Old page wikitext, before the edit (old_wikitext) | '{{short description|American boarding house owner convicted as a conspirator to murder (1823–1865)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{for|the American historian|M. E. Sarotte}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Mary Surratt
| image = Mary Surratt - NARA - 525346 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Surratt, {{circa|1860-65}}
| birth_name = Mary Elizabeth Jenkins
| birth_date = 1820 or May 1823
| birth_place = [[Waterloo, Maryland|Waterloo]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date|1865|07|07}} (aged 42 or 45)
| death_place = [[Arsenal Penitentiary]], [[Fort McNair]], [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| death_cause = [[Execution by hanging]]
| resting_place = [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]]
| nationality = American
| occupation = Boarding house and [[tavern]] owner
| known_for = Being convicted as a conspirator in the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]
| penalty = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| conviction_status = Executed ({{start date and age|1865|07|07}})
| spouse = {{marriage|John Harrison Surratt|1840|1862|reason=died}}
| children = Isaac (b. 1841; died 1907)<br/>Elizabeth Susanna "Anna" (b. 1843; died 1904)<br/>[[John Surratt|John Jr.]] (b. 1844; died 1916)
| motive =
| conviction = [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln]]
| partners = {{Plainlist|
* [[John Wilkes Booth]]
* [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]]
* [[George Atzerodt]]
* [[David Herold]]
* [[John Surratt]]
}}
| apprehended = April 17, 1865
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
}}
'''Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt'''<ref name="Cashin287">Cashin, p. 287.</ref><ref name="Steers2010516">Steers, 2010, p. 516.</ref><ref>Larson, p. xi.</ref> (1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American [[boarding house]] owner in [[Washington D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], who was convicted of taking part in the [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] which led to [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln]] in 1865. Sentenced to death, she was [[hanging|hanged]] and became the first woman [[Capital punishment by the United States military|executed]] by the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]]. She maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and remains controversial. Surratt was the mother of [[John Surratt]], who was later tried in the conspiracy, but was not convicted.
Born in Maryland in the 1820s, Surratt converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] at a young age and remained a practicing Catholic for the rest of her life. She wed John Harrison Surratt in 1840 and had three children with him. An entrepreneur, John became the owner of a tavern, an inn, and a hotel. The Surratts were sympathetic to the [[Confederate States of America]] and often hosted fellow Confederate sympathizers at their tavern.
Upon her husband's death in 1862, Surratt had to manage his estate. Tired of doing so without help, Surratt moved to her [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|townhouse]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], which she then ran as a boardinghouse. There, she was introduced to [[John Wilkes Booth]]. Booth visited the boardinghouse numerous times, as did [[George Atzerodt]] and [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]], Booth's co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Shortly before killing Lincoln, Booth spoke with Surratt and handed her a package containing [[binoculars]] for one of her tenants, [[John M. Lloyd]].
After Lincoln was assassinated, Surratt was arrested, then tried by a military tribunal the following month, along with the other conspirators. She was convicted primarily due to the testimonies of Lloyd, who said that she told him to have the "shooting irons" ready, and [[Louis J. Weichmann]], who testified about Surratt's relationships with Booth. Five of the nine judges at her trial asked that Surratt be granted [[List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States|clemency]] by President [[Andrew Johnson]] because of her age and sex. Johnson did not grant her clemency, though accounts differ as to whether or not he received the clemency request. Surratt was hanged on July 7, 1865, and later buried in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]].
==Early life==
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins (baptismal name, Maria Eugenia) was born to Archibald and Elizabeth Anne (née Webster) Jenkins<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal13">Trindal, p. 13.</ref><ref name="Larson11">Larson, p. 11.</ref> on a [[tobacco]] plantation near the southern [[Maryland]] town of Waterloo<ref name=Griffin152 /><ref name="Buchanan60" /> (now known as [[Clinton, Maryland|Clinton]]).<ref name="Cashin287" /> Sources differ as to whether she was born in 1820<ref name="Brittannica">"Surratt, Mary," in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica,'' p. 411.</ref> or 1823.<ref name="Steers2010516" /><ref name="Griffin152">Griffin, p. 152.</ref><ref name="Buchanan60">Buchanan, p. 60.</ref><ref>Johnson, p. 96.</ref><ref name="Heidler1909">Heidler, Heidler, and Coles, p. 1909.</ref><ref name="Phelps709">Phelps, p. 709.</ref> There is uncertainty as to the month as well, but most sources say May.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Buchanan60" /><ref name="VanDoren1010">Van Doren and McHenry, p. 1010.</ref><ref name="Brittannica" />
She had two brothers: John Jenkins, born in 1822, and James Jenkins, born in 1825.<ref name="Trindal13" /><ref name="Larson11" /> Her father died in the fall of 1825 when Mary was either two or five years old,<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal13" /><ref name="Larson11" /> and Mary's mother then inherited their property (originally part of the [[His Lordship's Kindness]] estate).<ref name="Trindal14">Trindal, p. 14.</ref>
Although her father was a nondenominational [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and her mother [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]],<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="WomeninCivil532">"Surratt, Mary E. Jenkins (1823–1865)" in ''Women in the American Civil War,'' p. 532.</ref><ref name="Leonard43">Leonard, p. 43.</ref> Surratt was enrolled in a private [[Roman Catholic]] girls' [[boarding school]], the Academy for Young Ladies in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], on November 25, 1835.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal14" /> Mary's maternal aunt, Sarah Latham Webster, was a Catholic, which may have influenced where she was sent to school.<ref name="Larson11" /> Within two years, Mary converted to Roman Catholicism<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="WomeninCivil532" /> and adopted the baptismal name of Maria Eugenia.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal17">Trindal, p. 17.</ref> She stayed at the Academy for Young Ladies for four years,<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Leonard43" /> leaving in 1839, when the school closed.<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="Trindal17" /> She remained an observant Catholic for the rest of her life.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Leonard43" />
==Married life==
Mary Jenkins met John Harrison Surratt in 1839, when she was 16 or 19 and he was 26.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288">Cashin, p. 288.</ref><ref name="Larson12">Larson, p. 12.</ref> His family had settled in Maryland in the late 1600s.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /> An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm.<ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal19">Trindal, p. 19.</ref> The Neales divided their farm among their children, and Surratt inherited a portion of it.<ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal19" /> His background has been described by historian Kate Clifford Larson as "questionable",<ref name="Larson12" /> and he had fathered at least one child out of wedlock.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /><ref name="Larson12" /> They wed in August 1840.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal20">Trindal, p. 20.</ref> John converted to Roman Catholicism prior to the marriage,<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /> and the couple may have wed at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref>One source says it is not clear that they married in a Catholic church. See: Jampoler, p. 25. Another claims they were married in a private home on Good Hope Road in Prince George's County, Maryland. See: Trindal, p. 20.</ref> John purchased a mill in [[Oxon Hill, Maryland]], and the couple moved there.<ref name="Larson12" /> 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).<ref name="Blood138140" /><ref>Trindal, p. 20, 22.</ref><ref name="Gillespie" />
In 1843, John Surratt purchased from his adoptive father {{convert|236|acre|ha}} of land straddling the DC/Maryland border, a parcel named "Foxhall" (approximately the area between Wheeler Road and Owens Road today).<ref name="Trindall22">Trindal, p. 22.</ref> Richard Neale died in September 1843, and a month later, John purchased {{convert|119|acre|ha}} of land adjoining Foxhall.<ref name="Trindall22" /> 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.<ref name="Larson12" /> But Sarah Neale fell ill and died in August 1845,<ref>Trindal, p. 25.</ref> having shortly before her death deeded the remainder of the Neale farm to John.<ref>Larson, p. 12-13.</ref> Mary Surratt became involved in raising funds to build [[St. Ignatius Church (Oxon Hill, Maryland)|St. Ignatius Church in Oxon Hill]] (it was constructed in 1850), but John was increasingly unhappy with his wife's religious activities.<ref name="Larson13">Larson, p. 13.</ref> His behavior deteriorated over the next few years. John drank heavily, often failed to pay his debts, and his temper was increasingly volatile and violent.<ref name="Blood138140">Steers, 2001, p. 138-40.</ref><ref name="Larson13" /><ref name="Kauffmann167">Kauffmann, p. 167.</ref>
In 1851, the Neale farmhouse burned to the ground (an [[fugitive slaves in the United States|escaped family slave]] was suspected of setting the blaze).<ref>Larson, p. 14.</ref> 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.<ref>Larson, p. 16.</ref><ref name="Trefousse217">"Surratt, Mary Eugenia Jenkins (1817–1865)," in ''Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction,'' p. 217.</ref> Within a year, John purchased {{convert|200|acre|ha}} of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853, he constructed a tavern and an inn there.<ref>Larson, p. 17.</ref> 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.<ref name="Larson18">Larson, p. 18.</ref>
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 ( Now known as 604 H St. 2024)<ref>With the imposition of the quadrant street naming system and other changes to the streets in the District of Columbia, the current address of the townhouse is 604 H Street NW.</ref> in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants.<ref name="Chamlee165">Chamlee, p. 165.</ref><ref>Kauffmann, p. 412.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 153.</ref><ref>At least one source says that the property was deeded to John as payment for debt and that he did not purchase it. See: Steers, 2010, p. 520.</ref> In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern and called it Surratt's Hotel.<ref>Phillips, p. 87.</ref>
[[File:Surrattsville - print - 1867.jpg|thumb|left|A woodprint depicting Surrattsville and the Surratt home, printed in 1867 in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''.]]
The area around the tavern was officially named [[Surrattsville]] that same year.<ref name="Larson20">Larson, p. 20.</ref> Travelers could take Branch Road (now Branch Avenue) north into Washington, D.C.; Piscataway Road southwest to [[Piscataway, Maryland|Piscataway]]; or Woodyard Road northeast to [[Upper Marlboro, Maryland|Upper Marlboro]].<ref name="Oldroyd">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhwbAAAAYAAJ&q=Surrattsville&pg=PA245 |title=Oldroyd, p. 245 |date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd |isbn=9780722288351 }}</ref> Although Surrattsville was a well-known crossroads,<ref name="Blood80">Steers, 2001, p. 80.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 148.</ref> 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).<ref name="Oldroyd" /><ref>[https://archive.org/details/assassinationof01harr/page/193 <!-- quote=Surrattsville. --> Harris, p. 193]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=ulOppcY7R50C&dq=Surrattsville&pg=PA42 Townsend, 1886, p. 42].</ref><ref name="Townsend712">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHoFAAAAQAAJ&q=Surrattsville&pg=PA712 |title=Townsend, 1874, p. 712 |date=December 6, 2006 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Townsend |first1=George Alfred }}</ref> John Surratt was the hamlet's first postmaster.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Trefousse217" /><ref name="Busch17">Busch, p. 17.</ref><ref name="Steers2010517">Steers, 2010, p. 517.</ref>
He expanded his family's holdings by selling off land, paying down debt, and starting new businesses.<ref name="Larson20" /> Over the next few years, Surratt acquired or built a [[carriage house]], [[corn crib]], [[general store]], forge, [[granary]], [[gristmill]], [[stable]], [[curing of tobacco|tobacco curing house]], and [[wheelwright|wheelwright's shop]].<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Busch17" /><ref>Larson, p. 20-21.</ref> The family had enough money to send all three children to nearby Roman Catholic boarding schools.<ref name="Larson20" /> Isaac and John Jr. attended the school at [[St. Thomas Manor]], and Anna enrolled at the Academy for Young Ladies (Mary's [[alma mater]]).<ref name="Larson21">Larson, p. 21.</ref> The family's debts continued to mount, however, and John Sr.'s drinking worsened.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref>Kauffmann, p. 436; Trindal, p. 43.</ref> John sold another {{convert|120|acre|ha}} of land in 1856 to pay debts.<ref>Trindal, p. 43.</ref> By 1857, Surratt had sold all but {{convert|600|acre|ha}} of the family's formerly extensive holdings<ref name="Leonard43" /> (which represented about half the {{convert|1200|acre|km2}} he had originally owned).<ref name="Commire23">Commire and Klezmer, p. 23.</ref><ref name="James">James, p. 410.</ref> Most of the family's slaves were also sold to pay debts.<ref name="Larson21" /> Still, his alcoholism worsened. In 1858, Mary wrote a letter to her local priest, telling him that Surratt was drunk every single day.<ref name="Steers2010517" /> In 1860, St. Thomas Manor School closed, and Isaac found work in [[Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref name="Larson21" /> The Surratts sold off another {{convert|100|acre|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 City, Maryland|Ellicott's Mills]]).<ref name="Larson21" /><ref name="Cashin289">Cashin, p. 289.</ref> The couple also borrowed money that same year against their townhouse in Washington, DC, and at some point used the property as collateral for a $1,000 loan.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
==Civil War and widowhood==
The [[American Civil War]] began on April 12, 1861. The [[Border states (American Civil War)|border state]] of Maryland remained part of the United States ("the Union"), but the Surratts were [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sympathizers,<ref name="Trefousse217" /><ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Cashin289">Cashin, p. 289.</ref><ref>Gamber, p. 96; Morseberger and Morsberger, p. 167.</ref> and their tavern regularly hosted fellow sympathizers.<ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Cashin289" /><ref name="Larson24">Larson, p. 24.</ref> The Surratt tavern was being used as a [[safe house]] for Confederate spies,<ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Kauffmann155">Kauffmann, p. 155.</ref> and at least one author concludes that Mary had "[[de facto]]" knowledge of this.<ref name="Blood80" /> Confederate scout and spy [[Thomas Nelson Conrad]] visited Surratt's boarding house before and during the Civil War.<ref>Conrad, Thomas Nelson. The Rebel Scout. Washington, DC: The National Publishing Co., 1904, p. 153-154.</ref>
On March 7, 1861, three days after [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|inauguration]] as [[President of the United States]], Isaac 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).<ref name="Townsend712" /><ref name="Steers2010517" /><ref>Jampoler, p. 23; Griffin, p. 154.</ref> 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.<ref>Cashin, p. 289-290; Chamlee, p. 531; Evans, p. 339-340.</ref> 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.<ref name="Chamlee102">Chamlee, p. 102.</ref> 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.<ref name="Chamlee102" />
[[File:John Surrat - 1868.jpg|thumb|left|upright|John H. Surratt Jr. (seen here in 1868) was a Confederate courier.]]
