Mary Surratt

Mary Surratt

Surratt in 1850
Born Mary Elizabeth Jenkins
1820 or May 1823
Waterloo, Maryland, U.S.
Died July 7, 1865(1865-07-07) (aged 42 or 45)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Cause of death Execution by hanging
Resting place Mount Olivet Cemetery
Nationality American
Occupation Boarding house owner
Known for Conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Religion Roman Catholic
Criminal penalty Death
Criminal status Executed
Spouse(s) John Harrison Surratt (m. 1840; d. 1862)
Children Isaac (b. 1841)
Elizabeth Susanna "Anna" (b. 1843)
John, Jr. (b. 1844; died 1916)
Motive Political
Conviction(s) Conspiracy
Partner(s)
Killings
Victims 1
Date April 14, 1865
10:15 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Country United States
Location(s) Washington, D.C.
Target(s)
Killed Abraham Lincoln
Injured 4
Date apprehended
 April 17, 1865

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt[1][2][3] (1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government.[4][5] Surratt was the mother of John H. Surratt, Jr., who was later tried but was not convicted of involvement in the assassination.[5]

Early life

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins was born to Archibald and Elizabeth Anne (née Webster) Jenkins[1][6][7] on a tobacco plantation near the southern Maryland town of Waterloo[4][8] (now known as Clinton).[1] Sources differ as to whether she was born in 1820[6][9][10][11][12] or 1823.[2][4][7][8][13][14][15] There is uncertainty as to the month as well, although most sources say May.[4][8][11][12]

She had two brothers, John Jenkins, born in 1822, and James Jenkins, born in 1825.[6][7] Her father died in the fall of 1825 when Mary was either two or five years old,[1][6][7] upon which Mary's mother inherited their property (originally part of the His Lordship's Kindness estate).[16] She was a first cousin, once removed, of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald's father Edward Fitzgerald.[17][18]

Although her father was a non-denominational Protestant and her mother Episcopalian,[7][19][20] Surratt was enrolled in a private Roman Catholic girls' boarding school, the Academy for Young Ladies in Alexandria, Virginia, on November 25, 1835.[1][16] Mary's maternal aunt, Sarah Latham Webster, was a Catholic, which may have influenced where she was sent to school.[7] Within two years, Mary converted to Roman Catholicism[7][19] and adopted the baptismal name of Maria Eugenia.[1][21] She stayed at the Academy for Young Ladies for four years,[1][20] leaving in 1839, when the school closed.[7][21] She remained a devout Catholic for the rest of her life.[1][20]

Married life

Mary Jenkins met John Harrison Surratt in 1839, when she was 16 or 19 and he was 26.[20][22][23] His family had settled in Maryland in the late 1600s.[20][22] An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm.[23][24] The Neales divided their farm among their children, and Surratt inherited a portion of it.[23][24] His background was questionable at best,[23] and he had fathered at least one child out of wedlock.[20][22][23][24] They wed in August 1840.[22][23][25] John Surratt converted to Roman Catholicism prior to the marriage,[20][22] and the couple may have wed at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C.[22][26] John Surratt purchased a mill in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and the couple moved there.[23] The Surratts had three children over the next few years: Isaac (born June 2, 1841), Elizabeth Susanna (nicknamed "Anna", born January 1, 1843), and John, Jr. (born April 1844).[27][28]

In 1843, John Surratt purchased from his adoptive father 236 acres (96 ha) of land straddling the D.C./Maryland border, a parcel named "Foxhall" (approximately the area between Wheeler Road and Owens Road today).[29] Richard Neale died in September 1843, and a month later John purchased 119 acres (48 ha) of land adjoining Foxhall.[29] John and Mary Surratt and their children moved back to John's childhood home in the District of Columbia in 1845 to help John's mother run the Neale farm.[23] But Sarah Neale fell ill and died in August 1845,[30] having shortly before her death deeded the remainder of the Neale farm to John.[31] Mary Surratt became involved in raising funds to build St. Ignatius Church in Oxon Hill (it was constructed in 1850), but John Surratt was increasingly unhappy with his wife's religious activities.[32] His behavior deteriorated over the next few years. John Surratt drank heavily, often failed to pay his debts, and his temper was increasingly volatile and violent.[27][32][33]

In 1851, the Neale farmhouse burned to the ground (an escaped family slave was suspected of setting the blaze).[34] John found work on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Mary moved with her children into the home of her cousin, Thomas Jenkins, in nearby Clinton.[35][36] Within a year, John Surratt purchased 200 acres (81 ha) of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853 he constructed a tavern and an inn there.[37] Mary initially refused to move herself and the children into the new residence. She took up residence on the old Neale farm, but John sold both the Neale farm and Foxhall in May 1853 to pay debts and she was forced to move back in with him in December.[38]

With the money he earned from the tavern and sale of his other property, on December 6, 1853, John Surratt bought a townhouse at 541 H Street[39] in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants.[38][40][41][42][43] In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern, and called it Surratt's Hotel.[44]

A woodprint depicting Surrattsville and the Surratt home, printed in 1867 in Harper's Weekly.

