The Man who shot the Man who shot Lincoln: and 44 other forgotten figures in history

by Graeme Donald

We have all heard about the great generals of military history, and those whose heroic deeds changed the course of a war. But what about those, no less significant, behind the front line?

This book reveals the stories of 75 of military history's little-known game-changers, including:

• Thomas Boston Corbett, the man who shot John Wilkes Booth

• Herman Hollerith, who devised the punchcard system used to keep track of prisoners sent to the concentration camps

• Hitler's personal pilot, Hanna Reitsch

• Major John D Barry, the Confederate who mistakenly shot General Stonewall Jackson

• Lee Duncan, the American serviceman who rescued a puppy from the German trenches of World War I and took him back to America, where he became famous as Rin Tin Tin

• Lt Col Franz von Hurrach, who supplied the car for Ferdinand at Sarajevo and, from the running boards, gave such confusing directions to the driver that he sent him up the wrong street and straight into the arms of the waiting assassin.

This entertaining book provides an offbeat and engaging insight on the annals of war and reveals new aspects to the history we think we know.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Historical, Civil War, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing historical potpourri. The book begins by noting that (Page 9): "One of the joys of military history, or indeed history in general, is the fact that it literally teems with little known or un-sung characters. . ." This is a book of vignettes about such characters.

For example, the plotters and counterplotters in the effort to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Or the apparent accidental downing of Glenn Miller's plane as he was flying to France. Tragic. Or John Brown at Harper's Ferry (JEB Stuart and Robert E. Lee were leaders of the military unit sent to end the uprising). Interesting how other people such as Clement Vallandigham and another John Brown show up in the tale.

Then, there is the story of Boston Corbett, who shot and killed John Wilkes Booth. What about the death of George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn? Who was involved? Who survived? Faux Monty in World War II. The Birth of Route 66, when camels were brought into the Southwest for military purposes. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis authorized this experiment.

Instance after instance of little known actors and incidents in history. Not very profound, but quite enjoyable!

[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln" is an interesting tome about the smaller historical stories surrounding the much larger stories. That in itself makes it an interesting book to read. Unfortunately the author wrote this book like a tabloid newspaper. Much of the writing is quip-based, with insults and jokes lobbed at many of the subjects. Which is a shame, because the lesser tales of history deserve to be told and read and not be subjected to tabloid-style jabs.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thought this was a clever book, but poorly laid out. Would have liked to have a bit larger of a page and less side notes and author injections.

[Chuck Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at some little known figures that took part in famous and infamous events. I found it a very interesting and entertaining read. The man who shot the man who shot Lincoln was Boston Corbett, a rather odd character even before he shot John Wilkes Booth - against orders. After the shooting he toured, giving talks about the shooting and other topics. He was later declared insane, and later was a crazed hermit living in the woods. He was believed killed in a forest fire. The officer in the booth with the President was Major Rathbone also later went insane and murdered his wife. Mrs. Lincoln later had her own problems with sanity, her son Robert having her hospitalized. Robert Lincoln himself had interesting events occur to him as well. Before his father was murdered his life was saved, by Booth's more famous brother Edwin. Later, Robert was present when two presidents were murdered, James Garfield and William McKinley. The book covers many more people, some quite quickly and others in more detail. To me, the most amazing person covered was Fritz Duquesne. He was an officer in the Boer forces fighting the British in South Africa at the turn of the 20th Century. He vowed to kill the British General Kitchener for his actions in the war. Kitchener ordered Boer captives be killed, but when the press found out he denied it and allowed lower level officers (Lt. Morant was one) be blamed and shot for their actions. Fritz knew the truth. He was captured and sent to a prison. He escaped, went to England and was made an officer in the British army and sent to South Africa to fight the Boers. He instead recruited saboteurs to attack the British, was found out and sent to prison. He again escaped, traveled to the U.S., gained fame as a newspaper reporter and expert marksman. He became friends with President Teddy Roosevelt and went on hunting trips with him. When England went to war with Germany, he returned to England. When General Kitchener - now the head of all British forces -went on a ship for a mission to Russia, Fritz got on board as a Russian Duke. There he planted a bomb then jumped ship to be picked up by a German sub. The bomb went off, sinking the ship and killing Kitchener. Fritz had even more adventures, including spying in WWII. Some stories covered seem more gossip than facts, but all are interesting. Even Captain von Trapp and Hedy Lamarr are discussed in an interesting chapter. All in all a really interesting book. Highly recommend to all history buffs.

[Olivia Ambrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I wish it wasn't 95% WWI and WWII.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, in a "trying to make history seem hip to a high schooler" kind of way.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of amazing and interesting surprises.

[Andrew Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this truly fascinating and a fun, which read, though very heavily skewed toward World War 2. Several chapters call for further study.

[Gabe Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, why so many on Hitler.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graeme Donald, The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln (Osprey Publishing, 2010)

Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by Amazon Vine.

I have an acquaintance who's always singing the praises of Osprey Publishing's military books, so when one showed up on Vine, I grabbed it immediately. I grant you, from the descriptions I've read of other Osprey books, this one is an outlier; it's about three times as long as the stuff I keep getting recommended me. I found it enjoyable enough, in that “collection of useless trivia you read simply because you hunger for useless trivia” kind of way. Forty-seven short essays about forgotten or neglected witnesses to (or architects of, in the case of, say, Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was as it turns out a monstrous case of blind, stupid luck) history, most of them amusing, albeit grimly so. Not a definitive, be-all-end-all kind of resource, but trivia hounds will find it most edifying, and Donald's storytelling style will keep you turning the pages past your bedtime. *** ½

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting!

[Linghong · Rating 3 out of 5]

这个语言风格真是……看的我脑瓜子疼！

[GlenK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often witty and always fascinating historical essays.

[Clint Priest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read. A lot of lesser know stories that shaped history. Highly recommended.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good bathroom reading and trivia collecting.

[Nicole Yovanoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, however I felt that they could have had more diverse stories that were not always about World War II or the US-related stories.

[Brian S. Wise · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Donald referred to Robert Lincoln as Richard, I tapped out.

[Katie (never.ending.reading.list) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just incredibly interesting.