Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world with over 405 miles worth of surveyed passageways. Edwin decided to take this opportunity to visit a local landmark, Mammoth Cave. Edwin made his own arrangements to perform in Louisville, Kentucky starting on March 13th, leaving him with a few days of downtime. The tour with Ford was a short one with Edwin completing his final performance in Bowling Green, Kentucky on March 3rd. He would write to a friend that during his tour he was, “daily reminded of the disgrace and misery that can never be forgotten by me or any member of my family.” Edwin was no doubt aware that there was a strong desire by many Southerners to see not just “Booth, the great Tragedian” but also “Booth, the brother of the assassin.” The articles often contained “disgraceful anecdotes” about his father, Junius Brutus Booth, “all in the main false or exaggerated.” Worse yet, Edwin could not escape the shadow of his brother’s crime. While the tour was a financially successful one and Edwin was pleased by the reception of his audiences, he was often displeased with the newspaper articles that accompanied his tour. “It was an ordinary sight to behold the ladies standing in double lines throwing flowers in his path as walked from his hotel to the theatre,” the company manager John Barron later recalled. As Ford had predicted, Edwin was widely acclaimed during his performances in the South. Joining him on this tour was his second wife, Mary McVicker. Edwin agreed and starting in January of 1876, he began a tour of cities in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Ford assured Edwin that there would be a fortune to be made in his return. Edwin Booth had not played in these areas since before the Civil War and John T. Ford approached Edwin Booth with an idea for a tour of the heart of the former Confederate states. Ford – he having lost his theater in Washington due to Edwin’s brother’s crime. One man who knew the pain of losing a theater all too well was John T. He had hoped the Booth Theatre would be his home for years, but its failure required him to retake the role as a touring star. As much as he disliked the stress of touring, it was the only way he was able to recoup his losses and provide for his family. The lavish theater he financed, constructed, and named after himself in New York had bankrupted him and he had been forced to sell ownership of it to help cover his debts. However, while Edwin was widely respected and praised for his talents, his business dealings over the past decade had hurt him considerably.

After a brief period of respectful grief and contemplation in the months following his brother’s crime, Edwin’s success and fame as an actor had only increased through the years. In 1876, eleven years after his brother assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Edwin Booth was still making his living as a touring actor.

Edwin booth