PIN : 206933–000 

•• STAFF RIDE GUIDE ••

THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

by Joseph A. Beard and Shane D. Makowicki

Center of Military History

United States Army

Washington, D.C., 2020
CMH Pub 35–4–1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Beard, Joseph A., author. | Makowicki, Shane D., author. | 

Center of Military History, issuing body. 

Title: The Lincoln assassination / by Joseph A. Beard and Shane D. 

Makowicki. 

Other titles: Staff ride guide. 

Description: Washington, D.C. : Center of Military History, United States Army, 2020. | Series: Staff ride guide | Includes bibliographical references. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2020022799

Subjects: LCSH: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Assassination. | 

Booth, John Wilkes, 1838–1865. | Presidents—Assassination—

Washington (D.C.) | Staff rides—Washington Region. | United 

States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Biography. 

Classification: LCC E457.5 .B43 2020 | DDC 973.7092/2—dc23 | SUDOC D 114.12:L 63 

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022799
•• iii ••

FOREWORD

Since 1906, when Maj. Eben Swift took a dozen officer-students 

from Fort Leavenworth’s General Service and Staff School to the 

Chickamauga battlefield, the U.S. Army has used the staff ride as 

a tool for professional development, honing the critical thinking 

and decision-making skills of contemporary soldiers, and enabling 

them to learn and gain insights from the past. Since that time, Army 

educators have employed staff rides to provide both soldiers and 

civilians a better understanding of past military operations, the 

complexities and vagaries of warfare, and military planning.

In the twenty-first century, our Army has learned to adapt and 

apply the staff ride methodology beyond the boundaries of the 

terrestrial battlefield. While traditional staff rides covering battles or 

campaigns at the tactical and operational levels of war continue to 

be very useful, staff ride methodology also can be adapted to enable 

deeper and broader exploration of other events connecting and 

influencing matters of strategy and policy.

To support both traditional and nontraditional staff ride 

initiatives, the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) publishes 

staff ride guides, such as this one on the assassination of President 

Abraham Lincoln and the trial of his conspirators. This account is 

drawn principally from primary and secondary sources and from the 

sworn testimony of the conspirators and other participants.

The Lincoln Assassination Staff Ride offers significant political, 

strategic, legal, and military lessons. Revisiting the historic sites 

associated with the assassination’s planning, execution, and 

aftermath—including the site of the conspirators’ trial by military 

commission, viewed through the eyes of the actual participants—

affords students insights into decision making under immense 

pressure and the human condition during times of crisis. 

The Lincoln assassination was, in a manner of speaking, a first 

engagement—the first time an American president was murdered as 

part of a deliberate plan to decapitate the U.S. government. It was a 

climatic test of our war-torn nation’s resiliency and legal ethics under 

the Constitution. We hope this volume will prove a useful reference 

for those conducting staff rides to the pertinent scenes of this 

infamous plot and calamitous crime that made an indelible impact 

on American history.

Washington, D.C. PETER G. KNIGHT, Ph.D.

8 January 2020 Chief, Field and International

History Programs Division

•• v ••

THE AUTHORS

Joseph A. Beard is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas Tech University, 

where he studies world history with a focus on Chinese, British, and 

American relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His 

dissertation examines the economic, social, military, political, and 

diplomatic relations between China, Britain, and the United States 

from 1784 to 1860, concentrating on the growth of imperialism and 

studying the experiences of these political states through the lens of 

trade in Canton, China. He received his B.A. from Abilene Christian 

University in 2000 and his M.A. from the University of North Texas 

in 2005. He is currently a graduate research assistant in CMH’s Field 

Programs and Historical Services Directorate, where he helped lead 

more than a dozen staff rides in the Washington, D.C., area. He 

completed the writing of this project using research begun by Shane 

Makowicki, a previous graduate research assistant.

Shane D. Makowicki is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University, 

where he studies American and European military history with a focus 

on occupation, military government, and civil-military relations. 

His dissertation analyzes the interplay of conventional operations, 

guerrilla warfare, and occupation in eastern North Carolina during 

the American Civil War. He received his B.A. from the University 

of Connecticut in 2013 and his M.A. from Texas A&M University in 

2016. He spent 2018–2019 as a graduate research assistant in CMH’s 

Field Programs and Historical Services Directorate, where he helped 

lead dozens of staff rides to sites in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, 

and Washington, D.C. He holds a dissertation fellowship with CMH 

for 2019–2020. He initiated this project and conducted much of the 

research that led to its completion.

•• vii ••

PREFACE

The death of President Abraham Lincoln at the hands of the wellknown actor John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865 was a devastating 

event for the Union and an overwhelming shock to the nation as a 

whole. The timing of the event was itself unsettling, given that the 

Confederacy was losing the American Civil War, and the brutal, fouryear conflict was coming to a close. Lincoln’s assassination followed 

General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Court House on 

9 April, yet it occurred before the official surrender of the Confederate 

government or the capture of its president, Jefferson F. Davis. Many 

feared that Lincoln’s assassination would cause a resurgence in the 

conflict, and there was a widespread belief that Confederate agents 

had committed the attack as a desperate attempt to do just that. 

The immediate reaction of many in the North was to blame the 

Confederacy either for tacitly supporting the plot or for carrying 

it out directly. Although the ties between the Confederacy and the 

assassination continue to be debated to this day, the manhunt for and 

killing of Booth, the ultimate capture of Booth’s co-conspirators, and 

their eventual trial by a military commission brought some measure 

of clarity to the situation.

As with all Army staff rides, this one seeks to enlighten 

participants through their prior study of specific topics and their 

subsequent visits to relevant physical locations. The goal is for 

staff ride participants to exercise critical thinking skills and gain 

valuable insights from the past, all of which could prove useful in 

addressing future challenges. Elements of this staff ride experience 

are unique compared to our traditional battlefield staff rides. Its 

complexity allows for myriad lessons concerning the military, 

civilian government, legal jurisprudence, and the practice of 

historical study itself. The Lincoln Assassination Staff Ride sites 

are conveniently located for audiences whose daily operations take 

place in the National Capital Region.

Aspects of the Lincoln assassination and the ensuing trial of the 

conspirators continue to be debated today. This staff ride experience 

gives participants a chance to explore these historical debates as 

they learn about an important event in U.S. history. Participation—

through attentive reading of source material before the staff ride and 

active contributions to discussions during the staff ride itself—is 

essential to historical education and will facilitate successful active 

learning during this event. The information acquired from both 

individual study and thoughtful discussions with other staff ride 

participants and facilitators undoubtedly will lead to increased insight 
•• viii ••

for military and government personnel and any other individuals 

involved. Through this experience, participants will learn about 

specific historical events and their resulting outcomes, and they will 

relate and apply the insights they gain to contemporary issues. 

This guide is meant to help prepare anyone planning to carry 

out the Lincoln Assassination Staff Ride, and it will give the 

reader additional sources of information on the subject. Thorough 

preparation is essential. In the preliminary study phase of the staff 

ride, participants will read pertinent material before the event. It is 

highly recommended that students read as much material as possible 

before the staff ride itself in order to participate fully and derive 

maximum benefit from the experience. During the field study phase 

of the staff ride, participants and facilitators will stop at relevant 

historic sites and take part in discussions of important events and 

topics related to the site. At the end of the staff ride, participants will 

go through an integration phase in which information discussed in the 

earlier phases is analyzed and evaluated for its significance, ensuring 

the students begin to apply what they have learned. The U.S. Army 

Center of Military History is excited to present this nontraditional 

staff ride and is confident that participants will find the experience to 

be both intellectually enhancing and personally rewarding.

Washington, D.C. JOSEPH A. BEARD

8 January 2020 SHANE D. MAKOWICKI
•• ix ••

CONTENTS

Page

The Lincoln Assassination and the Wider Conspiracy: 

An Overview .

Prelude to the Lincoln Assassination .

The Lincoln Assassination .

Additional Assassination Attempts . 

Immediate Consequences: The Manhunt . 

Trial and Sentencing of the Conspirators . 

Aftermath and Analysis . 

Further Readings . 

Chronology . 

Army Reaction to the Assassination . 

Order of Presidential Succession in 1865 . 

Military Commission for the Trial . 

Legacy and Collective Memory: The Changing Historical

Narrative . 

Selected Biographical Sketches . 

Targets of the Conspiracy . 

Abraham Lincoln . 

Andrew Johnson . 

William H. Seward . 

Ulysses S. Grant . 

Conspirators . 

John Wilkes Booth . 

Mary E. J. Surratt . 

Lewis T. Powell . 

David E. Herold . 

George A. Atzerodt . 

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd . 

Michael O’Laughlen Jr. . 

Samuel B. Arnold . 

Edman “Ned” Spangler . 

John H. Surratt Jr. . 

Justice Seekers . 

Edwin M. Stanton . 

Joseph Holt . 

Thomas “Boston” Corbett . 

Suggested Stops and Discussion Topics . 

Stop 1. Ford’s Theatre . 

Stop 2. Petersen House . 

Stop 3. Surratt Boarding House . .
•• x ••

Stop 4. Old Arsenal Penitentiary . .

Stop 5. Surratt House . .

Stop 6. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House . .

Maps

No.

1. John Wilkes Booth’s Escape Route, Washington, D.C. . 

2. Booth and Herold’s Escape Route, Maryland . 

3. Booth and Herold’s Escape Route, Potomac River . 

4. Booth and Herold’s Escape Route, Virginia . 

5. Booth and Herold’s Escape Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Illustrations

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address . .

Lincoln Assassination .

Booth’s Derringer .

Booth’s Knife .

Seward Assassination Attempt . 

Powell’s Revolver . 

Powell’s Knife . 

Booth’s Compass . 

Scene in the Courtroom . 

Conspirators’ Execution . 

Lincoln’s Funeral Procession . 

Booth’s Diary . 

Military Commission and Trial Prosecutors . 

Abraham Lincoln . 

Andrew Johnson . 

William H. Seward . 

Ulysses S. Grant . 

John Wilkes Booth . 

Mary E. J. Surratt . 

Lewis T. Powell . 

David E. Herold . 

George A. Atzerodt . 

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd . 

Michael O’Laughlen Jr. . 

Samuel B. Arnold . 

Edman “Ned” Spangler . 

John H. Surratt Jr. . 

Edwin M. Stanton . 
•• xi ••

Joseph Holt . 

Thomas “Boston” Corbett . 

Ford’s Theatre . 

Petersen House . 

Surratt Boarding House . .

Grant Hall . .

Surratt House . .

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House . .

Front cover: President Abraham Lincoln (right), John Wilkes Booth 

(left), Ford’s Theatre in 1865 (top), and the execution of the conspirators 

(bottom)

Back cover: Poster issued by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton 

advertising reward money for the capture of Booth and his 

accomplices, 20 April 1865

Unless otherwise noted, all images are from the Library of Congress.
Lincoln delivers his second inaugural address on the east portico of the 

U.S. Capitol. Alexander Gardner, detail, 4 March 1865
•• 1 ••

THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION AND THE 

WIDER CONSPIRACY: AN OVERVIEW

Prelude to the Lincoln Assassination

The murder of President Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865—

the first assassination of a U.S. president—was the culmination of 

a conspiracy that had been brewing for months in the minds of at 

least six individuals. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and his 

fellow conspirators hoped that the deaths of Lincoln and other U.S. 

government leaders would aid the Confederacy in the war or, at the 

very least, avenge the Confederacy’s losses. Booth also appears to 

have desired fame, believing that by killing the president he would 

become “immortal in history.”1

Those who the U.S. government ultimately considered to be 

responsible for the assassination included John Wilkes Booth, Mary 

E. J. Surratt, George A. Atzerodt, David E. Herold, Lewis T. Powell, 

John H. Surratt Jr., Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, Samuel B. Arnold, Michael 

O’Laughlen Jr., and Edman “Ned” Spangler. When Booth brought 

the conspirators together in late 1864, they sought at first not to kill 

Lincoln but only to kidnap him. They planned to hold the president 

for ransom in order to demand the release of Confederate prisoners 

of war (POWs). They also hoped the kidnapping might buy the 

Confederacy valuable time to sue for peace in a conflict they were 

otherwise destined to lose. 

In August 1864, John Wilkes Booth, a successful actor from Bel 

Air, Maryland, began recruiting other people to join him in a plot 

to capture the president. That month, Booth met with his boyhood 

friends Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen in Baltimore. He 

convinced them to support his plot to “save the slipping fortunes 

of the Confederacy” by kidnapping the president and taking him 

to Richmond with the ultimate goal to “bring about an exchange of 

prisoners.”2

 Earlier that year, the Union had ended POW exchanges, 

which led to worsening personnel shortages for the Confederate 

military. Booth believed that after capturing Lincoln, Lincoln could 

be traded for many if not all of the Confederate POWs. 

Booth’s original plan in August 1864 was to kidnap Lincoln as he 

traveled from the White House to his part-time weekend residence 

1 Timothy S. Good, We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts 

(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), p. 112. 

2 Samuel B. Arnold, Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator, ed. Michael W. Kauffman

(Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1995), p. 22.
•• 2 ••

at the Soldiers’ Home. This proposal mirrored earlier Confederate 

schemes to capture the president, all of which had fallen through by 

that time, and it is likely that Booth got the idea from his previous 

contact with Confederate agents. He suggested the plan to Arnold 

and O’Laughlen during a meeting at Barnum’s Hotel in Baltimore 

in August, and both readily agreed to take part.3

 Booth believed 

that Lincoln’s trip to the Soldiers’ Home would leave the president 

vulnerable because his route was well known and he often rode alone. 

However, Booth had not been in the District since November 1863 

and was apparently unaware that, in the summer of 1864, Lincoln 

had finally acquiesced to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who 

insisted that Lincoln travel with a full-time security detail. By the fall 

of 1864, Lincoln routinely traveled with the cavalry escort pushed upon 

him by Stanton, which would have foiled a kidnapping plot.4

 Thus, 

Booth’s first plan to kidnap Lincoln never materialized. However, 

by that time, Booth—quite comfortable in theater settings—seemed 

more interested in using a familiar theater for capturing the president, 

who enjoyed attending plays.

As Booth continued planning the kidnapping, he sought a way 

to transport Lincoln through southern Maryland to Richmond, 

Virginia, but he did not know anyone in southern Maryland who 

might assist with the plot. In October 1864, to gain introductions to 

people further south, Booth traveled north to Montreal, Canada—

then a hotbed of Confederate activity, nicknamed “Little Richmond.” 

He visited with two Confederate agents and discussed his plans 

to free Confederate POWs in order to help with the Confederate 

war effort. Through these Canada-based agents, Booth secured 

$1,500 in financial backing as well as introductions to Confederate 

sympathizers living in southern Maryland, including Dr. Samuel 

A. Mudd.5

 With a letter of introduction from a Confederate agent 

in hand, Booth met with Mudd in Charles County, Maryland, in 

November 1864. Mudd then introduced Booth to Confederate 

agent John H. Surratt Jr. in a meeting in Booth’s hotel room in 

3 William A. Tidwell, James O. Hall, and David Winfred Gaddy, Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988), p. 264; Edward Steers Jr., Blood on the Moon: The 

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 

p. 26.

4 Roy Z. Chamlee Jr., Lincoln’s Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, 

Trial, and Punishment (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1990), p. 69; Tidwell, Come Retribution, p. 237. 5 Steers, Blood on the Moon, p. 73.
•• 3 ••

Washington, D.C., in December 1864. Surratt willingly joined in on 

Booth’s presidential kidnapping plot. 

John Surratt was instrumental in recruiting George Atzerodt 

and David Herold into the group of conspirators. Atzerodt, who 

ferried Confederates and supplies back and forth across the Potomac 

River, would be helpful due to his knowledge of the river. Herold, 

a pharmacy worker, had access to chloroform that might be useful 

in subduing the president. He was also an avid hunter who knew 

southern Maryland very well. The final recruit was Lewis Powell (also 

known as Payne or Paine), a former Confederate soldier who recently 

had deserted and was apparently recruited as “muscle.” By January 

1865, Booth had gathered a formidable group of Confederate agents 

and sympathizers with the goal of kidnapping President Lincoln. The 

group met regularly at a boarding house in the District run by Mary 

Surratt, John Surratt’s mother, where several of them began to stay. 

Booth began advocating for staging their operation in a theater, 

believing it would be an ideal location. He knew the layout well and 

thought he could make a quick getaway.6

 Booth next sought to kidnap 

the president during a play at Ford’s Theatre on 18 January 1865. 

