Preston Reddick

James Stapp
ENGL 1113
25 November 2014
Mary Surratt: The First Woman Wrongfully Executed by the United States
Mary E. Surratt, the first woman executed by the United States government, should not
have been sentenced to death, rather should have received a life sentence for her role in the
conspiracy to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt owned a boarding house on H
Street in Washington DC, also she owned a Tavern outside of Washington in a town founded by
her and her husband named Surrattsville. When her husband died, it forced her to open the
boarding house in the capitol. When the Civil war broke out in 1861, her youngest son John
became a spy for the Confederacy, carrying messages across union lines. This would prove to be
damning evidence against Mary Surratt (Kingseed, 2004).
On April 14, 1865, Good Friday, one of the most daring and tragic crimes in U.S. history
took place, at Fords Theatre, in Washington D.C. Five days prior to Good Friday, General Lee
surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox court house in Virginia bringing peace to
the war torn nation. President Abraham Lincoln had recently been reelected to office, and he
was feeling relief from the stress that had plagued him since he first took presidency in 1860. For
the first time in his office, there was no worry from war, no generals on the battlefield front line
sending telegrams; finally, there was peace (Linder, 2009).
President Lincoln and his wife decided to attend a play with the Union officer, Major
Henry Rathbone, and his wife, Clara Harris. The President, the First Lady, and their guests were
over-looking stage, while seated to the left of it, in a box set aside for the President. Meanwhile,
John Wilkes Booth, a relatively famous actor of the time, and also well-known due to his many
performances in Fords Theatre, was preparing for the final act that unfolded into a tragic ending.

With relative ease, Booth made his way up to the Presidential box without raising suspicions of
the coming dramatic events. Earlier in the night, Booth created a peep hole with the purpose of
spying on the President. He did this in order to ensure that his plan was executed at the exact
right moment. Upon arrival to the box, Booth entered in the doorway behind the President and
had a clear view through his peep hole. During the second scene, of the third act, Booth made his
move (Linder, 2009).
Booth quietly opened the door, pulled out his pistol, carefully aimed at the back of the
presidents head, and fired. Revenge for the South! he shouted, as he then leaped to the stage
from the balcony. This move caused him to injure his ankle, but he recovered by standing and
speaking as a true actor delivering a provocative statement for the crow. In this moment, he
famously shouted the words Sic Semper tyrannus, the South is avenged. Booth then headed
for the back entrance, exited the theatre, climbed on his horse, and hastily made his way out of
the city. As Booth was pulling off one of the most daring crimes in history, two other men were
on a mission to leave the US government confused, scared and without a leader (Linder, 2009)
Lewis Powell or Paine, and George Atzerodt, the two other men who played a violent
hand in the conspiracy were preparing to execute their part of the plan. Powell would kill
Secretary of State William Seward, and Atzerodt would kill Vice President Andrew Johnson.
Powell made his way to the Secretaries home, claiming that he had a package for Seward; he was
aloud in, Powell then made his way up the stairs towards Sewards bedroom where he lay
bedridden from a recent carriage accident. Powell pulled his pistol on the man standing guard
outsides Sewards room but it jammed he then bludgeoned him with the pistol handle, Powell
kicked the door in, drew his knife, and began stabbing Seward multiple times. Once Powell

believed the job was done he quickly made his way out of the home and threw his knife away on
the grounds in front of the home and disappeared into the night (Blattman).
George Atzerodt was not quite as successful, he entered the premises with the intent to
kill the Vice President, but instead he approached the bar and began drinking, soon Atzerodt
became intoxicated, lost his nerve and fled. Booth and Herold were making their way towards
one of the southern bridges out of the capitol separately only to meet up later on their way to
Surrattsville to pick up provisions for the trip south where they would be accepted as heroes
(Linder, 2004).
Around midnight, Booth and Herold arrived at Surrattsville for provisions that had
allegedly been left for them by Mary Surratt, the provisions included two rifles, some
ammunition, and bottles of whiskey. From Surrattsville, the two headed further south into
Virginia to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, there is much debate as to whether the Dr. was part of
the conspiracy and knew Booth would arrive that night or if he simply was happened upon by
Booth and Herold and forced to render medical treatment to Booths broken leg. Eventually
Booth and Herold would be surrounded by troops in a barn in Virginia, the troops set fire to the
barn and Herold surrendered but Booth would not and would be shot by a soldier thru a crack
behind him (Linder, 2004)
Back in Washington, the President is dead, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton has assumed
operational control of the situation and has ordered that the entire city be closed, the cast of the
Play Our American Cousin is taken into custody and questioned, they identify John Wilkes
Booth as the assassin, and many men that resemble Booth are arrested. Soon the Army discovers
where Booth has been staying while in Washington, its a boarding house on H Street owned by
Mary Surratt, a southern sympathizer and a widow. She is forty two, and considered to be an old