The area round the tavern was officially named Surrattsville that same year.[45] Travelers could take Branch Road (now Branch Avenue) north into Washington, D.C.; Piscataway Road southwest to Piscataway; or Woodyard Road northeast to Upper Marlboro.[46] Although Surrattsville was a well-known crossroads,[47][48] the community did not amount to much—just the tavern, a post office (inside the tavern), a forge, and a dozen or so houses (some of them log cabins).[46][49][50] John Surratt was the hamlet's first postmaster.[20][36][45][51][52]

John Surratt expanded his family's holdings by selling off land, paying down debt, and starting new businesses.[45] Over the next few years, Surratt acquired or built a carriage house, corn crib, general store, forge, granary, gristmill, stable, tobacco curing house, and wheelwright's shop.[20][51][53] The family had enough money to send all three children to nearby Roman Catholic boarding schools.[45] Isaac and John Jr. attended the school at St. Thomas Manor, while Anna enrolled at the Academy for Young Ladies (Mary's alma mater).[54] The family's debts continued to mount, however, and John Sr.'s drinking worsened.[22][55] John sold another 120 acres (49 ha) of land in 1856 to pay debts.[56] By 1857, Surratt had sold all but 600 acres (240 ha) of the family's formerly extensive holdings[20] (which represented about half the 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) he had originally owned).[9][57] Most of the family's slaves were also sold to pay debts.[54] Still, John Surratt's alcoholism worsened. In 1858, Mary wrote a letter to her local priest, telling him that Surratt was drunk every single day.[52] In 1860, St. Thomas Manor school closed, and Isaac found work in Baltimore, Maryland.[54] The Surratts sold off another 100 acres (40 ha) of land, which enabled Anna to remain at the Academy for Young Ladies and for John Jr. to enroll at St. Charles College, Maryland (a Catholic seminary and boarding school in Ellicott's Mills).[54][58] The couple also borrowed money that same year against their townhouse in Washington, D.C., and at some point used the property as collateral for a $1,000 loan.[40]

Civil War and widowhood

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861. The border state of Maryland remained part of the United States ("the Union"), but the Surratts were Confederate sympathizers[36][47][58][59] and their tavern regularly hosted fellow sympathizers.[47][58][60][61] (The Surratt tavern was being used as a "safe house" for Confederate spies,[47][62] and at least one author concludes that Mary Surratt had "de facto" knowledge of this.[47]) Confederate scout and spy Thomas Nelson Conrad visited Surratt’s boarding house before and during the Civil War.[63]

On March 7, 1861, (three days after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration as President of the United States) Isaac Surratt left Maryland and traveled to Texas, where he enlisted in the Confederate States Army (serving in the 33rd Cavalry, or Duff's Partisan Rangers, 14th Cavalry Battalion).[50][52][64] John, Jr. quit his studies at St. Charles College in July 1861 and became a courier for the Confederate Secret Service, moving messages, cash, and contraband back and forth across enemy lines.[65] The Confederate activities in and around Surrattsville drew the attention of the Union government. In late 1861, Lafayette C. Baker, a detective with the Union Intelligence Service, and 300 Union soldiers camped in Surrattsville and investigated the Surratts and others for Confederate activities.[66] He quickly uncovered evidence of a large Confederate courier network operating in the area, but despite some arrests and warnings the courier network remained intact.[66]

John H. Surratt, Jr. in 1868. Mary Surratt's son was a Confederate courier.

John Surratt collapsed suddenly and died on either August 25[14][67] or August 26[68][69] in 1862 (sources differ as to the date). The cause of death was a stroke.[50][67][70] The Surratt family affairs were in serious financial difficulties.[68] John Jr. and Anna both left school to help their mother run the family's remaining farmland and businesses.[47] On September 10, 1862, John Jr. was appointed postmaster of the Surrattsville post office.[71][72][73][74] Lafayette Baker swept through Surrattsville again in 1862, during which time several postmasters were dismissed for disloyalty.[66] John Jr. was not one of them. In August 1863, John Jr. sought a job in the paymaster's department in the United States Department of War, but his application caused federal agents to be suspicious about his family's loyalties to the Union.[73] On November 17, 1863, he too was dismissed as postmaster for disloyalty.[61][72][75]

The loss of John Jr.'s job as postmaster caused a financial crisis for the Surratt family.[57] When John Sr.'s estate was probated in late November 1862, the family owned only two middle-age male slaves.[71] However, by 1863, Louis J. Weichmann (a friend of John Jr.'s from St. Charles College) observed that the family had six or more slaves working on the property.[76] By 1864, Mary Surratt found that her husband's unpaid debts and bad business deals had left her with many creditors.[58] Several of her slaves ran away.[57][69][77][78] When he was not meeting with Confederate sympathizers in the city, her son was selling vegetables to raise cash for the family.[79] Mary Surratt was tired of running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without her son's help.[80] In the fall of 1864, she began considering moving to her townhouse in the city.[40]

On October 1, 1864, Mary Surratt took possession of the townhouse at 604 H Street NW in Washington, D.C.[57] The house was made of gray brick, 29 feet (8.8 m) wide, 100 feet (30 m) deep, and had four stories.[4][40][81] The first floor, which was level with the street, consisted of two large rooms that were used as the kitchen and dining room.[4][81] The second floor contained a front and back parlor, with the room in the rear used as Mary Surratt's bedroom.[4][82] The third floor had three rooms—two in the front and one larger one at the back.[4][83] The fourth floor, which was considered an attic, had two large and one small room (occupied by a servant).[4][83] Surratt began moving her belongings into the townhouse that month,[84] and on November 1, 1864, Anna and John Jr. took up residence there.[85] Mary Surratt herself moved into the home on December 1.[85] That same day, she leased the tavern in Surrattsville to a former Washington, D.C., policeman and Confederate sympathizer John M. Lloyd for $500 a year.[33][85][86] On November 30, December 8, and December 27, Mary Surratt advertised for lodgers in the The Daily Evening Star newspaper.[33][57][87][88] She had initially said that she only wanted lodgers who were known to her personally or were recommended by friends, but in her advertisements she said rooms were "available for 4 gentlemen."[88][89]

