Customer Reviews

Gunsmith Giant 14: Lincoln's Revenge (Gunsmith, The)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a "Giant" episode in the Gunsmith series.Most episodes run about about 185 pages while this one extends to 219 pages.
In many Gunsmith novels there is quite a bit of historical connection.In this case,there is a great deal of history involved.
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth,while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington.He died the next morning in a room in a boarding house across the street from the theatre.That was April 14,1865 and Lincoln was 65 years old.John Wilkes was soon hunted down and was found holed up in a barn and surrounded.While being encouraged to give himself up he was shot.the prime suspect was a soldier by the name of Boston Corbett,but he quickly disappeared and not seen for years.This much is factual.
In this novel,the main character is Clint Adams,and he was supposedly staying at the boarding house and actually met Corbett.This all ends up in Adams meeting up with Corbett several years later.Corbett has been running in fear for his life from Southerners who are intent on avenging Corbett for having killed Wilkes,who was a hero to them.
This is a well constructed,and probably all imagined story, that is exciting.Whether true or not,it does give a very good picture of the bitterness that took place in the South after The Civil War and Reconstruction.
There is a "Historical Note" at the end of the novel which states,"After Boston Corbett escaped from the asylum near Topeka-it was not called Edgewood-it was said he went to Mexico and was never heard from again."