Robert K. Summers

Robert K. Summers has written several books about Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, one of the eight persons convicted in the 1865 Lincoln assassination trial, and a book about the soldiers in one of the Union Army's U.S. Colored Troops regiments during the Civil War.

The author's main book about Dr. Mudd is a comprehensive biography entitled The Assassin's Doctor. The first part of the book tells about Dr. Mudd's early life, his involvement with the assassin John Wilkes Booth, his conviction in the assassination trial, his heroic work during a yellow fever epidemic at his prison, and his life after being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. The second part of the book consists of a large number of photographs, letters, and other important historical documents about Dr. Mudd.

The author's research into the life of Dr. Mudd led to his book entitled Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers: 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops. The 19th Regiment was organized and trained at Camp Stanton, only ten miles from Dr. Mudd's farm. Most of the soldiers were former slaves from farms in the southern and eastern shore counties of Maryland. Some had been slaves on Mudd family farms. The large book consists of short biographies of each of the thousand men in the 19th Regiment, taken from their military and pension records at the U.S. National Archives. It should be of great interest to genealogists and family historians.