Some scholars have raised questions about Surratt's move into the city. Historians Kate Larson and Roy Chamlee have noted that although there is no definite proof, a case can be made that Surratt made the move into the city in furtherance of her and her son's espionage activities.[40][81] For example, Larson and Chamlee say, on September 21, 1864, John Surratt wrote to Louis J. Weichmann, observing that the family's plans to move into the city were advancing rapidly "on account of certain events having turned up"[40][81]—perhaps a cryptic reference to either his Confederate activities in general or the conspiracy to kidnap or kill Lincoln.[40] Larson has observed that although the move made long-term economic sense for Surratt, it also (in the short term) would have meant moving expenses and furnishing up to 10 rooms in the townhouse—money she did not have.[81] Chamlee, too, found little economic reason to move into the city, concluding that it would have been more profitable to rent the H Street boarding house entirely to lodgers.[40] The city was also a more dangerous and morally challenging place for her daughter, and Surratt had striven to keep Anna away from such influences (such as her husband, John Sr.) for years.[40] Moreover, Surratt still owed money on both the tavern and the townhouse, and would take out yet another mortgage against the townhouse in January 1865.[40] John Jr. transferred all his title to the family property to his mother in January 1865. This act may have additional implications. A traitor's property could be seized, and John's knowledge of this was certainly his motivation for relinquishing his title to the houses and land. Mary may have known of his motivation as well, or at least suspected; if she did, then she would have possessed at least de facto knowledge of the conspiracy.[90]

Lincoln assassination

Surratt's boarding house circa 1890, little changed from how it looked during her occupancy.
Surratt's boarding house, which now houses a restaurant, is located in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Conspiracy at the boarding house

Louis J. Weichmann moved into Mary Surratt's boarding house on November 1, 1864.[91] On December 23, 1864, Dr. Samuel Mudd introduced John Surratt, Jr. to John Wilkes Booth.[92][93] Booth recruited John Jr. into his conspiracy to kidnap Abraham Lincoln.[92][94] Confederate agents began frequenting the boarding house.[92][95] Booth visited the boarding house many times over the next few months,[92][96][97] sometimes at Mary Surratt's request.[92]

George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell boarded at the townhouse for short periods.[92] Atzerodt, a friend of both John Jr. and Booth and a co-conspirator in the plot (as it was at that time)[98] to kidnap Lincoln, visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865.[99] He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865 (whether one night or several is unclear, as sources differ), but he proved to be a heavy drinker, and Mary Surratt evicted him after just a few days.[97][100]

He continued to visit the townhouse frequently afterward, however.[101] Lewis Powell posed as a Baptist preacher and stayed at the boarding house for three days in March 1865.[97][102] David Herold also called at the home several times.[95][101]

As part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, John Surratt, Atzerodt, and conspirator David Herold hid two Spencer carbines, ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville.[92][103][104] On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to the Surratt tavern.[105] She said she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor.[105] But according to her tenant, John Lloyd, Surratt told him to get the "shooting irons" ready to be picked up.[92][106] On April 14, Mary Surratt said she would once again visit the family tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt.[92][107] Shortly before she left the city, Booth visited the boarding house and spoke privately with her.[92][108][109] He gave her a package (later found to contain binoculars) for Lloyd to pick up later that evening.[92][108][109] Surratt did so and (according to Lloyd) again told Lloyd to have the "shooting irons" ready for pickup and handed him a wrapped package from Booth.[92][103][108][110][111] (Booth and Herold would pick up the rifles and binoculars that evening as they fled Washington after Lincoln's assassination.)[92] Lloyd repaired a broken spring on Mrs. Surratt's wagon before she left.[110][112][113]

Arrest and incarceration

Around 2 A.M. on April 15, 1865, members of the District of Columbia police visited the Surratt boarding house, seeking John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt.[92][114][115] Why the police came to the house is not entirely clear. Most historians conclude that Weichmann's friend, Department of War employee Daniel Gleason, had alerted federal authorities to Confederate activity centered on the Surratt house, but this does not explain why D.C. police rather than federal agents appeared there.[114] (Historian Roy Chamlee, however, says there is evidence that Gleason did not tell D.C. police about his suspicions of Weichmann for several days.)[116] Within 45 minutes of the attack on Lincoln, John Surratt, Jr.'s name had become associated with the attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward.[117] The D.C. police as well as the Provost Marshal's office both had files on John Surratt, Jr., and knew he was a close friend of Booth's.[117] (It is possible that either James L. Maddox, property supervisor at Ford's Theatre and a friend of Booth's, or actor John Matthews—both of whom may have known about the plot to attack government officials—mentioned Surratt's name.)[117] Historian Otto Eisenschiml has argued that David Herold's attempt to steal a horse from John Fletcher may have led them to the Surratt boarding house,[118] but at least one other scholar has called this link uncertain.[114] Other sources claim that eyewitnesses had identified Booth as Lincoln's attacker, and the detectives had information (a tip from an unnamed actor, and a bartender) linking John Jr. to Booth.[92][119] Mary Surratt lied, and told the detectives that her son had been in Canada for two weeks.[92][120] She also did not reveal that she'd delivered a package to the Surrattsville tavern on Booth's behalf hours earlier.[121]

Lewis Powell, the co-conspirator whose untimely arrival at the Surratt boarding house on April 17 convinced many of Mary Surratt's guilt.