John Surratt collapsed suddenly and died on either August 25<ref name="Heidler1909" /><ref name="Larson25">Larson, p. 25.</ref> or August 26<ref name="Schroeder286">Schroeder-Lein and Zuczek, p. 286.</ref><ref name="Zanca20">Zanca, p. 20.</ref> in 1862 (sources differ as to the date). The cause of death was a [[stroke]].<ref name="Townsend712" /><ref name="Larson25" /><ref>Trindal, p. 247.</ref> The Surratt family affairs were in serious financial difficulties.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> John Jr. and Anna both left school to help their mother run the family's remaining farmland and businesses.<ref name="Blood80" /> On September 10, 1862, John Jr. was appointed postmaster of the Surrattsville post office.<ref name="Trindal65">Trindal, p. 65.</ref><ref name="Oldroyd156">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JelBAAAAIAAJ&q=Surratt+1862+postmaster&pg=PA156 |title=Oldroyd, p. 156 |date=October 9, 2007 |isbn=9780722288351 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd }}</ref><ref name="Kauffmann433">Kauffmann, p. 433.</ref> Lafayette Baker swept through Surrattsville again in 1862, and several postmasters were dismissed for disloyalty,<ref name="Chamlee102" /> but John Jr. was not one of them. In August 1863, he 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.<ref name="Kauffmann433" /> On November 17, 1863, he was dismissed as postmaster for disloyalty.<ref name="Steers81">Steers, 2001, p. 81.</ref><ref name="Oldroyd156" /><ref>"Surratt, Mary E. Jenkins (1823–1865)" in ''Women in the American Civil War,'' p. 533; Larson, p. 37-38.</ref>
The loss of John Jr.'s job as postmaster caused a financial crisis for the Surratt family.<ref name="James" /> When John Sr.'s estate was probated in late November 1862, the family owned only two middle-age male slaves.<ref name="Trindal65" /> However, by 1863, [[Louis J. Weichmann]], a friend of John Jr. from St. Charles College, observed that the family had six or more slaves working on the property.<ref>Zanca, p. 26.</ref> By 1864, Mary Surratt found that her husband's unpaid debts and bad business deals had left her with many creditors.<ref name="Cashin289" /> Several of her slaves ran away.<ref name="James" /><ref name="Zanca20" /><ref>Steers, 2001, p. 138.</ref><ref>Maryland adopted a [[Maryland Constitution of 1864|new constitution]] on November 1, 1864, which [[History of slavery in Maryland#The ending of slavery in Maryland|emancipated]] all slaves in that state.</ref> When he was not meeting with Confederate sympathizers in the city, her son was selling vegetables to raise cash for the family.<ref>Chamlee, p. 101; Leonard, p. 88.</ref> Mary was tired of running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without her son's help.<ref>Steers, 2010, p. 518.</ref> In the fall of 1864, she began considering moving to her townhouse in the city.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
On October 1, 1864, she took possession of the townhouse at [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|604 H Street NW]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="James" /> The gray brick house had four stories and stood on a lot {{convert|29|ft|m}} wide, {{convert|100|ft|m}} deep.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> The first floor, which was level with the street, had two large rooms, used as the kitchen and dining room.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson39">Larson, p. 39.</ref> The second floor had a front and back parlor, with the room in the rear used as Mary Surratt's bedroom.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref>Larson, p. 39-40.</ref> The third floor had three rooms: two in the front and a larger one at the back.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson40">Larson, p. 40.</ref> The fourth floor, which was considered an [[attic]], had two large and one small room, occupied by a servant.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson40" /> Surratt began moving her belongings into the townhouse that month,<ref>Steers, 2001, p. 139.</ref> and on November 1, 1864, Anna and John Jr. took up residence there.<ref name="Oldroyd159">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JelBAAAAIAAJ&q=Surratt+1862+postmaster&pg=PA159 |title=Oldroyd, p. 159 |date=October 9, 2007 |isbn=9780722288351 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd }}</ref> Mary Surratt herself moved into the home on December 1.<ref name="Oldroyd159" /> 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.<ref name="Kauffmann167" /><ref name="Oldroyd159" /><ref name="Larson38">Larson, p. 38.</ref> On November 30, December 8, and December 27, Mary Surratt advertised for lodgers in the ''[[Washington Star|Daily Evening Star]]'' newspaper.<ref name="Kauffmann167" /><ref name="James" /><ref>Trindal, p. 86; Larson, p. 42.</ref><ref name="Chamlee164165">Chamlee, p. 164-165.</ref> She had initially said that she wanted only lodgers who were known to her personally or were recommended by friends, but in her advertisements, she said rooms were "available for 4 gentlemen."<ref name="Chamlee164165" /><ref>Stern, p. 42.</ref>
Some scholars have raised questions about Surratt's move into the city. Historians [[Kate Larson (historian)|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.<ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> For example, Larson and Chamlee say that 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,"<ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> perhaps a cryptic reference to either his Confederate activities in general or the conspiracy to kidnap or kill Lincoln.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> 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 that she did not have.<ref name="Larson39" />
Chamlee, too, found little economic reason to move into the city and concluded that it would have been more profitable to rent the H Street boarding house entirely to lodgers.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> During her time in the city, Surratt tried to keep her daughter away from what she felt were negative influences.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> 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.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
John Jr. transferred all his title to the family property to his mother in January 1865. That act may have additional implications. A traitor's property could be seized, and John's spy knowledge 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, she would have possessed at least ''de facto'' knowledge of the conspiracy.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators | first= Joan L. | last= Chaconas| year= 2003 |publisher= [[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington, Kentucky |pages= 63}}</ref>
==Conspiracy==
{{main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}
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[[Louis J. Weichmann]] moved into Surratt's boarding house on November 1, 1864.<ref>Trindal, p. 85; Weichmann and Richards, p. 28; Chamlee, p. xi.</ref> On December 23, 1864, Dr. [[Samuel Mudd]] introduced John Surratt Jr. to [[John Wilkes Booth]].<ref name="Verge53">Verge, p. 53.</ref><ref>Trindal, p. 276; Griffin, p. 155; Jones, p. 239.</ref> Booth recruited John Jr. into his conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Steers, 2007, p. 171.</ref> Confederate agents began frequenting the boarding house.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Evans288">Evans, p. 288.</ref> Booth visited the boarding house many times over the next few months,<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Steers2010519">Steers, 2010, p. 519.</ref><ref name="Heidler1910" /> sometimes at Mary's request.<ref name="Verge53" />
[[George Atzerodt]] and [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]] boarded at the townhouse for short periods.<ref name="Verge53" /> Atzerodt, a friend of both John Jr. and Booth and a co-conspirator in the plot<ref>Ownsbey, p. 55.</ref> to kidnap Lincoln, visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865.<ref>Leonard, p. 46; Busch, p. 56.</ref> He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865 (for one night or several, sources differ), but he proved to be a heavy drinker, and Surratt evicted him after just a few days.<ref name="Heidler1910">Heidler and Heidler, p. 1910.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 186; Gamber, p. 109; Ownsbey, p. 54.</ref>
He continued to visit the townhouse frequently afterward, however.<ref name="Rehnquist215">Rehnquist, p. 215.</ref> Powell posed as a Baptist preacher and stayed at the boarding house for three days in March 1865.<ref name="Heidler1910" /><ref>Ownsbey, p. 41, 51–52.</ref> [[David Herold]] also called at the home several times.<ref name="Evans288" /><ref name="Rehnquist215" />
As part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, John,{{Clarify|date=April 2023}} Atzerodt, and Herold hid two [[Spencer repeating rifle|Spencer carbines]], ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner155">Turner, p. 155.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 212; Kauffmann, p. 187-188.</ref> On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to the Surratt tavern.<ref name="April11debt">Larson, p. 77; Steers, 2010, p. 349; Kauffmann, p. 208.</ref> She said that she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor.<ref name="April11debt" /> However, according to her tenant, John Lloyd, Surratt told him to get the "shooting irons" ready to be picked up.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Trindal, p. 161; Larson, p. 130.</ref> On April 14, Surratt said that she would once again visit the family tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Larson, p. 83.</ref> Shortly before she left the city, Booth visited the boarding house and spoke privately with her.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Larson8384">Larson, p. 83-84.</ref><ref name="Swanson19">Swanson, p. 19.</ref> He gave her a package, later found to contain [[binoculars]], for Lloyd to pick up later that evening.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Larson8384" /><ref name="Swanson19" /> 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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Swanson22">Swanson, p. 22.</ref><ref>Trindal, p. 157.</ref>
Booth's plan was to assassinate Lincoln and have Atzerodt kill Vice President [[Andrew Johnson]] and Powell kill Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]]. Booth killed Lincoln, Atzerodt never attempted to kill Johnson, and Powell stabbed Seward repeatedly but failed to murder him.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-Abraham-Lincoln|first=Jeff|last=Wallenfeldt|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=April 7, 2018 |access-date=May 15, 2018}}</ref> As they fled the city after Lincoln's assassination, Booth and Herold picked up the rifles and binoculars from Surratt's tavern.<ref name="Verge53" /> Lloyd repaired a broken spring on Surratt's wagon before they left.<ref name="Swanson22" /><ref name="Verge56" /><ref>Leonard, p. 97; Larson, p. 86.</ref>
==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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner156">Turner, p. 156.</ref><ref name="Steers2010173">Steers, 2010, p. 173.</ref> 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 that does not explain why police rather than federal agents appeared there.<ref name="Turner156" /> (Historian Roy Chamlee, however, says that there is evidence that Gleason did not tell police about his suspicions of Weichmann for several days.)<ref>Chamlee, p. 10.</ref> Within 45 minutes of the attack on Lincoln, John Surratt's name had become associated with the attack on Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]].<ref name="Chamlee11">Chamlee, p. 11.</ref> The police as well as the [[United States Army Provost Marshal General|Provost Marshal]]'s office both had files on John Surratt Jr. and knew he was a close friend of Booth.<ref name="Chamlee11" /> (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.)<ref name="Chamlee11" /> 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,<ref>Eisenschiml, p. 272-273.</ref> but at least one other scholar has called the link uncertain.<ref name="Turner156" /> 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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Steers, 2010, p. 173, 519; Chamlee, p. 19.</ref> Mary lied to the detectives that her son had been in Canada for two weeks.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Busch, p. 22; Pittman, p. 140; Trindal, p. 120; Larson, p. 93.</ref> She also did not reveal that she had delivered a package to the tavern on Booth's behalf only hours earlier.<ref name="Steers2010174">Steers, 2010, p. 174.</ref>
[[File:Lewis Payne.jpg|thumb|left|Lewis Powell was 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.<ref name="Turner157">Turner, p. 157.</ref><ref name="Trindal267" /><ref>Larson, p. 98; Steers, 2010, p. 301.</ref> (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).<ref name="Steers2010177">Steers, 2010, p. 177.</ref> Other pieces of information also mentioned the boarding house as a key meeting place of the possible conspirators.<ref name="Steers2010174" /> 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.<ref name="Steers2010174" /><ref name="Turner157" />
Federal soldiers visited the Surratt boarding house again late on the evening of April 17.<ref name="Steers2010174" /><ref name="Verge5253">Verge, p. 52-53.</ref><ref>Pittman, p. 122.</ref> 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 [[cast bullet|mold for making bullets]], and [[percussion cap]]s.<ref name="Trindal267">Trindal, p. 267.</ref><ref name="Verge5253" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 345; Swanson, p. 193; Pittman, p. 123.</ref> As Mary was being arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, Powell appeared at her door in disguise.<ref name="Verge54">Verge, p. 54.</ref><ref name="Cashin291">Cashin, p. 291.</ref><ref>Ownsbey, p. 137.</ref> Although Surratt denied knowing him,<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Cashin291" /><ref name="Verge55" /> Powell claimed that he was a laborer hired by Surratt to dig a ditch the next morning. The discrepancy and Powell's remarkably well-dressed and -groomed appearance, quite unlike a ditch-digger, prompted his arrest.<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Cashin291" /><ref name="Verge55" /> He was later identified as the man who had attempted to assassinate Secretary of State [[William Seward]].<ref name="Verge54" />
After her arrest, she was held at an annex to the [[Old Capitol Prison]] before being transferred to the [[Washington Arsenal]] on April 30.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Trindal, p. 130; Hartranft, Steers, and Holzer, p. 22; Steers, 2001, p. 209; Swanson and Weinberg, p. 15; Jampoler, p. 18.</ref> Two armed guards stood before the door to her cell from the beginning of her imprisonment until her death.<ref>Watts, p. 87; Ownsbey, p. 108.</ref> Her cell, while airy and larger than the others,<ref name="Watts88">Watts, p. 88.</ref> was sparsely furnished, with a straw mattress, table, wash basin, chair, and a bucket.<ref name="Trindal147">Trindal, p. 147.</ref><ref name="Weichmann318">Weichmann and Richards, p. 318.</ref><ref>Roscoe, p. 251.</ref> Food was served four times a day, always of bread; salt pork, beef, or beef soup; and coffee or water.<ref>Ownsbey, p. 110.</ref> The other arrested conspirators had their heads enclosed in a padded canvas bag to prevent a suicide attempt.<ref name="Bags">Klement, p. 35; Miller, p. 251-252.</ref> Sources disagree as to whether Surratt was also forced to wear it.<ref name="Watts88" /><ref name="Bags" /> Although the others wore iron [[handcuffs|manacles]] on their feet and ankles, she was not manacled.<ref name="Watts88" /> (Rumors to the contrary were raised by reporters at the trial who could not see her or "heard" the clank of chains about her feet. The rumors were repeatedly investigated and denied.)<ref name="Turner158159">Turner, p. 158-159.</ref> She began to suffer menstrual bleeding and became weak during her detention.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref name="Weichmann318" /><ref>Steers, 2010, p. 512.</ref> She was given a rocking chair and allowed visits from her daughter, Anna.<ref name="Goodrich274">Goodrich, p. 274</ref><ref name="Trindal192">Trindal, p. 192.</ref> She and Powell received the most attention from the press.<ref name="Kunhardt">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 198.</ref> The Northern press was also highly critical of her, claiming that she had a "criminal face" due to her small mouth and dark eyes.<ref>Larson, p. xii.</ref>
John Surratt Jr. was in Elmira at the time of the assassination, delivering messages on behalf of a Confederate general.<ref name="Steers2010177" /> After learning of Lincoln's death, he fled to [[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]], Canada.<ref>Surratt traveled to the [[United Kingdom]] in September 1865 and then [[Rome]]. He joined the [[Papal Zouaves]], but in April 1866, he was recognized and arrested on November 7, 1866. He escaped again, and traveled to [[Alexandria, Egypt]]. Arrested again, he was returned to the US and tried in June 1867. His first trial ended in a [[hung jury]], and he was indicted in the [[District of Columbia]] for treason. Because the statute of limitations had run out on the 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 which made him culpable for the assassination that occurred a month later. See Chaconas, p. 62-64.</ref>
==Trial==
The trial for the alleged conspirators began on May 9.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> 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.<ref>Boritt and Forness, p. 351.</ref> All eight alleged conspirators were tried simultaneously.<ref name="Cashin291" /> Historians have conflicting views regarding Surratt's innocence. Historian Laurie Verge commented, "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."<ref name="Verge51">Verge, p. 51.</ref> 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."<ref name="Turner155" />
