David Herold David Edgar Herold ( June 16 , 1842 – July 7 , 1865 ) was an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln . After guiding fellow conspirator Lewis Powell to the home of Secretary of State William H . Seward , whom Powell attempted to kill , Herold fled and met with Booth outside of Washington , D . C . They then proceeded to Surrattsville , Maryland where they picked up weapons that Mary Surratt had left earlier for them at her property . Since Booth had broken his leg earlier in the escape , Herold accompanied him to the home of Dr . Samuel Mudd . After Mudd set Booth ' s leg , Herold and Booth continued their escape through Maryland and into Virginia , and Herold remained with Booth until the authorities found them . After becoming trapped in a barn by Union Army troops on the property of Richard Henry Garrett , Herold surrendered to the troops , but Booth , refusing to surrender , was shot by Sergeant Thomas P . " Boston " Corbett through a crack in the barn wall , and died a few hours later . After having admitted his participation in the conspiracy , Herold was tried and sentenced to death by hanging . The sentence was carried out on July 7 , 1865 , a day after it was imposed . Biography . Early life . David E . Herold was born in Maryland , the sixth of eleven children of Adam George Herold ( June 6 , 1803 - October 6 , 1864 ) and Mary Ann Porter ( January 8 , 1810 - February 16 , 1883 ) . Adam and Mary were married on Nov . 9 , 1828 in Washington , D . C . David was their only son to survive to adulthood . His father Adam was the Chief Clerk of the Naval Storehouse at the Washington Navy Yard for over 20 years . Herold ' s family was well - off financially and lived in a large brick house at 636 Eighth Street S . E . in Washington , D . C . near the Washington Navy Yard . David attended Gonzaga College High School , Georgetown College , Charlotte Hall Military Academy ( at Charlotte Hall , St . Mary ' s County , Maryland ) , and the Rittenhouse Academy . In 1860 Herold received a certificate in pharmacy from Georgetown College . He then worked as a pharmacist ' s assistant and as a clerk for a doctor , and was an avid hunter . He became acquainted with John Surratt while attending classes at Charlotte Hall Military Academy in the late 1850s . A few years later , in December 1864 , Surratt introduced him to John Wilkes Booth . For a time in 1864 , Herold was employed in Brooklyn , New York , by Francis Tumblety , a quack " Indian Herb " doctor who would be arrested in St . Louis , Missouri in the manhunt following the Lincoln assassination and released for lack of evidence . Years later , Tumblety would be named as one of the Jack the Ripper suspects . Assassination plot . On the night of April 14 , 1865 , Herold guided Lewis Powell to the house of Lincoln ' s Secretary of State , William H . Seward . Inside , Powell attempted to kill Seward , severely wounding him and other members of his household . The ensuing commotion frightened Herold and he rode off , leaving Powell to fend for himself . Another conspirator , George Atzerodt , was supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson , but never made the attempt . It was during this time that John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford ' s Theater . It is widely believed that Booth broke his leg in leaping from the president ' s box after the shooting . However , this is contradicted by multiple eye - witness accounts ; the evidence suggests Booth broke his leg in a fall from his horse after escaping into Maryland . Booth was first across the bridge into Maryland , and Herold met with him there . They retrieved their weapons cache and proceeded to the home of Dr . Samuel Mudd , who set Booth ' s leg . Herold remained with Booth and continually aided him until Union cavalry caught up with them . Herold and Booth were trapped by authorities on April 26 , 1865 , after taking refuge in a barn . Herold surrendered , but Booth refused to lay down his arms and suffered a mortal gunshot wound from Sergeant Boston Corbett , who was ratified in his actions , as orders to hold fire had not been given . Herold was tried before a military tribunal . As he had already admitted his involvement in the assassination conspiracy , the only defense his lawyer Frederick Stone ( February 7 , 1820 – October 17 , 1899 ) could offer was that David was feeble - minded and under undue influence from Booth . His defense being unsuccessful , Herold was convicted and hanged in Washington City On February 15 , 1869 , David ' s mother and 5 of his sisters interred his remains in Congressional Cemetery ( Washington , D . C . ) in an unmarked grave , next to the grave of his father Adam . The gravestone memorializing David now present in Congressional Cemetery was placed there in July 1917 , at the time of the burial of his sister Mary Alice ( Herold ) Nelson ( October 16 , 1837 - July 1 , 1917 ) in the cemetery . Mary Alice was the wife of Frederick Massena Nelson ( January 1827 - May 11 , 1909 ) of Pomonkey , Charles County , Maryland . Cultural references . Gore Vidal ' s fictionalized account of Lincoln ' s presidency , " Lincoln " , includes a heavy focus on David Herold . In the Afterword , where Vidal explains the extent to which his novel is true to fact , he writes , " As David ' s life is largely unknown until Booth ' s conspiracy , I have invented a low - life for him . " In the Stephen Sondheim musical " Assassins " , David Herold appears in the song " The Ballad of Booth " , where Booth forces Herold at gunpoint to write why Booth killed Lincoln . However , when soldiers surround the barn where they hide , Herold runs .