On April 17, a Surratt neighbor told U.S. military authorities that he overheard one of the Surratt's servants saying that three men had come to the house on the night of Lincoln's assassination and that one of the men had mentioned Booth in a theater [122][123][124] (The servant was mistaken about the date, as John Surratt, Jr. had indeed been in Elmira, New York, on a mission for a Confederate general).[125] Other pieces of information also mentioned the boarding house as a key meeting place of the possible conspirators.[121] Either Colonel Henry H. Wells, Provost Marshal (head of the military police) of the District of Columbia, or General Christopher C. Augur told Colonel Henry Steel Olcott to arrest everyone in the house.[121][122] Federal soldiers visited the Surratt boarding house again late on the evening of April 17.[121][126][127] John, Jr. could not be found, but after a search of the house the agents found in Mary's room a picture of Booth (hidden behind another photograph), pictures of Confederate leaders (including Jefferson Davis), a pistol, a mold for making bullets, and percussion caps.[123][126][128] As Mary Surratt was being arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, Lewis Powell appeared at her door in disguise.[129][130][131] Although Surratt denied knowing him,[96][130][132] Powell was arrested and later identified as the man who had attempted to assassinate Secretary of State William Seward.[129]

After her arrest, Mary Surratt was held at an annex to the Old Capitol Prison before being transferred to the Washington Arsenal on April 30.[129][133] Two armed guards stood before the door to her cell from the beginning of her imprisonment until her death.[134] Her cell, while airy and larger than the others,[135] was sparsely furnished with a straw mattress, table, wash basin, chair, and a bucket.[136][137][138] Food was served four times a day, and consisted of the same thing each time: Soft bread; salt pork, beef, or beef soup; and coffee or water.[139] The other arrested conspirators had their heads enclosed in a padded canvas bag to prevent a suicide attempt.[140] Sources disagree as to whether Surratt was forced to wear this as well.[135][140] Although the others wore iron manacles on their feet and ankles, at no time was Mrs. Surratt manacled.[135] (Rumors to the contrary were raised by reporters at the trial, who either could not see Mrs. Surratt or only "heard" the clank of chains about her feet. These rumors were repeatedly investigated and denied.)[141] She began to suffer menstrual bleeding, and became weak during her detention.[136][137][142] She was given a rocking chair, and allowed visits from her daughter, Anna.[143][144] She and Lewis Powell received the most attention from the press.[145] But the Northern press was also highly critical of Mrs. Surratt in its depictions of her.[146]

John Surratt, Jr. was in Elmira, New York, at the time of the assassination, delivering messages on behalf of a Confederate general.[125] After learning of Lincoln's death, he fled to Montréal in Canada.[147]

Trial

The trial for the alleged conspirators began on May 9.[68] A military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, was chosen as the venue because government officials thought that its more lenient rules of evidence would enable the court to get to the bottom of what was then perceived by the public as a vast conspiracy.[148] All eight alleged conspirators were tried simultaneously.[130] Historian Laurie Verge has commented that "Only in the case of Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd is there as much controversy as to the guilt or innocence of one of the defendants."[149] Lincoln assassination scholar Thomas Reed Turner says that, of the eight people accused of plotting to kill Lincoln, the case against Surratt remains "the most controversial...at that time and since".[103]

A room on the northeast corner of the third floor of the Arsenal was made into a courtroom, and the prisoners were brought into the room through a side door, which prevented them from passing by or being harassed by spectators.[136][150] Surratt was given special considerations during the trial due to her illness and gender. In the courtroom, she sat apart from the other prisoners.[136][151] Sources differ as to whether an armed guard sat on either side of Mrs. Surratt, as they did the other prisoners during the trial.[151][152] While the others wore wrist and ankle manacles in the courtroom, she did not.[135][141][153] She was also permitted a bonnet, fan, and veil in order to hide her face from spectators.[153] As her illness worsened during the trial, she was moved to a larger and more comfortable prison cell.[153]

Surratt was charged with abetting, aiding, concealing, counseling, and harboring her co-defendants.[154] The federal government initially attempted to find legal counsel for Mary Surratt and the others, but almost no attorneys were willing to take the job for fear they would be accused of disloyalty to the Union.[155] Surratt retained Reverdy Johnson as her legal counsel.[129][156] A member of the military commission trying the conspirators challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt, as Johnson had objected to requiring loyalty oaths from voters in the 1864 presidential election.[129][157] After much discussion, this objection was withdrawn, but damage was done to Johnson's influence and he did not attend most of the court sessions.[129][158] Most of Surratt's legal defense was presented by two other lawyers, Frederick Aiken and John Wesley Clampitt.[129][155]

Louis J. Weichmann, whose testimony proved critical in convicting Mary Surratt.

The prosecution's strategy was to tie Surratt to the conspiracy. Powell's arrival at her boarding house three days after the president's murder was critical evidence against her, the government argued.[129] The prosecution presented nine witnesses, but most of their case rested on the testimony of just two men—John M. Lloyd and Louis J. Weichmann.[129][130] Lloyd testified on May 13 and 15, 1865,[159] regarding the hiding of the carbines and other supplies at the tavern in March, and the two conversations he had with Mrs. Surratt in which she told him to get the "shooting irons" ready.[103][129][160] Weichmann's testimony was important, for it established an intimate relationship between Mary Surratt and the other conspirators.[103][130] Weichmann testified May 16 to 19,[159] and said that he had resided at the boarding house since November 1864. He had seen or overheard John, Jr. meeting and talking with Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell many times over the past four and a half months.[132] Weichmann had driven Mrs. Surratt to the Surrattsville tavern on April 11 and April 14, confirmed that she and Lloyd had spent much time in private conversation, testified that he saw Booth give her the package of binoculars, and attested that she'd turned the package over to Lloyd.[132][161] Weichmann also testified at length about the Surratt family's ties to the Confederate spy and courier rings operating in the area, and their relationships with Atzerodt and Powell.[132] He also testified about the December 23 meeting with Booth and John Jr. (which he also attended) and their subsequent meeting with Booth at Booth's room at the National Hotel.[132] Finally, he told the military tribunal about the general excitement in the boarding house in March 1865 after the failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln.[132]