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.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref>Watts, p. 89-90; Federal Writers' Project, p. 326.</ref> Surratt was given special considerations during the trial because of her illness and sex. In the courtroom, she sat apart from the other prisoners.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref name="Jampoler21" /> Sources differ as to whether an armed guard sat on either side of her, as was done for other prisoners during the trial.<ref name="Jampoler21">Jampoler, p. 21.</ref><ref>Watts, p. 91.</ref> While the others wore wrist and ankle manacles in the courtroom, she did not.<ref name="Watts88" /><ref name="Turner158159" /><ref name="Chamlee440">Chamlee, p. 440.</ref> She was also permitted a bonnet, fan, and veil to hide her face from spectators.<ref name="Chamlee440" /> As her illness worsened during the trial, she was moved to a larger and more comfortable prison cell.<ref name="Chamlee440" />
Surratt was charged with abetting, aiding, concealing, counseling, and harboring her co-defendants.<ref>Watts, p. 92.</ref> The federal government initially attempted to find legal counsel for her and the others, but almost no attorneys were willing to take the job for fear they would be accused of disloyalty to the Union.<ref name="Boritt352">Boritt and Forness, p. 352.</ref> Surratt retained [[Reverdy Johnson]] as her legal counsel.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Heidler and Heidler, p. 1076; Larson, p. 144.</ref> A member of the military commission trying the conspirators challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt, as he had objected to requiring [[loyalty oath#Civil War and Reconstruction|loyalty oaths]] from voters in the [[1864 United States presidential election|1864 presidential election]].<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Steers, 2001, p. 221; Larson, p. 146.</ref> After much discussion, this objection was withdrawn, but damage had been done to his influence, and he did not attend most of the court sessions.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 270; Trindal, p. 150.</ref> Most of Surratt's legal defense was presented by two other lawyers: [[Frederick Aiken]] and John Wesley Clampitt.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref name="Boritt352" />
[[File:Louis J Weichmann.jpg|thumb|left|[[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.<ref name="Verge54" /> 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]].<ref name="Verge54" /><ref name="Cashin291" /> Lloyd testified on May 13 and 15, 1865<ref name="Leonard109">Leonard, p. 109.</ref> on the hiding of the carbines and other supplies at the tavern in March and the two conversations he had with her in which she told him to get the "shooting irons" ready.<ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Verge54" /><ref>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 Mudd was much more intimately involved in the kidnap and murder plots against Lincoln than other evidence suggested. Confirming some of Lloyd's testimony, Atzerodt also said that 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 the statement over to Atzerodt's attorney, William E. Doster, rather than to [[John F. 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 its 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.</ref> Weichmann's testimony was important, as it established an intimate relationship between her and the other conspirators.<ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Cashin291" />
Weichmann testified May 16 to 19<ref name="Leonard109" /> 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.<ref name="Verge55">Verge, p. 55.</ref> Weichmann had driven Surratt to the tavern on April 11 and 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 had turned the package over to Lloyd.<ref name="Verge55" /><ref name="Leonard108">Leonard, p. 108.</ref> 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.<ref name="Verge55" /> He also testified about the December 23 meeting with Booth and John (which he also attended) and their subsequent meeting with Booth at Booth's room at the [[National Hotel (Washington, D.C.)|National Hotel]].<ref name="Verge55" /> Finally, he told the military tribunal about the general excitement in the boarding house in March 1865 after the failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln.<ref name="Verge55" />
Other prosecution witnesses reinforced Weichmann's testimony. Lodger Honora Fitzpatrick confirmed visits by Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell to the boarding house.<ref name="Verge55" /> Emma Offut, Lloyd's sister-in-law, testified that she saw (but did not hear) Surratt speaking for long periods of time with Lloyd on April 11 and 14.<ref name="Verge55" /> Government agents testified about their arrest of Surratt, Powell's arrival, and her denial that she knew Powell.<ref name="Verge55" /> The fact that Powell sought refuge in the boarding house after Lincoln's murder left a bad impression of her.<ref name="Turner155"/> Surratt's refusal (or failure) to recognize him also weighed against her.<ref name="Cashin291" /> The agents also testified about their search of the house, and the evidence (the photographs, the weapons, etc.) discovered there.<ref name="Verge55" /> Lloyd's testimony was the most important for the prosecution's case,<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Leonard108" /><ref>Griffin, p. 349.</ref> for it indicated that she had played an active role in the conspiracy in the days before Lincoln's death.<ref name="Verge56">Verge, p. 56.</ref> The prosecution rested its case on May 22.<ref name="Verge55" />
The defense strategy was to impeach the testimony of the key prosecution witnesses: Lloyd and Weichmann. It also wished to show that she was loyal to the Union, her trips to Surrattsville were of an innocent nature, and she had not been aware of Booth's plans.<ref name="Verge56" /> There were 31 witnesses who testified for the defense.<ref name="Verge56" /> George H. Calvert testified that he had pressed Surratt to pay a debt, Bennett Gwynn said Surratt had sought payment from John Nothey to satisfy the Calvert debt, and Nothey agreed that he had received a letter from Surratt for him to appear at the tavern on April 11 to pay what was owed.<ref name="Verge56" /> Several witnesses impugned Lloyd's character by testifying about his alcoholism,<ref name="Verge56" /> while others said he was too intoxicated on the day of Lincoln's assassination to remember that day clearly.<ref name="Verge56" /><ref name="Leonard118">Leonard, p. 118.</ref> Augustus Howell, a Confederate agent, testified Weichmann was an untrustworthy witness, as he had sought to become a Confederate spy himself.<ref name="Leonard118" /><ref name="Verge, p. 56-57">Verge, p. 56-57.</ref> (The prosecution had attempted to show that Howell was a Confederate spy and should not be trusted.)<ref name="Verge57">Verge, p. 57.</ref>
Anna Surratt testified that it was Weichmann who had brought Atzerodt into the boarding house, that the photograph of Booth was hers, and that she owned photographs of Union political and military leaders.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard120" /> Anna denied ever overhearing any discussions of disloyal activities or ideas in the boarding house, and that Booth's visits to the house were always short.<ref name="Verge57" /> Anna explained her mother's failure to recognize Powell by asserting she could not see well.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119">Leonard, p. 119.</ref> Augusta Howell, a former servant, and Honora Fitzpatrick, a former slave, testified to Mary's poor eyesight as well.<ref name="Leonard118" /><ref name="Verge, p. 56-57" /><ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119" /><ref name="Leonard120">Leonard, p. 120.</ref> The former servant and the former slave both said Surratt had given Union soldiers food.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard120">Leonard, p. 120.</ref> Numerous witnesses were called at the end of the defense's case to testify to her loyalty to the Union, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119" /> During the prosecution's rebuttal, government lawyers called four witnesses to the stand, who testified as to Weichmann's unimpeachable character.<ref name="Verge57" />
Johnson and Aiken presented the closing arguments for the defense. Johnson attacked the [[jurisdiction]] of a military tribunal over civilians, as had Mudd's attorney.<ref name="Verge57" /> Aiken also challenged the court's jurisdiction.<ref>Verge, p. 57-58.</ref> He also reiterated that Lloyd and Weichmann were unreliable witnesses and that the evidence against her was all [[circumstantial evidence|circumstantial]].<ref name="Verge58">Verge, p. 58.</ref> 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.<ref name="Verge58" /> ([[Dorothy Kunhardt]] has written that there is evidence the latter's perjured testimony was [[suborn]]ed by Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]].)<ref>Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 201.</ref>
[[Judge Advocate]] [[John Bingham]] presented the closing argument for the prosecution.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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 they were crimes committed in a military zone, during a time of war, and against high government officials in carrying out treasonous activities.<ref name="Verge58" /> Bingham pointed out that the Surratt boarding house was where the conspiracy was planned, and Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell had all met with Surratt.<ref name="Verge58" /> Booth had paid for the rental of the carriage that took Surratt to Surrattsville each time, and Bingham said that was evidence that Surratt's trips were critical to the conspiracy.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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 Surratt.<ref name="Verge58" /> Bingham concluded by reiterating the government's key point: Powell had returned to the Surratt house seeking Surratt, and that alone was proof of her guilt.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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.<ref name="Verge58" /><ref>Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 177-179.</ref>
The trial ended on June 28, 1865.<ref name="Schroeder286" /><ref name="Chamlee434">Chamlee, p. 434.</ref> Surratt was so ill the last four days of the trial that she was permitted to stay in her cell.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> In the opinion of historian Roy Z. Chamlee, both legal teams appeared to have flaws in their cases, and except for Reverdy Johnson, neither team employed highly skilled attorneys.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> 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 Surratt and 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.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The government did not fully investigate Booth's meetings with Surratt at noon or the evening of the murder, and its questioning and cross-examination of witnesses was poorly prepared and weak.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> What is most important, according to historian Roy Z. Chamber Jr., is that the government had botched the attempt to apprehend John Jr.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The defense's case, too, had a problem. The defense never followed up on inconsistencies in Weichmann's chronology of Mary's last visit to the tavern, which could have undermined Weichmann's entire credibility.<ref name="Chamlee434" />
[[File:Mrssurrattinthedeathcell.JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> Surratt's guilt was the second-last to be considered, as her case had problems of evidence and witness reliability.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The sentence was handed down on June 30.<ref name="SteersLet189">Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 189.</ref> The military tribunal found her guilty on all charges but two.<ref>Surratt was found not guilty of harboring and concealing assassination conspirators [[Samuel Arnold (Lincoln conspirator)|Samuel Arnold]] and [[Michael O'Laughlen]]. She was also found not guilty of conspiring with [[Edmund Spangler]]. See Verge, p. 58.</ref> A death sentence required six of the nine votes of the judges.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref>Watts, p. 99-100.</ref> Surratt was sentenced to death, the first woman [[capital punishment|executed]] by the federal government.<ref name="Griffin152">Griffin, p. 152.</ref><ref name="Gillespie">Gillespie, p. 68.</ref> The sentence was announced publicly on July 5.<ref name="Cashin299">Cashin, p. 299.</ref><ref>Jordan, p. 177.</ref><ref>It has been alleged by various sources that the federal government did not intend to execute her but to lure John Jr. out of hiding to defend her. Historian Joan Cashin pointed out that the scant two days between her sentencing and execution did not provide enough time to lure him out of hiding. See Cashin, p. 299; Swanson, p. 365.</ref> When Powell learned of his sentence, he declared that she was completely innocent of all charges.<ref name="Chamlee454456">Chamlee, p. 454-456.</ref> The night before the execution, Surratt's priests and Anna Surratt both visited Powell and elicited from him a strong statement declaring Mary innocent. Although it 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.<ref name="Chamlee462">Chamlee, p. 462.</ref> George Atzerodt bitterly condemned her, implicating her even further in the conspiracy.<ref name="Chamlee454456" /> Powell's was the only statement by any conspirator exonerating Surratt.<ref name="Chamlee462" />
Anna Surratt pleaded repeatedly for her mother's life with Judge Advocate General [[Joseph Holt]], but he refused to consider clemency.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> She also attempted to see President [[Andrew Johnson]] several times to beg for mercy but was not granted permission to see him.<ref name="Schroeder286" />
Five of the nine judges signed a letter asking President Johnson to give Surratt clemency and commute her sentence to life in prison because of her age and sex.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref name="Kunhardt204">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 204.</ref> Holt did not deliver the recommendation to Johnson until July 5, two days before Surratt and the others were to hang.<ref name="SteersLet189" /> Johnson signed the order for execution but did not sign the order for clemency.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref name="Kunhardt204" /> Johnson later said he never saw the clemency request; Holt said he showed it to Johnson, who refused to sign it.<ref name="Schroeder286" /><ref name="SteersLet189" /> Johnson, according to Holt, said in signing the death warrant that she had "kept the nest that hatched the egg."<ref name="Kunhardt204" />
==Execution==
Construction of the [[gallows]] for the hanging of the conspirators condemned to death began immediately on July 5, after the execution order was signed.<ref name="Cashin299" /> It was constructed in the south part of the Arsenal courtyard, was {{convert|12|ft|m}} high and about {{convert|20|sqft|m2}} in size.<ref name="Leonard131">Leonard, p. 131.</ref> Rath, who oversaw the preparations for the executions, made the nooses.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 31.</ref> Tired of making nooses and thinking that the government would never hang a woman, he made Surratt's [[hangman's knot|noose]] the night before the execution with five loops rather than the regulation's seven.<ref name="Chamlee462" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> He tested the nooses that night by tying them to a tree limb and a bag of [[buckshot]] and then tossing the bag to the ground (the ropes held).<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" />
At noon on July 6, Surratt was informed she would be hanged the next day. She wept profusely.<ref>Goodrich, p. 272.</ref> She was joined by two Catholic priests (Jacob Walter and B.F. Wiget)<ref name="Goodrich274" /><ref>Leonard, p. 130.</ref> and her daughter Anna.<ref name="Leonard131" /> Father Jacob remained with her almost until her death.<ref>Steers, 2010, p. 567.</ref> 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.<ref name="Goodrich274" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 461.</ref> She repeatedly asserted her innocence.<ref name="Goodrich274" /> She spent the night on her mattress, weeping and moaning in pain and grief, ministered to by the priests.<ref name="Chamlee462" /><ref name="Goodrich276">Goodrich, p. 276.</ref> 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.<ref name="Goodrich276" /> Her entreaty rejected, she returned to the prison and her mother's cell at about 11 A.M.<ref name="Goodrich, p. 279">Goodrich, p. 279.</ref> The soldiers began testing the gallows about 11:25 A.M.; the sound of the tests unnerved all the prisoners.<ref name="Chamlee469">Chamlee, p. 469.</ref> Shortly before noon, Mary Surratt was taken from her cell and then allowed to sit in a chair near the entrance to the courtyard.<ref name="Chamlee469" /> The heat in the city that day was oppressive. By noon, it had already reached {{convert|92.3|F|C}}.<ref>Trindal, p. 200.</ref> The guards ordered all visitors to leave at 12:30 P.M.<ref name="Goodrich, p. 279"/> When she was forced to part from her mother, Anna's hysterical screams of grief could be heard throughout the prison.<ref>Goodrich, p. 281; Trindal, p. 220.</ref><ref name="Chamlee470">Chamlee, p. 470.</ref>
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 [[habeas corpus in the United States|writ of habeas corpus]], arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client.<ref name="Watts101">Watts, p. 101.</ref><ref name="Trindal211">Trindal, p. 211.</ref><ref name="Steers20104">Steers, 2010, p. 4.</ref> The court issued the writ at 3 A.M., and it was served on General [[Winfield Scott Hancock]].<ref name="Watts101" /><ref name="Trindal211" /><ref name="Jordan178">Jordan, p. 178.</ref> Hancock was ordered to produce Surratt by 10 A.M.<ref name="Jordan178" /> General Hancock sent an aide to General [[John F. Hartranft]], who commanded the Old Capitol Prison, ordering him not to admit any US marshal, as that would prevent the marshal from serving a similar writ on Hartranft.<ref name="Watts101" /> 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]].<ref name="Watts101" /><ref name="Steers20104" /><ref>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 Johnson the power to suspend the DC criminal court's writ. See Latimer, p. 41-42.</ref> General Hancock and [[United States Attorney General]] [[James Speed]] personally appeared in court and informed the judge of the cancellation of the writ.<ref name="Jordan178" />
[[File:Execution Lincoln assassins.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Aftermath of the execution of Mary Surratt, [[Lewis Powell (assassin)|Lewis Powell]], [[David Herold]], and [[George Atzerodt]] on July 7, 1865.]]
