of Gathland State Park. ** Directions and Parking information ** -> https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/western/gathland.aspx --- TOUR LEADER: John Muller, author of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia (2012) and Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent (2013) is currently at work on a book about the lost history of Frederick Douglass on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Muller has presented widely throughout the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area at venues including the Library of Congress, Newseum, Politics and Prose, American Library in Paris and local universities. As well, in the past two years he has presented on the "Lost History" of Frederick Douglass in Baltimore, Cambridge, Centreville, Cumberland, Denton, Easton, Frederick, Frostburg, Hagerstown, Salisbury, St. Michaels and other local cities and towns throughout the state of Maryland. Muller has been featured on C-SPAN’s BookTV and C-SPAN’s American History TV, as well as in the pages of the Star Democrat and the airwaves of WDVM (Hagerstown) NBC4 (Washington), WPFW, WAMU, WYPR and Delmarva Public Radio.