Other prosecution witnesses reinforced Weichmann's testimony. Lodger Honora Fitzpatrick confirmed visits by Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell to the boarding house.[132] Emma Offut, Lloyd's sister-in-law, testified that she saw (but did not hear) Mary Surratt speaking for long periods of time with Lloyd on April 11 and 14.[132] Government agents testified about their arrest of Mrs. Surratt, Powell's arrival, and her denial that she knew Powell.[132] The fact that Powell sought refuge in the boarding house after Lincoln's murder left a bad impression on the court as to Mrs. Surratt's innocence.[103] Surratt's refusal (or failure) to recognize him weighed against her.[130] The agents also testified about their search of the house, and the evidence (the photographs, the weapons, etc.) discovered there.[132] Lloyd's testimony had been the most important for the prosecution's case,[96][161][162] for it indicated Mary Surratt played an active role in the conspiracy in the days just before Lincoln's death.[112] The prosecution rested its case on May 22.[132]

The defense strategy was to impeach the testimony of the key prosecution witnesses, Lloyd and Weichmann. But the defense also wished to show that Mary Surratt was loyal to the Union, that her trips to Surrattsville were of an innocent nature, and that she had not been aware of Booth's plans.[112] Thirty-one witnesses testified for the defense.[112] George H. Calvert testified that he had pressed Surratt to pay a debt, Bennett Gwynn said Surratt had sought payment from John Nothey in order to satisfy the Calvert debt, and Nothey agreed that he'd received a letter from Surratt requesting that he appear at the tavern on April 11 to pay what was owed.[112] Several witnesses impugned Lloyd's character by testifying about his alcoholism.[112] Several eyewitnesses said he appeared completely intoxicated on the day of Lincoln's death (April 14), implying that he could not have remembered with clarity what happened that day.[112][163] (However, Lloyd had testified that he repaired a broken spring on Surratt's wagon, which rebutted these claims.)[112] Augustus Howell, a Confederate agent, testified that Surratt's eyesight was poor, and that Louis Weichmann was an untrustworthy witness as he had sought to become a Confederate spy himself.[163][164] (The prosecution attempted to show that Howell himself was a Confederate spy and should not be trusted.)[165] Anna Surratt testified that it was Weichmann who had brought Atzerodt into the boarding house, that the photograph of Booth was hers (given to her by her father in 1862), and that she also owned photographs of Union political and military leaders.[165][166] Anna denied ever overhearing any discussions of disloyal activities or ideas in the boarding house, and said that while Booth visited the house many times his stays were always short.[165] Anna explained her mother's failure to recognize Powell by asserting she could not see well.[165][167] Honora Fitzpatrick was called back to the stand, and testified to Mary's poor sight as well.[165][167] A former servant and a former slave both said Mrs. Surratt's eyesight was failing, and that she'd given Union soldiers food.[165][166] Numerous witnesses were called at the end of the defense's case to testify to Mary Surratt's loyalty to the Union, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness.[165][167] A number of Catholic priests were called to the stand to testify about Surratt's faith, good character, and incorruptibility.[167] Portraying Surratt as a good Christian woman incapable of committing the crimes for which she was accused formed a large part of the defense strategy.[167][168] During the prosecution's rebuttal, government lawyers called four witnesses (P.T. Ransford, John Ryan, Frank Stith, and James Young) to the stand, who testified as to Weichmann's unimpeachable character.[165]

Johnson and Aiken presented the closing arguments for the defense. Johnson attacked the jurisdiction of a military tribunal over civilians (as had Dr. Mudd's attorney).[165] Aiken challenged the court's jurisdiction as well.[169] But he also reiterated that Lloyd and Weichmann were unreliable witnesses, and that the evidence against Mary Surratt was entirely circumstantial.[170] The only evidence linking Surratt to the conspiracy to kill Lincoln, he said, came from Lloyd and Weichmann, and neither man was telling the truth (he said).[170] (Dorothy Kunhardt has written that there is evidence the latter's testimony was suborned by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.)[171]

Judge Advocate John Bingham presented the closing argument for the prosecution.[170] The military tribunal had jurisdiction, he said, not only because the court itself had ruled at the beginning of the trials that it did but because these were crimes committed in a military zone, during a time of war, and against high government officials in carrying out treasonous activities.[170] Bingham pointed out that the Surratt boarding house was where the conspiracy was planned, and that Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell had all met with Mary Surratt.[170] Booth had paid for the rental of the carriage that took Surratt to Surrattsville each time, and Bingham said this was evidence that Surratt's trips were critical to the conspiracy.[170] Bingham also said that Lloyd's testimony had been corroborated by others, and that his unwillingness to reveal the cache of weapons in the tavern was prompted by his subservient tenant relationship to Mrs. Surratt.[170] Bingham concluded by reiterating the government's key point: Powell had returned to the Surratt house seeking Mrs. Surratt, and this alone was proof of her guilt.[170] Bingham also pointed out for the tribunal that the charge a person was indicted for was irrelevant: Under the law of conspiracy, if one person carries out a crime, all conspirators are guilty of the same crime.[170][172]

The trial ended on June 28, 1865.[68][173] Surratt was so ill the last four days of the trial that she was permitted to stay in her cell.[173] Both legal teams appeared to have flaws in their cases, and except for Reverdy Johnson neither team employed highly skilled attorneys.[173] The government's case was hindered by its failure to call as a witness the man who shared Lloyd's carriage when he talked with Mrs. Surratt (an individual who could have verified Lloyd's version of the "shooting irons" story), or Metropolitan Police Chief A.C. Richards (whose investigation had had the most success in the early days of the investigation).[173] The government did not fully investigate Booth's meetings with Mrs. Surratt at noon or the evening of the murder, and its questioning and cross-examination of witnesses was poorly prepared and weak.[173] What is most important is that the government had botched the attempt to apprehend John Surratt, Jr.[173] The defense's case, too, had a problem. The defense never followed up on inconsistencies in Weichmann's chronology of Mary Surratt's last visit to the tavern, which could have undermined Weichmann's entire credibility.[173]

A newspaper drawing of Surratt receiving comfort from one of the priests permitted to visit her in her prison cell.