On July 7, 1865, at 1:15 P.M.,<ref name="Jordan179">Jordan, p. 179.</ref><ref name="Leonard132">Leonard, p. 132.</ref> a procession led by General Hartranft escorted the four condemned prisoners through the courtyard and up the steps to the gallows.<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Jordan179" /> Each prisoner's ankles and wrists were bound by manacles.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 29.</ref> Surratt led the way,<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Swanson364">Swanson, p. 364.</ref> wearing a black [[bombazine]] dress, black [[bonnet (headgear)|bonnet]], and black veil.<ref name="Pitman, p. 435">Pitman, p. 435.</ref><ref name="Chamlee471">Chamlee, p. 471.</ref> More than 1,000 people, including government officials, members of the US armed forces, friends and family of the accused, official witnesses, and reporters, watched.<ref name="Leonard134">Leonard, p. 134.</ref> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg24">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 24.</ref> (Most of those present were military officers and soldiers, as fewer than 200 tickets had been printed.)<ref name="Swanson364" />
[[Alexander Gardner (photographer)|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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg24" /> Hartranft read the order for their execution.<ref name="Jordan179" /> Surratt, either weak from her illness or swooning in fear (perhaps both), had to be supported by two soldiers and her priests.<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Swanson364" /> The condemned were seated in chairs, Surratt almost collapsing into hers.<ref name="Chamlee471" /> She was seated to the right of the others, the traditional "seat of honor" in an execution.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides and their ankles and thighs together.<ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> The cloths around Surratt's legs were tied around her dress below the knees.<ref name="Leonard132" /> 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."<ref name="Kunhardt210211">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, pp. 210–211.</ref> Fathers Jacob and Wiget prayed over her and held a crucifix to her lips.<ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref>Zanca, p. 55.</ref> About 16 minutes elapsed from the time the prisoners entered the courtyard until they were ready for execution.<ref name="Chamlee471" />
A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Surratt's bonnet was removed, and the noose put around her neck by a [[US Secret Service|U.S. Secret Service]] officer.<ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref name="Watts102">Watts, p. 102.</ref> She complained that the bindings about her arms hurt, and the officer preparing said, "Well, it won't hurt long."<ref name="Swanson365">Swanson, p. 365.</ref> Finally, the prisoners were asked to stand and move forward a few feet to the nooses.<ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref name="Watts102" /> The chairs were removed.<ref name="Watts102" /> Her last words, spoken to a guard as he moved her forward to the drop, were "Please don't let me fall."<ref name="Kunhardt210211" /><ref name="Swanson365" />
Surratt and the others stood on the drop for about 10 seconds,<ref name="Pitman, p. 435"/> and then Captain Rath clapped his hands.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /><ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="Watts102" /> Four soldiers of Company F of the 14th Veteran Reserves knocked out the supports holding the drops in place, and the condemned fell.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref>Leonard, p. 133-134.</ref> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> She appeared to die relatively quickly with little struggle.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1865-07-08 |title=END OF THE ASSASSINS; Execution of Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Herrold and Atzeroth. Their Demeanor on Thursday Night and Friday Morning. Attempt to Release Mrs. Surratt on a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Argument of Counsel Order of the President. SCENES AT THE SCAFFOLD. The Four Hang Together and Die Simultaneously. Interesting Incidents----Excitement in Washington---Order and Quiet in the City. THE HABEAS CORPUS. SCENES AT THE OLD CAPITOL MRS. SURRATT. WORDING OF THE PETITION THE RETURN GEN. HANCOCK APPEARED, PRESIDENT'S INDORSEMENT. LEWIS PAYNE, DAVID E. HERROLD GEORGE A. ATZEROTH THE MORNING OF THE DAY STATEMENTS OF PAYNE. DEMEANOR OF THE CONDEMNED. THE SCAFFOLD. THE PROCESSION OF DEATH. REMARKS AND PRAYERS OF THE ATTENDING CLERGY. THE LAST PAINFUL SCENE. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/07/08/archives/end-of-the-assassins-execution-of-mrs-surratt-payne-herrold-and.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917073022/https://www.nytimes.com/1865/07/08/archives/end-of-the-assassins-execution-of-mrs-surratt-payne-herrold-and.html |archive-date=2018-09-17 |access-date=2020-01-28 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Atzerodt's stomach heaved once and his legs quivered; then, he was still.<ref name="Kauffmann374">Kauffmann, p. 374.</ref><ref name="Katz184">Katz, p. 184.</ref> Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes, strangling to death.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /><ref name="Kauffmann374" /><ref name="Katz184" />
==Burial==
[[File:Mary Surratt grave section 12 - Mt Olivet - Washington DC - 2014.jpg|thumb|left|Grave of Mary Surratt (with modern headstone) at Mount Olivet Cemetery.]]
Each body was inspected by a physician to ensure that death had occurred.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref name="Leonard134" /><ref name="Kauffmann374" /> The bodies of the executed were allowed to hang for about 30 minutes<ref name="Leonard134" /><ref name="Watts102" /><ref>Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 214.</ref> and soldiers began to cut them down at 1:53 p.m.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> A corporal raced to the top of the gallows and cut down Atzerodt's body, which fell to the ground with a thud.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> He was reprimanded, and the other bodies were cut down more gently.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Herold's body was next, followed by Powell's.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Surratt's body was cut down at 1:58 p.m.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> 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.<ref name="Gillespie" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" />
Upon examination, the military surgeons determined that no one's neck had been broken by the fall.<ref name="Gillespie" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> The manacles and cloth bindings were removed but not the white execution masks, and the bodies were placed into the pine coffins.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref name="Leonard134" /> The name of each person was written on a piece of paper by acting Assistant Adjutant R. A. Watts,<ref name="Watts102" /> and inserted in a glass vial, which was placed into the coffin.<ref name="Leonard134" /> The coffins were buried against the prison wall in shallow graves, just a few feet from the gallows.<ref name="Leonard134" /> A white picket fence marked the burial site.<ref name="Ownsbey152">Ownsbey, p. 152.</ref> The night that she died, a mob attacked the Surratt boarding house and began stripping it of souvenirs until the police stopped them.<ref name="Swanson365" />
Anna Surratt unsuccessfully asked for her mother's body for four years.<ref name="Trindal230">Trindal, p. 230.</ref> 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.<ref name="Steers2001257">Steers, 2001, p. 257.</ref> 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.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /><ref name="Steers2001257" /> Booth's body lay alongside them.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /> In February 1869, Edwin Booth asked Johnson for the body of his brother.<ref name="Steers2001257" /> 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.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /><ref name="Trindal230" /><ref name="Steers2010513">Steers, 2010, p. 513.</ref><ref name="Johnson420">Johnson, p. 420.</ref> She was buried in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 1869.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref name="Johnson420" /> Lloyd is buried {{convert|100|yd|m}} from her grave in the same cemetery.<ref name="Chamelee556" />
==Surviving family and home==
[[File:"Like Mudd, Surratts Want Name Cleared" - NARA - 139984 (cropped).tif|thumb|300px|"Like Mudds, Surratts Want Name Cleared", ''[[The 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.<ref name="Chamelee556">Chamlee, p. 556.</ref> She married William Tonry, a government clerk.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> 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 better off.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> The strain of her mother's death left Anna mentally unbalanced, and she suffered from periods of extreme fear that bordered on insanity.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> She died in 1904.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref>Trindal, p. 231.</ref>
After the dismissal of charges against him, John Jr. married and he and his family lived in Baltimore near his sister, Anna.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> He had seven children, <ref name="Trindal1996p233">{{citation |last1=Trindal |first1=Elizabeth Steger |title=Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oc-LIq8Y4QC&pg=PA233 |year=1996 |publisher=[[Pelican Publishing Company|Pelican Pub. Co.]] |lccn=95050031 |isbn=978-1-56554-185-6 |page=233}}</ref> the only one of Mary's children with issue.
Isaac Surratt also returned to the United States and lived in Baltimore.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> He died unmarried in 1907.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/11/04/104999283.pdf |title=Isaac D. Surratt Dead.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 4, 1907 |access-date=4 March 2020}}</ref> Isaac and Anna were buried on either side of their mother in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]].<ref name="Chamelee556" /> John Jr. was buried in Baltimore in 1916.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> In 1968, a new headstone with a brass plaque replaced the old, defaced headstone over Mary Surratt's grave.<ref>Bucklee, p. 441.</ref>
[[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|Mary Surratt's boarding house]] still stands and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2009.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/weekly_features/Surratt_Boarding_House.pdf "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 April 15, 2011.</ref> Those interested in Mary Surratt formed the Surratt Society.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> The Surrattsville tavern and [[Surratt House Museum|house]] are historical sites run today by the Surratt Society as a [[historic house museum]].<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> The Washington Arsenal is now [[Fort Lesley J. McNair]].<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" />
==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]]''.<ref>Kuhn, p. 160.</ref> She was portrayed by [[Robin Wright (actress)|Robin Wright]] in the 2011 film ''[[The Conspirator]]'', which was directed by [[Robert Redford]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Ann|last=Hornaday|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-conspirator-and-the-lost-union-cause/2011/04/14/AFhcYjeD_story.html|title=Robert Redford's 'The Conspirator' and the lost Union cause|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 14, 2011|access-date=May 16, 2018}}</ref> She was portrayed by [[Carrie Lazar]] in the 2024 television series ''[[Manhunt (miniseries)|Manhunt]]'' by showrunner [[Monica Beletsky]].<ref>https://time.com/6835402/manhunt-true-story-lincoln-apple-tv/</ref>
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{{reflist|30em}}
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==External links==
{{commons category|Mary Surratt}}
*[https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2011/09/anna-surratt.html Anna Surratt], daughter
*[http://surrattmuseum.org/ Surratt Society and Museum]
*[https://www.fold3.com/image/6390472 Read through the Lincoln Assassination Papers] about evidence against Mary Surratt
*[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7046 Historic Marker at the Surratt Boarding House]
*[http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln26.html Brief Mary Surratt Biography (written by a retired teacher especially for students and schools)]
* {{citation | last = Blattman | first = Elissa | title = The First Woman Executed by the U.S. Government | publisher = National Women's History Museum | year = 2013 | url = https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/first-woman-executed-us-government}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surratt, Mary}}
[[Category:1820s births]]
[[Category:1865 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesswomen]]
[[Category:19th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:American women slave owners]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism]]
[[Category:19th-century executions of American people]]
[[Category:Executed American women]]
[[Category:Executed people from Maryland]]
[[Category:Lincoln assassination conspirators]]
[[Category:Executed American assassins]]
[[Category:People from Clinton, Maryland]]
[[Category:People of Maryland in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Women in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Catholics from Maryland]]
[[Category:Civilians who were court-martialed]]' |
New page wikitext, after the edit (new_wikitext) | '{{short description|American boarding house owner convicted as a conspirator to murder (1823–1865)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{for|the American historian|M. E. Sarotte}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Mary Surratt
| image = Mary Surratt - NARA - 525346 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Surratt, {{circa|1860-65}}
| birth_name = Mary Elizabeth Jenkins
| birth_date = 1820 or May 1823
| birth_place = [[Waterloo, Maryland|Waterloo]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date|1865|07|07}} (aged 42 or 45)
| death_place = [[Arsenal Penitentiary]], [[Fort McNair]], [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| death_cause = [[Execution by hanging]]
| resting_place = [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]]
| nationality = American
| occupation = Boarding house and [[tavern]] owner
| known_for = Being convicted as a conspirator in the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]
| penalty = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| conviction_status = Executed ({{start date and age|1865|07|07}})
| spouse = {{marriage|John Harrison Surratt|1840|1862|reason=died}}
| children = Isaac (b. 1841; died 1907)<br/>Elizabeth Susanna "Anna" (b. 1843; died 1904)<br/>[[John Surratt|John Jr.]] (b. 1844; died 1916)
| motive =
| conviction = [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln]]
| partners = {{Plainlist|
* [[John Wilkes Booth]]
* [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]]
* [[George Atzerodt]]
* [[David Herold]]
* [[John Surratt]]
}}
| apprehended = April 17, 1865
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
}}
'''Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt'''<ref name="Cashin287">Cashin, p. 287.</ref><ref name="Steers2010516">Steers, 2010, p. 516.</ref><ref>Larson, p. xi.</ref> (1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American [[boarding house]] owner in [[Washington D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], who was convicted of taking part in the [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] which led to [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln]] in 1865. Sentenced to death, she was [[hanging|hanged]] and became the first woman [[Capital punishment by the United States military|executed]] by the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]]. She maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and remains controversial. Surratt was the mother of [[John Surratt]], who was later tried in the conspiracy, but was not convicted.
Born in Maryland in the 1820s, Surratt converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] at a young age and remained a practicing Catholic for the rest of her life. She wed John Harrison Surratt in 1840 and had three children with him. An entrepreneur, John became the owner of a tavern, an inn, and a hotel. The Surratts were sympathetic to the [[Confederate States of America]] and often hosted fellow Confederate sympathizers at their tavern.
