May 10, 2026

“A photograph is usually looked at- seldom looked into.”

Ansel Adams

RG#1 (above) was looked at but never fully looked into until 2010, when I began to research and publish a series of monographs subtitled, “John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays.” A “Collection Summary” of those monographs may be accessed HERE or by using the upper right-hand menu.

I wasn’t looking at RG#1 and then decided to look into it. I was reading the words of Asia Booth Clarke reminiscing about a group picture she had been shown of her brother (John Wilkes Booth) and others when he was in the Richmond Grays at Charlestown in 1859 and then decided to find that picture. – “ I have been shown a picture of himself (John Wilkes Booth) and others in their scout and sentinel dresses” ¹

In an enigmatic irony, Asia’s picture was not found in some forgotten image or a newly discovered one, but hiding in an iconic group photograph that since 1911 had been widely believed taken between 1861 – 1865 and that had risen to become the face representing the American Civil War (See Publication Timeline.) All that was needed was for me to prove it by applying the 5 Ws of research, the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of RG#1.

In my first monograph in 2010, “Has He Been Hiding In Plain Sight .” I started with Asia’s description of John Wilkes Booth in a group of “uniformed men in scout and sentinel dresses” and for the next four years meticulously examined and documented the five Ws of RG#1, culminating with “Conversations through the Glass“ (Also see THIS); but it wasn’t until I read a handwritten note by Mrs. Ella Mahoney, a Booth family friend and confidant, in the margin of a book she owned that I had my proof. Mrs. Mahoney had written, “I have one of these from the Booth family” and had placed an “X” on a description of a photograph that read “a group of men in uniform, with John Wilkes Booth in the center rear” (see “Glimpsing a Shadow.“) Mahoney’s words not only confirmed that Asia’s “picture” was not an ambrotype, but a photograph, like RG#1 above; but it also confirmed that John Wilkes Booth was the man I thought he was. He was the man “in a group of uniformed men in scout and sentinel dresses, center rear.“

Asia’s description of a picture she had been shown of John Wilkes Booth, her brother, when in Charlestown in 1859 – “I have been shown a picture of himself (John Wilkes Booth) and others in their scout and sentinel dresses” ¹

Mahoney’s written exclamation, “I have one of these from the Booth Family” in the margins of a book next to a description of a photograph that reads “a group of uniformed men, with John Wilkes Booth in the center rear.”

Although I asked and answered the 5 Ws about RG#1 in John Wilkes Booth and the Richmond Grays, I never really addressed or answered the greater part of the 5th W until now. Why is John Wilkes Booth in that picture of all pictures and why was it hidden from common sight for so long? “Saving Grace: Finding John Wilkes Booth In The Richmond Grays” will address the Greater Why of it.

Structured as the serialization of a book, “Saving Grace: Finding John Wilkes Booth in the Richmond Grays”, will be presented in three parts, MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT, and will be released over a three year period.

The FRONT MATTER for “Saving Grace: Finding John WIlkes Booth in the Richmond Grays” is NOW available HERE . Within the front matter is the TABLE OF CONTENTS for PART I, entitled “Things Hidden From Common Sight,” which is HERE NOW and lists the 27 Remnants scheduled for release over the course of 2026. PART II, entitled “Grace Finds the Means” will be released during 2027; and PART III entitled “Grace Seeks Its Own Standing” in 2028.