{"id":11015,"date":"2022-02-11T10:55:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T09:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=199866"},"modified":"2022-02-11T11:15:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T10:15:25","slug":"why-do-we-say-your-name-is-mud-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-abraham-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/why-do-we-say-your-name-is-mud-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-abraham-lincoln\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we say \u2018your name is mud\u2019 \u2013 and what does it have to do with Abraham Lincoln?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Jonny Wilkes\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 11 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The origins of the phrase may seem obvious: people\u2019s view of you is so low that you are no better than the mud beneath your feet. There is a much more interesting story linked to the phrase, however, although not necessarily the source\u2026<\/p>\n

Dr Samuel Mudd was a 19th-century American doctor from a small town in Maryland, US, when he became embroiled in one of the most defining moments in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

After John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln<\/a> on 14 April 1865, he broke his leg while escaping. He rode away from Washington DC and entered Bryantown, where he knocked on the door of Mudd\u2019s home at at 4am. Mudd treated his broken leg, and let Booth stay the night.<\/p>\n

Read more | Could modern medicine have saved Abraham Lincoln?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
In the frantic manhunt following the assassination, Mudd was arrested as a conspirator, although many historians believe he did not knowingly involve himself in Booth\u2019s plot and was a victim of hysteria.<\/p>\n
He was pardoned in 1869 by President Johnson, but the damage to his reputation was done. So his name is still linked to disgrace even today, but attempts to redeem Samuel Mudd\u2019s reputation continue.<\/p>\n
Alternate history | What if Abraham Lincoln hadn\u2019t been assassinated?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
It\u2019s a great story, but sadly not the source of the saying. The phrase actually appeared years before Lincoln\u2019s assassination in A Dictionary of the Turf<\/em> (1823) by John Badcock. He defines \u2018mud\u2019 as being, \u201ca stupid twaddling fellow\u201d.<\/p>\n
This content first appeared in BBC History Revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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