The military tribunal considered guilt and sentencing on June 29 and 30.[173] Surratt's guilt was the second-to-last considered, because her case presented problems of evidence and witness reliability.[173] Sentence was handed down June 30.[174] The military tribunal found Mary Surratt guilty on all charges but two.[175] A death sentence required six of the nine votes of the judges.[174][176] Surratt was sentenced to death, and the sentence announced publicly on July 5.[177][178][179] When Powell learned of his sentence, he declared that Mary Surratt was completely innocent of all charges.[180] The night before the execution, Surratt's priests and Anna Surratt both visited Powell, and elicited from him a strong statement declaring Mrs. Surratt innocent. Although this was delivered to Captain Christian Rath, who was overseeing the execution, Powell's statement had no effect on anyone with authority to prevent Surratt's death.[181] But George Atzerodt bitterly condemned her, implicating her even further in the conspiracy.[180] Powell's was the only statement by any conspirator exonerating Surratt.[181]

Anna Surratt pleaded repeatedly for her mother's life with Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, but he refused to consider clemency.[68] She also attempted to see President Andrew Johnson several times to beg for mercy, but was not granted permission to see him.[68]

Five of the nine judges signed a letter asking President Andrew Johnson to give Surratt clemency and commute her sentence to life in prison, given her age and sex.[174][182] Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt did not deliver the recommendation to President Johnson until July 5, two days before Surratt and the others were to hang.[174] Johnson signed the order for execution, but did not sign the order for clemency.[174][182] Johnson later said he never saw the clemency request; Holt said he showed it to Johnson, who refused to sign it.[68][174] Johnson, according to Holt, said in signing the death warrant that she had "kept the nest that hatched the egg".[182]

Execution

Construction of the gallows for the hanging of the conspirators condemned to death, among them Mary Surratt, began immediately on July 5 after the execution order was signed.[177] It was constructed in the south part of the Arsenal courtyard, was 12 feet (3.7 m) high and about 20 square feet (1.9 m2) in size.[183] Captain Christian Rath, who oversaw the preparations for the executions, made the nooses.[184] Tired of making nooses and thinking that the government would never hang a woman, he made Surratt's noose the night before the execution with five loops rather than the regulation seven.[181][184] He tested the nooses that night by tying them to a tree limb and a bag of buckshot, then tossing the bag to the ground (the ropes held).[184] Civilian workers did not want to dig the graves out of superstitious fear, so Rath asked for volunteers among the soldiers at the Arsenal and received more help than he needed.[184]

At noon on July 6, Surratt was informed she would be hanged the next day. She wept profusely.[185] She was joined by two Catholic priests (Jacob Walter and B.F. Wiget)[143][186] and her daughter Anna.[183] Father Jacob remained with her almost until her death.[187] Her menstrual problems had worsened, and she was in such pain and suffered from such severe cramps that the prison doctor gave her wine and medication.[143][188] She repeatedly asserted her innocence.[143] She spent the night on her mattress, weeping and moaning (in pain and grief), ministered to by the priests.[181][189] Anna left her mother's side at 8 A.M. on July 7, and went to the White House to beg for her mother's life one last time.[189] Her entreaty rejected, she returned to the prison and her mother's cell at about 11 A.M.[190] The soldiers began testing the gallows about 11:25 A.M.; the sound of the tests unnerved all the prisoners.[191] Shortly before noon, Mary Surratt was taken from her cell and then allowed to sit in a chair near the entrance to the courtyard.[191] The heat in the city that day was oppressive. By noon, it had already reached 92.3 °F (33.5 °C).[192] The guards ordered all visitors to leave at 12:30 P.M.[190] When she was forced to part from her mother, Anna's hysterical screams of grief could be heard throughout the prison.[193][194]

Clampitt and Aiken had not finished trying to save their client, however. On the morning of July 7, they asked a District of Columbia court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client.[195][196][197] The court issued the writ at 3 A.M., and it was served on General Winfield Scott Hancock.[195][196][197][198] Hancock was ordered to produce Surratt by 10 A.M.[198] General Hancock sent an aide to General John F. Hartranft, who commanded the Old Capitol Prison, ordering him not to admit any United States marshal (as this would prevent the marshal from serving a similar writ on Hartranft).[195] President Johnson was informed that the court had issued the writ, and promptly cancelled it at 11:30 A.M. under the authority granted to him by the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863.[195][197][199] General Hancock and United States Attorney General James Speed personally appeared in court and informed the judge of the cancellation of the writ.[198]

Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865 in the courtyard of Washington Arsenal (now Fort McNair).
Aftermath of Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865.

On July 7, 1865, at 1:15 P.M.,[200][201] a procession led by General Hartranft escorted the four condemned prisoners through the courtyard and up the steps to the gallows.[194][200] Each prisoner's ankles and wrists were bound by manacles.[202] Mary Surratt led the way,[194][203] wearing a black bombazine dress, black bonnet, and black veil.[204][205] More than 1,000 people—including government officials, members of the U.S. armed forces, friends and family of the accused, official witnesses, and reporters—watched.[206] General Hancock limited attendance to those who had a ticket, and only those who had a good reason to be present were given a ticket.[207] (Most of those present were military officers and soldiers, as fewer than 200 tickets had been printed.)[203] Alexander Gardner, who had photographed the body of Booth and taken portraits of several of the male conspirators while they were imprisoned aboard naval ships, photographed the execution for the government.[207] Hartranft read the order for their execution.[200] Surratt, either weak from her illness or swooning in fear (perhaps both), had to be supported by two soldiers and her priests.[194][203] The condemned were seated in chairs, Surratt almost collapsing into hers.[205] She was seated to the right of the others, the traditional "seat of honor" in an execution.[184] White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides, and their ankles and thighs together.[201][202] The cloths around Surratt's legs were tied around her dress below the knees.[201] Each person was ministered to by a member of the clergy. From the scaffold, Powell said, "Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us".[208] Fathers Jacob and Wiget prayed over Mary Surratt, and held a crucifix to her lips.[205][209] About 16 minutes elapsed from the time the prisoners entered the courtyard until they were ready for execution.[205]

