Trivia 1-25-17 Family ties

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Born: Edwim Thomas Booth, 13 November 1833 - 7 June 1893 was a famous 19th Century actor. What is his relationship to the Civil War?

credit: @Seduzal
 
He was probably one of the most unfortunate men after the Civil War, despite the fact he was known as an acclaimed actor in his day, he was also John Wilkes Booth older brother. He was the Booth that saved Robert Lincoln from a train platform (one should never stand close to the edge of the platform and a moving train) accident in N.J. during the war and according to this article - Booth was traveling with his friend John Ford, the owner of Ford’s theater at the time of the incident.
http://www.historynet.com/edwin-booth
 
Edwin Thomas Booth was an American actor. He toured all over America and the major capitols of Europe. He was the brother of John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Lincoln.

Edwin Booth saved the life of Robert Lincoln, son of President Lincoln. It took place on a train platform in Jersey City, N.J, between late 1864 to early 1865. Robert Lincoln wrote about it in letter of 1909 to Richard Wilson Gilder, editor of "The Century Magazine". Robert referred to Edwin by name as he knew him from the many plays he had been in.

When Booth saved Robert, he did not know at the time who he had saved. He was later told. This made him feel better as he was always so ashamed and sad about his brother having assassinated President Lincoln.
 
He was the brother of assassin John Wilkes Booth. Also reputed to have saved the life (or prevented injury) of Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, shortly before the president's assassination. Robert and Booth had been waiting on a train platform when Robert lost his footing. Robert recalled that Booth had grabbed him by the collar, and that he had recognized and thanked the famous actor. Booth's brother would kill Robert Lincoln's father less than a year later.
 
Somewhat spooky is that you can still hear Edwin Thomas Booth's voice here:
https://archive.org/details/OthelloByEdwinBooth1890

His connection with the Civil War is that he lived in that era and sided with the Union as opposed to his brother John Wilkes Booth, the Lincoln assassin ...

Or maybe you refer to the fact that he saved the life of Pres. Lincoln's son Robert.

From Wikipedia:
"Edwin Booth saved Abraham Lincoln's son,[14] Robert, from serious injury or even death. The incident occurred on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. The exact date of the incident is uncertain, but it is believed to have taken place in late 1864 or early 1865. Robert Lincoln recalled the incident in a 1909 letter to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine.
The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.
Booth did not know the identity of the man whose life he had saved until some months later, when he received a letter from a friend, Colonel
Adam Badeau, who was an officer on the staff of General Ulysses S. Grant. Badeau had heard the story from Robert Lincoln, who had since joined the Union Army and was also serving on Grant's staff. In the letter, Badeau gave his compliments to Booth for the heroic deed. The fact that he had saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son was said to have been of some comfort to Edwin Booth following his brother's assassination of the president"

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edwin_Booth&oldid=761171564

 
His brother was the notorious John Wilkes Booth who assinated Lincoln.


After John Wilkes Booth's assassination of President Lincoln in April 1865, the infamy associated with the Booth name forced Edwin Booth to abandon the stage for many months. Edwin, who had been feuding with John Wilkes before the assassination, disowned him afterward, refusing to have John's name spoken in his house.


The question asks for a family tie, so above is my answer even though it is mostly post civil war.

Another interesting tidbit on Edwin.
Edwin rescued a man at a train station in Jersey City, hauling him back up onto the platform from which he had fallen into the path of an oncoming train. “Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me,” the rescued man wrote years later, “and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.”

Booth, for his part, did not recognize the man he had saved. Some time later, Col. Adam Badeau, a friend of Booth’s assigned to the staff of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, wrote Booth to inform him that the man he had rescued was a fellow staff officer: Robert Todd Lincoln, the oldest son of the president.
 
(a) he is the brother of John Wilkes Booth
(b) he saved Robert Lincoln's life or at least, saved him from serious injury by a railway engine
(c) he met with Snooks (who was pretending to be Flashman) during the NY Draft Riots



Barrett took me immediately to meet Booth who refused to hear of our obtaining rooms in a hotel. There had been riots on the street. Black men and children were beaten and lynched further to the north of the city, so he had been informed. Nothing would do but that we stay with him, though his home was far from grand, and have dinner that very evening with him and his brother John, visiting from Maryland.

Charming as they were, I found myself all but forgotten as the three of them prosed on about the theatre, plays they had performed and Edwin’s long-delayed plan for all three Booth brothers (I never met the one with the unlikely name of Junius Brutus Booth Jr.) to perform Julius Caesar in the coming year. I was quite taken by surprise when John’s soft and educated southern voice suggested a dramatic change in the Bard’s plot and then solicited my opinion.[ii]

“Edwin, would it not be more dramatic, more interesting to have the conspirators kidnap Caesar before he arrives at the Theatre of Pompey? Such an act might persuade the senate to restore the dignity of Rome and halt the dictatorship and tyranny they so detested. Murdering Caesar simply left open a space for another of the same kind to assume control of the Empire. Can you imagine the sensation we would create by thus altering the play and making it our very own? I appeal to Major Flashman. An Englishman must be familiar with the more ordinary approach to the play. As a military man, tell us how Brutus and Cassius might have accomplished such a task.”


John Wilkes Booth, future assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Snooks is imprecise; John had arrived at Edwin’s house on July 3rd 1863 after completing an engagement at the Academy of Music in Cleveland, Ohio – not from Maryland where he resided.

[ii] Edwin Booth was manager of the Winter Garden from 1863-1867. His plan came to fruition on November 25, 1864 when Julius Caesar opened at the Winter Garden. John Wilkes played Marc Antony, Edwin played Brutus, and Junius Brutus Jr. (despite his name) played Cassius at the Winter Garden. Lawrence Barrett, who had previously often worked with Edwin, at that time was still in the army but never saw action in any major battle. After the war, Lawrence moved to California where he managed The California Theatre in San Francisco from 1867-1870.
 
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