woman at the time, she lives at the boarding house with her daughter Anna and her son John who
is a Confederate spy absent at the time of Lincolns murder. On April 17th just after 11 pm
Secretary Stanton orders Mary Surratts boarding house raided and searched. While the military
was conducting the investigation there was a knock at the door, it is Lewis Powell with a shovel
in his hand. He is surprised by a man in uniform answering the door and tells him he has the
wrong house, the soldier asks him who he is looking for, he replies Mary Surratt, she hired me
to dig a gutter for her, the soldier is puzzled as it is almost midnight. He calls Mrs. Surratt to
the door and asks if she knows this man, Mrs. Surratt denies knowing him, Lewis Powell is
arrested. The soldiers continue the investigation, a small picture of John Wilkes Booth is found
behind the frame of another picture. This was the evidence the soldiers had come for and Mary
Surratt was taken into custody (Linder, 2009).
Much debate was had on the issue that Edwin Stanton had decided that the trial should be
swift and quick and would take place before a military commission. The fact that civilians were
being tried by a military court was groundbreaking and unconstitutional, by the laws of our
Nation this trial should never have been allowed to take pace. The Attorney of Mary Surratt,
Fredrick Aiken, argued this to no avail, the fact of the matter is, this trial could have been
considered by some as having a predetermined outcome, as to ease the suffering of the Nation
over the loss of its leader. However, Edwin Stanton and President Johnson needed to confirm the
legitimacy of the trial therefore commissioned Attorney General James Speed to find an avenue
that would pave the way for the quick trial and execution that the President, and the Secretary of
War desired. Speed did so by stating that an attack on the President could be considered an
attack on the United Stated itself therefore was an act of war (Linder, 2009).

Despite this, General Lee had, earlier that year, surrendered to General Grant, ending the
War and uniting the Nation once more, making the citizens previously part of the Confederacy
part of the United States. With the backing from the United States Government and the Attorney
General, on May 1, 1865, the President ordered that those who allegedly conspired to kill
Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward, and himself, be tried before military
commission (Linder, 2009)
On top of this trial being unconstitutional, it was also carried out with extreme prejudice,
Mary Surratt was assigned council but it seemed more of a formality. Fredrick Aiken, the
attorney assigned to the case was given only days to prepare for the case while the prosecution
was given at the very least two weeks to prepare its case when the trial began on May 12, 1865,
this was three days after the prisoners were even asked if they desired to have legal counsel.
This court hearing would not be held in the way that a civilian court would have been, in a
civilian courtroom a jury must unanimously agree upon a verdict if they cannot agree then it is
considered a hung jury and a retrial must take place, this is not the case for a military
commission. The defendants could be convicted on a majority vote and the death penalty could
be handed down by a two-thirds vote (Linder, 2009).
It already seems as if Mary Surratt is on the predetermined losing side of this case to the
point where no matter what evidence or defense Fredrick Aiken makes, no matter how
substantial the evidence, the Generals on the commission have their minds made before the trial
ever began. John Lloyd, the inn keeper at the tavern in Surrattsville on April 14, 1865, testified
that Surratt and Lewis Weichmann came to him that night with a package wrapped in newspaper
and was instructed to hide them and to have bottles of whiskey ready for two men that would
come for them later that night. This and the testimony of Lewis Weichmann would prove to be

the most damning against Surratt. In addition to this, the fact remained that Mary Surratt denied
knowing Lewis Powell when he told investigators that she hired him to dig a gutter for her. Does
this prove she aided and/or knew about the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln? No it does not. It
simply means that Mary Surratt most likely knew of the plot to kidnap the President, and in
fearing that her association with any of the men involved in the conspiracy would incriminate her
as well, denied knowing him. The fact is, Booth only decided to murder Lincoln after he had
heard a speech by the President on April 11, just three days before the assassination, that
infuriated him, Booth proclaimed to Powell and Herold, who were with him at the time, That
means Negro suffrage. Now by God, Ill run him through. Thats the last speech he will make
(Kingseed, 2004; Biography of Mary Surratt).
By no means was Mary Surratt completely innocent, she knew of the business her son
was involved in, a spy for the confederate army, she knew the loyalties of John Wilkes Booth,
and that of her other boarders. But the evidence presented by the prosecution in this case does
not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she did in fact conspire to murder the President, just
kidnap him. Being convicted of conspiring to kidnap the President, given her gender and age,
may have saved her from the gallows (Kingseed, 2004).
On July 7, 1865, the Military commission handed down a guilty verdict for Mary Surratt.
In a last ditch effort to stay her execution and be afforded the chance for Surratt to be tried in a
civilian courtroom, Fredrick Aiken managed to secure a writ of habeas corpus. This failed when
President Johnson suspended it for the purpose of this trial. Mary Surratt and three other
conspirators were hanged that day, while Surratt proclaimed her innocence to her last breath by
stating just before she was hanged I wish to say to the people that I am innocent. She died
immediately after (Elissa Blattman, National Womens History Museum).

To this day, the case involving Mary Surratt to aide in conspiring to assassinate President
Lincoln remains highly debated. The main argument must not be whether she was guilty or not,
rather, was there enough substantial evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mary E.
Surratt did in fact know about and assist in the plot to commit one of the most horrendous crimes
in our nations history, and the answer must be no. That being said the truth of her involvement
will never be discovered (Kingseed, 2004).

Works Cited
"Biography of Mary Surratt, Lincoln Assassination Conspirator." Biography of Mary Surratt,
Lincoln Assassination Conspirator. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Blattman, Elissa. "Mary Surratt, the First Woman Executed by the US Government." National
Women's History Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Kingseed, Wyatt. "A Burned Letter, Conflicting Stories And An Absent Son Helped To Send
Mary Surratt To The Gallows." America's Civil War 16.6 (2004): 12. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Linder, Doug. "The Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators." The Trial of the Lincoln
Assassination Conspirators. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.