Upon her husband's death in 1862, Surratt had to manage his estate. Tired of doing so without help, Surratt moved to her [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|townhouse]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], which she then ran as a boardinghouse. There, she was introduced to [[John Wilkes Booth]]. Booth visited the boardinghouse numerous times, as did [[George Atzerodt]] and [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]], Booth's co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Shortly before killing Lincoln, Booth spoke with Surratt and handed her a package containing [[binoculars]] for one of her tenants, [[John M. Lloyd]].
After Lincoln was assassinated, Surratt was arrested, then tried by a military tribunal the following month, along with the other conspirators. She was convicted primarily due to the testimonies of Lloyd, who said that she told him to have the "shooting irons" ready, and [[Louis J. Weichmann]], who testified about Surratt's relationships with Booth. Five of the nine judges at her trial asked that Surratt be granted [[List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States|clemency]] by President [[Andrew Johnson]] because of her age and sex. Johnson did not grant her clemency, though accounts differ as to whether or not he received the clemency request. Surratt was hanged on July 7, 1865, and later buried in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]].
==Early life==
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins (baptismal name, Maria Eugenia) was born to Archibald and Elizabeth Anne (née Webster) Jenkins<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal13">Trindal, p. 13.</ref><ref name="Larson11">Larson, p. 11.</ref> on a [[tobacco]] plantation near the southern [[Maryland]] town of Waterloo<ref name=Griffin152 /><ref name="Buchanan60" /> (now known as [[Clinton, Maryland|Clinton]]).<ref name="Cashin287" /> Sources differ as to whether she was born in 1820<ref name="Brittannica">"Surratt, Mary," in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica,'' p. 411.</ref> or 1823.<ref name="Steers2010516" /><ref name="Griffin152">Griffin, p. 152.</ref><ref name="Buchanan60">Buchanan, p. 60.</ref><ref>Johnson, p. 96.</ref><ref name="Heidler1909">Heidler, Heidler, and Coles, p. 1909.</ref><ref name="Phelps709">Phelps, p. 709.</ref> There is uncertainty as to the month as well, but most sources say May.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Buchanan60" /><ref name="VanDoren1010">Van Doren and McHenry, p. 1010.</ref><ref name="Brittannica" />
She had two brothers: John Jenkins, born in 1822, and James Jenkins, born in 1825.<ref name="Trindal13" /><ref name="Larson11" /> Her father died in the fall of 1825 when Mary was either two or five years old,<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal13" /><ref name="Larson11" /> and Mary's mother then inherited their property (originally part of the [[His Lordship's Kindness]] estate).<ref name="Trindal14">Trindal, p. 14.</ref>
Although her father was a nondenominational [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and her mother [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]],<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="WomeninCivil532">"Surratt, Mary E. Jenkins (1823–1865)" in ''Women in the American Civil War,'' p. 532.</ref><ref name="Leonard43">Leonard, p. 43.</ref> Surratt was enrolled in a private [[Roman Catholic]] girls' [[boarding school]], the Academy for Young Ladies in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], on November 25, 1835.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal14" /> Mary's maternal aunt, Sarah Latham Webster, was a Catholic, which may have influenced where she was sent to school.<ref name="Larson11" /> Within two years, Mary converted to Roman Catholicism<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="WomeninCivil532" /> and adopted the baptismal name of Maria Eugenia.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Trindal17">Trindal, p. 17.</ref> She stayed at the Academy for Young Ladies for four years,<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Leonard43" /> leaving in 1839, when the school closed.<ref name="Larson11" /><ref name="Trindal17" /> She remained an observant Catholic for the rest of her life.<ref name="Cashin287" /><ref name="Leonard43" />
==Married life==
Mary Jenkins met John Harrison Surratt in 1839, when she was 16 or 19 and he was 26.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288">Cashin, p. 288.</ref><ref name="Larson12">Larson, p. 12.</ref> His family had settled in Maryland in the late 1600s.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /> An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm.<ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal19">Trindal, p. 19.</ref> The Neales divided their farm among their children, and Surratt inherited a portion of it.<ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal19" /> His background has been described by historian Kate Clifford Larson as "questionable",<ref name="Larson12" /> and he had fathered at least one child out of wedlock.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /><ref name="Larson12" /> They wed in August 1840.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref name="Larson12" /><ref name="Trindal20">Trindal, p. 20.</ref> John converted to Roman Catholicism prior to the marriage,<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Cashin288" /> and the couple may have wed at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref>One source says it is not clear that they married in a Catholic church. See: Jampoler, p. 25. Another claims they were married in a private home on Good Hope Road in Prince George's County, Maryland. See: Trindal, p. 20.</ref> John purchased a mill in [[Oxon Hill, Maryland]], and the couple moved there.<ref name="Larson12" /> 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).<ref name="Blood138140" /><ref>Trindal, p. 20, 22.</ref><ref name="Gillespie" />
In 1843, John Surratt purchased from his adoptive father {{convert|236|acre|ha}} of land straddling the DC/Maryland border, a parcel named "Foxhall" (approximately the area between Wheeler Road and Owens Road today).<ref name="Trindall22">Trindal, p. 22.</ref> Richard Neale died in September 1843, and a month later, John purchased {{convert|119|acre|ha}} of land adjoining Foxhall.<ref name="Trindall22" /> 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.<ref name="Larson12" /> But Sarah Neale fell ill and died in August 1845,<ref>Trindal, p. 25.</ref> having shortly before her death deeded the remainder of the Neale farm to John.<ref>Larson, p. 12-13.</ref> Mary Surratt became involved in raising funds to build [[St. Ignatius Church (Oxon Hill, Maryland)|St. Ignatius Church in Oxon Hill]] (it was constructed in 1850), but John was increasingly unhappy with his wife's religious activities.<ref name="Larson13">Larson, p. 13.</ref> His behavior deteriorated over the next few years. John drank heavily, often failed to pay his debts, and his temper was increasingly volatile and violent.<ref name="Blood138140">Steers, 2001, p. 138-40.</ref><ref name="Larson13" /><ref name="Kauffmann167">Kauffmann, p. 167.</ref>
In 1851, the Neale farmhouse burned to the ground (an [[fugitive slaves in the United States|escaped family slave]] was suspected of setting the blaze).<ref>Larson, p. 14.</ref> 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.<ref>Larson, p. 16.</ref><ref name="Trefousse217">"Surratt, Mary Eugenia Jenkins (1817–1865)," in ''Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction,'' p. 217.</ref> Within a year, John purchased {{convert|200|acre|ha}} of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853, he constructed a tavern and an inn there.<ref>Larson, p. 17.</ref> 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.<ref name="Larson18">Larson, p. 18.</ref>
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 ( Now known as 604 H St. 2024)<ref>With the imposition of the quadrant street naming system and other changes to the streets in the District of Columbia, the current address of the townhouse is 604 H Street NW.</ref> in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants.<ref name="Chamlee165">Chamlee, p. 165.</ref><ref>Kauffmann, p. 412.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 153.</ref><ref>At least one source says that the property was deeded to John as payment for debt and that he did not purchase it. See: Steers, 2010, p. 520.</ref> In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern and called it Surratt's Hotel.<ref>Phillips, p. 87.</ref>
[[File:Surrattsville - print - 1867.jpg|thumb|left|A woodprint depicting Surrattsville and the Surratt home, printed in 1867 in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''.]]
The area around the tavern was officially named [[Surrattsville]] that same year.<ref name="Larson20">Larson, p. 20.</ref> Travelers could take Branch Road (now Branch Avenue) north into Washington, D.C.; Piscataway Road southwest to [[Piscataway, Maryland|Piscataway]]; or Woodyard Road northeast to [[Upper Marlboro, Maryland|Upper Marlboro]].<ref name="Oldroyd">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhwbAAAAYAAJ&q=Surrattsville&pg=PA245 |title=Oldroyd, p. 245 |date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd |isbn=9780722288351 }}</ref> Although Surrattsville was a well-known crossroads,<ref name="Blood80">Steers, 2001, p. 80.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 148.</ref> 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).<ref name="Oldroyd" /><ref>[https://archive.org/details/assassinationof01harr/page/193 <!-- quote=Surrattsville. --> Harris, p. 193]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=ulOppcY7R50C&dq=Surrattsville&pg=PA42 Townsend, 1886, p. 42].</ref><ref name="Townsend712">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHoFAAAAQAAJ&q=Surrattsville&pg=PA712 |title=Townsend, 1874, p. 712 |date=December 6, 2006 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Townsend |first1=George Alfred }}</ref> John Surratt was the hamlet's first postmaster.<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Trefousse217" /><ref name="Busch17">Busch, p. 17.</ref><ref name="Steers2010517">Steers, 2010, p. 517.</ref>
He expanded his family's holdings by selling off land, paying down debt, and starting new businesses.<ref name="Larson20" /> Over the next few years, Surratt acquired or built a [[carriage house]], [[corn crib]], [[general store]], forge, [[granary]], [[gristmill]], [[stable]], [[curing of tobacco|tobacco curing house]], and [[wheelwright|wheelwright's shop]].<ref name="Leonard43" /><ref name="Busch17" /><ref>Larson, p. 20-21.</ref> The family had enough money to send all three children to nearby Roman Catholic boarding schools.<ref name="Larson20" /> Isaac and John Jr. attended the school at [[St. Thomas Manor]], and Anna enrolled at the Academy for Young Ladies (Mary's [[alma mater]]).<ref name="Larson21">Larson, p. 21.</ref> The family's debts continued to mount, however, and John Sr.'s drinking worsened.<ref name="Cashin288" /><ref>Kauffmann, p. 436; Trindal, p. 43.</ref> John sold another {{convert|120|acre|ha}} of land in 1856 to pay debts.<ref>Trindal, p. 43.</ref> By 1857, Surratt had sold all but {{convert|600|acre|ha}} of the family's formerly extensive holdings<ref name="Leonard43" /> (which represented about half the {{convert|1200|acre|km2}} he had originally owned).<ref name="Commire23">Commire and Klezmer, p. 23.</ref><ref name="James">James, p. 410.</ref> Most of the family's slaves were also sold to pay debts.<ref name="Larson21" /> Still, his alcoholism worsened. In 1858, Mary wrote a letter to her local priest, telling him that Surratt was drunk every single day.<ref name="Steers2010517" /> In 1860, St. Thomas Manor School closed, and Isaac found work in [[Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref name="Larson21" /> The Surratts sold off another {{convert|100|acre|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 City, Maryland|Ellicott's Mills]]).<ref name="Larson21" /><ref name="Cashin289">Cashin, p. 289.</ref> The couple also borrowed money that same year against their townhouse in Washington, DC, and at some point used the property as collateral for a $1,000 loan.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
==Civil War and widowhood==
The [[American Civil War]] began on April 12, 1861. The [[Border states (American Civil War)|border state]] of Maryland remained part of the United States ("the Union"), but the Surratts were [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sympathizers,<ref name="Trefousse217" /><ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Cashin289">Cashin, p. 289.</ref><ref>Gamber, p. 96; Morseberger and Morsberger, p. 167.</ref> and their tavern regularly hosted fellow sympathizers.<ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Cashin289" /><ref name="Larson24">Larson, p. 24.</ref> The Surratt tavern was being used as a [[safe house]] for Confederate spies,<ref name="Blood80" /><ref name="Kauffmann155">Kauffmann, p. 155.</ref> and at least one author concludes that Mary had "[[de facto]]" knowledge of this.<ref name="Blood80" /> Confederate scout and spy [[Thomas Nelson Conrad]] visited Surratt's boarding house before and during the Civil War.<ref>Conrad, Thomas Nelson. The Rebel Scout. Washington, DC: The National Publishing Co., 1904, p. 153-154.</ref>
On March 7, 1861, three days after [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|inauguration]] as [[President of the United States]], Isaac 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).<ref name="Townsend712" /><ref name="Steers2010517" /><ref>Jampoler, p. 23; Griffin, p. 154.</ref> 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.<ref>Cashin, p. 289-290; Chamlee, p. 531; Evans, p. 339-340.</ref> 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.<ref name="Chamlee102">Chamlee, p. 102.</ref> 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.<ref name="Chamlee102" />
[[File:John Surrat - 1868.jpg|thumb|left|upright|John H. Surratt Jr. (seen here in 1868) was a Confederate courier.]]
