Herold (Will Harrison) rows the boat he and Booth (Anthony Boyle) escaped in up to an old campsite at the beginning of Manhunt Season 1 Episode 5, “A Man of Destiny.” The campsite is strewn with the corpses of dead Confederate soldiers.
RELATED: Read our recap of the last Manhunt episode, “The Secret Line”
As Herold uses his compass to orient them, Booth talks about how he considered enlisting, but the poor wages, food and uniforms dissuaded him. Now that he’s a symbol for the cause, he expects he’ll be appointed to some high rank, like a general, once they get to Richmond.
Herold gets upset when he realizes they got turned around on the river in the fog and are still in Maryland. Booth loses his temper. Herold tries to calm things by suggesting they take the uniforms off of the dead men and disguise themselves.
At a Union outpost, a soldier sits outside in a downpour of rain. In a nearby tent, two officers talk about him, referring to him as “The Mad Hatter,” who reportedly castrated himself because God told him to do it.
RELATED: Apple TV+ To Tell the Story of Highwayman Dick Turpin (Kind Of)
Meanwhile, The Mad Hatter prays to God for a mission. His family is dead, and he is looking for a reason to go on living.
Ten Years Before the Assassination
He recalls sitting on the street trying to hawk ladies’ hats while drinking himself blind. A minister approaches him and puts some coins in his box. He asks him what’s happened to put him in these circumstances. The Mad Hatter blames his base desires for his wife dying in childbirth. The minister asks his name, and he replies, “Tom Corbett,” and that it only carries shame.
The minister advises that he cast the name away and be reborn. Tom begs him to show him how. He looks around and sees a sign for the Boston Common. He renames Tom “Boston” and baptizes him with that name, forgiving him of his sins. Boston Corbett (William Mark McCullough) looks up to the sky and smiles.
The President Turns
Johnson (Glenn Morshower) speaks with a number of congressmen who were former slave owners, telling them how he grew up poor and uneducated. He claims to believe in the Union while appreciating the institution of slavery. While he recognizes the slave owners lost assets with the freeing of the slaves, he reminds them their forefathers didn’t earn their land; it was given to them. Outside, protesters chant that Johnson’s presidency isn’t legitimate.
RELATED: 8 TV Shows You Should Watch if You Love Still Up
The congressmen warn him the land grants to freed slaves is the first step on a slippery slope, and eventually, black people will take everything away from the whites. They present him with a petition against the land grants. They offer to get more signatures if it means getting rid of Stanton (Tobias Menzies), leaving Johnson looking conflicted.
The Mission
Stanton and Eddie (Brandon Flynn) ride up to the Union encampment. They hand out copies of the Secret Line map and task the soldiers with capturing Booth and Herold. Corbett looks up at this edict, excited at the assignment.
On the river again, dressed as Confederate soldiers, Herold and Booth land the rowboat in Virginia. With Herold’s help, Booth is able to get out and onto dry land. They begin their walk to Richmond.
RELATED: Apple TV+’s The Crowded Room and Content Warnings
Stanton and his crew ride along the road that runs beside the river. They come across a group of ex-Confederate soldiers, many wounded and maimed, trying to get home to Port Conway and Bowling Green, Virginia. One soldier swears they are on their way to sign the Pledge of Allegiance at Port Royal.
Stanton directs the soldiers to search and question them. As they start, a messenger arrives for Stanton with a missive from Eckert (Damian O’Hare), telling him Johnson’s rolling back Reconstruction by reversing the land grants. Stanton tells Eddie he has to go back.
Three Months Before the Assassination
Stanton brings a delegation of preachers representing the freedmen of Georgia to see General Sherman (Alex Collins). They explain that land ownership will give freedmen a chance to contribute to the economy and fabric of America and feel like Americans, earning their own wages and providing for their families.
RELATED: GGA’s 10 Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024
Stanton has a map of the confiscated lands, divided into 40,000 tracts throughout the Carolinas and Georgia. Each tract is 40 acres and would come with a mule. Sherman agrees to use the army to redistribute the coast. The preachers fall to their knees in prayers of thanks.
Sherman believes that everyone should have a place to call home. Stanton presents him with Field Order 15, which Sherman signs.
Meek No More
Johnson’s playing solitaire when Stanton comes to speak to him about reversing the land grants. He refuses to let the freed slaves keep the land grants. If Stanton disagrees, Johnson is happy to find a new war secretary. Stanton begs him to keep the land grant order intact. Johnson warns him they aren’t playing a game. He demands Stanton assign troops to reacquire any land granted to freed slaves.