The plan, which included tying Lincoln up and lowering him down 

from the theater’s balcony, was infeasible, and the other conspirators 

had reservations with it. Arnold and O’Laughlen were particularly 

taken aback, and they worried that Booth was throwing out months 

of careful planning in favor of this improvised plot. Regardless, this 

proposed kidnapping likely would have failed anyway; Lincoln was 

a no-show at the 18 January performance. Eventually, however, the 

opportunity to attack the president in Ford’s Theatre would present 

itself again. 

By March, the plan began to change, at least in Booth’s mind, 

from kidnapping the president to killing him. This especially appears 

to have been the case following Lincoln’s second inauguration, which 

Booth attended, on 4 March. Afterward, Booth complained, “What 

an excellent chance I had to kill the president, if I had wished, on 

inauguration day.”7

 Still, other members of the group insisted on 

sticking with the kidnapping plan, and the conspirators developed 

a new scheme to abduct Lincoln on 17 March. Hearing that the 

president would be attending a play for Union troops called Still 

6 Michael W. Kauffman, American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln 

Conspiracies (New York: Random House, 2004), pp. 162–63. 7 Benn Pitman, ed., The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the 

Conspirators (New York: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, 1865), p. 45.
•• 4 ••

Waters Run Deep at the Campbell General Hospital in Washington, 

D.C., the conspirators planned an ambush nearby. 

Booth reconnoitered the hospital, ascertaining Lincoln’s arrival 

schedule and level of security, while part of the gang waited at a 

nearby restaurant. Meanwhile, Herold was prepositioned near the 

Surratt Tavern in Maryland with a trunk of weapons and gear from 

Booth. Though Herold would later claim he was only there to go 

duck hunting, Booth’s trunk was heavy with two carbines, a couple 

of double-barrel shotguns, a pistol, a knife, a sword, a wrench (to 

remove the wheels from Lincoln’s carriage, so that it could be ferried 

across the Potomac), and a rope (to be stretched across the road to 

break the pursuit of any cavalry that might follow). 

When Lincoln failed to show at Campbell General Hospital, the 

conspirators were once more left with empty hands and frustrated 

plans. Booth joined his fellow conspirators at the restaurant to 

commiserate. After learning that the plan had been aborted, Herold, 

who had been joined by Surratt and Atzerodt, eventually made his 

way back to the District.

On 11 April, President Lincoln made his last public address to a 

crowd at the White House, two days after General Lee’s surrender 

of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. In his speech, 

Lincoln discussed the plans for Reconstruction, the Emancipation 

Proclamation (which had been announced the previous year), and 

the enfranchisement of black people. Booth, who was in attendance 

along with several other conspirators, was particularly angered by 

the president’s words about giving black people the right to vote. In 

response, Booth claimed, “Now, by God, I will put him through. 

That will be the last speech he will ever make!”8

By April 1865, the conspirators had widened their target list 

beyond Lincoln to include Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary 

of State William H. Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant. The goal 

was to create havoc in the Union by attacking its most important 

leaders. The conspirators believed that without a vice president to 

assume control after the death of the president or a secretary of state 

to call together electors to determine a new president (as called for by 

the Presidential Succession Act of 1792), and with the commanding 

general of the U.S. Army dead, the Union would descend into chaos.

8 Testimony of Thomas T. Eckert, 30 May 1867, before the U.S. Cong., House of 

Representatives, Judiciary Committee, Impeachment Investigation, 39th Cong., 2d 

sess., and 40th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1867), p. 674.
•• 5 ••

The Lincoln Assassination

Four years before President Lincoln was shot, the Civil War began 

when Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, fell to the 

forces of the South Carolina militia on 13 April 1861, following the 

state’s secession from the Union in December 1860. On 15 April 1861, 

in response to the fall of the fort, Lincoln issued a proclamation 

declaring that the seceding states had launched an insurrection 

against the laws of the United States. Four years later, on the day 

that he would be assassinated, President Lincoln had chosen to 

commemorate the Union’s retaking of Fort Sumter by reraising the 

battle-torn U.S. flag that the victorious Southerners had lowered 

when they captured the fort.9

Meanwhile, around 1100 on 14 April, John Wilkes Booth arrived 

at Ford’s Theatre to pick up his mail. (See Map 1.) While he was 

there, the ticket agent, Harry Clay Ford, informed him that President 

Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, along with General Grant 

and his wife, Julia B. Grant, would be attending the play Our American 

Cousin that night at the theater. After hearing this, Booth began 

preparations to assassinate the president that night. He rented a horse 

from James W. Pumphrey’s stable on C Street, visited the Kirkwood 

House where Vice President Johnson was staying, and left a note—

for either Johnson or his assistant—to ascertain his whereabouts. 

He then met with fellow conspirators to continue planning. That 

afternoon, he met with Mary Surratt at her boarding house at least 

three times and gave her a package containing a pair of binoculars. 

She took them to her tavern in Maryland to leave with her tenant, 

John M. Lloyd, instructing him to be ready for someone to pick up 

the package later, along with two carbine rifles and some whiskey. 

At 1900, Booth met with Atzerodt, Powell, and Herold at a boarding 

house called the Herndon House to coordinate their attacks. Booth 

would assassinate President Lincoln and, if possible, General Grant. 

He then chose Atzerodt to kill Vice President Johnson; Powell, aided 

by Herold, was to kill Secretary of State Seward.10

It is probable that by the time Booth arrived at Ford’s Theatre he 

suspected that General Grant and his wife would not be in attendance. 

9 The flag was reraised by Maj. Gen. Robert Anderson, the same Union officer 

who, as a major, had surrendered the fort in 1861.

10 Statement of George Atzerodt, 25 Apr 1865, while on board the USS Montauk, 

in Laurie Verge, ed., From War Department Files: Statements made by the alleged 

Lincoln Conspirators under examination 1865 (Clinton, Md.: Surratt Society, 1980), 

p. 68.
•• 6 ••

According to actor John Matthews, who was with Booth at the 

theater around 1600, Booth had seen the Grants’ carriage going to the 

train station that afternoon and had followed it. Additionally, Julia 

Grant reported that a suspicious person meeting Booth’s description 

had been riding by and looking into the carriage. Although the 

newspapers had announced that the Grants would be in attendance 

at Ford’s Theatre, the couple canceled at the last minute and instead 

visited their children in New Jersey. 

President and Mrs. Lincoln’s carriage arrived at Ford’s Theatre 

at approximately 2030, though the play had begun around 2000. The 

Lincolns’ late arrival caused a brief cessation in the first act, during 

which the audience responded with a standing ovation, the band 

played “Hail to the Chief,” and actor W. Henry “Harry” Hawk, who 

was on stage at the time, acknowledged President Lincoln’s presence 

by saying, “This reminds me of a story, as Mr. Lincoln says.”11 The 

president was seated in a red padded rocking chair, next to his wife, 

on the left side of the presidential box. Maj. Henry R. Rathbone and 

11 George A. Townsend, The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, With a 

Full Sketch of the Conspiracy of which he was the Leader, and the Pursuit, Trial, and 

Execution of his Accomplices (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1865), p. 7. 

The Assassination of President Lincoln, hand-colored lithograph, detail, 

Currier & Ives, 1865
•• 7 ••

his fiancée, Clara H. Harris, who had been invited to join the Lincolns 

after the Grants had canceled, sat on the right side of the box. 

Booth arrived in Baptist Alley behind the theater around 2130 

and asked Ned Spangler to hold his horse. Spangler, who had duties 

backstage, handed the horse off to Joseph Burroughs, who was 

nicknamed “Johnny Peanut” because he sold peanuts at the theater. 

After ascertaining that Lincoln had arrived at the theater, Booth 

decided to get a drink at Peter Taltavull’s Star Saloon next door, 

where he ordered a whiskey and a glass of water.12 Between 2215 and 

2230, Booth returned to Ford’s Theatre and made his way up the 

stairs to the presidential box. He was armed with a single-shot .44 

caliber Derringer pistol and a 7-inch hunting knife.

During the play’s intermission, Lincoln’s assigned bodyguard 

for the evening, a policeman named John Frederick Parker, had left 

the theater to get a drink at a nearby tavern with Lincoln’s valet, 

Charles Forbes, and coachman Francis P. Burke. It is uncertain 

whether Parker returned to the theater, but Forbes certainly must 

have, because he met Booth at the door to Lincoln’s box. Booth 

presented his calling card, and, after a short conversation, Forbes 

allowed Booth to enter the presidential box at approximately 2030, 

during Act III, Scene 2 of the play. Booth then quietly used a wooden 

brace, which he had placed in the box earlier in the day, to barricade 

the outer door of the box. 

Knowing the play well, Booth sought to time his shot with 

the laughter that would erupt after a specific line. Asa Trenchard, 

played by Harry Hawk, would turn to Mrs. Mountchessington and 

say: “Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I 

know enough to turn you inside out, old gal—you sockdologizing 

old man-trap!”13 Harry Hawk delivered the line, and, as the theater 

crowd reacted with the predicted laughter to the character’s jest, John 

Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln in the back of the head with his 

Derringer pistol. The bullet entered the president’s head just behind 

the left ear and came to rest behind his right eye. 

Immediately after Lincoln was shot, Major Rathbone tried to 

subdue the assassin. Booth dropped the one-shot Derringer pistol and 

used his hunting knife to slash Rathbone on his left arm. Booth, an 

12 Testimony of Peter Taltavull, in Benjamin Perley Poore, ed., The Conspiracy 

Trial for the Murder of the President and the Attempt to Overthrow the Government 

by the Assassination of its Principal Officers, Volume 1 (Boston: J. E. Tilton and 

Company, 1865), pp. 179–80. 13 Tom Taylor, Our American Cousin (Reprint, Middletown, Del.: Astounding Stories, 2018), p. 80.
•• 8 ••

The .44 Derringer single-shot pistol used by Booth to shoot President Lincoln

The 7-inch hunting knife used by Booth to slash Maj. Henry R. 

Rathbone’s arm
•• 9 ••

accomplished theater stuntman, tried to escape by jumping from the 

box to the stage, but one of the spurs on his boots became tangled in 

the Treasury Guard flag hanging on a staff in front of the box.14 After 

an approximately twelve-foot drop, Booth landed awkwardly. (It is 

commonly believed that this fall broke Booth’s left leg, although some 

argue that he did not break his leg until later, when his horse fell on 

the way to Surratt’s tavern.) On the stage, Booth held his bloody knife 

above his head and reportedly said, “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” (Latin 

for “Thus always to tyrants!”), the motto of the Commonwealth of 

Virginia. He also may have followed this with “the South is avenged!” 

or a similar statement.15 As Booth left the stage and fled out the back 

of the theater, Rathbone shouted, “Stop that man!” Army Maj. Joseph 

B. Stewart responded by leaping from the audience to the stage and 

chasing after Booth, almost catching him before Booth rode away on 

the horse he had left in Baptist Alley. 

Meanwhile, someone in the presidential box called out for a 

surgeon. Army doctor Charles A. Leale, who was seated in the dress 

circle nearby, rushed to the door of the president’s box. The president 

was taken from his chair and laid upon the floor so Dr. Leale could 

examine him. Initially, Leale assumed Lincoln had been stabbed 

because Booth had held a bloody knife above his head, but the doctor 

quickly realized that Lincoln was suffering instead from a bullet 

wound to the head. Almost instantly, Dr. Leale recognized that the 

wound was mortal. Army doctor Charles S. Taft, who had been lifted 

up into the presidential box by audience members, concurred, as did 

another physician, Dr. Albert F. A. King. Together, those attending 

the president decided that it would be unseemly for the president to 

die in a theater, especially on that day, which was Good Friday.16 Dr. 

Leale did not believe Lincoln would survive a carriage trip to the 

White House, so the doctors decided that he should be moved to the 

nearest house available. A group of men carried the president out the 

front of the theater on an improvised stretcher, aided by U.S. Army 

soldiers who cleared a path. Upon seeing a man across the street 

beckoning to them, they took Lincoln into the Petersen House, where 

the man, Harry Safford, was boarding. They laid the president on a 

14 Hours before the play, theater staff borrowed flags from the U.S. Treasury Department to decorate the presidential box. The Treasury Guards were a militia unit 

formed by Department of Treasury employees with the intent of defending Washington, D.C., during the Civil War.

15 David H. Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 597. 16 Good Friday is an annual Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of 

Jesus Christ.
16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8 7 6

5

4

3 2

1

Washington

Monument

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

1

23

4

5

6

7

8

9

White House

Maj. Henry Rathbone Residence

Secretary of State William H. Seward ResidenceSecretary of War Edwin M. Stanton Residence

Kirkwood House

Ford’s Theatre

Petersen House

Herndon House

Mary Surratt’s Boarding House

National Hotel

Pumphrey’s Stable

U.S. Capitol Building

Old Capitol Prison

U.S. Arsenal (Fort McNair)

Navy Yard

Soldiers’ Home

Mile

0 1

Presumed Escape Route

JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S ESCAPE ROUTE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

14 April 1865

Potomac River

Eastern Branch (Anacostia River)

Map 1
•• 11 ••

bed in a room at the end of the hall; its regular occupant, William T. 

“Willie” Clark, a former Army private of the 13th Regiment Infantry, 

Massachusetts Volunteers, was not there at the time.17

Several more doctors arrived at the Petersen House to attend 

the president, including Lincoln’s personal physician, Dr. Robert 

K. Stone. Throughout the night, the doctors continued to tend to 

Lincoln. At the same time, U.S. government officials came and 

went from the house, visiting the dying president, comforting his 

grieving wife and his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, and beginning to 

coordinate and carry out the manhunt that would capture Booth 

and his co-conspirators. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Senator 

Charles Sumner, and General Henry W. Halleck were among 

those who spent hours either in the room with Lincoln or in the 

front room of the Petersen House. After almost nine hours of 

unconsciousness, President Lincoln succumbed to his injury and 

died at 0722 on 15 April. Upon his death, Stanton famously said, 

“There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen. 

Now he belongs to the ages.”18

Additional Assassination Attempts

In preparation for his attack on Vice President Johnson, George 

Atzerodt booked Room 126 at the Kirkwood House in Washington, 

D.C., just above the two-room suite in which Johnson was staying. He 

then ensured that the vice president was present in the hotel. However, 

even though Atzerodt had been a willing participant in the plot to 

kidnap Lincoln, he was reluctant to commit murder. Atzerodt spent 

the night drinking at the Kirkwood House hotel bar and wandering 

the streets of the District instead. In the end, he was unable to bring 

himself to kill the vice president.

Lewis Powell, on the other hand, did make an assassination 

attempt—one which almost succeeded in killing Secretary of State 

William H. Seward. Because Powell was from the South and did not 

know his way around the District, he was guided by David Herold, 

who was from the area. The pair arrived at Seward’s house sometime 

after 2200. While Herold watched the horses, Powell went inside 

17 The unit designations used in this staff ride guide reflect the official naming 

conventions, as found in general orders and Adjutants General reports issued at the 

time each unit was created.

18 W. Emerson Reck, A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 

1987), p. 159. At least one witness claimed that Stanton did not use the word ages, 

saying instead: “Now he belongs to the angels.”
•• 12 ••

Seward’s house, carrying out the attack at approximately the same 

time as Booth’s murder of the president. Powell got past Seward’s 

butler, William H. Bell, by pretending that he was there to deliver 

medicine to Seward, who was in bed recovering from a carriage 

accident. On the stairs, Powell met Seward’s son, Frederick W. 

Seward, who asked him to hand over the medicine. Powell tried to 

fight past Frederick, and when his pistol failed to fire, he used the butt 

of his gun to hit Frederick in the head several times, fracturing his 

skull and knocking him down.19 Powell made his way up the rest of 

the stairs and into Seward’s bedroom. There he found Sgt. George F. 

Robinson, the Army medic assigned to guard and nurse the secretary 

of state, and Seward’s daughter, Fanny A. Seward. Powell quickly 

hit Robinson in the forehead with his knife handle and knocked 

Fanny out of the way. He then tried to stab Seward four or five times, 

missing several times before finally lacerating him in the neck and 

face area. Seward’s life was saved, most likely, by the metallic brace 

he was wearing on his neck to help heal his broken jaw. Hearing the 

commotion, another of Seward’s sons, Augustus H. Seward, ran into 

19 James L. Swanson, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer (New York: 

William Morrow, 2006), p. 57.

Attempted Assassination of Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, print, 1865

(National Police Gazette)
•• 13 ••

The .38 Whitney revolver which misfired and was used by Lewis T. 