A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place.[202] Surratt's bonnet was removed, and the noose put around her neck by a Secret Service officer.[201][205][210] She complained that the bindings about her arms hurt, and the officer preparing said, "Well, it won't hurt long."[211] Finally, the prisoners were asked to stand and move forward a few feet to the nooses.[205][210] The chairs were removed.[210] Mary Surratt's last words, spoken to a guard as he moved her forward to the drop, were "Please don't let me fall."[208][211]

Surratt and the others stood on the drop for about 10 seconds,[204] and then Captain Rath clapped his hands.[184][201][210] Four soldiers of Company F of the 14th Veteran Reserves knocked out the supports holding the drops in place, and the condemned fell.[202][212] Surratt, who had moved forward enough to barely step onto the drop, lurched forward and slid partway down the drop—her body snapping tight at the end of the rope, swinging back and forth.[184] Surratt's death appeared to be the easiest. Atzerodt's stomach heaved once and his legs quivered, and then he was still.[213][214] Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes, strangling to death.[184][213][214]

Burial

Grave of Mary Surratt (with modern headstone) at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Each body was inspected by a physician to ensure that death had occurred.[202][206][213] The bodies of the executed were allowed to hang for about 30 minutes[206][210][215] and soldiers began to cut them down at 1:53 P.M.[202] A corporal raced to the top of the gallows and cut down Atzerodt's body, which fell to the ground with a thud.[202] He was reprimanded, and the other bodies cut down more gently.[202] Herold's body was next, followed by Powell's.[202] Surratt's body was cut down at 1:58 P.M.[202] As Surratt's body was cut loose, her head fell forward. A soldier joked, "She makes a good bow" and was rebuked by an officer for his poor use of humor.[5][202]

Upon examination, the military surgeons determined that no one's neck had been broken by the fall.[5][202] The manacles and cloth bindings were removed (but not the white execution masks), and the bodies were placed into the pine coffins.[202][206] The name of each person was written on a piece of paper by acting Assistant Adjutant R. A. Watts,[210] and inserted in a glass vial (which was placed into the coffin).[206] The coffins were buried against the prison wall in shallow graves, just a few feet from the gallows.[206] A white picket fence marked the burial site.[216] The night Mary Surratt died, a mob attacked the Surratt boarding house and began stripping it of souvenirs until the police stopped them.[211]

Anna Surratt unsuccessfully asked for her mother's body for four years.[217] In 1867, the War Department decided to tear down the portion of the Washington Arsenal where the bodies of Surratt and the other executed conspirators lay.[218] On October 1, 1867, the coffins were disinterred and reburied in Warehouse No. 1 at the Arsenal, with a wooden marker placed at the head of each burial vault.[216][218] John Wilkes Booth's body lay alongside them.[216] In February 1869, Edwin Booth asked President Johnson for the body of his brother, John Wilkes Booth.[218] Johnson agreed to turn the body over to the Booth family, and on February 8 Surratt's body was turned over to the Surratt family.[216][217][219][220] Mary Surratt was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 1869.[219][220] John M. Lloyd is buried 100 yards (91 m) from her grave in the same cemetery.[221]

Surviving family and home

"Like Mudd, Surratts Want Name Cleared", Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, September 2, 1979

Anna Surratt moved from the townhouse on H Street and lived with friends for a few years, ostracized from society.[221] She married William Tonry, a government clerk.[221] They lived in poverty for a while after he was dismissed from his job, but in time he became a professor of chemistry in Baltimore and the couple became somewhat wealthy.[221] The strain of her mother's death left Anna mentally unbalanced, and she suffered from periods of extreme fear that bordered on insanity.[221] She died in 1904.[219][222] After the dismissal of charges against him, John Surratt, Jr. married and he and his family lived in Baltimore near his sister, Anna.[221] Isaac Surratt also returned to the United States and lived in Baltimore (he never married).[221] He died in 1907.[219][223] Isaac and Anna were buried on either side of their mother in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.[221] John Jr. was buried in Baltimore in 1916.[221] In 1968, a new headstone with a brass plaque replaced the old, defaced headstone over Mary Surratt's grave.[224]

Mary Surratt's boarding house still stands, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[225] Citizens interested in Mary Surratt formed the Surratt Society.[221] The Surrattsville tavern and house are historical sites run today by the Surratt Society.[184] The Washington Arsenal is now Fort Lesley J. McNair.[184] The brick wall behind the gallows, as well as much of the penitentiary building shown in Alexander Gardner's photos of the hanging, is long gone. But the wing of the building containing the courtroom, now called Grant Hall, remains. The courtroom has been refurbished to its appearance at the time of the trial, but access to Ft. McNair is limited since the "9/11" attacks. The courtyard itself, where the executions took place, is now a tennis court.

