The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd

Dennis Weaver stars in this made-for-television film chronicling a little-known figure in American history. In 1865, Maryland physician Samuel Mudd (Weaver) became inadvertently linked to the murder of President Abraham Lincoln when he treated the broken leg of assassin John Wilkes Booth. Framed as Booth's co-conspirator, Mudd was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor and suffered years of cruelty and hardship at a notorious penal colony. Mudd's wife Frances (Susan Sullivan) continued to maintain her husband's innocence throughout his ordeal until he was finally pardoned by President Andrew Johnson for acts of bravery during a yellow fever epidemic. (Verleiher-Text)