Powell to hit Frederick W. Seward over the head

The Rio Grande camp knife used by Powell to stab Secretary of State 

Willian H. Seward, Sgt. George F. Robinson, and Augustus H. Seward 

(Courtesy of George Foster Robinson papers, Huntington Library, 

San Marino, California)
•• 14 ••

the room and, seeing what was happening, tried to fight Powell off 

his father. Meanwhile, outside, hearing the screams coming from the 

window, Herold fled the scene, deciding not to wait for Powell. As 

Powell fought to leave, he stabbed Robinson twice in the shoulder 

and Augustus seven times. After some struggle, Powell broke free 

of the two men, running back down the stairs shouting, “I’m mad! 

I’m mad!” As he left the house, Powell ran into a State Department 

messenger named Emerick Hansell, whom he stabbed in the back. 

Once outside, Powell found his abandoned horse, mounted it, and 

rode off calmly.20 Despite Powell’s lengthy list of victims, all those 

who were injured at the Seward home recovered from their wounds, 

including Secretary of State Seward. 

As for General Grant, it seems that any plan that may have been 

in place to assassinate him that night was abandoned. During the 

trial of the conspirators, the prosecution sought unsuccessfully to 

prove that Michael O’Laughlen had stalked General Grant with the 

intent to kill him. The only evidence of any malicious intent against 

Grant was circumstantial and pointed to Booth, not O’Laughlen. 

Although Julia Grant had seen a man peering into her carriage, 

and although John Matthews recalled that Booth had followed the 

Grants’ carriage, it seems Booth made no plans to kill Grant or have 

him killed on 14 April 1865.

Immediate Consequences: The Manhunt

Lincoln’s shooting instigated a massive Union search for his assassin 

and any possible collaborators. The city of Washington was rife with 

fear of a wider conspiracy, especially after the attack on Seward, and 

the ensuing manhunt soon became the largest the nation had ever seen. 

Thousands of people, both military personnel and civilians, searched 

the vicinity of the District and all of southern Maryland, under the 

direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Many believed 

from the beginning that it would be easy to catch the conspirators, 

but some thought it would be more difficult. For instance, after 

Lincoln’s funeral procession, Helen A. B. DuBarry, an eyewitness to 

the assassination in Ford’s Theatre, wrote in a letter to her mother 

20 The Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators at Washington City D.C., May and 

June, 1865 (Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1865), p. 72; Trial of the Assassins 

and Conspirators for the Murder of Abraham Lincoln (Philadelphia: Barclay & Co., 

1865), p. 33; Chamlee, Lincoln’s Assassins, p. 2.
•• 15 ••

that “the Authorities think that there is no chance for the assassins to 

escape but I think it is like hunting for a needle in a haystack.”21

The manhunt for Booth and the other conspirators eventually did 

lead to the capture or death of those involved, but it took longer than 

many had hoped, especially because of the high level of confusion 

at the outset. According to New York World reporter George A. 

Townsend, the high-ranking Union intelligence officer, Col. Lafayette 

C. Baker, was instrumental in restoring order during the manhunt. 

Immediately, guards were stationed around all forts, and most people 

were not allowed in or out of the District. The day following the 

assassination, Army units were tasked with apprehending “all rebel 

deserters or any suspicious persons.”22 Army units cast a wide net, 

tracking every possible lead they unearthed from witness testimony, 

vetting information from anyone who knew the suspects, and working 

with police to ensure security. They left no stone unturned. On 20 

April, the federal government offered a reward totaling $100,000 for 

the capture of John Wilkes Booth ($50,000), David Herold ($25,000), 

and John Surratt ($25,000).23 (Judge Advocate General of the U.S. 

Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Holt ultimately would determine how 

the reward money would be awarded. Most recipients were Army 

personnel who had been involved in the manhunt, with amounts 

apportioned based on rank.)

The authorities arrested all but one of the conspirators within two 

weeks of the attacks. On 15 April, the Ford’s Theatre stagehand Edman 

Spangler was arrested due to his connections to Booth: Spangler 

formerly worked on the Booth family’s farm and he also routinely 

cared for Booth’s horse at Ford’s Theatre. On 17 April, Mary Surratt 

and Lewis Powell were arrested at Surratt’s boarding house when their 

stories suspiciously did not line up. Powell had arrived at the boarding 

house at 2300 while Mary Surratt was being questioned by police. He 

pretended to be a laborer working for her, yet she claimed to have 

never seen him before. That same day, Samuel Arnold was arrested 

at his new workplace at Fort Monroe, Virginia. The police had 

connected him to Booth through a letter Arnold had written to Booth, 

which was found in Booth’s room at the National Hotel. Michael 

O’Laughlen gave himself up to authorities that same day. On 20 April, 

21 Good, We Saw Lincoln Shot, p. 55. 22 Nina Silber and Mary Beth Sievens, Yankee Correspondence: Civil War Letters 

between New England Soldiers and the Home Front (Charlottesville: University of 

Virginia Press, 1996), p. 52.

23 James L. Swanson and Daniel R. Weinberg, Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and 

Execution (New York: William Morrow, 2006), p. 53.
•• 16 ••

George Atzerodt was arrested at his cousin Ernest Hartman Richter’s 

house in Germantown, Maryland, after police received a tip from the 

Kirkwood House bartender. On the day of Lincoln’s assassination, 

Atzerodt had talked with the bartender concerning the whereabouts of 

Vice President Johnson. The day after the assassination, that enquiry 

seemed suspicious to the bartender, and he contacted the police about 

a “suspicious-looking man” in a gray coat.24 With that tip, military 

police searched Atzerodt’s room, where they found a loaded revolver 

under his pillow, a Bowie knife, and a bank book belonging to Booth. 

On 24 April, Dr. Samuel Mudd was arrested when police suspected him 

of lying about his role in aiding Booth and Herold. Meanwhile, John 

Surratt, working directly for Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. 

Benjamin, was reconnoitering the feasibility of breaking Confederate 

prisoners out of the Union-controlled Elmira prison camp in upstate 

New York. Upon realizing he was wanted by the police, he fled back 

to his Confederate sponsors in Canada.

Over the course of these ten days, as their co-conspirators 

were being captured, Booth and Herold met up in Maryland and 

escaped into Virginia. Approximately half an hour after he had 

assassinated Lincoln, Booth reached a checkpoint at the Navy 

Yard Bridge where he was able to talk his way past the guards, who 

did not yet know of the assassination. Herold crossed the bridge 

soon afterward, linking up with Booth near Soper’s Hill. The two 

went on to Mary Surratt’s tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland, where 

they met her tenant John Lloyd and picked up the carbine rifles, 

binoculars, and whiskey, before continuing south (Map 2). In the 

early morning of 15 April, the two conspirators reached the home 

of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd near Bryantown, Maryland. Mudd treated 

Booth’s broken leg, and, after spending a day recuperating at Dr. 

Mudd’s house, Booth and Herold traveled further south toward 

Zekiah Swamp. Unsure of their surroundings, they came across a 

freed black tobacco farmer named Oswell Swann, whom they paid 

to guide them to the home of former Confederate Col. Samuel Cox. 

Cox, in turn, introduced them to Confederate sympathizer Col. 

Thomas A. Jones, who helped the pair hide in the pine thicket near 

the village of Bel Alton on the Virginia border, not far from the 

Potomac. Jones guided them through the thicket and provided them 

with supplies. Booth and Herold stayed hidden in the swamp during 

the period of 16–21 April, before crossing the Potomac River in a 

boat procured by Jones. During their crossing, Booth and Herold 

24 Pitman, Assassination of President Lincoln, p. 144.
Surratt Tavern

Picked up weapons

14 April (midnight)

Dr. Samuel Mudd

Leg was set

15 April (0400)

Thomas Jones

Stayed in woods

16-21 April

Col. John Hughes

Mistaken landing site

22 April (just after daylight)

Ford’s Theatre

Lincoln shot

14 April (2215)

Samuel Cox

Help sought

16 April (shortly after midnight)

Upper

Marlboro

Piscataway

Port

Tobacco

Newport

Alexandria

WASHINGTON

MARYLAND

VIRGINIA

Annandale

0 10

Miles

Escape Route

BOOTH AND HEROLD’S

ESCAPE ROUTE

MARYLAND

14–21 April 1865

Potomac River

Eastern Branch

Potomac River

Map 2
•• 18 ••

accidentally traveled too far north—probably in an attempt to 

avoid Union patrol boats—and landed again in Maryland near the 

home of former Confederate Col. John J. Hughes (Map 3). Hughes 

fed the criminals and allowed them to stay in his former slave 

quarters for approximately thirty-six hours. Booth and Herold 

then made their way back across the Potomac River to Virginia 

on 23 April. They sought out Confederate sympathizer Elizabeth 

R. Quesenberry, who put them in touch with Thomas H. Harbin, a 

Confederate agent with whom they were already acquainted. (See 

Map 4.) Harbin took the conspirators to the home of Dr. Richard 

Stuart, who refused to receive them in his house. As a result, the 

two fugitives forced a freed black farmer named William Lucas 

and his family out of their cabin so they could stay there. The next 

day, Lucas’s son, Charlie, transported Booth and Herold by wagon 

to Port Conway on the Rappahannock River. By happenstance, 

they met three Confederate soldiers returning home from the 

war and traveled with them across the river. One of the soldiers, 

Booth’s compass, in a red leather and brown velvet case, was among the 

items found on Booth’s body after he was shot. Carol M. Highsmith, 2017
Gambler’s Creek

Potomac River

Tobacco River

Nanjemouy River

Machodoc Creek

Confederate

Signal Corps

Camp

Thomas Harbin

Col. John Hughes

Mistaken landing site

22 April (just after daylight)

Thomas Jones

16–21 April

MARYLAND

VIRGINIA

Elizabeth Quesenberry

Provided with food

23 April (morning)

Samuel Cox

Help sought

16 April (shortly after midnight)

0 5

Miles

Escape Route Across Potomac River

BOOTH AND HEROLD’S ESCAPE ROUTE

POTOMAC RIVER

21–23 April 1865

Map 3
•• 20 ••

William S. “Willie” Jett, escorted Herold and Booth first to the 

home of Randolph Peyton, who was not home, and then to the 

Garrett Farm, owned by Richard Garrett.25 Introduced to Garrett 

as Confederate soldiers, the conspirators at first were allowed to 

25 Statement of Willie Jett, 6 May 1865, microfilm M-599, reel 4, frames 86–99, Record Group (RG) 153, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. (NADC), in Steers, Blood on the Moon, p. 189.

Port

Royal

Elizabeth Quesenberry

Provided with food

23 April (morning)

Lucas’ Farm

Slept in cabin

23 April (evening)

Garrett’s Farm

Arrived 24 April (early afternoon)

Killed 26 April

0 10

Miles

BOOTH AND HEROLD’S ESCAPE ROUTE

VIRGINIA

23–26 April 1865

Escape Route

Potomac River

Rappahannock River

Map 4
•• 21 ••

stay in the home, but as the Garrett family’s suspicions grew, they 

were hidden in a tobacco shed instead. 

On 24 April, Colonel Baker placed 1st Lt. Edward P. Doherty and 

his detachment of twenty-five soldiers of the 16th Regiment Cavalry, 

New York State Volunteers, under the control of detective Everton 

J. Conger, a former lieutenant colonel in the 1st Cavalry, District of 

Columbia Volunteers. The latest intelligence information indicated 

that Booth and Herold were “somewhere between the Potomac and 

Rappahannock Rivers.”26 By 25 April, Doherty’s unit reached the 

ferry that crossed the Rappahannock River between Port Conway 

and Port Royal. In Port Conway, they spoke with ferryman William 

Rollins and his wife Bettie. After showing the Rollinses photographs 

of the fugitives, Doherty’s soldiers confirmed that Booth and Herold 

had traveled through there. They also learned that Willie Jett, one 

of the Confederate soldiers who had aided the fleeing pair, might 

be staying at a hotel in Bowling Green, Virginia. Later that day, the 

detachment reached Bowling Green and, after interrogating Jett, 

found out that Booth and Herold were staying at the Garrett Farm. 

At approximately 0200 on 26 April, Jett guided Doherty and his 

men to the farm, and the troops surrounded the tobacco barn where 

Booth and Herold were hiding. Herold immediately surrendered, but 

Booth did not. According to one Army officer, Booth said he preferred 

that they “have a fair fight.”27 Because Booth refused to surrender 

peacefully, the soldiers set fire to the barn, hoping this would persuade 

Booth to come out. Booth stood his ground. As the building burned, 

Sgt. Thomas “Boston” Corbett, who was standing near the barn, 

fired his Army-issue Colt revolver into the barn, shooting Booth in 

the back of the neck and severing his spinal cord. Corbett claimed 

that he saw through an open slat in the barn that Booth was armed 

and that he “thought he would do harm to our men in trying to fight 

his way through.”28 Booth was dragged from the burning barn and 

died about two hours later on the front porch of the Garrett house at 

approximately 0700.

26 Rpt, Lt. Edward P. Doherty, 26 Apr 1865, in U.S. War Department, The War of 

the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate 

Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901) 

(hereinafter cited as OR), ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 1, p. 1318. 27 Statement of Luther B. Baker, 27 Apr 1865, microfilm M-619, reel 455, frames 

665–86, RG 94, NADC, in Steers, Blood on the Moon, p. 203. 28 Poore, Conspiracy Trial, p. 326.
•• 22 ••

Trial and Sentencing of the Conspirators

In less than two weeks, the authorities had apprehended all the 

conspirators thought to have been directly involved with the 

assassination plot, with the exception of John Surratt, who had fled 

to Canada. Other suspects were arrested for aiding Booth and Herold 

in their escape, but the military commission did not seek convictions 

against them. These individuals included Samuel Cox, Thomas 

Jones, John Hughes, Elizabeth Quesenberry, Thomas Harbin, and 

Willie Jett. Many of these individuals were taken into custody by the 

authorities and held for a period of time, but ultimately they were 

released due to cooperation or lack of evidence. In the end, only eight 

individuals would stand trial as apprehended conspirators, accused 

of conspiracy to murder Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Judge Advocate General 

Joseph Holt made key decisions about how to handle the trial, 

including whether to try the conspirators in a civilian or military 

court. Because Stanton and Holt considered the assassination of 

the president to be a war crime and the conspiracy to do so to be a 

Confederate plot meant “to destabilize the federal government and 

the Union war effort,” they opted for a military tribunal.29 Stanton 

and Holt came to this conclusion for a couple of practical reasons. 

First, although General Lee had already surrendered, there were still 

Confederate armies in the field, and the rebel government had not 

yet ceased to exist. Second, because the goal of the conspiracy was to 

decapitate the Union leadership in order to aid the Confederate side 

in the war, the assassination was, according to Stanton and Holt’s 

perspective, a culmination of Confederate war crimes. U.S. Attorney 

General James Speed concurred with the decision to hold the trial by 

a specific type of military tribunal known as a military commission. 

In Speed’s legal opinion, because Lincoln was the commander in chief 

of the United States Army at the time of his death, his assassination 

was, by definition, a war crime. Speed concluded that the conspirators 

either were Confederates themselves or were working on behalf of the 

Confederate cause. He also noted that, though civilian courts were 

operating at the time, martial law was in effect when the assassination 

was committed, which gave the military direct control over ordinary 

government functions including the justice system. Finally, and most 

importantly, Stanton and Holt desired a military trial because they 

29 Elizabeth D. Leonard, Lincoln’s Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after 

the Civil War (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004), p. 82.
•• 23 ••

feared that a civilian jury might be unable to come to a unanimous 

verdict and would therefore be obligated to find the defendants 

innocent. A military trial would not require a unanimous verdict 

to find the defendants guilty.30 Furthermore, in an environment in 

which citizens were being attacked for anti-Union and anti-Lincoln 

speech acts, some saw a military tribunal as the only way to ensure a 

fair trial for the defendants.

Military commissions differ from courts-martial in that they 

provide jurisdiction not only over enemies (military or civilian) 

who commit war crimes against the United States, but also over 

civilians who commit crimes in an area under martial law. Specific 

authorization for military commissions stemmed from the 1863 

Lieber Code and legislation passed by Congress the same year.31

Although commissions typically operated in a similar fashion to 

courts-martial, they were not governed by a fixed set of rules. Like 

a court-martial of that time period, a military commission generally 

consisted of a panel of officers who fulfilled the roles of both judge 

and jury. 