Portrayals

Surratt was portrayed by actress Virginia Gregg in the 1956 episode "The Mary Surratt Case," telecast as part of the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show.[226] She was portrayed by Robin Wright in the 2011 film The Conspirator, which was directed by Robert Redford.[227]

References

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  78. ↑ Maryland adopted a new constitution on November 1, 1864, which emancipated all slaves in that state.
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  147. ↑ Surratt traveled to the United Kingdom in September 1865, then Vatican City in Italy. He joined the Papal Zouaves, but in April 1866 was recognized and arrested on November 7, 1866. He escaped again, and traveled to Alexandria, Egypt. Arrested again, he was returned to the United States and tried in June 1867. His first trial ended in a hung jury, and he was indicted in the District of Columbia for treason. But because the statute of limitations had run out on the D.C. charges, the indictments were dismissed. In December 1870, Surratt admitted publicly in a lecture in Rockville, Maryland, that he was part of Booth's plan to kidnap Lincoln — an admission that made him culpable for the assassination that occurred a month later. See: Chaconas, p. 62-64.
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  160. ↑ George Atzerodt made a statement to James McPhail, the civilian Provost Marshal of Baltimore, on May 1, 1865. McPhail, accompanied by Atzerodt's brother-in-law, John L. Smith, interviewed Atzerodt, who revealed that Dr. Samuel Mudd was much more intimately involved in the kidnap and murder plots against Lincoln than other evidence suggested. Confirming some of John M. Lloyd's testimony, Atzerodt also said that Mary Surratt had gone to the tavern on April 15 specifically to retrieve the weapons hidden there a month earlier by Atzerodt, Herold, and John Jr. However, McPhail turned this statement over to Atzerodt's attorney, William E. Doster, rather than to General Hartranft. Doster, perhaps realizing how damaging it was, did nothing with it. The testimony was only briefly and tangentially raised at the trial. In 1977, historian Joan Chaconas contacted Doster's grandson, who showed her papers containing Atzerodt's statement. "Had it been revealed, it most likely would have sent Dr. Samuel Mudd to the gallows." For information on the statement, its loss, and rediscovery, see: Steers and Holzer, p. 26-28 (quote on p. 27). For information on McPhail's role as provost marshal, see Fishel, p. 335.
  161. 1 2 Leonard, p. 108.
  162. ↑ Griffin, p. 349.
  163. 1 2 Leonard, p. 118.
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  165. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Verge, p. 57.
  166. 1 2 Leonard, p. 120.
  167. 1 2 3 4 5 Leonard, p. 119.
  168. ↑ Neither Mary Surratt nor any of the other defendants testified on their own behalf. Although some sources claim that they were prevented from doing so, this is incorrect. At the time, the federal government and 35 of the 36 states did not permit defendants in felony trials to testify on their own behalf. See the discussion in Boritt and Forness, p. 352-353, 3721.
  169. ↑ Verge, p. 57-58.
  170. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Verge, p. 58.
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  172. ↑ Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 177-179.
  173. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Chamlee, p. 434.
  174. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 189.
  175. ↑ Surratt was found not-guilty of harboring and concealing assassination conspirators Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlen. She was also found not-guilty of conspiring with Edmund Spangler. See: Verge, p. 58.
  176. ↑ Watts, p. 99-100.
  177. 1 2 Cashin, p. 299.
  178. ↑ Jordan, p. 177.
  179. ↑ It has been alleged by various sources that the federal government did not intend to execute Mary Surratt, but that her death sentence was a lure to bring John H. Surratt, Jr. out of hiding to defend her. But historian Joan Cashin has argued that the scant two days between her sentencing and execution did not provide enough time to lure John Jr. out of hiding, and therefore her sentence was not intended to "bait" her son into returning. See: Cashin, p. 299; Swanson, p. 365.
  180. 1 2 Chamlee, p. 454-456.
  181. 1 2 3 4 Chamlee, p. 462.
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  184. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Swanson and Weinberg, p. 31.
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  186. ↑ Leonard, p. 130.
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  188. ↑ Chamlee, p. 461.
  189. 1 2 Goodrich, p. 276.
  190. 1 2 Goodrich, p. 279.
  191. 1 2 Chamlee, p. 469.
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  193. ↑ Goodrich, p. 281; Trindal, p. 220.
  194. 1 2 3 4 Chamlee, p. 470.
  195. 1 2 3 4 Watts, p. 101.
  196. 1 2 Trindal, p. 211.
  197. 1 2 3 Steers, 2010, p. 4.
  198. 1 2 3 Jordan, p. 178.
  199. ↑ Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution permits the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during times of rebellion or whenever the public safety requires it. On April 27, 1861, President Lincoln issued an executive order suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Although successfully challenged in the courts (Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866)), Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863 affirming Lincoln's executive order. This act gave President Johnson the power to suspend the D.C. criminal court's writ. See: Latimer, p. 41-42.
  200. 1 2 3 Jordan, p. 179.
  201. 1 2 3 4 5 Leonard, p. 132.
  202. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Swanson and Weinberg, p. 29.
  203. 1 2 3 Swanson, p. 364.
  204. 1 2 Pitman, p. 435.
  205. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chamlee, p. 471.
  206. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Leonard, p. 134.
  207. 1 2 Swanson and Weinberg, p. 24.
  208. 1 2 Kunhardt and Kunhardt, pp. 210–211.
  209. ↑ Zanca, p. 55.
  210. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Watts, p. 102.
  211. 1 2 3 Swanson, p. 365.
  212. ↑ Leonard, p. 133-134.
  213. 1 2 3 Kauffmann, p. 374.
  214. 1 2 Katz, p. 184.
  215. ↑ Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 214.
  216. 1 2 3 4 Ownsbey, p. 152.
  217. 1 2 Trindal, p. 230.
  218. 1 2 3 Steers, 2001, p. 257.
  219. 1 2 3 4 Steers, 2010, p. 513.
  220. 1 2 Johnson, p. 420.
  221. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Chamlee, p. 556.
  222. ↑ Trindal, p. 231.
  223. ↑ ""Isaac Surratt Dead." ''New York Times.'' November 4, 1907". New York Times. 1907-11-04. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
  224. ↑ Bucklee, p. 441.
  225. ↑ "Mary E. Surratt Boarding House." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. May 19, 2009. Accessed 2011-04-15.
  226. ↑ Kuhn, p. 160.
  227. ↑ "Hornaday, Ann. "An Overreaching Civil War Drama." ''Washington Post.'' April 15, 2011". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.

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