Along with John Wilkes Booth’s last hopes, the fire in Richard Henry Garrett’s tobacco barn destroyed the family’s farm equipment and their neighbors’ furniture.

The Garrett family played host to fugitive Booth and his companion Davy Herold at their Locust Hill farm on April 25-26, but they did not know their guests were the subject of a manhunt for the assassinators of President Abraham Lincoln.

Booth and Herold were sleeping in the Garrett’s tobacco barn when Union soldiers surrounded it on the morning of April 26 and set a fire to flush them out.

Sgt. Boston Corbett  fired a paralyzing shot into Booth’s neck as the barn was burning, and Booth died on the front porch of the family farmhouse.

Unfortunately, the Garretts’ neighbors had stored their tables and beds in the tobacco barn to evade looting by Union soldiers. The barn burned to the ground and all was lost.