Assistant Judge Advocate General John A. Bingham, in 

consultation with Stanton and Holt, chose a group of nine Union 

officers—all combat veterans—to be the members of the military 

commission for the trial. Led by the commission’s president, Maj. 

Gen. David A. Hunter, this group was made up of Maj. Gen. August 

V. Kautz, Maj. Gen. Lewis “Lew” Wallace, Brig. Gen. James A. 

Ekin, Brig. Gen. Robert S. Foster, Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Harris, 

Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe, Col. Charles H. Tompkins, and Lt. 

Col. David R. Clendenin. The prosecutors of the trial were Judge 

Advocate General Holt, Assistant Judge Advocate General Bingham, 

and Assistant Judge Advocate General Col. Henry L. Burnett. Holt, 

from Kentucky, had been secretary of war under President James 

Buchanan Jr. and had been appointed by Lincoln to be the judge 

advocate general of the U.S. Army in charge of enforcing military 

law. Bingham was a Republican congressman from Ohio who would 

go on to be the principal author of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 

30 Fred L. Borch, “‘Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land:’ The 

Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators by Military Commission,” Army 

History 86 (Winter 2013): 12–13. 31 The Lieber Code, also known as General Order No. 100, instructed soldiers on 

proper wartime conduct. Named after German-American legal scholar Francis 

Lieber, and signed into law by President Lincoln on 24 April 1863, the code sought 

to aid soldiers in dealing with ethical dilemmas and set standards concerning 

martial law, military jurisdiction, and the treatment of spies, deserters, and POWs.
•• 24 ••

U.S. Constitution. Burnett was a lawyer from Ohio who had recently 

been brevetted to colonel. 

The trial procedures were as follows. There was no presumption 

of innocence; all relevant evidence could be presented and considered; 

only a majority vote was needed to gain a conviction, although a 

two-thirds vote was necessary to give the death penalty; Holt and 

Bingham could participate in the deliberations, but they could not 

vote; and, although the defendants could not appeal the verdict of the 

trial to any higher court, President Johnson could provide clemency 

for some aspects of the findings after the sentencing. 

The trial began 10 May 1865, three weeks after Lincoln’s 

assassination, and ended on 30 June. It was held at the Old Arsenal 

Penitentiary on what is now Fort Lesley J. McNair in southwest 

Washington, D.C. The main charge against the defendants was 

conspiracy to murder Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant. As in 

other kinds of trials, the government prosecutors first presented their 

case and provided witnesses, followed by the defense attorneys doing 

the same. Seven individuals served as defense counsel. 

Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson and his junior partners, 

Frederick A. Aiken and John W. Clampitt, provided the defense for 

Mary Surratt. This team of attorneys attempted to represent her 

as an unfortunate widow who just happened to run the boarding 

house where the conspirators had met, but this defense proved 

difficult. First, Surratt’s character was tarnished by the reputation 

of her deceased husband, John Surratt, who was remembered as a 

man of questionable morals, alcohol and debt problems, and violent 

tendencies. Second, evidence showed that Surratt had maintained a 

relationship with Booth for months, meeting with him three times on 

the day of the assassination alone. Third, the prosecution effectively 

used Surratt’s statement about not recognizing Powell on the night 

of their arrest, along with testimony from John M. Lloyd and Louis 

J. Weichmann, against her. Lloyd, Surratt’s tenant at the tavern, 

claimed that she told him to have the “shooting irons” ready on the 

night of 14 April, while Weichmann, a boarder at Surratt’s boarding 

house, attested that she had relationships with Confederates and 

Confederate sympathizers, particularly Booth. Weichmann described 

the trips he took to the tavern with Surratt on 11 and 14 April, which 

corroborated Lloyd’s testimony.32 It is possible that one or both men 

knew of the conspiracy themselves. Indeed, John Surratt Jr. would 

32 Edward Steers Jr., ed., The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the 

Trial of the Conspirators (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003), pp. 54–55.
•• 25 ••

claim later that Weichmann had sought to aid in the plot but was 

rejected because he “could neither ride a horse nor shoot a pistol.”33

In the end, as the owner of the boarding house where the conspirators 

had stayed and met, and as an apparent participant in the conspiracy 

herself, Mary Surratt was seen by the members of the commission 

as having “kept the nest that hatched the egg,” as President Johnson 

reportedly said.34

David Herold’s attorney, Frederick Stone, portrayed him as a 

dimwitted coward who merely accompanied Powell and Booth as 

a guide. Brig. Gen. William E. Doster, defense counsel for George 

Atzerodt, claimed that his client, too, was a coward who never 

intended any harm to anyone, which is why he got drunk instead of 

trying to kill Vice President Johnson. General Doster also served as 

33 John H. Surratt, “A Remarkable Lecture: John H. Surratt Tells His Story,” 

Washington Evening Star, 7 Dec 1870. 34 Louis J. Weichmann, A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and 

of the Conspiracy of 1865, ed. Floyd E. Risvold (New York: Alfred E. Knopf, 1975), 

in Steers, Blood on the Moon, p. 226.

Scene in the court-room in the old Penitentiary building, wood engraving, 

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 3 June 1865
•• 26 ••

Lewis Powell’s attorney, whom he portrayed as a soldier just following 

orders in his attack on Secretary of State Seward. 

Maj. Gen. Thomas Ewing Jr. defended Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel 

Mudd, and Edman Spangler. In Dr. Mudd’s case, General Ewing 

depicted him as a simple country doctor who merely had treated a 

patient in need and was never involved in the conspiracy, but two 

points hurt his case. Mudd had waited more than twenty-four hours to 

report Booth and Herold’s visit to authorities, and he changed his story 

several times while under interrogation, revealing that he knew Booth 

previously and might have had some involvement in the kidnapping 

plot. Mudd made two statements to authorities: one was an undated, 

voluntary, written statement for Union Col. H. H. Wells; the other was 

his sworn statement dated 21 April. In his first statement, Mudd lied, 

stating, “I never saw either of the parties [Booth and Herold] before, nor 

can I conceive who sent them to my house.”35 In the second statement, 

Mudd admitted, “I have seen J. Wilkes Booth. I was introduced to him 

by J. C. Thompson, a son-in-law of Dr. William Queen, in November 

or December last.”36 Mudd’s contradictory statements were proof 

that he and Booth knew each other before the assassination. More 

supporting evidence of this fact would come to light after the trial.

Both Walter S. Cox, the attorney who defended Michael 

O’Laughlen, and General Ewing, who defended Samuel Arnold, 

insisted that their clients’ involvement was limited only to the earlier 

kidnapping plot and that neither man was a part of the assassination 

plot. In O’Laughlen’s case, government prosecutors sought to prove 

that he had stalked General Grant on the nights of 13 and 14 April with 

the intent to kill him, but they were unsuccessful in this endeavor. In 

Arnold’s case, the defense showed that after failed attempts to kidnap 

Lincoln, Arnold left the District and returned to Baltimore. Arnold 

then got a job as a clerk in Old Point Comfort, Virginia. On 27 March, 

Arnold wrote a letter (now known as the “Sam Letter”) to Booth, 

asking him to stop his plans and declaring that he was no longer part 

of Booth’s gang. On the night of the assassination, Booth left Arnold’s 

letter in his National Hotel room, and police subsequently used it 

to connect Arnold to the conspiracy. Nevertheless, Samuel Arnold 

maintained that he was in Virginia at the time of the assassination, a 

fact to which his coworkers attested.

In defense of his client Edman Spangler, General Ewing argued 

that Spangler only happened to know Booth because he worked at 

35 Verge, From War Department Files, p. 30. 36 Verge, From War Department Files, p. 26.
•• 27 ••

the theater, and that although he had held Booth’s horse at times, he 

knew nothing of the conspiracy. However, another Ford’s Theatre 

worker, Jake Rittersback (also known as Jacob Ritterspaugh), 

told authorities that when he tried to chase Booth out the back of 

the theater, Spangler had hit him in the face and told him not to 

say which way Booth had gone. It is uncertain how accurate this 

statement was. Major Stewart, the Union officer who ran after 

Booth, did not directly corroborate Rittersback’s testimony, but he 

seemed to implicate Spangler in aiding Booth nonetheless. At the 

trial, Stewart stated that there was a person near the door who could 

have stopped Booth, yet did not, and that Spangler looked “more 

like the person [he] saw near the door than anybody else.”37 Stewart 

37 Poore, Conspiracy Trial, p. 73.

Execution of the condemned conspirators (from left to right): Mary E. J. 

Surratt, Lewis T. Powell, David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerodt, 

7 July 1865
•• 28 ••

added that this person closed the door behind Booth, further aiding 

his escape. 

As it seemed clear that Surratt would be found guilty and 

sentenced to hang, five of the nine members of the military 

commission signed a letter asking the president to commute 

Surratt’s death sentence to life in prison, due to her age and gender. 

President Johnson declined the request to grant clemency. At 1000 

on 7 July, Surratt’s attorneys gained a writ of habeas corpus from 

Justice Andrew Wylie to ensure her a civilian trial, but Johnson 

suspended the writ.

The final verdict of the military commission was that all of 

the defendants were guilty in some way. The commission found 

Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and Surratt guilty of conspiracy to commit 

murder and sentenced them to hang until dead. For the same crime, 

the commission sentenced Arnold, Mudd, and O’Laughlen to life 

imprisonment. Unlike the others, Spangler was not found guilty of 

the conspiracy charge, but he was sentenced to six years in prison for 

aiding Booth in his escape. 

At 1330 on 7 July 1865, under the observation of Provost Marshal 

Maj. Gen. John F. Hartranft and Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, 

the four conspirators—Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and Surratt—were 

hanged at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary. Their accomplices—Arnold, 

Mudd, O’Laughlen, and Spangler—were sent to prison at Fort 

Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West, Florida. O’Laughlen 

died of yellow fever at the prison two years later, while Arnold, Mudd, 

and Spangler received presidential pardons from President Johnson 

and were released in 1869.

Aftermath and Analysis

When he found out that he was wanted in connection with President 

Lincoln’s assassination, John Surratt Jr. fled to Canada. From there, 

he traveled to Great Britain and then to the newly created Kingdom 

of Italy. He eventually was captured in Alexandria, Egypt, on 23 

November 1866 and returned to the United States for a civilian 

trial in a district court in Maryland. Unlike the other conspirators, 

Surratt was not tried by military commission because a Supreme 

Court ruling earlier that year, known as Ex parte Milligan, stated 

that it was unconstitutional to try civilians in a military court if a 

civilian court was available. The statute of limitations had run out on 

all of the charges against Surratt except the one for murder. Surratt 

confessed to being part of the earlier conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln, 

but he did not confess to being part of the assassination conspiracy. 
•• 29 ••

Surratt’s hearing ended in a mistrial because the jury could not reach 

a unanimous verdict. He was released in 1867.

Interestingly, Confederate President Jefferson Davis became 

linked to the Lincoln assassination conspiracy during John Surratt’s 

trial. Although Davis was not charged in the trial of the conspirators, 

many believed he had ordered the assassination. The court claimed 

that Davis “incited and encouraged” the conspirators to kill the 

president, strongly intimating that the murder was a natural product 

of the Confederacy, which was “engaged in armed rebellion against 

the United States of America.” The assassination would aid the 

insurgents through “subversion and overthrow the Constitution and 

laws of the said United States” by killing the president, vice president, 

and secretary of state. The goal was to create so much chaos that an 

President Lincoln’s funeral procession on Pennsylvania Avenue, 

Washington, D.C., wet collodion negative, detail, 19 April 1865
•• 30 ••

election would be impossible and the Union would be weakened.38

Davis was implicated as inciting the conspirators to act, and in this 

way he was considered an unindicted co-conspirator who was guilty 

of treason and conspiracy to murder Lincoln.

The level of connection between Booth and official Confederate 

channels is still a matter of debate. Although Booth met with 

Confederate agents in Montreal, Canada, months before the 

Lincoln assassination, little evidence has been found to prove that 

the Confederacy was fully aware of Booth’s plans to kidnap or kill 

Lincoln. According to many Confederates, as well as John Surratt and 

Samuel Arnold, the Confederate government knew little to nothing 

of the conspiracy. Yet many Unionists believed that the assassination 

was part of a widespread Confederate-supported plot to destroy 

Union leadership. President Johnson proclaimed that the “atrocious 

murder of the late President Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted 

assassination of the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of 

State, were incited, concerted, and procured by and between Jefferson 

Davis . . . and other rebels and traitors against the Government of 

the United States.”39 As Union efforts to capture Davis intensified, 

the War Department, under Secretary of War Stanton, certainly saw 

the assassination as a Confederate plot, claiming that links existed 

between the conspirators and well-known Confederate agents as well 

as Davis himself. 

After meeting with the Confederate cabinet on 5 May 1865 to 

dissolve the Confederate government officially, Davis was captured 

by Union forces in Irwinville, Georgia, on 10 May. On 19 May, he 

was imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Overall, the federal 

government was reluctant to try Confederates for treason for fear 

that such cases would be unsuccessful, that the trials would hinder 

North–South reconciliation, and that they would somehow validate 

the constitutionality of secession. Nevertheless, while he was in 

prison, Davis was indicted for treason, and, on 11 June, the U.S. 

House of Representatives voted to bring him to trial for this charge. 

Jefferson Davis and other high-ranking Confederate officers had not 

received the general amnesty offered by President Johnson in 1865 

for “every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late 

insurrection or rebellion.”40 Though the U.S. Circuit Court recruited 

38 Poore, Conspiracy Trial, pp. 15–16. 39 OR, ser. 1, vol. 49, pt. 2, p. 566. 40 President Andrew Johnson, “Prest. Johnson’s amnesty proclamation . . . Done at 

the city of Washington, the twenty-ninth of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five . . . Andrew Johnson” (Washington, D.C., 29 May 
•• 31 ••

a jury to try Davis for treason, he was released on bail after two years 

of imprisonment. In 1868, Davis moved to Montreal, Canada, to be 

with his family, also travelling to Cuba and Europe. On 25 December 

of that same year, he received a presidential pardon. Though the case 

against Davis was dismissed on 15 February 1869, theories concerning 

Davis’s role in Lincoln’s assassination continue to this day.

Historians disagree over the effect of President Lincoln’s 

assassination on the efforts of the federal government to bring 

the nation back together during post–Civil War Reconstruction. 

Some historians claim that Lincoln’s death had little effect on 

Reconstruction, arguing that President Johnson continued Lincoln’s 

tolerant 1863 plan, allowing former Confederate states to rejoin the 

Union after only 10 percent of their population had taken an oath 

of allegiance to the United States. Other historians contend that 

the assassination had a huge impact, burdening an already stressed 

government and creating an even more negative attitude in the 

North against the former Confederate states, resulting in what they 

call “Radical Reconstruction.” These historians add that Lincoln’s 

Reconstruction plan was a wartime measure, and that at the time of 

his death he was leaning toward supporting suffrage for freed black 

men. Further, President Johnson was much less adept at working with 

Congress than Lincoln had been, which made a significant difference 

in how Reconstruction was handled. 

Historians can only speculate whether a moderate Republican 

Reconstruction effort would have been more successful in ensuring the 

rights of freed black people and reconciling the differences between 

North and South. It is possible that a more moderate approach would 

have allowed an even stronger opposition anyway, resulting in the 

same kind of Radical Reconstruction that transpired under Johnson. 

However, it seems apparent that differences between Lincoln and 

Johnson, namely Johnson’s inability to maintain cordial relations 

with Congress and mediate between disparate parties, coupled 

with Northern anger over the assassination of Lincoln, resulted in 

a move away from moderation to a more severe Radical Republican 

Reconstruction. 

Just as the assassination shaped many of the events that followed 

it, the trial of the conspirators had a lasting impact on U.S. legal 

jurisprudence. Historians continue to study and deliberate the details 

of the assassination, and the proceedings of the military commission—

one of the most significant commissions in the history of the U.S. 

1865), microfilm, portfolio 235, folder 25, Library of Congress.
•• 32 ••

military—continue to arouse questions. Uncertainties remain over 

the veracity of the evidence, the witness statements, and the degree 

of guilt of those who were tried by the commission. Additionally, 

historians continue to ponder whether the conspirators received a 

fair trial and just sentences. Despite these and other ongoing debates 

surrounding the Lincoln assassination, the entire ordeal punctuated 

the end of the U.S. Civil War and inexorably shifted the course of the 

nation’s history.
•• 33 ••

FURTHER READINGS

Alford, Terry. Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth. New 

York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Arnold, Samuel Bland. Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator. Edited by 

Michael W. Kauffman. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1995.