John Surratt collapsed suddenly and died on either August 25<ref name="Heidler1909" /><ref name="Larson25">Larson, p. 25.</ref> or August 26<ref name="Schroeder286">Schroeder-Lein and Zuczek, p. 286.</ref><ref name="Zanca20">Zanca, p. 20.</ref> in 1862 (sources differ as to the date). The cause of death was a [[stroke]].<ref name="Townsend712" /><ref name="Larson25" /><ref>Trindal, p. 247.</ref> The Surratt family affairs were in serious financial difficulties.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> John Jr. and Anna both left school to help their mother run the family's remaining farmland and businesses.<ref name="Blood80" /> On September 10, 1862, John Jr. was appointed postmaster of the Surrattsville post office.<ref name="Trindal65">Trindal, p. 65.</ref><ref name="Oldroyd156">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JelBAAAAIAAJ&q=Surratt+1862+postmaster&pg=PA156 |title=Oldroyd, p. 156 |date=October 9, 2007 |isbn=9780722288351 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd }}</ref><ref name="Kauffmann433">Kauffmann, p. 433.</ref> Lafayette Baker swept through Surrattsville again in 1862, and several postmasters were dismissed for disloyalty,<ref name="Chamlee102" /> but John Jr. was not one of them. In August 1863, he 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.<ref name="Kauffmann433" /> On November 17, 1863, he was dismissed as postmaster for disloyalty.<ref name="Steers81">Steers, 2001, p. 81.</ref><ref name="Oldroyd156" /><ref>"Surratt, Mary E. Jenkins (1823–1865)" in ''Women in the American Civil War,'' p. 533; Larson, p. 37-38.</ref>
The loss of John Jr.'s job as postmaster caused a financial crisis for the Surratt family.<ref name="James" /> When John Sr.'s estate was probated in late November 1862, the family owned only two middle-age male slaves.<ref name="Trindal65" /> However, by 1863, [[Louis J. Weichmann]], a friend of John Jr. from St. Charles College, observed that the family had six or more slaves working on the property.<ref>Zanca, p. 26.</ref> By 1864, Mary Surratt found that her husband's unpaid debts and bad business deals had left her with many creditors.<ref name="Cashin289" /> Several of her slaves ran away.<ref name="James" /><ref name="Zanca20" /><ref>Steers, 2001, p. 138.</ref><ref>Maryland adopted a [[Maryland Constitution of 1864|new constitution]] on November 1, 1864, which [[History of slavery in Maryland#The ending of slavery in Maryland|emancipated]] all slaves in that state.</ref> When he was not meeting with Confederate sympathizers in the city, her son was selling vegetables to raise cash for the family.<ref>Chamlee, p. 101; Leonard, p. 88.</ref> Mary was tired of running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without her son's help.<ref>Steers, 2010, p. 518.</ref> In the fall of 1864, she began considering moving to her townhouse in the city.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
On October 1, 1864, she took possession of the townhouse at [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|604 H Street NW]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="James" /> The gray brick house had four stories and stood on a lot {{convert|29|ft|m}} wide, {{convert|100|ft|m}} deep.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> The first floor, which was level with the street, had two large rooms, used as the kitchen and dining room.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson39">Larson, p. 39.</ref> The second floor had a front and back parlor, with the room in the rear used as Mary Surratt's bedroom.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref>Larson, p. 39-40.</ref> The third floor had three rooms: two in the front and a larger one at the back.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson40">Larson, p. 40.</ref> The fourth floor, which was considered an [[attic]], had two large and one small room, occupied by a servant.<ref name="Griffin152" /><ref name="Larson40" /> Surratt began moving her belongings into the townhouse that month,<ref>Steers, 2001, p. 139.</ref> and on November 1, 1864, Anna and John Jr. took up residence there.<ref name="Oldroyd159">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JelBAAAAIAAJ&q=Surratt+1862+postmaster&pg=PA159 |title=Oldroyd, p. 159 |date=October 9, 2007 |isbn=9780722288351 |access-date=July 7, 2011|last1=Oldroyd |first1=Osborn Hamiline |publisher=O.H. Oldroyd }}</ref> Mary Surratt herself moved into the home on December 1.<ref name="Oldroyd159" /> 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.<ref name="Kauffmann167" /><ref name="Oldroyd159" /><ref name="Larson38">Larson, p. 38.</ref> On November 30, December 8, and December 27, Mary Surratt advertised for lodgers in the ''[[Washington Star|Daily Evening Star]]'' newspaper.<ref name="Kauffmann167" /><ref name="James" /><ref>Trindal, p. 86; Larson, p. 42.</ref><ref name="Chamlee164165">Chamlee, p. 164-165.</ref> She had initially said that she wanted only lodgers who were known to her personally or were recommended by friends, but in her advertisements, she said rooms were "available for 4 gentlemen."<ref name="Chamlee164165" /><ref>Stern, p. 42.</ref>
Some scholars have raised questions about Surratt's move into the city. Historians [[Kate Larson (historian)|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.<ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> For example, Larson and Chamlee say that 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,"<ref name="Chamlee165" /><ref name="Larson39" /> perhaps a cryptic reference to either his Confederate activities in general or the conspiracy to kidnap or kill Lincoln.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> 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 that she did not have.<ref name="Larson39" />
Chamlee, too, found little economic reason to move into the city and concluded that it would have been more profitable to rent the H Street boarding house entirely to lodgers.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> During her time in the city, Surratt tried to keep her daughter away from what she felt were negative influences.<ref name="Chamlee165" /> 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.<ref name="Chamlee165" />
John Jr. transferred all his title to the family property to his mother in January 1865. That act may have additional implications. A traitor's property could be seized, and John's spy knowledge 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, she would have possessed at least ''de facto'' knowledge of the conspiracy.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators | first= Joan L. | last= Chaconas| year= 2003 |publisher= [[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington, Kentucky |pages= 63}}</ref>
==Conspiracy==
{{main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Mary Surratt house - Brady-Handy.jpg
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| caption1 = Surratt's boarding house, c. 1890, little changed from how it looked during her occupancy.
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| image2 = Mary E. Surratt Boarding House.jpg
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| caption2 = Surratt's boarding house, which now houses a restaurant, is in the [[Chinatown, Washington, D.C.|Chinatown]] neighborhood of [[Washington, D.C.]]
}}
[[Louis J. Weichmann]] moved into Surratt's boarding house on November 1, 1864.<ref>Trindal, p. 85; Weichmann and Richards, p. 28; Chamlee, p. xi.</ref> On December 23, 1864, Dr. [[Samuel Mudd]] introduced John Surratt Jr. to [[John Wilkes Booth]].<ref name="Verge53">Verge, p. 53.</ref><ref>Trindal, p. 276; Griffin, p. 155; Jones, p. 239.</ref> Booth recruited John Jr. into his conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Steers, 2007, p. 171.</ref> Confederate agents began frequenting the boarding house.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Evans288">Evans, p. 288.</ref> Booth visited the boarding house many times over the next few months,<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Steers2010519">Steers, 2010, p. 519.</ref><ref name="Heidler1910" /> sometimes at Mary's request.<ref name="Verge53" />
[[George Atzerodt]] and [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]] boarded at the townhouse for short periods.<ref name="Verge53" /> Atzerodt, a friend of both John Jr. and Booth and a co-conspirator in the plot<ref>Ownsbey, p. 55.</ref> to kidnap Lincoln, visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865.<ref>Leonard, p. 46; Busch, p. 56.</ref> He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865 (for one night or several, sources differ), but he proved to be a heavy drinker, and Surratt evicted him after just a few days.<ref name="Heidler1910">Heidler and Heidler, p. 1910.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 186; Gamber, p. 109; Ownsbey, p. 54.</ref>
He continued to visit the townhouse frequently afterward, however.<ref name="Rehnquist215">Rehnquist, p. 215.</ref> Powell posed as a Baptist preacher and stayed at the boarding house for three days in March 1865.<ref name="Heidler1910" /><ref>Ownsbey, p. 41, 51–52.</ref> [[David Herold]] also called at the home several times.<ref name="Evans288" /><ref name="Rehnquist215" />
As part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, John,{{Clarify|date=April 2023}} Atzerodt, and Herold hid two [[Spencer repeating rifle|Spencer carbines]], ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner155">Turner, p. 155.</ref><ref>Griffin, p. 212; Kauffmann, p. 187-188.</ref> On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to the Surratt tavern.<ref name="April11debt">Larson, p. 77; Steers, 2010, p. 349; Kauffmann, p. 208.</ref> She said that she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor.<ref name="April11debt" /> However, according to her tenant, John Lloyd, Surratt told him to get the "shooting irons" ready to be picked up.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Trindal, p. 161; Larson, p. 130.</ref> On April 14, Surratt said that she would once again visit the family tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Larson, p. 83.</ref> Shortly before she left the city, Booth visited the boarding house and spoke privately with her.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Larson8384">Larson, p. 83-84.</ref><ref name="Swanson19">Swanson, p. 19.</ref> He gave her a package, later found to contain [[binoculars]], for Lloyd to pick up later that evening.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Larson8384" /><ref name="Swanson19" /> 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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Swanson22">Swanson, p. 22.</ref><ref>Trindal, p. 157.</ref>
Booth's plan was to assassinate Lincoln and have Atzerodt kill Vice President [[Andrew Johnson]] and Powell kill Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]]. Booth killed Lincoln, Atzerodt never attempted to kill Johnson, and Powell stabbed Seward repeatedly but failed to murder him.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-Abraham-Lincoln|first=Jeff|last=Wallenfeldt|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=April 7, 2018 |access-date=May 15, 2018}}</ref> As they fled the city after Lincoln's assassination, Booth and Herold picked up the rifles and binoculars from Surratt's tavern.<ref name="Verge53" /> Lloyd repaired a broken spring on Surratt's wagon before they left.<ref name="Swanson22" /><ref name="Verge56" /><ref>Leonard, p. 97; Larson, p. 86.</ref>
==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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref name="Turner156">Turner, p. 156.</ref><ref name="Steers2010173">Steers, 2010, p. 173.</ref> 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 that does not explain why police rather than federal agents appeared there.<ref name="Turner156" /> (Historian Roy Chamlee, however, says that there is evidence that Gleason did not tell police about his suspicions of Weichmann for several days.)<ref>Chamlee, p. 10.</ref> Within 45 minutes of the attack on Lincoln, John Surratt's name had become associated with the attack on Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]].<ref name="Chamlee11">Chamlee, p. 11.</ref> The police as well as the [[United States Army Provost Marshal General|Provost Marshal]]'s office both had files on John Surratt Jr. and knew he was a close friend of Booth.<ref name="Chamlee11" /> (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.)<ref name="Chamlee11" /> 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,<ref>Eisenschiml, p. 272-273.</ref> but at least one other scholar has called the link uncertain.<ref name="Turner156" /> 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.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Steers, 2010, p. 173, 519; Chamlee, p. 19.</ref> Mary lied to the detectives that her son had been in Canada for two weeks.<ref name="Verge53" /><ref>Busch, p. 22; Pittman, p. 140; Trindal, p. 120; Larson, p. 93.</ref> She also did not reveal that she had delivered a package to the tavern on Booth's behalf only hours earlier.<ref name="Steers2010174">Steers, 2010, p. 174.</ref>
[[File:Lewis Payne.jpg|thumb|left|Lewis Powell was 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.<ref name="Turner157">Turner, p. 157.</ref><ref name="Trindal267" /><ref>Larson, p. 98; Steers, 2010, p. 301.</ref> (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).<ref name="Steers2010177">Steers, 2010, p. 177.</ref> Other pieces of information also mentioned the boarding house as a key meeting place of the possible conspirators.<ref name="Steers2010174" /> 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.<ref name="Steers2010174" /><ref name="Turner157" />
Federal soldiers visited the Surratt boarding house again late on the evening of April 17.<ref name="Steers2010174" /><ref name="Verge5253">Verge, p. 52-53.</ref><ref>Pittman, p. 122.</ref> 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 [[cast bullet|mold for making bullets]], and [[percussion cap]]s.<ref name="Trindal267">Trindal, p. 267.</ref><ref name="Verge5253" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 345; Swanson, p. 193; Pittman, p. 123.</ref> As Mary was being arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, Powell appeared at her door in disguise.<ref name="Verge54">Verge, p. 54.</ref><ref name="Cashin291">Cashin, p. 291.</ref><ref>Ownsbey, p. 137.</ref> Although Surratt denied knowing him,<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Cashin291" /><ref name="Verge55" /> Powell claimed that he was a laborer hired by Surratt to dig a ditch the next morning. The discrepancy and Powell's remarkably well-dressed and -groomed appearance, quite unlike a ditch-digger, prompted his arrest.<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Cashin291" /><ref name="Verge55" /> He was later identified as the man who had attempted to assassinate Secretary of State [[William Seward]].<ref name="Verge54" />
After her arrest, she was held at an annex to the [[Old Capitol Prison]] before being transferred to the [[Washington Arsenal]] on April 30.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Trindal, p. 130; Hartranft, Steers, and Holzer, p. 22; Steers, 2001, p. 209; Swanson and Weinberg, p. 15; Jampoler, p. 18.</ref> Two armed guards stood before the door to her cell from the beginning of her imprisonment until her death.<ref>Watts, p. 87; Ownsbey, p. 108.</ref> Her cell, while airy and larger than the others,<ref name="Watts88">Watts, p. 88.</ref> was sparsely furnished, with a straw mattress, table, wash basin, chair, and a bucket.<ref name="Trindal147">Trindal, p. 147.</ref><ref name="Weichmann318">Weichmann and Richards, p. 318.</ref><ref>Roscoe, p. 251.</ref> Food was served four times a day, always of bread; salt pork, beef, or beef soup; and coffee or water.<ref>Ownsbey, p. 110.</ref> The other arrested conspirators had their heads enclosed in a padded canvas bag to prevent a suicide attempt.<ref name="Bags">Klement, p. 35; Miller, p. 251-252.</ref> Sources disagree as to whether Surratt was also forced to wear it.<ref name="Watts88" /><ref name="Bags" /> Although the others wore iron [[handcuffs|manacles]] on their feet and ankles, she was not manacled.<ref name="Watts88" /> (Rumors to the contrary were raised by reporters at the trial who could not see her or "heard" the clank of chains about her feet. The rumors were repeatedly investigated and denied.)<ref name="Turner158159">Turner, p. 158-159.</ref> She began to suffer menstrual bleeding and became weak during her detention.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref name="Weichmann318" /><ref>Steers, 2010, p. 512.</ref> She was given a rocking chair and allowed visits from her daughter, Anna.<ref name="Goodrich274">Goodrich, p. 274</ref><ref name="Trindal192">Trindal, p. 192.</ref> She and Powell received the most attention from the press.<ref name="Kunhardt">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 198.</ref> The Northern press was also highly critical of her, claiming that she had a "criminal face" due to her small mouth and dark eyes.<ref>Larson, p. xii.</ref>
John Surratt Jr. was in Elmira at the time of the assassination, delivering messages on behalf of a Confederate general.<ref name="Steers2010177" /> After learning of Lincoln's death, he fled to [[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]], Canada.<ref>Surratt traveled to the [[United Kingdom]] in September 1865 and then [[Rome]]. He joined the [[Papal Zouaves]], but in April 1866, he was recognized and arrested on November 7, 1866. He escaped again, and traveled to [[Alexandria, Egypt]]. Arrested again, he was returned to the US and tried in June 1867. His first trial ended in a [[hung jury]], and he was indicted in the [[District of Columbia]] for treason. Because the statute of limitations had run out on the 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 which made him culpable for the assassination that occurred a month later. See Chaconas, p. 62-64.</ref>
==Trial==
The trial for the alleged conspirators began on May 9.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> 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.<ref>Boritt and Forness, p. 351.</ref> All eight alleged conspirators were tried simultaneously.<ref name="Cashin291" /> Historians have conflicting views regarding Surratt's innocence. Historian Laurie Verge commented, "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."<ref name="Verge51">Verge, p. 51.</ref> 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."<ref name="Turner155" />