Stanton goes to confer with Eckert. Eckert recommends that he keep his position and work toward other goals to stay and temper Johnson’s worst instincts. Stanton hangs his head and tells Eckert that Lincoln believed the land grants would be the foundation of Reconstruction.
Eckert reminds him that winning the war meant staying on the offensive and choosing his battles. He advises Stanton to use the same strategy to deal with Johnson.
Turning Points
In the middle of the night, Herold and Booth find a cabin in the woods. There’s a hive out front, and Booth digs in for the honey. Herold breaks the door open and finds it empty. They make themselves at home, Booth taking the bed.
RELATED: Invasion Renewed for Season 3 on Apple TV+
On Mary’s (Lovie Simone) land grant, she’s teaching a class, and Milo (Antonio J. Bell) is putting down markers for a house when two Union soldiers arrive. Milo tries to chase them off, but Mary calms him down. The soldiers put up a sign announcing the land grants had been revoked. Mary reads it and explains it to Milo.
A black boy comes into the cabin in the morning and finds Herold asleep in a chair. The boy’s father is outside, looking through the items Booth left there. He comes inside when his son calls to him. Booth shuts the door on them, and he and Herold aim guns at them, demanding transportation. The father raises his hands and sends his son for the wagon.
The Mudd Connection
Mary returns to Dr. Mudd’s (Matt Walsh) house to ask for her position back. He agrees but beats her first as punishment for leaving.
RELATED: 6 Great Historical Fiction Novels Focused on Real Women From History
In his office, Stanton meets with Eddie and Eckert, who point out that one of the first stops on the Secret Line is Bryantown Market, where Dr. Mudd lives. They theorize that Mudd and Booth knew each other as Confederate agents.
At a ferry crossing, Herold and Booth blend in with other wounded Confederate soldiers. The soldier who spoke with Stanton earlier notices Booth’s tattoo. He asks Booth where he served and calls his bluff. He accuses them of being fakers or deserters. Booth admits he didn’t serve and then brags about killing Lincoln. The soldier tells him there’s no honor in what he did, shooting a man in the back as he watched a play. He spits on Booth. No one besides Herold speaks on Booth’s behalf.
As they line up for the ferry, a man in front of Booth and Herold advises them to seek shelter at the Garrett Farm. Booth wants to know why the soldiers aren’t impressed with him killing Lincoln. The man tells him they just want to get home and don’t want to get in trouble helping Booth.
Mary Points the Way
Stanton and his men break down the door to Mudd’s house and question him. While he continues to deny knowing who Booth was when he set his leg, Stanton sees Mary through a doorway, and she indicates he should search upstairs. Upstairs, he finds Booth’s boot with the initials stamped on the inside. He brings it downstairs and questions Mudd again.
RELATED: Check out Timeless’s Take on Lincoln’s Assassination
Mudd continues to protest his ignorance. Stanton orders his arrest. Mary steps forward and states that Mudd knew Booth, Surratt (Joshua Mikel) and all the other Confederate agents. They take Mudd into custody while he screams his innocence. Stanton comments to Eddie that Booth and Herold might head to Port Royal with the wounded Confederate soldiers they’d run into in order to blend in.
Stanton sends Eddie on and stays to talk to Mary. He tells her about a temporary settlement at Arlington where she and Milo can stay.
The Garrett Farm
Booth and Herold pass a 50-mile signpost for Richmond. Booth can’t walk another step, so they turn off the road towards Bowling Green.
RELATED: Movie Review: Napoleon
Stanton’s crew rides up to the Port Royal ferry landing and speaks with the ferry master. He tells them Booth and Herold were on his ferry that day. He tells them Willie Jett (Justin Kucsulain) gave them directions and that Jett has a regular room at the Star Hotel.
At the Garrett Farm, the farmer’s daughter feeds Booth cake as he sits in a bath, feverish and babbling. She tells him he’s a hero. He calls her an angel.
At the Star Hotel, Stanton finds Jett and questions him. Jett tells him Booth and Herold probably went to the Garrett Farm. As they hurry to head to the Garrett Farm, Stanton collapses with an asthma attack. He orders Eddie and Eckert to go, but they refuse to leave him.
RELATED: Read all our Manhunt recaps!
Corbett thanks Jesus loudly for the opportunity to serve God and calls for the soldiers to move out. Stanton watches them leave from the ground and then passes out in Eddie’s arms while Corbett leads the charge to the Garrett Farm.
Manhunt drops new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/boy-kills-world-red-band-trailer-bill-skarsgard-sam-raimi/
- STUMBLE Series Premiere Recap: (S01E01) Pilot - November 7, 2025
- TV Review: PLURIBUS Season 1 - November 6, 2025
- TV Review: STUMBLE Season 1 - November 5, 2025
