Source posture

Sources

Official history, court or archive sources, museum records, published articles, family oral history, personal memory, field observation, candidate artifacts, sensitive sites, and sealed leads are kept in separate lanes.

Reliability labels

Every source gets a handling status before it gets a story.

Some records can be public now. Some leads need a museum record, a newspaper clipping, or a family interview. Some exact locations should stay private even if the story is valuable.

Official-history source

Ford's Theatre and National Park Service

Used as the official-history anchor for the Lincoln assassination setting, Booth's flight, the Virginia death account, and the accepted public-history frame.

Documented battlefield history

Brice's Crossroads sources

National Park Service and American Battlefield Trust materials anchor the documented battlefield context. Kerry's family recollection anchors the family-ground account until documents, maps, marker photos, or records are found.

Local-lore source

HottyToddy / Dick Gentry retelling

Used as the currently available public retelling of the Guntown legend, including Emma Emily Epting Pressey, Dr. John Fletcher Booth, Jennie Booth Epting, Smith Cemetery, and related artifact stories.

Family tradition

Reported recollection

Claims about sheltering Booth, carrying food to an upstairs hiding place, and family knowledge are labeled as family tradition unless the original interview or stronger primary source is found.

Needs further verification

Open source hunts

The original Tupelo Daily Journal / Phyllis Harper interview and the Brice family-ground documents, marker photo, parcel work, and cemetery records still need follow-up.

Sensitive source

Private and sealed handling

Exact cemetery access, living-source details, private parcels, suspected graves, Hatchie Bottom geometry, payroll geometry, and unverified allegations do not belong in public pages.

Source table

Working IDs for the public archive.

Source ID	Title	Type	Status	Reliability / public notes
H-001	HottyToddy / Dick Gentry Booth article	Published local lore	Public source located	Verified live as the Jack Lawton page with Dick Gentry commentary, dated May 13, 2014; useful local-lore anchor, not primary proof of the legend.
H-002	Ford's Theatre / NPS Booth death account	Official record	Public source placeholder	Anchor for accepted account that Booth died in Virginia in April 1865.
H-003	Booth exhumation / DNA dispute	Court / public dispute source	Placeholder	Context only; does not prove the Guntown tradition.
B-001	Brice's Crossroads official battle overview	Official / battlefield history	Public sources linked	NPS and American Battlefield Trust anchor battle facts.
B-002	Brice's Crossroads Foundation / Mississippi Final Stands	Institutional source	Placeholder	Needed for museum, battlefield, and corridor coordination.
B-003	1953 Tishomingo Creek remains	Published or archival record	Document trail pending	High-priority link between family memory and burial/reburial records.
B-004	Howard Snell pocket-watch accession record	Museum / institutional artifact	Verification pending	Request accession record, donor card, provenance note, or label.
B-005	Memphis-library fence-line map	Map / archive source	Source pending	Potential bridge-geometry source; not public geometry until verified.
B-006	Shelby bridge interpretation map	Map / interpretation source	Source pending	Comparison source for bridge-discrepancy research.
O-001	Aunt Nett oral-history notes	Family oral history	Private intake needed	Keep exact names, land, and cemetery details controlled until approved.
O-002	Family source B oral-history notes	Family oral history	Private intake needed	Private until names, locations, and permissions are reviewed.
O-003	Family source J oral-history notes	Family oral history	Private intake needed	Potentially sensitive allegations stay sealed until independently documented.
F-001	Kerry field notes	Personal memory / field observation	Public/private split	Public only in generalized form; exact findspots and coordinates sealed.

Official Battlefield Source National Park Service: Brices Cross Roads Monument NPS place record for the battlefield monument near Baldwyn, Mississippi. Battlefield Source American Battlefield Trust: Brice's Cross Roads Battle summary and tactical context for the June 10, 1864 battle. Artillery Source Fetch Up the Artillery American Battlefield Trust article on Forrest's artillery-forward order at Brice's Cross Roads. Local-Lore Source John Wilkes Booth's Escape To Mississippi - Just a joke? HottyToddy page by Jack Lawton with commentary by Dick Gentry, May 13, 2014. Official-History Source Ford's Theatre: Lincoln's Assassination Reference link for the official assassination narrative and historical setting. Official-History Source National Park Service: Ford's Theatre History Reference link for the official Ford's Theatre historic site materials. Local PDF The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth Finis L. Bates, 1907. Public-domain survival-legend text from Internet Archive. Local PDF John Wilkes Booth: Escape and Wanderings William Parker Campbell, 1922. Public-domain survival-legend text from Internet Archive. Working Notes Booth Legend Sources Markdown source notes for the local archive.

Image records

Public-domain visual references

These images are included as historical reference material and atmosphere. They do not authenticate the Guntown legend.

Public-domain portrait of John Wilkes Booth — Image Reference John Wilkes Booth portrait. Public-domain source via Wikimedia Commons. View source

Public-domain wanted poster for John Wilkes Booth and other Lincoln assassination suspects — Image Reference Wanted poster for Booth, Surratt, and Herold. Public-domain source via Wikimedia Commons. View source

Public-domain view of Ford's Theatre in 1865 — Image Reference Ford's Theatre as it appeared in 1865. Public-domain source via Wikimedia Commons. View source

Public-domain photograph of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train at Harrisburg — Rail Reference Lincoln funeral train at Harrisburg. Public-domain source via Wikimedia Commons. View source

Public-domain 1903 Mobile and Ohio Railroad map from Meridian to Mobile — Rail Reference Mobile and Ohio Railroad map, Meridian to Mobile, 1903. Public-domain source via Wikimedia Commons. View source

This site presents local lore, family memory, field notes, and historical research in progress. It should not be read as an official historical finding or as the official position of the Town of Guntown, any cemetery, landowner, public agency, or battlefield organization.