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.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref>Watts, p. 89-90; Federal Writers' Project, p. 326.</ref> Surratt was given special considerations during the trial because of her illness and sex. In the courtroom, she sat apart from the other prisoners.<ref name="Trindal147" /><ref name="Jampoler21" /> Sources differ as to whether an armed guard sat on either side of her, as was done for other prisoners during the trial.<ref name="Jampoler21">Jampoler, p. 21.</ref><ref>Watts, p. 91.</ref> While the others wore wrist and ankle manacles in the courtroom, she did not.<ref name="Watts88" /><ref name="Turner158159" /><ref name="Chamlee440">Chamlee, p. 440.</ref> She was also permitted a bonnet, fan, and veil to hide her face from spectators.<ref name="Chamlee440" /> As her illness worsened during the trial, she was moved to a larger and more comfortable prison cell.<ref name="Chamlee440" />
Surratt was charged with abetting, aiding, concealing, counseling, and harboring her co-defendants.<ref>Watts, p. 92.</ref> The federal government initially attempted to find legal counsel for her and the others, but almost no attorneys were willing to take the job for fear they would be accused of disloyalty to the Union.<ref name="Boritt352">Boritt and Forness, p. 352.</ref> Surratt retained [[Reverdy Johnson]] as her legal counsel.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Heidler and Heidler, p. 1076; Larson, p. 144.</ref> A member of the military commission trying the conspirators challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt, as he had objected to requiring [[loyalty oath#Civil War and Reconstruction|loyalty oaths]] from voters in the [[1864 United States presidential election|1864 presidential election]].<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Steers, 2001, p. 221; Larson, p. 146.</ref> After much discussion, this objection was withdrawn, but damage had been done to his influence, and he did not attend most of the court sessions.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 270; Trindal, p. 150.</ref> Most of Surratt's legal defense was presented by two other lawyers: [[Frederick Aiken]] and John Wesley Clampitt.<ref name="Verge54" /><ref name="Boritt352" />
[[File:Louis J Weichmann.jpg|thumb|left|[[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.<ref name="Verge54" /> 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]].<ref name="Verge54" /><ref name="Cashin291" /> Lloyd testified on May 13 and 15, 1865<ref name="Leonard109">Leonard, p. 109.</ref> on the hiding of the carbines and other supplies at the tavern in March and the two conversations he had with her in which she told him to get the "shooting irons" ready.<ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Verge54" /><ref>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 Mudd was much more intimately involved in the kidnap and murder plots against Lincoln than other evidence suggested. Confirming some of Lloyd's testimony, Atzerodt also said that 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 the statement over to Atzerodt's attorney, William E. Doster, rather than to [[John F. 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 its 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.</ref> Weichmann's testimony was important, as it established an intimate relationship between her and the other conspirators.<ref name="Turner155" /><ref name="Cashin291" />
Weichmann testified May 16 to 19<ref name="Leonard109" /> 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.<ref name="Verge55">Verge, p. 55.</ref> Weichmann had driven Surratt to the tavern on April 11 and 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 had turned the package over to Lloyd.<ref name="Verge55" /><ref name="Leonard108">Leonard, p. 108.</ref> 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.<ref name="Verge55" /> He also testified about the December 23 meeting with Booth and John (which he also attended) and their subsequent meeting with Booth at Booth's room at the [[National Hotel (Washington, D.C.)|National Hotel]].<ref name="Verge55" /> Finally, he told the military tribunal about the general excitement in the boarding house in March 1865 after the failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln.<ref name="Verge55" />
Other prosecution witnesses reinforced Weichmann's testimony. Lodger Honora Fitzpatrick confirmed visits by Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell to the boarding house.<ref name="Verge55" /> Emma Offut, Lloyd's sister-in-law, testified that she saw (but did not hear) Surratt speaking for long periods of time with Lloyd on April 11 and 14.<ref name="Verge55" /> Government agents testified about their arrest of Surratt, Powell's arrival, and her denial that she knew Powell.<ref name="Verge55" /> The fact that Powell sought refuge in the boarding house after Lincoln's murder left a bad impression of her.<ref name="Turner155"/> Surratt's refusal (or failure) to recognize him also weighed against her.<ref name="Cashin291" /> The agents also testified about their search of the house, and the evidence (the photographs, the weapons, etc.) discovered there.<ref name="Verge55" /> Lloyd's testimony was the most important for the prosecution's case,<ref name="Steers2010519" /><ref name="Leonard108" /><ref>Griffin, p. 349.</ref> for it indicated that she had played an active role in the conspiracy in the days before Lincoln's death.<ref name="Verge56">Verge, p. 56.</ref> The prosecution rested its case on May 22.<ref name="Verge55" />
The defense strategy was to impeach the testimony of the key prosecution witnesses: Lloyd and Weichmann. It also wished to show that she was loyal to the Union, her trips to Surrattsville were of an innocent nature, and she had not been aware of Booth's plans.<ref name="Verge56" /> There were 31 witnesses who testified for the defense.<ref name="Verge56" /> George H. Calvert testified that he had pressed Surratt to pay a debt, Bennett Gwynn said Surratt had sought payment from John Nothey to satisfy the Calvert debt, and Nothey agreed that he had received a letter from Surratt for him to appear at the tavern on April 11 to pay what was owed.<ref name="Verge56" /> Several witnesses impugned Lloyd's character by testifying about his alcoholism,<ref name="Verge56" /> while others said he was too intoxicated on the day of Lincoln's assassination to remember that day clearly.<ref name="Verge56" /><ref name="Leonard118">Leonard, p. 118.</ref> Augustus Howell, a Confederate agent, testified Weichmann was an untrustworthy witness, as he had sought to become a Confederate spy himself.<ref name="Leonard118" /><ref name="Verge, p. 56-57">Verge, p. 56-57.</ref> (The prosecution had attempted to show that Howell was a Confederate spy and should not be trusted.)<ref name="Verge57">Verge, p. 57.</ref>
Anna Surratt testified that it was Weichmann who had brought Atzerodt into the boarding house, that the photograph of Booth was hers, and that she owned photographs of Union political and military leaders.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard120" /> Anna denied ever overhearing any discussions of disloyal activities or ideas in the boarding house, and that Booth's visits to the house were always short.<ref name="Verge57" /> Anna explained her mother's failure to recognize Powell by asserting she could not see well.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119">Leonard, p. 119.</ref> Augusta Howell, a former servant, and Honora Fitzpatrick, a former slave, testified to Mary's poor eyesight as well.<ref name="Leonard118" /><ref name="Verge, p. 56-57" /><ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119" /><ref name="Leonard120">Leonard, p. 120.</ref> The former servant and the former slave both said Surratt had given Union soldiers food.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard120">Leonard, p. 120.</ref> Numerous witnesses were called at the end of the defense's case to testify to her loyalty to the Union, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness.<ref name="Verge57" /><ref name="Leonard119" /> During the prosecution's rebuttal, government lawyers called four witnesses to the stand, who testified as to Weichmann's unimpeachable character.<ref name="Verge57" />
Johnson and Aiken presented the closing arguments for the defense. Johnson attacked the [[jurisdiction]] of a military tribunal over civilians, as had Mudd's attorney.<ref name="Verge57" /> Aiken also challenged the court's jurisdiction.<ref>Verge, p. 57-58.</ref> He also reiterated that Lloyd and Weichmann were unreliable witnesses and that the evidence against her was all [[circumstantial evidence|circumstantial]].<ref name="Verge58">Verge, p. 58.</ref> 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.<ref name="Verge58" /> ([[Dorothy Kunhardt]] has written that there is evidence the latter's perjured testimony was [[suborn]]ed by Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]].)<ref>Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 201.</ref>
[[Judge Advocate]] [[John Bingham]] presented the closing argument for the prosecution.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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 they were crimes committed in a military zone, during a time of war, and against high government officials in carrying out treasonous activities.<ref name="Verge58" /> Bingham pointed out that the Surratt boarding house was where the conspiracy was planned, and Atzerodt, Booth, and Powell had all met with Surratt.<ref name="Verge58" /> Booth had paid for the rental of the carriage that took Surratt to Surrattsville each time, and Bingham said that was evidence that Surratt's trips were critical to the conspiracy.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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 Surratt.<ref name="Verge58" /> Bingham concluded by reiterating the government's key point: Powell had returned to the Surratt house seeking Surratt, and that alone was proof of her guilt.<ref name="Verge58" /> 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.<ref name="Verge58" /><ref>Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 177-179.</ref>
The trial ended on June 28, 1865.<ref name="Schroeder286" /><ref name="Chamlee434">Chamlee, p. 434.</ref> Surratt was so ill the last four days of the trial that she was permitted to stay in her cell.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> In the opinion of historian Roy Z. Chamlee, both legal teams appeared to have flaws in their cases, and except for Reverdy Johnson, neither team employed highly skilled attorneys.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> 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 Surratt and 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.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The government did not fully investigate Booth's meetings with Surratt at noon or the evening of the murder, and its questioning and cross-examination of witnesses was poorly prepared and weak.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> What is most important, according to historian Roy Z. Chamber Jr., is that the government had botched the attempt to apprehend John Jr.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The defense's case, too, had a problem. The defense never followed up on inconsistencies in Weichmann's chronology of Mary's last visit to the tavern, which could have undermined Weichmann's entire credibility.<ref name="Chamlee434" />
[[File:Mrssurrattinthedeathcell.JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> Surratt's guilt was the second-last to be considered, as her case had problems of evidence and witness reliability.<ref name="Chamlee434" /> The sentence was handed down on June 30.<ref name="SteersLet189">Steers, "'Let the Stain of Innocent Blood...", 2010, p. 189.</ref> The military tribunal found her guilty on all charges but two.<ref>Surratt was found not guilty of harboring and concealing assassination conspirators [[Samuel Arnold (Lincoln conspirator)|Samuel Arnold]] and [[Michael O'Laughlen]]. She was also found not guilty of conspiring with [[Edmund Spangler]]. See Verge, p. 58.</ref> A death sentence required six of the nine votes of the judges.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref>Watts, p. 99-100.</ref> Surratt was sentenced to death, the first woman [[capital punishment|executed]] by the federal government.<ref name="Griffin152">Griffin, p. 152.</ref><ref name="Gillespie">Gillespie, p. 68.</ref> The sentence was announced publicly on July 5.<ref name="Cashin299">Cashin, p. 299.</ref><ref>Jordan, p. 177.</ref><ref>It has been alleged by various sources that the federal government did not intend to execute her but to lure John Jr. out of hiding to defend her. Historian Joan Cashin pointed out that the scant two days between her sentencing and execution did not provide enough time to lure him out of hiding. See Cashin, p. 299; Swanson, p. 365.</ref> When Powell learned of his sentence, he declared that she was completely innocent of all charges.<ref name="Chamlee454456">Chamlee, p. 454-456.</ref> The night before the execution, Surratt's priests and Anna Surratt both visited Powell and elicited from him a strong statement declaring Mary innocent. Although it 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.<ref name="Chamlee462">Chamlee, p. 462.</ref> George Atzerodt bitterly condemned her, implicating her even further in the conspiracy.<ref name="Chamlee454456" /> Powell's was the only statement by any conspirator exonerating Surratt.<ref name="Chamlee462" />
Anna Surratt pleaded repeatedly for her mother's life with Judge Advocate General [[Joseph Holt]], but he refused to consider clemency.<ref name="Schroeder286" /> She also attempted to see President [[Andrew Johnson]] several times to beg for mercy but was not granted permission to see him.<ref name="Schroeder286" />
Five of the nine judges signed a letter asking President Johnson to give Surratt clemency and commute her sentence to life in prison because of her age and sex.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref name="Kunhardt204">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 204.</ref> Holt did not deliver the recommendation to Johnson until July 5, two days before Surratt and the others were to hang.<ref name="SteersLet189" /> Johnson signed the order for execution but did not sign the order for clemency.<ref name="SteersLet189" /><ref name="Kunhardt204" /> Johnson later said he never saw the clemency request; Holt said he showed it to Johnson, who refused to sign it.<ref name="Schroeder286" /><ref name="SteersLet189" /> Johnson, according to Holt, said in signing the death warrant that she had "kept the nest that hatched the egg."<ref name="Kunhardt204" />
==Execution==
Construction of the [[gallows]] for the hanging of the conspirators condemned to death began immediately on July 5, after the execution order was signed.<ref name="Cashin299" /> It was constructed in the south part of the Arsenal courtyard, was {{convert|12|ft|m}} high and about {{convert|20|sqft|m2}} in size.<ref name="Leonard131">Leonard, p. 131.</ref> Rath, who oversaw the preparations for the executions, made the nooses.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 31.</ref> Tired of making nooses and thinking that the government would never hang a woman, he made Surratt's [[hangman's knot|noose]] the night before the execution with five loops rather than the regulation's seven.<ref name="Chamlee462" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> He tested the nooses that night by tying them to a tree limb and a bag of [[buckshot]] and then tossing the bag to the ground (the ropes held).<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" />
At noon on July 6, Surratt was informed she would be hanged the next day. She wept profusely.<ref>Goodrich, p. 272.</ref> She was joined by two Catholic priests (Jacob Walter and B.F. Wiget)<ref name="Goodrich274" /><ref>Leonard, p. 130.</ref> and her daughter Anna.<ref name="Leonard131" /> Father Jacob remained with her almost until her death.<ref>Steers, 2010, p. 567.</ref> 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.<ref name="Goodrich274" /><ref>Chamlee, p. 461.</ref> She repeatedly asserted her innocence.<ref name="Goodrich274" /> She spent the night on her mattress, weeping and moaning in pain and grief, ministered to by the priests.<ref name="Chamlee462" /><ref name="Goodrich276">Goodrich, p. 276.</ref> 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.<ref name="Goodrich276" /> Her entreaty rejected, she returned to the prison and her mother's cell at about 11 A.M.<ref name="Goodrich, p. 279">Goodrich, p. 279.</ref> The soldiers began testing the gallows about 11:25 A.M.; the sound of the tests unnerved all the prisoners.<ref name="Chamlee469">Chamlee, p. 469.</ref> Shortly before noon, Mary Surratt was taken from her cell and then allowed to sit in a chair near the entrance to the courtyard.<ref name="Chamlee469" /> The heat in the city that day was oppressive. By noon, it had already reached {{convert|92.3|F|C}}.<ref>Trindal, p. 200.</ref> The guards ordered all visitors to leave at 12:30 P.M.<ref name="Goodrich, p. 279"/> When she was forced to part from her mother, Anna's hysterical screams of grief could be heard throughout the prison.<ref>Goodrich, p. 281; Trindal, p. 220.</ref><ref name="Chamlee470">Chamlee, p. 470.</ref>
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 [[habeas corpus in the United States|writ of habeas corpus]], arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client.<ref name="Watts101">Watts, p. 101.</ref><ref name="Trindal211">Trindal, p. 211.</ref><ref name="Steers20104">Steers, 2010, p. 4.</ref> The court issued the writ at 3 A.M., and it was served on General [[Winfield Scott Hancock]].<ref name="Watts101" /><ref name="Trindal211" /><ref name="Jordan178">Jordan, p. 178.</ref> Hancock was ordered to produce Surratt by 10 A.M.<ref name="Jordan178" /> General Hancock sent an aide to General [[John F. Hartranft]], who commanded the Old Capitol Prison, ordering him not to admit any US marshal, as that would prevent the marshal from serving a similar writ on Hartranft.<ref name="Watts101" /> 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]].<ref name="Watts101" /><ref name="Steers20104" /><ref>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 Johnson the power to suspend the DC criminal court's writ. See Latimer, p. 41-42.</ref> General Hancock and [[United States Attorney General]] [[James Speed]] personally appeared in court and informed the judge of the cancellation of the writ.<ref name="Jordan178" />
[[File:Execution Lincoln assassins.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Aftermath of the execution of Mary Surratt, [[Lewis Powell (assassin)|Lewis Powell]], [[David Herold]], and [[George Atzerodt]] on July 7, 1865.]]
