A Chronology

July 1865	Dr. Samuel A. Mudd is tried (310kb) and found guilty (17kb) of aiding and abetting John Wilkes Booth and others in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Dr. Mudd is sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Also imprisoned at Fort Jefferson are Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen and Edmund Spangler. While incarcerated, Dr. Mudd works heroically to treat prison staff and prisoners during an outbreak of yellow fever. Prisoner O'Laughlen dies during the epidemic.
August 1868	Dr. Mudd files a habeas corpus appeal before Federal District Judge Thomas J. Boynton, Southern District of Florida, Key West, citing an 1866 decision, Ex parte Milligan, as support for the action. In the Milligan case, the Surpreme Court held that Milligan, a civilian, could not be tried by a military court where civil courts were open and free to function.
September 1868	Judge Boynton denies the appeal, Ex parte Mudd, Arnold and Spangler, finding that the Milligan decision was not applicable in the Mudd case. He concurs with Attorney General Speed's Opinion that trial by military commission was correct.
February 1869	Mudd appeals Boynton's adverse decision to the United States Supreme Court. While the appeal is pending, Mudd receives an unconditional pardon from President Andrew Johnson, and his name is dropped from the appeal. The case is argued before the Supreme Court but, before an opinion can be written, Johnson also pardons Arnold and Spangler. The case is dismissed as moot. This leaves Judge Boynton's decision in place.
	Beginning in the 1920's, Dr. Richard D. Mudd, grandson of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, works to clear his grandfather's name. He gives speeches and lectures. He appeals to state legislatures, some of which pass resolutions in support of his efforts. He presents his case to several Presidents, and he causes a plaque to be placed at Fort Jefferson memorializing Dr. Mudd.
October 1990	Dr. Richard D. Mudd, grandson, files a petition with the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to set aside Dr. Samuel A. Mudd's conviction and to expunge the conviction from the record in the National Archives.
January 1992	ABCMR hears Dr. Richard Mudd's petition. They agree with the petition and recommend that it be implemented.
June 1992	U.S. Representatives Steny Hoyer (Maryland) and Thomas Ewing (Illinois) introduce a bill to "set aside" Mudd's conviction. The bill dies in committee.
July 1992	Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army William D. Clark declines to adopt the recommendations of the ABCMR.
August 1992	Dr. Mudd requests Secretary of the Army, Michael P. W. Stone, to reverse Acting Assistant Secretary Clark's decision.
February 1996	Assistant Secretary of the Army, Sara E. Lister, declines Dr. Mudd's request to reconsider and reverse Secretary Clark's decision.
December 1997	Dr. Richard Mudd files suit (101kb) in U.S. District Court seeking (1) to have Assistant Secretary Lister's decision reviewed, (2) a writ of mandamus directing the Secretary of the Army to adopt the ABCMR's recommendations, and (3) a Declaratory Judgment that Mudd was wrongfully convicted.
October 1998	Federal Judge Paul L. Friedman dismisses (46kb) the petitions to declare that Dr. Samuel Mudd was wrongly convicted and to amend the record. However, he does find that the Secretary of the Army's decision to reject the ABCMR's recommendations was reached in an arbitrary and capricious manner. He orders the Secretary of the Army to reconsider the recommendation.
March 2000	The Office of the Secretary of the Army determines that Dr. Samuel Mudd was not wrongfully convicted. (9kb)
March 2001	Satisfied that the Army has carefully and deliberately evaluated the ABCMR's recommendations, Judge Paul L. Friedman issues his final decision (36kb) in the case for Dr. Samuel Mudd.
July 2001	The Mudd family has filed a notice of intent to appeal with the U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, and has subsequently requested several extensions before actually filing such an appeal. They have until July 25, 2001, to carry through with the appeal. However, on June 18, Justice Department lawyers filed a "motion for summary affirmance," asking the court to forego briefs and oral arguments and to decide an appeal filed by Mudd's descendants simply on the "clearly correct" lower court record.
December 2001	A three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the Jusdice Department's request for summary affirmance.
May 2002	Dr. Richard D. Mudd, grandson of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, passes away.
November 2002	The U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denies the appeal of Judge Friedman's final decision for "want of standing." Because Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was not a member of the military, neither he nor his descendants may petition to alter the military record. The Mudd family intends to appeal to the Supreme Court.
February 2003	The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the appeal of the 138-year-old conviction of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd for complicity in the assassination of President Lincoln because the lawyer for the Mudd family missed the deadline for filing his case.

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