Historical Context
01
Mary Surratt got hanged because people thought she was part of the plot to kill President Abraham Lincoln, even though the evidence against her was debated.
02
Mary Surratt's son, John Surratt, was a friend of the assassin John Wilkes Booth, that killed Abraham Lincoln.
03
There were 9 prisoners on trial and 4 of them got the death sentence of being hanged.
04
Mary Surratt owned and lived in a boarding house in Washington DC. She let anyone come in and she would feed them and give them a room for free.
05
The 3 things that Mary Surratt did that were accused of being a part of the assassination were
1. John Wilkes Booth have frequented her home
2. Mary Surratt delivered a message to John Lloyd the day of the assassination
3. She claimed to not regonize Lewis Powell on the night of her arrest
06
Mary Surratt is very religous being Catholic and is friends with priests including church feeling like the only safe place.
07
The public needed someone to blame and be angry at for the death of Abraham Lincoln so they chose to blame Mary Surratt.
08
The 4 people that got hanged were Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1875.
09
Shortly after the assassination the killer, John Wilkes Booth, was shot and died in a burning barn.
10
Mary Surratt during trial in the court wore a black veil to cover her face from the spectators while they shouted very rude things at her.
THE HISTORICAL RECORD • THE HISTORICAL RECORD • THE HISTORICAL RECORD •
Mary Surratt got hanged because people thought she was part of the plot to kill President Abraham Lincoln, even though the evidence against her was debated.
Key Characters
THE
PROCEEDINGS
THE CHARGES
Mary Surrat was one of nine people tried for conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. She was convicted largely on the testamony of John Lloyd and Louis Weichmann. Lloyd leased a tavern from Surratt while Weichmann was one of her tenants.
THE VERDICT
The military tribunal found her guilty on all charges but two. A death sentence required six of the nine votes of the judges. Surratt was sentenced to death, the first woman executed by the federal government.
THE AFTERMATH
Over 150 years after Mary Surratt's death, debate still rages about if she was innocent and if she deserved to be hanged.
John Surratt's Quote
"Knowing that she was entirely innocent of any connection with the so-called conspiracy, though her sympathies were undeniably with the Confederacy, I could not imagine she was in any danger. I did not dream of the intense bitterness and prejudice that was manifested in her trial."