On July 7, 1865, at 1:15 P.M.,<ref name="Jordan179">Jordan, p. 179.</ref><ref name="Leonard132">Leonard, p. 132.</ref> a procession led by General Hartranft escorted the four condemned prisoners through the courtyard and up the steps to the gallows.<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Jordan179" /> Each prisoner's ankles and wrists were bound by manacles.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 29.</ref> Surratt led the way,<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Swanson364">Swanson, p. 364.</ref> wearing a black [[bombazine]] dress, black [[bonnet (headgear)|bonnet]], and black veil.<ref name="Pitman, p. 435">Pitman, p. 435.</ref><ref name="Chamlee471">Chamlee, p. 471.</ref> More than 1,000 people, including government officials, members of the US armed forces, friends and family of the accused, official witnesses, and reporters, watched.<ref name="Leonard134">Leonard, p. 134.</ref> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg24">Swanson and Weinberg, p. 24.</ref> (Most of those present were military officers and soldiers, as fewer than 200 tickets had been printed.)<ref name="Swanson364" />
[[Alexander Gardner (photographer)|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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg24" /> Hartranft read the order for their execution.<ref name="Jordan179" /> Surratt, either weak from her illness or swooning in fear (perhaps both), had to be supported by two soldiers and her priests.<ref name="Chamlee470" /><ref name="Swanson364" /> The condemned were seated in chairs, Surratt almost collapsing into hers.<ref name="Chamlee471" /> She was seated to the right of the others, the traditional "seat of honor" in an execution.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides and their ankles and thighs together.<ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> The cloths around Surratt's legs were tied around her dress below the knees.<ref name="Leonard132" /> 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."<ref name="Kunhardt210211">Kunhardt and Kunhardt, pp. 210–211.</ref> Fathers Jacob and Wiget prayed over her and held a crucifix to her lips.<ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref>Zanca, p. 55.</ref> About 16 minutes elapsed from the time the prisoners entered the courtyard until they were ready for execution.<ref name="Chamlee471" />
A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Surratt's bonnet was removed, and the noose put around her neck by a [[US Secret Service|U.S. Secret Service]] officer.<ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref name="Watts102">Watts, p. 102.</ref> She complained that the bindings about her arms hurt, and the officer preparing said, "Well, it won't hurt long."<ref name="Swanson365">Swanson, p. 365.</ref> Finally, the prisoners were asked to stand and move forward a few feet to the nooses.<ref name="Chamlee471" /><ref name="Watts102" /> The chairs were removed.<ref name="Watts102" /> Her last words, spoken to a guard as he moved her forward to the drop, were "Please don't let me fall."<ref name="Kunhardt210211" /><ref name="Swanson365" />
Surratt and the others stood on the drop for about 10 seconds,<ref name="Pitman, p. 435"/> and then Captain Rath clapped his hands.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /><ref name="Leonard132" /><ref name="Watts102" /> Four soldiers of Company F of the 14th Veteran Reserves knocked out the supports holding the drops in place, and the condemned fell.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref>Leonard, p. 133-134.</ref> 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.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> She appeared to die relatively quickly with little struggle.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1865-07-08 |title=END OF THE ASSASSINS; Execution of Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Herrold and Atzeroth. Their Demeanor on Thursday Night and Friday Morning. Attempt to Release Mrs. Surratt on a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Argument of Counsel Order of the President. SCENES AT THE SCAFFOLD. The Four Hang Together and Die Simultaneously. Interesting Incidents----Excitement in Washington---Order and Quiet in the City. THE HABEAS CORPUS. SCENES AT THE OLD CAPITOL MRS. SURRATT. WORDING OF THE PETITION THE RETURN GEN. HANCOCK APPEARED, PRESIDENT'S INDORSEMENT. LEWIS PAYNE, DAVID E. HERROLD GEORGE A. ATZEROTH THE MORNING OF THE DAY STATEMENTS OF PAYNE. DEMEANOR OF THE CONDEMNED. THE SCAFFOLD. THE PROCESSION OF DEATH. REMARKS AND PRAYERS OF THE ATTENDING CLERGY. THE LAST PAINFUL SCENE. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/07/08/archives/end-of-the-assassins-execution-of-mrs-surratt-payne-herrold-and.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917073022/https://www.nytimes.com/1865/07/08/archives/end-of-the-assassins-execution-of-mrs-surratt-payne-herrold-and.html |archive-date=2018-09-17 |access-date=2020-01-28 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Atzerodt's stomach heaved once and his legs quivered; then, he was still.<ref name="Kauffmann374">Kauffmann, p. 374.</ref><ref name="Katz184">Katz, p. 184.</ref> Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes, strangling to death.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /><ref name="Kauffmann374" /><ref name="Katz184" />
==Burial==
[[File:Mary Surratt grave section 12 - Mt Olivet - Washington DC - 2014.jpg|thumb|left|Grave of Mary Surratt (with modern headstone) at Mount Olivet Cemetery.]]
Each body was inspected by a physician to ensure that death had occurred.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref name="Leonard134" /><ref name="Kauffmann374" /> The bodies of the executed were allowed to hang for about 30 minutes<ref name="Leonard134" /><ref name="Watts102" /><ref>Kunhardt and Kunhardt, p. 214.</ref> and soldiers began to cut them down at 1:53 p.m.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> A corporal raced to the top of the gallows and cut down Atzerodt's body, which fell to the ground with a thud.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> He was reprimanded, and the other bodies were cut down more gently.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Herold's body was next, followed by Powell's.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> Surratt's body was cut down at 1:58 p.m.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> 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.<ref name="Gillespie" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" />
Upon examination, the military surgeons determined that no one's neck had been broken by the fall.<ref name="Gillespie" /><ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /> The manacles and cloth bindings were removed but not the white execution masks, and the bodies were placed into the pine coffins.<ref name="SwansonWeinberg29" /><ref name="Leonard134" /> The name of each person was written on a piece of paper by acting Assistant Adjutant R. A. Watts,<ref name="Watts102" /> and inserted in a glass vial, which was placed into the coffin.<ref name="Leonard134" /> The coffins were buried against the prison wall in shallow graves, just a few feet from the gallows.<ref name="Leonard134" /> A white picket fence marked the burial site.<ref name="Ownsbey152">Ownsbey, p. 152.</ref> The night that she died, a mob attacked the Surratt boarding house and began stripping it of souvenirs until the police stopped them.<ref name="Swanson365" />
Anna Surratt unsuccessfully asked for her mother's body for four years.<ref name="Trindal230">Trindal, p. 230.</ref> 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.<ref name="Steers2001257">Steers, 2001, p. 257.</ref> 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.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /><ref name="Steers2001257" /> Booth's body lay alongside them.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /> In February 1869, Edwin Booth asked Johnson for the body of his brother.<ref name="Steers2001257" /> 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.<ref name="Ownsbey152" /><ref name="Trindal230" /><ref name="Steers2010513">Steers, 2010, p. 513.</ref><ref name="Johnson420">Johnson, p. 420.</ref> She was buried in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 1869.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref name="Johnson420" /> Lloyd is buried {{convert|100|yd|m}} from her grave in the same cemetery.<ref name="Chamelee556" />
==Surviving family and home==
[[File:"Like Mudd, Surratts Want Name Cleared" - NARA - 139984 (cropped).tif|thumb|300px|"Like Mudds, Surratts Want Name Cleared", ''[[The 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.<ref name="Chamelee556">Chamlee, p. 556.</ref> She married William Tonry, a government clerk.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> 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 better off.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> The strain of her mother's death left Anna mentally unbalanced, and she suffered from periods of extreme fear that bordered on insanity.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> She died in 1904.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref>Trindal, p. 231.</ref>
After the dismissal of charges against him, John Jr. married and he and his family lived in Baltimore near his sister, Anna.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> He had seven children, <ref name="Trindal1996p233">{{citation |last1=Trindal |first1=Elizabeth Steger |title=Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oc-LIq8Y4QC&pg=PA233 |year=1996 |publisher=[[Pelican Publishing Company|Pelican Pub. Co.]] |lccn=95050031 |isbn=978-1-56554-185-6 |page=233}}</ref> the only one of Mary's children with issue.
Isaac Surratt also returned to the United States and lived in Baltimore.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> He died unmarried in 1907.<ref name="Steers2010513" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/11/04/104999283.pdf |title=Isaac D. Surratt Dead.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 4, 1907 |access-date=4 March 2020}}</ref> Isaac and Anna were buried on either side of their mother in [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]].<ref name="Chamelee556" /> John Jr. was buried in Baltimore in 1916.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> In 1968, a new headstone with a brass plaque replaced the old, defaced headstone over Mary Surratt's grave.<ref>Bucklee, p. 441.</ref>
[[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|Mary Surratt's boarding house]] still stands and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2009.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/weekly_features/Surratt_Boarding_House.pdf "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 April 15, 2011.</ref> Those interested in Mary Surratt formed the Surratt Society.<ref name="Chamelee556" /> The Surrattsville tavern and [[Surratt House Museum|house]] are historical sites run today by the Surratt Society as a [[historic house museum]].<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" /> The Washington Arsenal is now [[Fort Lesley J. McNair]].<ref name="SwansonWeinberg31" />
==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]]''.<ref>Kuhn, p. 160.</ref> She was portrayed by [[Robin Wright (actress)|Robin Wright]] in the 2011 film ''[[The Conspirator]]'', which was directed by [[Robert Redford]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Ann|last=Hornaday|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-conspirator-and-the-lost-union-cause/2011/04/14/AFhcYjeD_story.html|title=Robert Redford's 'The Conspirator' and the lost Union cause|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 14, 2011|access-date=May 16, 2018}}</ref> She was portrayed by [[Carrie Lazar]] in the 2024 television series ''[[Manhunt (miniseries)|Manhunt]]'' by showrunner [[Monica Beletsky]].<ref>https://time.com/6835402/manhunt-true-story-lincoln-apple-tv/</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
NIGGA ARE BAD
==External links==
{{commons category|Mary Surratt}}
*[https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2011/09/anna-surratt.html Anna Surratt], daughter
*[http://surrattmuseum.org/ Surratt Society and Museum]
*[https://www.fold3.com/image/6390472 Read through the Lincoln Assassination Papers] about evidence against Mary Surratt
*[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7046 Historic Marker at the Surratt Boarding House]
*[http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln26.html Brief Mary Surratt Biography (written by a retired teacher especially for students and schools)]
* {{citation | last = Blattman | first = Elissa | title = The First Woman Executed by the U.S. Government | publisher = National Women's History Museum | year = 2013 | url = https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/first-woman-executed-us-government}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surratt, Mary}}
[[Category:1820s births]]
[[Category:1865 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesswomen]]
[[Category:19th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:American women slave owners]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism]]
[[Category:19th-century executions of American people]]
[[Category:Executed American women]]
[[Category:Executed people from Maryland]]
[[Category:Lincoln assassination conspirators]]
[[Category:Executed American assassins]]
[[Category:People from Clinton, Maryland]]
[[Category:People of Maryland in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Women in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Catholics from Maryland]]
[[Category:Civilians who were court-martialed]]' |
Unified diff of changes made by edit (edit_diff) | '@@ -196,74 +196,5 @@
{{reflist|30em}}
-==Sources==
-{{portal|American Civil War}}
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-*Steers Jr. Edward and Holzer, Harold. ''The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators: Their Confinement and Execution, as Recorded in the Letterbook of John Frederick Hartranft.'' Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 2009.
-*Stern, Philip Van Doren. ''An End to Valor: The Last Days of the Civil War.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958.
-*"Surratt, Mary." In ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica.'' Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1998.
-*"Surratt, Mary E. Jenkins (1823–1865)." In ''Women in the American Civil War.'' Lisa Tendrich Frank, ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008.
-*"Surratt, Mary Eugenia Jenkins (1817–1865)." In ''Historical Dictionary of Reconstruction.'' Hans Louis Trefousse, ed. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
-*Swanson, James L. ''Manhunt: The Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer''. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. {{ISBN|0-06-051850-2}}
-*Swanson, James L. and Weinberg, Daniel R. ''Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution.'' New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.
-*Townsend, George Alfred. ''The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth''. New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, Publishers, 1886.
-*Townsend, George Alfred. ''Washington, Outside and Inside: A Picture and a Narrative of the Origin, Growth, Excellencies, Abuses, Beauties, and Personages of Our Governing City.'' Hartford, Conn.: S.M. Betts & Co., 1874.
-*Trindal, Elizabeth Steger. ''Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy''. Pelican Pub. Co., 1996. {{ISBN|1-56554-185-5}}
-*Turner, Thomas Reed. ''Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982.
-*Van Doren, Charles Lincoln and McHenry, Robert. ''Webster's American Biographies.'' Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1984.
-*Verge, Laurie. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3BJv0EPr7ygC&pg=PR52 "Mary Elizabeth Surratt"]. In ''The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators.'' Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
-*Watts, R.A. "Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators." ''Michigan History Magazine.'' 6:1 (1922).
-*Weichmann, Louis J. and Richards, A.C. ''A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865.'' New York: Knopf, 1975.
-*Zanca, Kenneth J.. ''The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt: How They Responded to the Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirator''. University Press of America, 2008. {{ISBN|0-7618-4023-0}}
+NIGGA ARE BAD
==External links==
' |
Lines removed in edit (removed_lines) | [
0 => '==Sources==',
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61 => '*Townsend, George Alfred. ''The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth''. New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, Publishers, 1886.',
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63 => '*Trindal, Elizabeth Steger. ''Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy''. Pelican Pub. Co., 1996. {{ISBN|1-56554-185-5}}',
64 => '*Turner, Thomas Reed. ''Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982.',
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68 => '*Weichmann, Louis J. and Richards, A.C. ''A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865.'' New York: Knopf, 1975.',
69 => '*Zanca, Kenneth J.. ''The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt: How They Responded to the Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirator''. University Press of America, 2008. {{ISBN|0-7618-4023-0}}'
] |