Borch, Fred L. “‘Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from 

the land’: The Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators by 

Military Commission,” Army History 86 (Winter 2013): 6–19.

Chamlee, Roy Z. Jr. Lincoln’s Assassins: A Complete Account of their 

Capture, Trial, and Punishment. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & 

Company, 1990.

Current, Richard N. The Lincoln Nobody Knows. New York: Hill and 

Wang, 1958.

Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Edwards, William C. and Edward Steers Jr., eds., The Lincoln 

Assassination: The Evidence. Chicago: University of Illinois 

Press, 2009.

Good, Timothy S. We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness 

Accounts. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.

Goodrich, Thomas. The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the 

Great American Tragedy. Bloomington: Indiana University 

Press, 2005.

Hall, James O. The Surratt Family and John Wilkes Booth. Clinton, 

Md.: Surratt Society, 1984.

Hanchett, William. The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies: being an 

account of the hatred felt by many Americans for President Abraham 

Lincoln during the Civil War and the first complete examination 

and refutation of the many theories, hypotheses, and speculations 

put forward since 1865 concerning those presumed to have aided, 

abetted, controlled, or directed the murderous act of John Wilkes 

Booth in Ford’s Theater the night of April 14. Champaign: 

University of Illinois Press, 1983.

Holzer, Harold, Craig L. Symonds, and Frank J. Williams, eds. The 

Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory. 

New York: Fordham University Press, 2010.

Jampoler, Andrew C. A. The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt’s 

Flight from the Gallows. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 

2008.

Jones, John Paul, ed. Dr. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination: The 

Case Reopened. Conshohocken, Pa.: Combined Books, 1995. 

Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the 

Lincoln Conspiracies. New York: Random House, 2004.
•• 34 ••

Larson, Kate Clifford. The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and 

the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

Leonard, Elizabeth D. Lincoln’s Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and 

Reunion after the Civil War. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 

2004.

McClure, Stanley W. The Lincoln Museum and the House Where 

Lincoln Died. National Park Service Historical Handbook 

Series, no. 3. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 

National Park Service, 1949.

Moore, Guy W. The Case of Mrs. Surratt: Her Controversial Trial and 

Execution for Conspiracy in the Lincoln Assassination. Norman: 

University of Oklahoma Press, 1954.

Oldroyd, Osborn H. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 

Washington, D.C., 1901. Reprint, Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 

1990.

Ownsbey, Betty J. Alias “Paine:” Lewis Thornton Powell, the Mystery 

Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1993.

Pitman, Benn, ed. The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial 

of the Conspirators. New York: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, 1865.

Poore, Benjamin Perley, ed. The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of 

the President and the Attempt to Overthrow the Government by 

the Assassination of its Principal Officers, Volume 1. Boston: J. E. 

Tilton and Company, 1865.

Reck, W. Emerson. A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours. Jefferson, N.C.: 

McFarland, 1987. Reprint, Columbia: University of South 

Carolina Press, 1994.

Reed, Thomas J. Avenging Lincoln’s Death: The Trial of John Wilkes 

Booth’s Accomplices. Lanham, Md.: The Rowman & Littlefield 

Publishing Group, Inc., 2016.

Steers, Edward Jr. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham 

Lincoln. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.

———. His Name is Still Mudd: The Case Against Dr. Samuel 

Alexander Mudd. Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 1997.

———. The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia. New York: Harper 

Perennial, 2010.

———, ed. The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and 

the Trial of the Conspirators. Lexington: University Press of 

Kentucky, 2003.

Steers, Edward Jr. and James O. Hall. The Escape and Capture of 

George Atzerodt. Clinton, Md.: Surratt Society, 1980.

Swanson, James L. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. 

New York: William Morrow, 2006.
•• 35 ••

Swanson, James L., and Daniel R. Weinberg. Lincoln’s Assassins: 

Their Trial and Execution. New York: William Morrow, 2001.

Townsend, George Alfred. The Life, Crime, and Capture of John 

Wilkes Booth, With a Full Sketch of the Conspiracy of which 

he was the Leader, and the Pursuit, Trial, and Execution of his 

Accomplices. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1865.

U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the 

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. 

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.

Weichmann, Louis J. A True History of the Assassination of Abraham 

Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865. Edited by Floyd E. Risvold. 

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975.
•• 36 ••

CHRONOLOGY

August–December 1864

John Wilkes Booth recruits people to aid him in his plot to 

capture President Abraham Lincoln, with the goal of taking him 

to the Confederate government in Richmond and trading him for 

Confederate POWs.

18 January 1865

Booth’s first planned attempt to kidnap President Lincoln at 

Ford’s Theatre is foiled. The other conspirators see the plan as 

impracticable, and Lincoln is a no-show.

4 March 1865

Booth attends Lincoln’s second inaugural address at the U.S. 

Capitol Building.

17 March 1865

Booth and his accomplices try to kidnap Lincoln on the road 

near Campbell General Hospital, where the president is supposed 

to attend a play, but again Lincoln is a no-show.

9 April 1865

General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia

to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in 

Appomattox, Virginia.

11 April 1865

President Lincoln gives a speech at the White House concerning 

Reconstruction, the abolition of slavery, and the enfranchisement 

of black people. Booth, who is in attendance, is particularly 

angered by the mention of giving black people the vote. This event 

seems to have solidified his desire to kill the president.
•• 37 ••

14 April 1865

At approximately 2230, Booth shoots President Lincoln at Ford’s 

Theatre.

At approximately 2230, Lewis Powell attacks Secretary of State 

Seward at his home. 

15 April 1865

At 0722, President Lincoln dies in the Petersen House across the 

street from Ford’s Theatre.

At approximately 1000, Vice President Andrew Johnson takes 

the oath of office and becomes the seventeenth president of the 

United States.

After questioning, Edman Spangler is arrested on suspicion of 

being an accomplice to Booth.

Booth's red leather diary, open to an entry from 14 April 1865 in which he 

defends his actions. Carol M. Highsmith, 2017
•• 38 ••

17 April 1865

Mary Surratt and Lewis Powell are arrested at Surratt’s boarding 

house in Washington, D.C.

Samuel Arnold is arrested at his clerk’s job in Old Point Comfort, 

Virginia, on suspicion of being an accomplice to Booth.

Michael O’Laughlen surrenders to authorities.

19 April 1865

Lincoln’s funeral service is held in the East Room of the White 

House.

20 April 1865

The federal government offers a reward of $100,000 for the capture 

of President Lincoln’s assassin and others involved.

George Atzerodt is arrested in Germantown, Maryland.

24 April 1865

Dr. Samuel Mudd is arrested because of suspected connections 

to Booth.

26 April 1865

Union forces catch up with Booth and David Herold at the 

Garrett Farm near Port Royal, Virginia. 

Herold surrenders, but Booth refuses. Sgt. Thomas “Boston” 

Corbett kills Booth.

Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the largest 

remaining Confederate army—nearly 90,000 troops—to Union 

Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman at Bennett Place near Durham, 

North Carolina.
•• 39 ••

1 May 1865

President Johnson orders the trial of the conspirators by military 

commission.

2 May 1865

President Johnson offers a reward of $100,000 for the capture of 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis, whom Johnson accuses of 

helping to plan Lincoln’s assassination.

4 May 1865

Abraham Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Illinois.

9 May 1865

The military commission convenes to try the conspirators.

10 May 1865

Jefferson Davis is captured near Irwinville, Georgia.

12 May 1865

The first testimony of the trial is heard.

29 June 1865

The commission goes into secret deliberations.

30 June 1865

The commission finds all conspirators guilty and sentences 

Herold, Powell, Surratt, and Atzerodt to hang until dead; Mudd, 

O’Laughlen, and Arnold to serve life in prison; and Spangler to 

serve six years in prison.

5 July 1865

President Johnson approves the commission’s findings and 

sentences.
•• 40 ••

6 July 1865

The defendants are made aware of their sentences. 

Mary Surratt’s attorneys attempt to evoke a writ of habeas corpus, 

but it is suspended by President Johnson. Mary Surratt becomes 

the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government.

7 July 1865

Four of the conspirators—Herold, Powell, Surratt, and Atzerodt—

are hanged at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on what is now Fort 

Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C.

23 November 1866

John Surratt is arrested by U.S. officials in Alexandria, Egypt, 

and is brought to the United States for trial.

10 August 1867

John Surratt is released after a mistrial is declared in a civilian 

court.

23 September 1867

Michael O’Laughlen dies of yellow fever while in prison.

25 December 1868

President Johnson pardons Jefferson Davis.

1 March 1869

President Johnson pardons Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd, and 

Edman Spangler.

6 December 1889

Jefferson Davis dies of acute bronchitis.
•• 41 ••

ARMY REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was particularly 

devastating for soldiers in the U.S. Army. After fighting a civil war for 

four years, they suddenly lost not only their president but also their 

commander-in-chief. Numerous Army soldiers and officers were in 

attendance at Ford’s Theatre on the night of the assassination, and many 

of them were instrumental in tending to the wounded president, moving 

him to the Petersen House, attempting to stop Booth’s escape, and 

participating in the manhunt to catch him and the other conspirators. 

The following excerpts from primary source documents, written 

by Army soldiers in the wake of the assassination, reveal the sense 

of mourning and desire for justice that prevailed among many in the 

U.S. Army.

Pvt. John B. Foote Jr. of the 117th Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 

wrote in a letter to his sister that Lincoln’s assassination “fell like a wet 

blanket on every soldier’s heart.”41

Pvt. Edmund J. Cleveland of the 9th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, 

wrote in his journal, “I do hope that both assassins are caught and meet 

their due reward. A general feeling of sorrow pervades the army.”42

In a letter to a cousin, Cpl. Jonathan P. Hutchinson of the 1st Regiment, 

New Jersey Volunteers described the assassination of the president as one 

of the “most boldest and cowardly acts that any man could perpetrate...I 

hope they catch every one that was concerned in it and hang them.”43

1st Lt. James F. Merrill of the 7th Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, 

wrote in his journal on 15 April that he recalled Lincoln’s “kindly face” on 

3 April 1865 as he rode along their lines during the Petersburg Campaign, 

adding that upon hearing of his death the men of his unit “wept and 

cursed treason. What less could they do?”44

41 Ltr, John B. Foote to his sister, 23 Apr 1865, John B. Foote Papers, Rubenstein 

Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

42 Diary entry, Edmund J. Cleveland, 22 Apr 1865, Edmund J. Cleveland Diary, 

Southern Historical Collection, Louis Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

43 Ltr, Jonathan P. Hutchinson to his cousin, 20 Apr 1865, Jonathan P. Hutchinson 

Letters, Norwich Civil War Round Table Collection, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA (hereinafter USAHEC).

44 Diary entry, James F. Merrill, 15 Apr 1865, James Flint Merrill Diary, Civil War 

Document Collection, USAHEC.
•• 42 ••

Maj. Frank W. Dickerson of the 5th U.S. Cavalry wrote to his father that 

“the country was not prepared for the suddenness of this shock, to lose 

our President, at a time when rays of peace were commencing to dawn 

upon us and the prospects of happily settling our national difficulties was 

so apparent.”45

Pvt. James W. Turner of the 26th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, exclaimed 

in a letter to another soldier that “we bid him adieu—the one blow has 

struck us all.”46

Capt. Jacob Heffelfinger of the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry wrote in his 

journal, “God help us, in the midst of rejoicing, we are made to mourn.”47

Col. Ladislas L. Zulavsky, commander of the 82d Infantry, United States 

Colored Troops, an African American unit, wrote that Lincoln’s death 

had been “deeply felt and mourned over by every officer and soldier” 

under his command.48

Sgt. Nathan L. Parmater of the 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry summed up 

the feeling of Union soldiers in general, writing in his personal journal on 

17 April, “The soldier feels as though he had lost his best friend and the 

country her best Statesman.”49

On 29 April 1865, after almost all of the conspirators had been captured 

and Booth had been killed, Sgt. Joseph Barlow of the 23d Regiment 

Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteers, wrote to his wife that “we will not 

get over the death of the President very soon, it makes us feel all the harder 

against the Rebels.”50

45 Ltr, Frank W. Dickerson to his father, 16 Apr 1865, Frank W. Dickerson Letters, 

Civil War Document Collection, USAHEC.

46 Ltr, James W. Turner to Joseph Shreve, 13 Jul 1865, Joseph Shreve Papers, Civil 

War Times Illustrated Collection, USAHEC.

47 Diary entry, Jacob Heffelfinger, 22 Apr 1865, Jacob Heffelfinger Diary, Civil War 

Times Illustrated Collection, USAHEC.

48 18 May 1865, in OR, ser. 1, vol. 49, pt. 2, pp. 833–34. 49 Diary entry, Nathan Parmater, 17 Apr 1865, Nathan Parmater Diary, Nathan 

Parmater Papers, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio; in Chandra Manning, 

What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (New York: 

Vintage Books, 2008), p. 215.

50 Ltr, Joseph Barlow to his wife, 29 Apr 1865, Joseph Barlow Papers, USAHEC.
•• 43 ••

ORDER OF PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION IN 1865

According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the order of 

presidential succession, in the event that the president died or became 

incapacitated, was as follows in 1865: vice president, president pro 

tempore of the Senate, and speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Interestingly, this law did not provide for the situation that would 

have arisen had Booth’s conspirators successfully killed both the vice 

president and the secretary of state. 

If the president pro tempore of the Senate or the speaker of 

the House of Representatives succeeded to the presidency, the 

secretary of state was to call together electors to determine the next 

president. It was probably Booth’s hope that killing the president, 

vice president, and secretary of state would create a circumstance in 

which no successor to the presidency could be determined legally. 

Whether Booth truly believed this chaotic situation would allow 

the Confederacy to survive (and continue to fight the war) or simply 

wished to avenge the South (for having lost the war), is a matter that 

is still debated. If the plan had been fully successful—especially if the 

opportunity to kill General Grant had presented itself—it certainly 

would have been more devastating for the Union. As it happened, 

only the president was killed. Seward recovered. Grant was not in 

attendance at Ford’s Theatre, and Johnson became the new president. 

Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield 

in 1881, Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, 

adding more successors to the line of presidential succession. The 

goal was to avoid the type of constitutional crisis that could have 

occurred after both Lincoln’s and Garfield’s assassinations. The 

Presidential Succession Act of 1947 further changed the line of 

succession, restoring the speaker of the House of Representatives 

and the president pro tempore of the Senate to prominent positions 

on the list. Currently, the order of presidential succession is the vice 

president, speaker of the House of Representatives, president pro 

tempore of the Senate, and the fifteen members of the president’s 

cabinet beginning with the secretary of state and going in order of 

their departments’ creation dates.
•• 44 ••

Order of Presidential Succession Throughout History

1792

Vice President

President of the Senate pro tempore

Speaker of the House of Representatives

1886

Vice President

Secretary of State

Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary of War

Attorney General

Postmaster General

Secretary of the Navy

Secretary of the Interior

1947

Vice President

Speaker of the House of Representatives

President pro tempore of the Senate

Secretary of State

Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary of War

Attorney General

Postmaster General

Secretary of the Navy

Secretary of the Interior

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of Labor
•• 45 ••

Current

Vice President

Speaker of the House of Representatives

President pro tempore of the Senate

Secretary of State

Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary of Defense

Attorney General

Secretary of the Interior

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of Labor

Secretary of Health and Human Services

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Secretary of Transportation

Secretary of Energy

Secretary of Education

Secretary of Veteran Affairs

Secretary of Homeland Security
•• 46 ••

MILITARY COMMISSION FOR THE TRIAL

The military commission for the trial of the conspirators was 

composed of the following people, as shown in the photograph above 

(from left to right):

Lt. Col. David R. Clendenin

Col. Charles H. Tompkins

Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Harris (standing)

Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe

Brig. Gen. James A. Ekin

Maj. Gen. Lewis “Lew” Wallace (standing)

Maj. Gen. David A. Hunter, president of the commission

Maj. Gen. August V. Kautz (standing)

Brig. Gen. Robert S. Foster

Also pictured in the photograph above are those who served as 

prosecutors of the trial (continuing from left to right):

Assistant Judge Advocate General John A. Bingham

Assistant Judge Advocate General Col. Henry L. Burnett (standing)

Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Holt

Members of the military commission for the trial of the conspirators, 

Alexander Gardner, gelatin silver print, 1865
•• 47 ••

LEGACY AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY: 

THE CHANGING HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

Like all major historical occurrences, the assassination of President 

Lincoln and the trial of the conspirators have been interpreted in 

different ways throughout the years. These two historical subjects, 

inexorably intertwined, have continued to be popular among 

historians and U.S. history enthusiasts alike. Numerous books have 

been (and continue to be) written, based on primary sources and other 

documents available in repositories such as the Library of Congress 

and the National Archives. Many of these works have shaped the everchanging collective memory and understanding of both the Lincoln 

assassination and the trial of the conspirators.

