The Controversial Tale Of Mary Surratt: A Lincoln Assassination Co-Conspirator Who Became The First Woman Executed By The United States Government

Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Gift of Mr. Grosvenor H. Backus, Class of 1894 - pictured above is a photo of Abraham Lincoln taken on November 8th, 1863
Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Gift of Mr. Grosvenor H. Backus, Class of 1894 - pictured above is a photo of Abraham Lincoln taken on November 8th, 1863

Following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865, four condemned prisoners were led through the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on July 7, 1865.

The penitentiary, which was located just outside of Washington, D.C., witnessed a crowd of more than 1,000 people that day. But, it was the prisoners’ supposed fate that truly attracted so many eyes and ears.

The detained were allegedly John Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirators– Lewis Powel, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and a woman named Mary Surratt.

The four, whose ankles and wrists were bound, were escorted to the gallows by General John F. Hartranft. And at the front of the prisoner line was Mary– wearing a veil, bonnet, and black dress.

Eventually, the prisoners found their seats. Mary sat to the left of the others in a chair known as the “seat of honor,” which had a front-row view of the execution.

But, before the proceedings could begin, one of the prisoners spoke out.

“Mrs. Surrat is innocent. She doesn’t deserve to die with the rest of us,” the prisoner said.

Yet, under 20 minutes later, all four of the prisoners’ bodies were hung from the gallows.

And to this day, the fact that Mary was executed alongside the other three men has remained a heated controversy. It is undeniable that Atzerodt, Herold, and Powell were all involved in the planning of former President Lincoln’s assassination.

Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Gift of Mr. Grosvenor H. Backus, Class of 1894 – pictured above is a photo of Abraham Lincoln taken on November 8th, 1863

However, Mary Surratt’s role was more elusive and speculative. So, for numerous Americans, Mary being grouped in with the other men was a shocking and puzzling sight.

Who Was Mary Surratt? 

Mary Surratt was originally born Mary Elizabeth Jenkins– the daughter of a tobacco farmer from Maryland. She grew up in a family that owned slaves, and once she was 17-years-old, she married another slave-owning farmer named John Harrison Surratt.

And, much like many Maryland farmers who depended on slave labor, John was very open about his support of the Southern secession.

Eventually, though, a fire ended up burning down Mary and John’s farm. The flames were reportedly set by a runaway slave and forced the Surratts to pivot their business operations.

The couple then opened up a tavern located in Clinton, Maryland, which also doubled as their home. But, it appears that a tavern was not the best idea since John, who was an alcoholic, fell into substantial debt within just a few years.

It is also important to note that during the North-South conflict, Maryland was a pivotal state. Just two percent of voters favored Abraham Lincoln, despite the state remaining a part of the Union after the Civil War began.

So, soon after, John and Mary’s eldest son Isaac did join the Confederate Army. The couple’s youngest son, John Surratt Jr., also started working for the Confederate Secret Service.

Despite this, the war’s turbulent effect on the economy did not spare John Sr., and the Surratts delved head first even more debt.

By 1862, John also passed away– leaving Mary alone in a very tough financial situation. So, at 39 years old, she ultimately decided to rent out her family’s tavern and Maryland farm. At the same time, she and her sons, as well as her daughter, Anna, moved to a small Washington, D.C., townhouse that she inherited.

Mary also converted the townhome’s upper floor into a tiny boarding house. Her plan was to rent out the space in order to make a small living. Despite her seemingly good intentions, though, this boarding house would eventually seal her fate during the trial.

After moving to Washington, D.C., Mary’s son John befriended a well-known Southern actor– John Wilkes Booth. And after becoming friends, the pair would often meet up in the boarding house.

So, the boarding house– which was located less than a mile away from the White House– eventually served as a safe house for Confederate spies and rebel agents. Most notably, the boarding house was also where John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators concocted the plan to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

By April 1865, though, that plan changed drastically. After the Union triumphed over the Confederacy, Booth and his co-conspirators decided to switch courses.

Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

Originally, John Wilkes Booth’s plan was to abduct Lincoln. Then, he was going to transport the president to Richmond and offer him up in exchange for Confederate war prisoners.

So, while fleshing out the kidnapping plan, both Booth and John Surratt Jr. decided to recruit more co-conspirators. Then, the group’s meetings were hosted at Mary Surratt’s boarding house, and their guns and ammunition were stored at Mary’s Maryland tavern.

Once the Confederacy surrendered on April 9, 1865, though, Booth and his group quickly changed their plans. They were no longer interested in kidnapping but rather in carrying out an assassination.

