Monday , March 18 2024
Former prosecutor puts her talents to work in investigating the existence of a historical connection between a German assassin and Robert E. Lee

Book Review: ‘Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee’ by Ann Marie Ackerman

Death of an Assassin:
The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee

Anne Marie Ackerman
The Kent State University Press, 224 pages

Coincidence. Fate. Chance. Karma.

History is full of odd, seemingly unrelated events combining to produce a fortuitous result. To those who analyze such things, coincidences are easily explained by the laws of mathematics. Some contend that the most incredible coincidence would be if there were no coincidences. (https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11719) Others, though, believe that meaningful coincidences happen so frequently that math and science cannot explain them. For them, these events are examples of Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity, two unconnected events appearing to occur purposefully.

No matter what they’re called, such circumstances are fodder for plenty of narratives. On its surface, it would appear to be the basis of Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee. Yet author Ann Marie Ackerman unravels a real life mystery. Not only is this an engaging piece of history, the former prosecutor uses an appendix to present the compelling evidence and reasoning behind her identification of a 19th century German murderer. Ackerman also makes a strong case that the initial investigation may have seen the first use of forensic ballistics as a law enforcement tool. (And for those who believe in it, is it synchronicity that Death of an Assassin is being released when the nation is debating Confederate statues?)

Death of an Assassin begins on the night of October 21, 1835, when the mayor of Bönnigheim, Germany, was shot just a few steps from his front door. The mayor did not see his assailant and died about 30 hours later. Using the original investigative file, Ackerman details the investigation, providing a rare look inside the techniques and legal standards of the time.

Despite a thorough investigation and examination of several potential suspects, the case was essentially closed without resolution in 1837. At some point, the actual assassin emigrated to the U.S. illegally. (Ackerman doesn’t identify him until approximately halfway through the book so his name isn’t used here.) In January 1840, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, then a force of only 7,000 men.

At the time of the assassination, Robert E. Lee was 28, a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. That same month, the Texas Revolution against Mexican rule began, eventually leading to the Mexican-American War a decade later. And, Ackerman maintains, that would bring Lee and the German assassin together during the siege of Veracruz in March 1847, Lee’s first battle experience.

In April 1847, Lee would write his 15-year-old son about his experiences. He described a soldier in a company protecting him and the battery he commanded during the bombardment of Veracruz. The soldier’s thigh was shattered by a Mexican cannonball and he lay in agony most of the day. When finally being borne off in a litter, he was killed by an incoming shell. “I doubt whether all Mexico is worth to us the life of that man,” Lee wrote.

Currently living in Germany, Ackerman’s experience as an American prosecutor shows through. Poor military record-keeping at the time forces her to say the assassin “probably” was the soldier mentioned in Lee’s letter. Yet she musters and builds a strong case for naming him. Although there are a few instances of repetition and the actual events surrounding the man’s death are muddied by time, Death of an Assassin is a cogent work.

In 1872, the assassin was identified, ironically, by a Bönnigheim resident who emigrated to the U.S. in 1836 after unfounded rumor said he killed the mayor. In a letter to authorities, he relayed that a friend told him that shortly after arriving in the U.S., the assassin admitted to killing the mayor for rejecting his application to be a game warden. While aware of the killer died in combat in Mexico, it took Ackerman to make the connection to American history.

About Tim Gebhart

After 30 years of practicing law to provide shelter for his family, books and dogs. Tim Gebhart is now perfecting the art of doing little more than reading, writing and sleeping.

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