Museums have also been instrumental in the preservation of these 

events and in shaping the historical narrative around the assassination 

and the trial. By preserving and exhibiting relevant historical artifacts, 

museums shape Lincoln’s legacy for visitors who might not otherwise 

be engaged in scholarly debate. Today, the remodeled Ford’s Theatre, 

run by the U.S. National Park Service, and several other preserved 

sites such as the Petersen House, Grant Hall, the Surratt House 

Museum, and the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum are central 

to these historical endeavors. About a million people visit Ford’s 

Theatre (and the Petersen House) each year to see where President 

Lincoln was shot and where he died. The Ford’s Theatre Museum 

collection contains key artifacts from the assassination such as the 

black wool coat Lincoln wore to the theater that night, the Derringer 

pistol that Booth used to kill Lincoln, and the pillow stained with 

Lincoln’s blood, among thousands of other items. Similarly, many 

people gain further insight concerning specific aspects of Booth and 

Herold’s escape by touring the Surratt House Museum and the Dr. 

Samuel A. Mudd House Museum each year. These experiences have 

an important effect on those visiting, whether they do so physically 

or online. 

Of course, historical texts have also played an instrumental 

role in shaping the narrative of Lincoln’s assassination and the 

prosecution of those responsible for it. The Army’s Official Records

series on the Civil War, Benjamin Perley Poore’s The Conspiracy 

Trial for the Murder of the President, other early compilations of 

trial records, and works like George Alfred Townsend’s The Life, 

Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth have aided historians for 

more than 150 years. 

Differing theories about the conspirators have grown and changed 

throughout the years, but two of the most enduring and popular 
•• 48 ••

debates concern the culpability of Dr. Mudd and Mary Surratt. To 

this day, Mudd’s family continues to claim his innocence, and other 

private interests like the Surratt Society believe that Mary Surratt was 

innocent, even though substantial evidence indicates otherwise in both 

cases. Historians continue to investigate both the assassination and 

the conspirators’ trial, reexamining known information and at times 

coming across new information, constantly reshaping how people in 

the present view past events. For instance, in the years immediately 

after the assassination, most Americans believed Mudd was a mere 

bystander who had no previous knowledge of Booth and was simply 

treating an injured man. That popular assessment overlooked 

indicators to the contrary such as an affidavit recorded in 1865 from 

Capt. George C. Dutton, a member of Mudd’s military escort to the 

Dry Tortugas prison, in which Dutton claims that Mudd confessed 

to having met Booth prior to the assassination.51 In 1893, Thomas 

A. Jones claimed that Booth met with Mudd at his home prior to 

the assassination, but this information did not greatly sway popular 

opinion on the matter either.52 It was not until the late twentieth 

century that works like Edward Steers’ His Name is Still Mudd sought 

to reexamine Mudd’s supposed complete innocence. Steers presents 

clear evidence that Mudd knew Booth before the assassination, 

including an 1893 statement by Samuel Cox that, following his release 

from prison, Mudd had told him that “Booth had at one time sought an 

introduction . . . through John Surratt.”53 Steers presents a solid case 

against Mudd, tracing how Mudd and Booth came to meet through 

introductions from Confederate agents Thomas Harbin and John 

Surratt. More recently, in his 2008 book The Fall and Redemption of 

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, Robert K. Summers (Mudd’s great grandson) 

proved that Mudd had a total of three encounters with Booth before 

the assassination.54 Perhaps the greatest example of new evidence 

coming to light in a way that reshaped the historical narrative is 

George Atzerodt’s “Lost Confession,” which was discovered in 1977 

among the papers of Atzerodt’s attorney. In his statement, made 

while he was imprisoned with the other conspirators aboard the USS 

51 Pitman, Assassination of President Lincoln, p. 421. 52 Thomas A. Jones, John Wilkes Booth: By the Man Who Helped Him Escape (Chicago: Laird & Lee Publishers, 1893), p. 15.

53 Edward Steers Jr., His Name is Still Mudd: The Case Against Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd (Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 1997), pp. 54–55. 54 Robert K. Summers, The Fall and Redemption of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd: The True 

Story of the Doctor Who Went to Prison for Helping Abraham Lincoln’s Assassin, 

John Wilkes Booth (Robert K. Summers, 2008). 
•• 49 ••

Montauk, Atzerodt claimed that Booth had sent provisions to Mudd’s 

house about two weeks before the assassination to be used during the 

escape to Virginia, a strong indication that Mudd, at the very least, 

knew of Booth’s plot to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond.55

As with many major happenings in our nation’s history, the events 

surrounding Lincoln’s death quickly entered the realm of American 

folklore, and popular American views and perceptions about them—

just like those of historians—have been changing ever since. These 

views have been shaped by the many books written about Lincoln 

and his assassination. Within months of the assassination, memoirs, 

descriptions, and analyses of the event were published, with especial 

focus on Lincoln as a national hero. Interest in Lincoln and his 

assassination has been consistently popular ever since. Over time, the 

historical narrative has reshaped and reframed Lincoln from a mere 

man humbly serving his nation to a larger-than-life character of deific 

proportion. As a historical subject, he is enduringly popular. Indeed, 

more books have been written about Lincoln than about any other 

U.S. president. Meanwhile, other aspects of the assassination event, 

especially the trial and punishment of the conspirators, have often 

been neglected. 

Although many people in the country mourned Lincoln’s 

demise, some may have been glad. Reactions in the South certainly 

were mixed. Some believed the story to be a rumor; some rejoiced 

at the news; others feared it would lead to fiercer reprisal from the 

North once the war was over. This division in the popular response 

to Lincoln’s death has shaped the collective memory of the event 

for Americans to the present day. Anti-Lincoln historical traditions 

have continued alongside larger pro-South historical traditions from 

the end of the Civil War up to today. These differences in historical 

presentation have had tangible effects on Americans’ understanding 

of Lincoln, his assassination, and the Civil War in general, and have 

been played out in the pages of both textbooks and popular histories. 

Furthermore, views of the conspirators and the trial itself have 

been disparate. Many have believed some or all of the accused 

were innocent. Others, especially those studying the legal aspects 

of the case, have disagreed completely with the use of military 

commissions for trying civilians and have been critical of the trial’s 

outcome, sentences, and procedures. Though the Supreme Court’s 

Ex parte Milligan decision in 1866 showed an almost immediate legal 

response—ruling that civilians could not be tried in military courts—

55 Steers, The Trial, p. 104.
•• 50 ••

the nation has revisited the idea several times since, especially during 

times of war. During World War II, in a 1942 case known as Ex 

parte Quirin, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing military 

tribunals for unlawful combatants who were not citizens of the 

United States. In 2001, this case was used as the legal precedent for 

trying suspected terrorists who were detained at Guantanamo Bay. 

In the present day, the U.S. government continues to wrestle with the 

issue of how to detain and prosecute enemy combatants captured 

during the Global War on Terrorism. 

Although most Americans today are not overly familiar with the 

details of the Lincoln assassination or the trial of the conspirators, 

they are more likely to have some personal image of the two primary 

individuals involved: Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. 

Generally, Lincoln has come to be seen by most as a martyr for the 

nation, an almost mythic success story of a rugged working man who 

rose to the most powerful position in the country and died fighting 

to reunite the Union. However, scholarly writings and sermons of 

the late nineteenth century indicate that many Americans of that era 

had come to see the assassination as predestined. Lincoln often was 

compared to Moses, who successfully led his people to the Promised 

Land but was unable to enter it himself.56

By contrast, in many modern narratives, Booth often has been 

depicted as mentally unstable and so infatuated with the South that 

he assassinated the president in a theatrical act of revenge for the 

Confederacy’s loss of the Civil War. Yet in the late nineteenth century, 

some writers sought to cast Booth as someone who was moved by the 

divine to bring about Lincoln’s predetermined death—even going so 

far as to compare Booth’s actions with Judas Iscariot’s pivotal role 

in the betrayal and execution of Jesus Christ. Charles Warwick, an 

actor and friend of Booth’s, wrote: “Let them remember that without 

a Judas there would have been no atonement and we poor sinners 

might still be floundering on in the dark and dusty way leading to 

56 Thomas R. Turner, Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982), 

pp. 83–84; in Harold Holzer, Craig L. Symonds, and Frank J. Williams, eds., The 

Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory (New York: Fordham University Press, 2010), p. 164.
•• 51 ••

eternal life.”57 In this theological perspective, the actions of both 

traitors were seen as necessary for the salvation of mankind.58

Almost a hundred years before President John F. Kennedy’s 

assassination would inspire scores of conspiracy theories, the 

assassination of Abraham Lincoln inspired its own frenzy of 

conspiracy theories. For years, false information spread concerning 

who was actually responsible for Lincoln’s death and about what 

really happened to Booth. In addition to the widespread belief that 

Jefferson Davis was involved in the assassination, in the immediate 

aftermath of the assassination claims were made in the North by 

newspapers, politicians, and some citizens that prominent figures 

such as Vice President Johnson or Secretary Stanton had something 

to do with Lincoln’s death, although these rumors failed to gain 

much traction. Some Radical Republicans in Congress like Ohio 

Congressman James M. Ashley, distrustful of Johnson, asserted 

that Johnson had a hand in the murder of Lincoln to ensure a more 

lenient Reconstruction for the South. This led to a congressional 

special committee investigation of President Johnson in 1867, which 

ultimately cleared him of these accusations. Even into the twentieth 

century, some writers asserted that Secretary Stanton was involved 

in the assassination. For example, in his 1937 book Why Was Lincoln 

Murdered?, Otto Eisenschiml argued that Stanton was behind the 

Lincoln assassination, a theory which has come to be known as the 

Eisenschiml Thesis.59

Somewhat more widespread were the theories about Booth’s 

demise. There were several instances of men claiming to be Booth 

(usually in the West), to have met him still alive, or to have talked 

with someone with knowledge of his whereabouts. Books such as 

57 Charles Warwick, “The Assassination of Lincoln,” in The Unlocked Book: A 

Memoir of John Wilkes Booth By His Sister, ed. Asia Booth Clarke (New York: G. P. 

Putnam’s Sons, 1938. Reprint, Middletown, Del.: Big Byte Books, 2019), pp. 95–96. 

Judas Iscariot was a disciple of Jesus Christ, who betrayed Jesus by revealing his 

identity to his persecutors.

58 Turner, Beware the People Weeping, pp. 83–84; Holzer, Symonds, and Williams, 

The Lincoln Assassination, p. 164. 59 See Otto Eisenschiml, Why Was Lincoln Murdered? (New York: Little, Brown 

and Company, 1937). For more information on Lincoln assassination conspiracy 

theories please refer to William Hanchett, The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies: being an account of the hatred felt by many Americans for President Abraham Lincoln 

during the Civil War and the first complete examination and refutation of the many 

theories, hypotheses, and speculations put forward since 1865 concerning those presumed to have aided, abetted, controlled, or directed the murderous act of John Wilkes 

Booth in Ford’s Theater the night of April 14 (Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois 

Press, 1983).
•• 52 ••

Finis Bates’ Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth (1907) claimed 

that Booth had not been killed and was still alive after 1865.60 Bates 

argued that the U.S. government had passed off another body as 

Booth’s, and that Booth had assumed a new identity as John St. Helen 

and had lived until 1903, when he took his own life. Bates traveled the 

country with a mummified cadaver, which he claimed was Booth’s 

dead body. These conspiracy and cover-up theories were refuted time 

and again, yet they persisted, even though the results from Booth’s 

official autopsy and the subsequent exhumations and reinternments 

of his remains should have removed all doubt. Booth’s own family 

members verified that the remains remanded to their possession in 

1869 and buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore were those 

of John Wilkes Booth. 

Some of the discrepancies in current beliefs about the events 

surrounding the assassination can be explained by looking at 

publications from that time, which spread both accurate and 

inaccurate information—much like the media of today. Some 

newspaper reports directly linked the attacks on Lincoln and 

Seward to the Confederacy. For instance, the front page of the 

Nashville Daily Union’s 15 April edition, entitled “The Rebel 

Fiends At Work,” presented Stanton’s report claiming that Booth 

was taking orders from Richmond.61 As more information became 

known and the conspirators were being tried and sentenced, people 

who were directly involved in the events—including the conspirators 

themselves and reporters at the trial—began to publish accounts.62

They were motivated by several factors: to inform the public, to clear 

their names, or merely to make money. The factual discrepancies 

in the many published first-hand accounts of the assassination 

and trial presented varying versions of the truth. For example, 

reporters and stenographers like Benjamin Perley Poore and Benn 

Pitman, both of whom were present at the trial, used their notes to 

write slightly differing reports of the trial proceedings.63 Personal 

accounts of various aspects of the assassination were published in 

60 See Finis L. Bates, Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth (Memphis: The Historical Publishing Company, 1907).

61 E. M. Stanton, “The Rebel Fiends At Work,” Nashville Daily Union, 15 Apr 1865. 62 Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Harris, who served on the military commission, waited until 1897 to publish his treatise, Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of 

Abraham Lincoln, in which he tried to link responsibility for the assassination to 

the Roman Catholic Church. Anti-Catholic views were prominent at that time, and 

it should be noted that Mary Surratt, John Surratt Jr., and Samuel Mudd were all 

Catholic. 

63 See Poore, Conspiracy Trial; and Pitman, Assassination of President Lincoln.
•• 53 ••

the decades following, providing more perspectives but introducing 

more inaccurate information.64 In a personal account published by 

Thomas Jones in 1893, Jones insists he had no knowledge of the 

assassination when he aided Booth and Herold in their escape. He 

even claims to believe that Lincoln was a “great and good man.”65

Neither of these assertions agrees with Jones’ earlier accounts. To 

meet public demand for information on the assassination and its 

aftermath, some, like reporter George Alfred Townsend, hastily 

published financially lucrative but not necessarily accurate works.66

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the field of Lincoln 

assassination studies, much like academic studies in general in 

the United States, has become more focused on objective research 

and factual presentation. This trend is also evident in museums’ 

exhibitions and presentations. As research continues to grow in 

clarity and nuance, and as former inaccuracies are set to right, the 

nation’s collective memory should also evolve and reflect a version 

of history that is closer to the one found in the primary source 

records. Hopefully, Americans will engage more deeply with the 

ever-changing historical narrative of the Lincoln assassination and 

the trial of the conspirators.

64 See Arnold, Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator; Jones, John Wilkes Booth; and 

Weichmann, A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 65 Jones, John Wilkes Booth, p. 7. 66 See Townsend, The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth.
•• 54 ••

SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809, in a log cabin on 

a farm near Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky. He attended 

school at Zachariah Riney. In 1816, Lincoln’s family moved to a town 

near Gentryville, Indiana, where Lincoln worked on a farm. In 1827, 

he began running a ferry across the Ohio River. In 1828 and 1831, 

while transporting boatloads of produce to New Orleans, Lincoln 

witnessed the ill treatment of enslaved black people, which shaped 

his views on abolition. In 1830, Lincoln’s family moved to a farm in 

Decatur, Illinois. It was at this farm that Lincoln famously split rails 

to build fences, an act that earned him the nickname “Abe Lincoln 

the Rail Splitter” and, subsequently, the Republican presidential 

nomination for the 1860 election. After helping to build a new cabin 

for his family, Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he worked 

as a store clerk, served in the local militia, and fought in the Black 

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln 

by Alexander Gardner, matte 

collodion print, 8 November 1863
•• 55 ••

Hawk War during the Indian Wars as a company commander, rising 

to the rank of captain. Afterward, Lincoln became a partner in the 

Lincoln-Berry Store, an endeavor which did not succeed and left him 

in debt. In 1833, Lincoln was elected postmaster and served as deputy 

surveyor. The following year, he was elected as a Whig to the Illinois 

House of Representatives. Lincoln was reelected three times, serving 

from 1834 to 1842. He also began to study law, was granted his legal 

license in 1836, and moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1837 to practice 

law. Lincoln married Mary Ann Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, in 

1842. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846, as 

a Whig candidate, and he served one term. 

