June Tide Table

OXFORD, MD JUNE 2021

1. Tues. 2. Wed. 3. Thurs. 4. Fri. 5. Sat. 6. Sun. 7. Mon. 8. Tues. 9. Wed. 10. Thurs. 11. Fri. 12. Sat. 13. Sun. 14. Mon. 15. Tues. 16. Wed. 17. Thurs. 18. Fri. 19. Sat. 20. Sun. 21. Mon. 22. Tues. 23. Wed. 24. Thurs. 25. Fri. 26. Sat. 27. Sun. 28. Mon. 29. Tues. 30. Wed. AM PM HIGH AM PM LOW Have Campbell’s 9:32 10:31 10:10 11:11 3:26 4:43 4:53 5:39 prep & paint 11:27 12:11 1:08 12:18 1:06 5:58 7:08 8:12 6:21 6:59 7:33 your boat this summer. 1:58 1:51 9:11 8:04 2:44 2:35 10:03 8:35 3:24 3:18 10:51 9:07 4:00 4:03 11:34 9:42 4:33 4:47 12:13pm 10:19 5:06 5:31 12:50pm 11:00 5:40 6:14 1:25pm 11:43 6:17 6:58 - 2:01 6:58 7:43 12:30 2:37 7:42 8:31 1:22 3:14 8:30 9:22 2:21 3:52 9:21 10:17 3:29 4:31 10:14 11:14 4:45 5:10 11:09 - 6:06 5:51 We use only 12:11 12:06 7:24 6:34 top-of-the-line 1:08 1:04 8:36 7:19 products by2:03 2:03 9:41 8:07 2:57 3:02 10:40 8:59 3:50 4:01 11:34 9:54 4:42 4:58 12:24pm 10:52 5:35 5:54 1:12pm 11:52 6:26 6:50 - 1:58 7:18 7:46 12:55 2:42 8:09 8:43 1:59 3:25 8:58 9:42 3:07 4:07

SHARP’S IS. LIGHT: 46 minutes before Oxford TILGHMAN: Dogwood Harbor same as Oxford EASTON POINT: 5 minutes after Oxford CAMBRIDGE: 10 minutes after Oxford CLAIBORNE: 25 minutes after Oxford ST. MICHAELS MILES R.: 47 min. after Oxford WYE LANDING: 1 hr. after Oxford ANNAPOLIS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford KENT NARROWS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford CENTREVILLE LANDING: 2 hrs. after Oxford CHESTERTOWN: 3 hrs., 44 min. after Oxford

Call today to schedule! 410.226.5592

www.campbellsboatyards.com

Brush with History This article led to Seymour’s being invited on the popular TV show “I’ve Abraham Lincoln, got up and ran off Got A Secret,” hosted by Gary Moore, the stage, something that few others on Feb. 8, 1956, in which blindfolded saw in all the commotion. celebrity panelists would try to guess

Then, as pandemonium broke a mystery guest’s secret by asking loose, people started yelling that leading questions. You can watch Lincoln was shot! The President is Jayne Meadows guess his secret on dead! Mrs. Goldsborough grabbed YouTube. Sammy in her arms, held him close, This show required Seymour, now and somehow they got out of the the- 95, to make another trip to a big city, ater. That night, Sammy thought that this time New York City, and to stay he had been shot about fifty times in in another big hotel. Unfortunately, his dreams. Seymour, now very frail, fell down

Much later, Sam Seymour’s story some steps in the hotel and gave him“I saw Lincoln shot,” as told to Fran- self a shiner, but he was a trouper and ces Spatz Leighton, was published insisted on appearing on the show, nationally in the Feb. 7, 1954 Ameri- for which he was paid $80. can Weekly newspaper supplement The tragedy never left Seymour. for the Hurst newspaper chain. You Sometimes he relived the horror of can read it now on newspapers.com. that night as he dozed in his rock-

Brush with History have so much topography named for them. Sammy must have been confused that Mr. Goldsborough was going to Washington, D.C., to see about his slaves, since Maryland had freed its slaves on Nov. 1, 1864, just about three months before Congress passed the 13th amendment on Jan. 31, 1865, which prohibited slavery in the U.S., although it wasn’t ratified until Dec. 6, so perhaps Mr. Goldsborough went ing chair, even when he was an old to Washington to see what the status codger. He died on April 12, 1956 at of that was. the age of 96, two months and four Sammy might have been on one of days after his TV appearance, and the Baltimore Steam Packet steamers two days shy of the 91st anniversary that provided service up and down of the Lincoln assassination. He was the Chesapeake Bay. It was known as one year and fifteen days old when the Old Bay Line. It is assumed that the Civil War started on April 12, 1861 Sammy crossed the Bay to Annapolis, when Ft. Sumpter was attacked, and he died 95 years to the day after the War started, which was also three days after the 91st anniversary of Gen. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox, which effectively ended the war.

Samuel James Seymour’s life had been bracketed by the awful war and that terrible night. He had been the last living witness who saw Booth shoot Lincoln.

Notes:

“Ashby” is considered the only true Italianate building in Talbot Co. Built in 1858, it replaced an older structure that dated from the 1600s. Obviously, the Goldsboroughs were one of the most influential families in Talbot County to 46

then over to D.C. by land. His saying that it was 150 miles seems high, but that would be about right for the round trip.

The crowds of soldiers Sammy saw in the streets were there to celebrate Lee’s surrender three days previously.

Sammy probably stayed at the Willard Hotel, which was the biggest and most luxurious hotel in Washington, D.C., at that time. It had 150 rooms and was just a few blocks from the theater, which was, of course, Ford’s Theater, and the play he saw was Our American Cousin.

Ford’s Theater National Historic Site is now a museum restored to its April 1865 appearance. Run by the U.S. National Park Service, it is open for tours. A sign in the lobby reads “WARNING: Firearms Prohibited,” which probably should have been there in 1865.

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, shot Lincoln with a .44 caliber derringer during Act III Scene 2, fi ring the small handgun while the audience was laughing at a joke in the play to mask the sound. Booth was on the loose for 12 days before he was cornered and shot dead in a barn in Southern Maryland. His bold act to avenge the South and revive the war did not have quite the eff ect he expected. Booth’s derringer is now on display in Ford’s Theater in a locked case. Booth’s weapon was made by the inventor Henry Deringer in Philadelphia, whose name had only one “r” in it, unlike the derringer itself, which has two.

Sammy safely returned to Talbot County and, when he grew up, worked as a carpenter and building contractor, married Mary Rebecca Twilley of Cambridge and later moved to Baltimore, about 1910, where he would live out his many years. He had been in failing health ever since his fall in the hotel, which may have contributed to his death.

His obituary in the Baltimore Evening Sun for April 13, 1956 stated that Seymour had survived fi ve nearfatal accidents: he fell off a steamboat in the Choptank River and sank 20 feet; he fell off an oyster boat in the dead of winter; a ship he was on was struck by lightning and split in two; a falling brick struck him on the head when he was working in a well and he once used arsenic instead of fl our in some muffi ns.

But despite all that plus the assassination, he lived a long life and was survived by three children, 13 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

James Dawson is the owner of James Dawson is the owner of Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe.