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Joseph B. Stewart | |
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| Born | (1822-01-31)January 31, 1822 Trimble County, Kentucky |
| Died | August 7, 1882(1882-08-07) (aged 60) Saint Luke's Hospital, New York |
| Burial place | The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, Lobbyist, Railroads |
| Spouse(s) | Harriet Hughes Stewart (m. 1851-1853);Octavia Ridgely Stewart (m. 1861) |
| Signature | |
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Joseph Burdette Stewart (January 31, 1822 – August 7, 1882) was anAmerican lawyer, lobbyist, and businessman active inLouisville,Kentucky,Washington, D.C. andNew York City from the late 1840s through the early 1880s. He was well-connected to political and business leaders, promoting theTranscontinental Railroad, and working with severalshort lines throughout the US. He was best known for chasing afterJohn Wilkes Booth inFord’s Theatre during theLincoln assassination and being held incontempt of Congress during theCrédit Mobilier scandal in 1873.
Contrary to many modern references to him as aUS Armymajor, Joseph B. Stewart did not serve in the military except for a one-week stint in May, 1861 as thepaymaster of theVolunteer Naval Brigade inNew York (with him leaving the unit shortly before its ill-fated deployment toFort Monroe).[1]
Early Life and Career
Joseph B. Stewart was born on January 31, 1822 in present-dayTrimble County, Kentucky. Stewart attended theTransylvania Law School inLexington, Kentucky, and practiced underHenry Clay. He was admitted as a counsellor to theUS Supreme Court in December 1851.[2]
On January 21, 1851, he marriedHarriet Hughes fromFayette County, Kentucky. Harriet died fromtuberculosis on August 13, 1851.[3]
On Monday, August 6, 1855, Stewart returned to his Louisville law office and stumbled upon a group ofKnow Nothingnativists attacking anIrish man. Stewart pulled him away, which likely saved his life. Over twenty people died from the riots, mostly Irish andGermanCatholics, on what was later referred to asBloody Monday.[4]
Stewart gained wealth and prominence in Kentucky by selling land and winning two large court cases, Southard et al. v. Russell (1853) and the Reeside Case (circa 1850s-1860s). Stewart then moved to Washington, D.C. in search of even larger cases.[5]
On September 2, 1861, Stewart marriedOctavia Ridgely at theChurch of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C. Octavia was the daughter ofLieutenant Henderson “Lott” Ridgely, who died in theMexican-American War. Octavia testified in the 1859trial of RepresentativeDaniel Sickles, who murderedUS Attorney for the District of Columbia,Philip Barton Key (the son ofFrancis Scott Key), after learning he was having an affair with his wife,Teresa Bagioli. Octavia was close friends with Teresa, and stayed at the house on the night Sickles discovered the affair, and on the day he killed Key. Octavia died of cancer on June 25, 1873.[6]
Washington, D.C. Lawyer
Throughout theCivil War, Joseph B. Stewart was a leading lawyer in Washington, D.C., living in aK Street mansion and being referred to as the “Big Boss of the Lobby.” He was conspicuous in the streets at six feet five inches, weighing over 250 pounds, and with a boisterous disposition. He was known to be an extravagant spender and a heavy gambler in gold and stocks.[7]
Thomas C. Durant, who later became infamous as the “Napoleon of the Railways,” hired Stewart to promote thePacific Railway project through favorable legislation, and also to help his faction of theUnion Pacific Railroad, Eastern Division (UPED) to prevail againstJohn C. Frémont's group. Stewart wrote the section in the Pacific Railway Act of 1864 (amending the Pacific Railway Act of 1862) that facilitated company bonds for theUnion Pacific Railroad, since government bonds had failed to attract sufficient capital for construction. Infighting within UPED undermined its efforts to secure the support of Congress andPresident Andrew Johnson, and ultimately it was not chosen as a main line on the Transcontinental Railroad.[8]
Stewart served as the secretary of theWashington, Alexandria, and Georgetown Railroad, and also established theAlexandria & Fredericksburg Railroad. He left both companies after significant turmoil and several lawsuits.[9]
Stewart used his political access to further his goals. In November 1863, he giftedPresident Abraham Lincoln’s son,Tad, a South American pony. In July 1864, Stewart successfully pressed President Lincoln to reinstate Patrice De Janon, Spanish professor at theUnited States Military Academy at West Point. In November 1864, working throughTreasury SecretaryWilliam P. Fessenden, Stewart received a permit from President Lincoln to sellConfederate cotton. Stewart worked with Durant, now the Vice President of the Union Pacific, on cotton contracts until the end of the Civil War.[10]
Perkins Claim
Stewart was one of several lawyers involved in a claim by Benjamin Perkins, a sea captain who prepared two contracts to supplyRussia with gunpowder and rifles during theCrimean War. Perkins bore the cost of producing the munitions, but the Russians reneged on the terms. Gradually, Stewart assumed the leading role for the claim, travelling toSaint Petersburg, Russia in 1860 to dispatch official papers to the American Minister,John Appleton. The claim grew into a significant irritant between the two countries, and Appleton’s successor,Cassius M. Clay, deemed the claim to be a “swindle.”[11]
The Perkins Claim went dormant during the civil war, but returned during the 1867Treaty of Alaska. Stewart and others lobbied for legislation to deduct the claim amount ($285,000) from the treaty appropriation. AlthoughCongress did not support this measure, Stewart continued to press the claim, leading to a bitter feud with the Russian Minister to the US,Constantine Catacazy. As tensions mounted,President Ulysses S. Grant's administration demanded the removal of Catacazy in early 1872. The Russians never paid the claim.[12]
Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Stewart attendedOur American Cousin with three other women in the front row. After seeing John Wilkes Booth descend to the stage, Stewart claimed he immediately understood the gravity of the situation and recognized Booth as the assassin, having previously met him.[13]
After jumping up from his seat, Stewart slipped from the orchestra rail, but recovered and leaped to the stage. Stewart reached the stage as Booth departed behind the wings, yelling “stop that man!” a few times to no avail. One stagehand,Jacob Rittersbach, followed Booth out the door and testified seeing “a tall … and pretty stout man” five-to-six yards behind him. At the backdoor, Stewart saw a person standing three feet from the door, and claimed it wasEdman “Ned” Spangler, a carpenter and scene shifter at Ford’s Theatre. However, multiple people placed Spangler in his normal work station away from the backdoor.[14]
Outside of Ford’s Theatre, Stewart testified seeing Booth imperfectly mounting the horse, and described Booth guiding the horse into a leftward circle to avoid his grasp, and next a rightward circle, before accelerating beyond his reach and out of the alley.Joseph “Peanut John” Burroughs, who held Booth’s horse, did not mention seeing Stewart run outside. Two other witnesses in the tenement homes just twenty feet from the theater did not mention seeing or hearing Stewart.[15]
Stewart’s claims drew a mixed reaction. Among the detractors,James P. Ferguson remembered a two-to-three-minute gap between Booth and Stewart exiting—although he acknowledged Stewart was the first audience member onstage. Former Washington,D.C. Police SuperintendentAlmarin C. Richards complained to theConspiracy Trial star witness,Louis Weichmann, “I do not understand why he gave his imagination such full play in embellishing the part he performed that night.” Corroborating Stewart’s timeline,John L. Debonay, who stood by the first entrance on the stage right, testified that Stewart was only two-to-three seconds behind Booth in exiting the stage.[16]
Legal Problems and Scandal
The last two decades of Stewart’s life were a downward spiral of legal problems, financial misfortune, and scandal. Around 1867, he moved to New York City, while still maintaining a regular presence in the capital. In March, he became entangled withDaniel Drew andJames Fisk, both notorious “robber barons.” Stewart was arrested forembezzling $200,000 in a stock pool scheme with theErie Railroad, but was later released due to lack of evidence.[17]
In 1868, Stewart engaged in a long and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle with the Union Pacific, Eastern Division (which was renamed to theKansas Pacific Railroad) to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in company bonds. Stewart eventually lost his houses inNew York and Washington, D.C.[18]
In the summer of 1872, Stewart actively campaigned in Kansas for President Grant’s reelection along with SenatorMatthew H. Carpenter fromWisconsin. During these speeches he railed against theStates’ Rights cause that he blamed as the cause of the Civil War.[19]
In late 1872, Stewart became involved in a corruption scandal with SenatorSamuel C. Pomeroy from Kansas. Senator Pomeroy was accused of bribing a Kansas state senator, as well as pressuring Stewart’s former law partner, Edward Clark, to admit drafting an incriminating letter in Pomeroy’s name. Stewart corroborated Pomeroy’s claim that Clark wrote the letter. However, in early 1873 the Kansas state legislature voted Pomeroy out of office.[20]
Crédit Mobilier Scandal
In January 1873, Stewart was twice summoned before the Wilson Committee investigating allegations of corruption and congressional bribery from the Crédit Mobilier company, which was purportedly an independent contracting and construction company for the Union Pacific. Stewart was accused of doling out railroad bonds to members of Congress and newspaper editors. In front of a packedCapitol Building, Stewart refused to name names and instead delivered an hour-long lecture onlawyer-client privilege. He was held in contempt of Congress, kept in a congressional room for over a month, and was criticized nationwide as the “contumacious witness.”[21]
Later Years
In the latter half of the 1870s, Stewart shifted his attention south, supporting theFlorida Central Railroad and the Western Division of theWestern North Carolina Railroad. He worked with notorious “Prince ofCarpetbaggers” GeneralMilton S. Littlefield, and the South’s “ChiefScallywag”George W. Swepson, whose corruption devastated both states’ railroad industries and hindered their overall economic development. Stewart’s work across both states presented a conflict of interest that led to him being pushed out as legal counsel in both states.[22]
Stewart died in New York on August 7, 1882 atSaint Luke’s Hospital from kidney inflammation. He died insolvent and with unresolved legal cases. He did not have any surviving children.[23] Joseph B. Stewart was initially placed inGreen-Wood Cemetery inBrooklyn, New York, but ultimately buried at nearbyEvergreens Cemetery.[24]
External Links
Joseph A. Barry, “Joseph B. Stewart: The Kentucky Giant Who Chased Booth and Caught Scandal,”The Surratt Courier, Sept./Oct. 2025, p. 3-8.
Joseph Burdette Stewart atFind a Grave
Joseph B. Stewart atLincolnConspirators.com