In 1858, Lincoln campaigned for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He ran 

as a candidate of the new Republican Party against Democrat Stephen 

A. Douglas, but he lost. Even so, Lincoln gained nationwide notoriety 

for his series of debates with Douglas over the 1854 passing of the 

Kansas-Nebraska Act and the extension of slavery. It was during the 

debate in Springfield, Illinois, that Lincoln gave his famous “House 

Divided” speech, in which he invoked the words of Jesus Christ to 

describe the fragility of the U.S. government with half the nation for 

slavery and half the nation against it: “a house divided against itself 

cannot stand.” 

In May 1860, Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination. 

In the general election, he ran once more against northern Democrat 

Stephen Douglas, as well as southern Democrat Vice President John 

C. Breckinridge and moderate Senator John Bell from Tennessee of 

the Constitutional Union Party. Because the Democratic Party was 

split, Lincoln won the election with 39.8 percent of the popular vote 

and 180 electoral votes, exceeding the 152 (of 303) electoral votes 

required for the win. 

Soon after Lincoln was elected president, Southern states began 

seceding from the United States. When the new Confederate States 

of America fired upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina, Lincoln called 

up volunteers and militia to suppress the rebellion and ensure the 

continuation of the Union. As a moderate Republican, he spoke out 

against Radical Republicans’ demands for harsher treatment of the 

South, sought to work with War Democrats who remained in the 

Union, and looked for ways to end the growing conflict and reunite 

the seceding states with the Union.

On 1 January 1863, marking a major shift in his wartime policy, 

Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. This executive 

order changed the federal legal status of more than 3.5 million black 

people in the Confederate states from enslaved to free. Although the 

Emancipation Proclamation did not free enslaved people in states 
•• 56 ••

that had remained part of the Union, it served as a wartime measure 

to put further pressure on the Confederacy.

In November 1863, Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address during 

the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery after the Gettysburg 

Campaign. In this speech, Lincoln appealed to the nation, calling 

for American citizens not to allow such sacrifice to be made in vain, 

and urging them to come together in the struggle to maintain the 

Union’s existence as a bastion of democracy, republicanism, liberty, 

and equality. 

Lincoln won reelection in 1864, beating Democratic candidate 

George B. McClellan who had been in command of the Union forces 

from 1861 to 1862. After his reelection, Lincoln oversaw the passing 

of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, which abolished slavery 

throughout the entire nation.

After Lincoln’s assassination, his body lay in state in the East 

Room of the White House and then in the Capitol Rotunda from 

19 to 21 April. His body, along with the body of his son William 

who had died of typhoid fever three years earlier, was carried by 

funeral train for three weeks to Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln, his 

wife Mary, and three of their four sons—Edward, William, and 

Thomas—all rest in the same burial plot. 

Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, 

and the event had a strong and long-lasting emotional impact on 

the country. In his elegy to Lincoln called “When Lilacs Last in the 

Dooryard Bloom’d,” American poet Walt Whitman described the 

president as a “fallen star,” depicting that “tearful night” when a 

“great star disappear’d!” In his poem “O Captain, My Captain,” also 

written in response to President Lincoln’s death, Whitman describes 

his “Captain” as “fallen cold and dead.” 

The great legacy of Abraham Lincoln has persisted through time. 

Often depicted as a martyr for his nation, Lincoln is routinely ranked 

at the top of historians’ lists of U.S. presidents for his abilities as 

a national leader, his handling of the Civil War, and his success in 

preserving the Union.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Abraham Lincoln’s 

background, his movements on the day of 14 April 1865, why the 

Grants did not attend the play, the events following Lincoln’s 

assassination and preceding his death, and his legacy in U.S. history.
•• 57 ••

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was born on 29 December 1808, in Raleigh, North 

Carolina. Coming from humble beginnings, Johnson received no 

formal schooling as a child, instead working as a tailor’s apprentice. 

As a young adult he settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he 

served as mayor of the city before being elected to the state House 

of Representatives in 1835. Johnson then served in the state Senate 

before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843. He 

became governor of Tennessee in 1853 and was elected to the U.S. 

Senate in 1857. While in the Senate, Johnson fought for the Homestead 

Act, an instrumental piece of legislation, which passed in 1862 and led 

to a significant increase in westward expansion of American citizens. 

As Southern states began seceding in 1861, including his home 

state of Tennessee, Johnson was the only senator from a Confederate 

state who did not resign his seat but remained firmly supportive of 

the Union. In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor 

Portrait of Andrew Johnson 

attributed to Jesse Harrison 

Whitehurst, photographic print on 

salt paper, 1860
•• 58 ••

of Tennessee. To shore up Southern Unionist support for Lincoln’s 

reelection in 1864, Johnson was added to the ticket as the Republican 

vice presidential candidate, replacing Hannibal Hamlin of Maine. 

Upon Lincoln’s reelection in 1865, Johnson became vice president of 

the United States. 

Johnson was one of the four U.S. government leaders targeted by 

John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices in their assassination plot. 

Johnson met with Lincoln on the afternoon of 14 April 1865, which 

marked the first time they had seen each other since the inauguration 

the previous month. As Lincoln lay dying in the Petersen House that 

evening, Johnson was at his bedside. He is reported to have said, 

“They shall suffer for this.” 

Johnson was sworn in as Lincoln’s successor at approximately 

1000 on 15 April. As the seventeenth president of the United States, 

he was instrumental in the proceedings that followed Lincoln’s 

assassination, working to hunt down and either kill or capture the 

accused conspirators. Johnson was also influential in the trial of those 

who were caught, insisting on a trial by military commission rather 

than a civilian court. This military commission led to the hanging of 

four conspirators and the imprisonment of four others. 

President Johnson oversaw the early stages of Reconstruction in 

the South during his one term in office, including the period often 

called “Presidential Reconstruction” (1865–1867) and the beginning 

of the “Radical Reconstruction” period (1867–1877). 

President Johnson has the dubious honor of two firsts: he was 

the first American president to assume office after the assassination 

of a sitting president, and he was the first American president to 

be impeached. In 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives began 

impeachment proceedings against Johnson “for high crimes and 

misdemeanors,” putting forward eleven articles of impeachment. The 

most grievous of these was Johnson’s violation of the Tenure of Office 

Act, which had been passed in 1867 over his veto. He had attempted to 

remove Edwin Stanton from his position as secretary of war without 

permission from the Senate, a deed which violated the Act. Johnson 

stayed in office despite the impeachment, because the Senate failed—

by a single vote—to reach the two-thirds majority required to remove 

him from office.

During the presidential election of 1868, Johnson ran for the 

Democratic presidential candidacy. He lost to Governor Horatio 

Seymour of New York who in turn went on to lose to General Ulysses 

S. Grant in the general election. 

Many commentators widely criticized Johnson’s handling of the 

trial of the conspirators after Lincoln’s assassination. They disliked 
•• 59 ••

that he failed to show leniency to Mary Surratt when he did not sign 

the commission’s plea to commute her sentence from execution to life 

in prison. Although Johnson claimed he had never been presented 

with that option, documentary evidence and eyewitness accounts of 

others indicated that claim to be false. 

Partly to shore up support for the upcoming election, Johnson 

worked to pardon and give amnesty to former Confederates. On 25 

December 1868, Johnson went so far as to pardon former Confederate 

President Jefferson Davis. He also pardoned the imprisoned 

conspirators—Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Edman 

Spangler—in 1869, because they were widely believed to be innocent 

and their sentences were deemed excessive. (Michael O’Laughlen had 

died of yellow fever in 1867 and was not pardoned.)

In 1875, Johnson returned to the U.S. Senate as a representative 

from Tennessee, but he died shortly afterward from a stroke. Johnson 

was buried in Greeneville in what is now called Andrew Johnson 

National Cemetery.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Andrew Johnson’s 

background, his political views and sympathies, his refusal to 

commute Mary Surratt’s death sentence, his pardoning of the 

conspirators and other Confederates, and his impeachment.
•• 60 ••

William H. Seward

William Henry Seward was born on 16 May 1801 in the village of 

Florida in Orange County, New York. His parents ran a large farm 

and owned slaves. (New York state did not abolish slavery until 1827.) 

At fifteen, Seward attended Union College in Schenectady, New York. 

However, after arguing with his father over money, the seventeenyear-old Seward ran away from school. With a fellow student, Seward 

took a ship to Georgia, where he got a job working at a school in 

Eatonton in Putnam County. While in the South, Seward witnessed 

the terrible treatment of enslaved black people, which would inform 

his views on abolition later in life. In 1819, Seward’s family persuaded 

him to return to New York. He then studied law at an attorney’s office 

in Goshen, New York, and graduated from Union College in 1820. 

Seward passed the bar exam in 1822 and started working as a lawyer. 

In 1824, he married Frances Adeline Miller and joined her father’s 

law practice in Auburn, New York. Seward also became involved 

in politics, becoming close friends with the publisher, Edward T. 

Portrait of William H. Seward, 

photographic print
•• 61 ••

“Thurlow” Weed, a Whig and Republican political boss who later 

would become Seward’s political adviser. 

After several failed attempts in the 1820s to gain elected positions 

in the government, Seward became a state senator in 1830, having 

run as his district’s Anti-Masonic Party nominee. After Andrew 

Jackson’s reelection in 1832, Seward joined the growing Whig Party, 

which opposed Jackson and the Democrats. In 1834, Seward became 

the Whig candidate for New York governor, but he lost to incumbent 

Democrat William L. Marcy. Because his state senate term had 

expired, Seward returned to Auburn and again worked as a lawyer. 

During a trip to Virginia in 1835, he and his wife again witnessed 

the awful treatment of enslaved black people, which further solidified 

their abolitionist views. In 1836, Seward began working as an agent 

for the Holland Land Company in western New York. He fought to 

aid the company in weathering the Panic of 1837. In 1838, Seward 

again ran against Marcy for the New York gubernatorial office. 

Seward won, mainly because of the country’s economic recession, 

which was blamed on the Democrats. 

Seward was reelected governor in 1840, the same year that 

Democratic President Martin Van Buren lost to Whig candidate 

William Henry Harrison. While serving as the governor of New York, 

Seward incurred massive debt to maintain the lifestyle expected of 

the office and to cover his losses from his investment in the Holland 

Land Company. In 1843, he left the governor’s office and returned 

to practicing law in Auburn. Seward grew popular in his work, 

defending a variety of controversial clients, such as murderers who 

were considered insane, abolitionists, black people, and individuals 

who were accused of helping black people escape slavery via the 

Underground Railroad. As Whig candidate Zachary Taylor won the 

presidency in 1848, Seward was elected to the U.S. Senate. As the lead 

antislavery advocate in the Senate, Seward opposed the proslavery 

elements of the Compromise of 1850. The bills passed anyway, mainly 

owing to President Taylor’s death and Seward’s declining influence 

under Taylor’s successor President Millard Fillmore. As the divide 

between North and South grew over the issue of slavery in the 1850s, 

Seward and his wife Frances opened their home to enslaved fugitives 

as part of the Underground Railroad. 

The Republican Party was created in 1854 in reaction to the 

passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and its antislavery stance was 

attractive to Seward and many other Whigs. When the two parties 

merged in 1855, Seward was the most prominent member of the new 

party, but he decided not to run for office on the advice of Weed, who 

felt the new party was not strong enough to win. Instead, California 
•• 62 ••

senator John C. Fremont became the first Republican candidate 

for president, losing to Democratic senator James Buchanan Jr. in 

1856. Then, in 1860, when Seward was favored to win the Republican 

presidential candidacy, it was Abraham Lincoln who was victorious. 

Lincoln’s campaign was helped by Seward’s former ally, the publisher 

Horace Greeley, who attacked Seward in his newspaper, the NewYork Tribune. Greeley and others feared that Seward could not win in 

battleground states like Illinois and Indiana, whereas Lincoln could. 

Although Seward believed that Lincoln had won the nomination 

through the underhanded means of his followers, Seward still 

campaigned for him, helping Lincoln carry most of the Northern 

states. Seward eventually accepted the position of secretary of state, 

which was offered to him by Vice President Hannibal Hamlin on 

Lincoln’s behalf. As Southern states began secession conventions in 

1860 in response to Lincoln’s probable election, Seward sought to 

bring both sides together through compromise legislation. In January 

1861, he gave a popular speech in which he argued for the preservation 

of the Union. 

In February 1861, as Lincoln was on his way to Washington, D.C., 

Seward was informed by Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott that there was a plot 

to assassinate the president-elect as he passed through Baltimore. 

Seward sent his son Frederick to warn Lincoln in Philadelphia. Lincoln 

decided to travel the rest of the way without his family but with wellarmed guards, and he made it to the capital without incident. 

As the secretary of state during the Civil War, Seward worked to 

ensure that foreign powers did not interfere in the conflict. This meant 

using diplomacy to counter the efforts of Confederate Secretary 

of State Judah P. Benjamin in order to prevent other nations from 

officially recognizing the Confederate States of America. It also 

meant disrupting trade between Southern states and other countries. 

Seward was effective in this campaign; in May 1861, both Britain and 

France declared the Southern states to be belligerents by international 

law. In fact, over the next four years, the Confederacy would remain 

unrecognized by European nations, largely because of the efforts of 

Seward’s State Department.

Seward continued as secretary of state after Lincoln’s reelection 

in 1864. He survived Lewis Powell’s assassination attempt on 14 April 

1865, and remained secretary of state under Andrew Johnson. During 

Johnson’s presidency, Seward’s reputation was damaged by fights 

in Congress over the Freedman’s Bureau, the Civil Rights Bill, and 

Reconstruction efforts. 

Throughout his term as secretary of state, Seward sought to 

expand U.S. territorial holdings in places like the Caribbean, the North 
•• 63 ••

American continent, and the Pacific Ocean in order to aid the U.S. 

Navy in its protection of U.S. international trade. As an expansionist, 

Seward often sought to annex new territory by purchase. Although he 

sought several territories, the only territory that was annexed while 

Seward was in office was Alaska, which the United States bought 

through a treaty with Russia (which had claimed ownership of Alaska 

in 1867). 

Although Seward backed General Grant when he won the 

Republican nomination for president over Johnson, Grant did not 

choose to keep Seward on as secretary of state. Seward retired from 

politics in 1869 and, over the next few years, traveled across North 

America on the newly built Transcontinental Railroad, as well as to 

Mexico, Cuba, Japan, China, India, the Middle East, and Europe, 

before returning home to Auburn in 1871. Seward died in 1872 while 

working on his memoirs and was buried with his wife in Fort Hill 

Cemetery in Auburn, New York.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Seward’s background; 

Powell’s attack on Seward; the ultimate outcome of the attack; and 

the reasoning behind Booth’s plan to attack Lincoln, Johnson, and 

Seward.
•• 64 ••

Ulysses S. Grant

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on 27 April 1822 in Point Pleasant, 

Ohio. His father worked as a tanner and merchant. Although named 

for his grandfather on his mother’s side, Grant went by his middle 

name throughout his life. In 1839, at the age of sixteen, Grant was 

nominated by his congressman Thomas L. Hamer to attend the 

United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hamer, 

perhaps assuming that Grant’s middle name was his mother’s maiden 

name, Simpson, enlisted Grant under the name “Ulysses S. Grant.” 

The name stuck, and when fellow cadets at West Point noticed that 

Grant’s initials were now “U. S.,” they nicknamed him “Sam” as in 

“Uncle Sam.” When Grant graduated in 1843, he became a second 

lieutenant and was assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment at Jefferson 

Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri, which, at the time, was the largest 

military base in the western United States. 

Grant participated in the Mexican-American War from 1846 

to 1848, distinguishing himself as a competent officer in several 

campaigns, including Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, 

Portrait of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. 

Grant by Samuel Sartain, 1865
•• 65 ••

Veracruz (the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by the 

U.S. military), Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec. In 1847, as reward 

for his actions, Grant was brevetted to first lieutenant. 

Grant married Julia Dent in St. Louis in 1848 and decided to stay 

in the Army. He was stationed in Detroit and New York for a short 

time, then ordered to California with the 4th Infantry after gold was 

discovered there. Grant’s unit sailed from New York to Panama, made 

the harrowing overland crossing of the peninsula, and then sailed 

on to California to reinforce a small garrison. Once in California, 

Grant was sent north to Vancouver Barracks in Oregon territory. 

In 1853, he was promoted to captain and assigned to Company F, 

4th Infantry at Fort Humboldt, California. In 1854, after reportedly 

having issues with drinking caused by his long separation from his 

family, he resigned his commission and returned home to St. Louis. 

He farmed and looked for work for the rest of the decade. In 1860, 

Grant and his family moved to Galena, Illinois, so he could work in 

his father’s tannery. This allowed him to pay off debts he had accrued 

in Missouri. 

