Everton Conger

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Everton Judson Conger (April 25, 1834 – July 12, 1918) was an American Civil War officer who was in command of the Union troops who tracked down John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in a Virginia barn 12 days after Lincoln was shot in 1865.

Everton Conger was born in Huron County, Ohio, in 1834.^[1] He was the son of Rev. Enoch Conger, a Presbyterian minister. In 1856, he moved to Fremont, Ohio, where he established a dental practice.

Conger enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War, initially as a private in the three-months 8th Ohio Infantry. He returned to Fremont with the expiration of his term of enlistment and married Emma "Kate" Boren on October 16, 1861, with whom he had five children. He later became a captain in the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry and eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry. He suffered three severe wounds during combat and was assigned to detached duty in Washington, D.C., joining General Lafayette Baker's intelligence service.

He was assigned command of a troop of 25 cavalrymen with orders to capture Booth following the April 14, 1865, assassination of President Lincoln. On April 26, after cornering the assassin, Conger ordered the burning of the barn that Booth was hiding in. Sergeant Boston Corbett mortally wounded Booth by shooting him in the neck. Conger removed Booth's personal effects, including a diary. Conger was given $15,000 as a reward for the successful operation. The city of Fremont gave him a pair of inscribed silver-handled pistols in recognition for his role in tracking down Booth.

Conger moved to Illinois, built a home, and practiced law in Carmi. Later he was appointed a United States District Court judge in the Montana Territory. He eventually moved to Hawaii to live with his daughter, dying there in 1918. He was buried in Montana.

Conger will be played by Harrison Ford in the drama-thriller Manhunt, due to be released in 2007.

[edit] External links

• White County, Illinois Personalities and Famous People
• Six Generations of the Family of Job Conger and Mary Keziah Thorp
• Rutherford B. Hayes library

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Some sources state that he was born in West Virginia