Booth was supposed to kill Lincoln; meanwhile, George Atzerodt was tasked with killing Vice President Andrew Johnson. Additionally, David Herold and Lewis Powell planned to kill the Secretary of State, William H. Seward.

So, altogether, the group believed that this three-fold murder would essentially paralyze the U.S. government.

But, five days later, just John Wilkes Booth was successful in his attempt to kill. Moreover, within mere hours of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre, Mary Surratt was visited by District of Columbia police at her boarding house.

Upon arrival, the officers explained that while they were looking for Booth, they were also searching for her son John– who had been suspected of helping Herold and Powell.

However, Booth ultimately fled to Maryland in order to collect his weapons from Mary’s tavern. Then, he ventured south to Virginia, where he was eventually killed by Union soldiers.

At the same time, John made a run for it and went to Canada. Afterward, he flew to Europe, posed as a Canadian citizen, and joined a volunteer regiment known as Papal Zouaves– which was defending the Vatican amidst Italian unification.

Authorities from the U.S. did eventually catch up with John in Egypt. But, he was still able to avoid the gallows– unlike his mother.

Instead, Mary was questioned by officers, and historians have since described her interrogation responses as “confident and arrogant.” She reportedly denied ever knowing about the assassination, despite some historians believing that she at least knew about her son’s plan to kidnap the president.

Nonetheless, it was the boarding house– owned by Mary– where all of the group’s meetings had been held.

In addition to this fact, John Lloyd, her tavern keeper in Maryland, made some incriminating statements. Apparently, John claimed that on the day of the assassination, Mary told him to keep weapons ready for Booth and Herold. The two men had supposedly planned to rendezvous at the tavern following the murders.

So, this claim– coupled with the fact that Mary was essentially the conspirators’ landlord– landed Mary in hot water. She was ultimately arrested and placed on trial alongside Atzerodt, Powell, and Herold.

The Trial of Mary Surratt

Mary Surratt stood trial on May 12, 1865. But, rather than a civil court, Mary stood before a military tribunal made up of nine men.

This was highly controversial at that point, likely due to the fact that the Noth and the South were still not very agreeable.

Nonetheless, Mary proceeded to claim that she was innocent throughout all of the proceedings. Numerous friends and priests also showed up to defend her, as well as her daughter, Anna.

Aside from Mary’s character witnesses, though, other testimonies did not do wonders for Mary’s reputation.

One witness even testified that Mary had “devoted body and soul to the cause of the South.”

John Lloyd also went up on the stand and retold his incriminating claim– detailing how weapons had been stored at the Maryland tavern for the group of conspirators.

So, by the end of the trial, the tribunal did not accept Mary’s pleas of innocence. Instead, she was convicted of assisting in the assassination plot and was sentenced to death by hanging.

Out of the nine tribunal members, though, five did suggest that President Andrew Johnson commute Mary’s sentence– believing that she should get life in prison.

Her daughter, Anna, also begged on the White House front lawn for President Johnson to commute the sentence.

Although, it is unclear what happened next. According to some accounts, Johnson reportedly never received the letter which asked him to commute Mary’s sentence. If this is true, then Johnson presumably never saw Anna pleading on the lawn, either.

Others claim that Johnson just refused the commutation outright, though.

“She kept the nest that hatched the egg,” the president reportedly said.

Regardless of what exactly happened, Johnson ended up signing Mary’s execution order on July 5. Then, that very day, the gallows started to be constructed.

And on July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt ultimately became the first woman to ever be handed by the U.S. government.

The Controversial Execution Of Mary Surratt

Throughout the trial, Mary Surratt was generally regarded with contempt by the public. One writer from The Chicago Tribune even called her a “miserable creature.”

Following the actual execution, though– and the circulation of images showing Mary hanging at the gallows– numerous Americans expressed a change of heart. More specifically, many started to question whether or not Mary’s fate was fair.

Then, during the years following her execution, the rates of women receiving capital punishment dropped significantly. By April 1866, the Supreme Court also ruled that citizens being tried before military commissions was unconstitutional. This ruling actually saved Mary’s son’s life.

Now, to this day, the Surrat House and Tavern have been maintained as a historical landmark and museum– making it the oldest home in Clinton, Maryland. At the same time, her boarding house in Washington, D.C., is a Chinese restaurant known as Wok and Roll.

As for Mary’s verdict, many Americans are still questioning her true role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln over 157 years later.

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Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

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