When the Civil War began, Grant sought to return to the military 

and fight for the Union. He became a military aide to Governor 

Richard Yates and was promoted to colonel in June 1861. Grant was 

the commander of the 21st Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and sent to 

Missouri in order to dislodge Confederate forces. In August, Grant 

was promoted again, this time to brigadier general, and put in charge 

of volunteer forces. He was then appointed commander of the District 

of Southeastern Missouri. In this role, Grant fought the Confederates 

along the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers, in the 

battle of Belmont (Missouri 1861) and in the Henry and Donelson 

Campaign. The taking of Fort Donelson in 1862 by Grant’s forces 

was the first major Union victory in the war. In April 1862, Grant 

led Union forces in the Shiloh Campaign in Tennessee. Although 

this was a Union victory, the sheer number of deaths shocked many 

citizens; Shiloh was, at the time, the costliest campaign in U.S. 

history. In January 1863, Grant assumed command of Union forces 

in western Tennessee and began the Vicksburg Campaign. The Union 

took Vicksburg in July, gaining control of the Mississippi River and 

splitting the Confederacy into two parts. 

Lincoln promoted Grant to major general after the taking of 

Vicksburg, and assigned him command of the new Military Division 

of the Mississippi in October 1863. By November, Union forces had 

taken Chattanooga, defeating the remaining Confederate forces in 

Tennessee and allowing the Union to invade further south (setting 

up Maj. Gen. Willian T. Sherman’s march to the sea). In March 1864, 
•• 66 ••

Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of all 

United States armies. In that role he oversaw the Union victory in 

the Civil War. On 9 April 1865, Grant was present at the Appomattox 

Court House to accept General Lee’s surrender of the Army of 

Northern Virginia. 

On 14 April, Grant and his wife Julia were invited by the Lincolns 

to attend a play at Ford’s Theatre, but they declined, choosing instead 

to visit their children in New Jersey. It is believed that Booth at least 

considered assassinating Grant, although there was no evidence that 

either Booth or the conspirators took any action to do so. During 

the trial of the conspirators, prosecutors were unsuccessful in their 

attempts to show that O’Laughlen had shadowed the general with the 

intent of killing him. 

After the war, Congress created a new four-star rank for general 

officers known as “General of the Army of the United States,” and 

they conferred this new rank upon Grant in 1866. In that same 

year, Grant, now a war hero, became the Republican candidate for 

president, going on to defeat Democrat Horatio Seymour. Grant 

oversaw the rest of Reconstruction, serving two terms in a presidency 

that was marred by scandals, which were largely blamed on his corrupt 

advisers. In 1877, the Grants traveled around the world, which led to 

financial difficulty. Grant then made an unsuccessful bid for the 1880 

Republican presidential nomination. Facing financial ruin in 1884, 

he made a publishing deal with Mark Twain to write his two-volume 

autobiography, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which was 

published shortly after Grant’s death. Grant died from throat cancer 

in 1885, and he was buried in Riverside Park in Manhattan, New 

York, then moved to the nearby General Grant National Memorial 

(the largest mausoleum in North America) in 1897.
•• 67 ••

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was born on 10 May 1838, in Bel Air, Maryland. 

He was raised in a prominent theatrical family and became a wellknown actor himself. He attended Bel Air Academy and then Milton 

Boarding School for Boys from 1850 to 1851. Later, Wilkes was sent 

to St. Timothy’s Hall, a military academy in Catonsville, Maryland, 

but he left school at the age of fourteen when his father died. At 

sixteen, Booth showed interest in politics and attended a rally of the 

Know Nothing Party as a delegate for anti-immigrant congressional 

candidate Henry Winter Davis during the 1854 election. Booth was 

also interested in the theater, seeking to follow in the footsteps of his 

father and older brothers.

Booth made his onstage debut in 1855 at the age of seventeen in a 

supporting role in Richard III at Baltimore’s Charles Street Theatre. 

Through the 1850s, he continued to act, eventually becoming wellknown for his energetic performances and staged sword fights. In 

September 1858, Booth moved to Richmond, Virginia, to perform at 

Portrait of John Wilkes Booth, detail
•• 68 ••

the Marshall Theatre. His popularity grew due to his work as a stock 

company actor at the Richmond Theatre. 

It was during this time that Booth, a bitter opponent of abolition 

himself, became sympathetic to the South’s political concerns. 

When the Civil War began, he immediately became a Confederate 

sympathizer. During the war, Booth continued to appear in shows 

throughout the country, both in the North and South. When John 

T. Ford opened Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., in August 1863, 

Booth was one of the first actors to appear on its stage. In November 

1863, he performed in The Marble Heart with Lincoln in attendance.

In February 1865, Booth secretly became engaged to Lucy 

Lambert Hale, daughter of U.S. Senator John P. Hale of New 

Hampshire. Unbeknownst to his fiancée, Booth was already actively 

conspiring to kidnap the president. To that end, he assembled a group 

of fellow Confederate sympathizers and agents who began to meet 

routinely at Mary Surratt’s boarding house in the District. As it 

increasingly looked as if the Confederacy would lose the war, and with 

the abolition of slavery commencing, an angry Booth ramped up his 

conspiratorial activities, with assassination superseding kidnapping 

as the more viable option in his mind. 

Twelve days after assassinating Lincoln, Union forces tracked 

Booth down and mortally wounded him at the Garrett Farm on 26 

April. Booth’s body was positively identified by an array of individuals 

including family members, friends, and a doctor who had previously 

operated on him and recognized the scar from the surgery. Family 

members recognized recent dental work while others took note of a 

tattoo of the letters “J.W.B.” on one hand, a marking which Booth had 

gotten as a young man. Booth’s body was buried at the Old Arsenal 

Penitentiary, where it was soon joined by the bodies of his fellow 

conspirators, Mary Surratt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, and George 

Atzerodt after their execution on 7 July 1865. In 1869, Booth’s body 

was exhumed, returned to his family, and reburied in an unmarked 

grave at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Booth’s background, 

his motivation for wanting to kidnap or kill Lincoln, his activities 

leading up to the assassination, the assassination, and his escape and 

demise.
•• 69 ••

Mary E. J. Surratt

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins was born circa 1820 on a tobacco plantation 

near Surrattsville (now Clinton), Maryland. She attended a private 

Roman Catholic girls’ boarding school called the Academy for Young 

Ladies in Alexandria, Virginia, for four years until the academy 

closed. Jenkins married John Harrison Surratt in 1839, and they had 

three children: Isaac, Anna, and John Jr. John Sr. was an alcoholic 

who accumulated massive debts, straining the family financially. 

The Surratts ran a tavern near Surrattsville, built by John in 1853. 

They also bought a townhouse at 541 H Street (now 604 H Street) 

in Washington, D.C. When John died suddenly of a stroke in 1862, 

Mary rented out the tavern in Maryland and moved into the D.C. 

townhouse, which she ran as a boarding house. Booth, Atzerodt, 

Powell, and other conspirators stayed at the boarding house and often 

used the site as a meeting place. Found guilty of conspiring to murder 

President Lincoln, Surratt was hanged on 7 July 1865, becoming the 

Portrait of Mary E. J. Surratt at age 

28, Mathew Brady, daguerreotype, 

detail, 1852 (Courtesy of the Surratt 

House Museum/M-NCPPC)
•• 70 ••

first woman to be executed by the U.S. federal government. Her body 

eventually was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Mary Surratt’s 

background; her relationship with Booth and the other conspirators; 

possible involvement in the kidnapping plot and assassination scheme; 

her arrest, trial, and execution.
•• 71 ••

Lewis T. Powell

Lewis Thornton Powell (also known as Lewis Paine or Payne) was 

born on 22 April 1844 in Randolph County, Alabama, the youngest 

son of eight. His father was a Baptist minister. Although born in 

Alabama, Powell grew up in Georgia and Florida. In May 1861, 

Powell enlisted in the 2d Florida Infantry of the Confederate army. 

He was wounded and captured during the Gettysburg Campaign, but 

escaped and continued to serve in the Confederate military with Col. 

John S. Mosby’s 43d Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (known as Mosby’s 

Rangers), from October 1863 to January 1865, when he deserted. 

Under the alias Lewis Payne, Powell signed the Oath of Allegiance to 

the Union in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Like the bodies of the other executed conspirators, Powell’s 

body initially was buried at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary. Later, 

most of the bodies of the conspirators were reburied elsewhere 

according to their families’ wishes, but it is believed that Powell’s 

Lewis T. Powell imprisoned aboard 

the USS Montauk, Alexander 

Gardner, wet collodion negative, 

detail, April 1865
•• 72 ••

remains were removed with others in the area in 1884 and reburied 

in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Interestingly, in 1991, 

a researcher identified Powell’s skull in the Smithsonian Institute’s 

Native American collection. The skull had been donated by the Army 

Medical Museum in 1898 and accidentally became mixed in with the 

Native American collection. Powell’s skull was released to his nearest 

living relative, his great-niece Helen Alderman, and was buried next 

to his mother’s grave in Geneva, Florida.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Powell’s background 

and military experience; his role in the group of conspirators; the 

attack on Seward; Powell’s arrest, trial, and execution.
•• 73 ••

David E. Herold

David Edgar Herold was born on 16 June 1842 in Maryland. His father 

worked as the chief clerk of the Naval Storehouse at the Washington 

Navy Yard. Herold grew up in a large brick house at 636 Eighth Street 

SE in Washington, D.C. In his youth, he attended a Jesuit high school, 

Charlotte Hall Military Academy in St. Mary’s County, Maryland 

(where he met John Surratt Jr. in the 1850s), and the Rittenhouse 

Academy in the District. He then attended Georgetown College (now 

University) where he received a certificate of pharmacy in 1860 and 

began working as a pharmacist’s assistant and clerk for a doctor. In 

December 1864, Surratt introduced Herold to John Wilkes Booth, 

and Herold became a conspirator in the plot to kidnap President 

Lincoln. After his execution, Herold’s body eventually was buried 

David E. Herold imprisoned 

aboard the USS Montauk, 

Alexander Gardner, wet collodion 

negative, detail, April 1865
•• 74 ••

with his family in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery in 

Washington, D.C.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Herold’s background; 

his role in the group of conspirators; his role in the attack on Seward; 

his escape with Booth to Virginia; his capture, trial, and execution.
•• 75 ••

George A. Atzerodt

George Andrew Atzerodt was born on 12 June 1835 in Dören in the 

Prussian province of Saxony (now Anrode, Thuringia, Germany). He 

immigrated to the United States with his family in 1843 at the age of 

eight. The Atzerodts settled in Germantown, Montgomery County, 

Maryland. Although he lived in the United States for the rest of his 

life, Atzerodt never became a naturalized U.S. citizen. As an adult, 

Atzerodt opened a carriage repair business with his older brother 

John in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, but by 1865, their 

business had failed. To make money, Atzerodt began working for the 

Confederates, rowing them back and forth across the Potomac River. 

Through this activity, he became acquainted with Confederate agent 

Thomas H. Harbin. In January 1865, Harbin introduced Atzerodt 

to John Surratt, who was working as a Confederate messenger. 

Atzerodt’s knowledge of the back roads and escape routes of the area 

George A. Atzerodt imprisoned 

aboard the USS Montauk, Alexander 

Gardner, photographic print on card 

mount, detail, April 1865
•• 76 ••

made him an attractive recruit for Booth’s plans. After his execution, 

Atzerodt’s body eventually was buried in an unmarked grave in either 

section Q or P at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C. 

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Atzerodt’s background; 

his role in the group of conspirators; his motivation for taking part 

in the kidnapping plot; his motivation for deciding not to assassinate 

Johnson; his arrest, trial, and execution.
•• 77 ••

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd

Samuel Alexander Mudd was born on 20 December 1833, in Charles 

County, Maryland. At the age of fifteen, Mudd was sent to a boarding 

school called St. John’s Literary Institute (now St. John’s Catholic 

Prep School) in Frederick, Maryland. Two years later, he enrolled 

in Georgetown College (now University) in Washington, D.C. Mudd 

went on to study medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. 

After graduating in 1856, he returned to Charles County to practice 

medicine. Mudd married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Frances 

Dyer, and together they had nine children. 

Working as a doctor as well as a tobacco farmer in southern 

Maryland, Mudd owned slaves, was pro-Confederate, and was antiLincoln. His farm fared poorly during the Civil War, especially 

after Maryland abolished slavery in 1864. Mudd met Booth in 

1864 and probably was involved in the kidnapping plot. Upon 

being found guilty, Mudd was imprisoned at Fort Jefferson near 

Portrait of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, 

detail, 1860 (Courtesy of the Surratt 

House Museum/M-NCPPC)
•• 78 ••

Key West, Florida. During a yellow fever epidemic in the Dry 

Tortugas, he treated many prisoners and guards at the prison. For 

this humanitarian work, Mudd received a pardon from President 

Johnson and was released from prison in 1869. After his release, 

Mudd returned to Maryland, where he resumed his medical practice 

and continued to farm tobacco. He died in 1883 and was buried in 

St. Mary’s Cemetery in Bryantown, Maryland. 

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Mudd’s background; 

his relationship to Booth, his possible role in the kidnapping plot; his 

role in Booth and Herold’s escape; his arrest, trial, imprisonment, 

and pardon; and the debate over his innocence.
•• 79 ••

Michael O’Laughlen Jr.

Michael O’Laughlen Jr. was born on 3 June 1840, in Baltimore, 

Maryland. Because the O’Laughlen family lived across the street from 

the Booth family, O’Laughlen became one of John Wilkes Booth’s 

earliest friends. At the beginning of the Civil War, O’Laughlen joined 

the Confederate army, but he was discharged because of poor health. 

He then returned to Baltimore and worked as a clerk in his brother’s 

feed store. Along with Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler, O’Laughlen 

was sent to Fort Jefferson near Key West, Florida, for his part in the 

conspiracy plot. He died in prison of yellow fever in September 1867 

and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: O’Laughlen’s 

background; his relationship to Booth; his role in the group of 

conspirators; his decision to no longer participate in the kidnapping 

plot; his arrest, trial, imprisonment, and death.

Michael O’Laughlen Jr. imprisoned 

aboard the USS Montauk, 

Alexander Gardner, wet collodion 

negative, detail, April 1865
•• 80 ••

Samuel B. Arnold

Samuel Bland Arnold was born on 6 September 1834, in Georgetown, 

D.C. His family later moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Arnold attended 

St. Timothy’s Hall military academy, where he was schoolmates with 

John Wilkes Booth. At the beginning of the Civil War, Arnold joined 

the Confederate army, entering Capt. Edward Dorsey’s Company C 

of the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment. After four months of service, 

Arnold was discharged for health reasons in the fall of 1861. He then 

worked for the Nitre and Mining Bureau in Augusta, Georgia; as a 

clerk for the paymaster, Capt. James Maurice in Tullahoma, Tennessee; 

and as an assistant to a quartermaster in Augusta, Georgia. In 1864, 

while visiting his sick mother in Maryland, Arnold was recruited by 

Booth to be part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln. Along with Mudd, 

Spangler, and O’Laughlen, Arnold was sent to Fort Jefferson in the 

Dry Tortugas near Key West, Florida. On 1 March 1869, three days 

before Johnson left office, Arnold received a presidential pardon. 

Samuel B. Arnold imprisoned 

aboard the USS Montauk, 

Alexander Gardner, wet collodion 

negative, detail, April 1865
•• 81 ••

The petition for his release was signed by Maryland Governor 

Oden Bowie, Baltimore’s mayor, its police commissioner, and many 

others. After his release, Arnold freely admitted that he took part 

in the kidnapping plot, but he consistently denied any role in the 

assassination plot. He died in 1906 of pulmonary tuberculosis and 

was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Arnold’s background 

and military experience; his relationship to Booth; his role in the 

group of conspirators; his decision to no longer participate in the 

kidnapping plot; his arrest, trial, imprisonment, and pardon.
•• 82 ••

Edman “Ned” Spangler

Edman Spangler was born on 10 August 1825 in York, Pennsylvania. 

He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, as a young man and spent most 

of his life there. In the 1850s, Spangler worked as a carpenter on the 

Booth family estate in Bel Air, Maryland, where he met John Wilkes 

Booth. During the Civil War, Spangler moved to Washington, D.C., 

to work at Ford’s Theatre. He frequently spent the night in the theater 

or in the stable behind it and often took care of Booth’s horse while 

there. After his conviction, Spangler was sent to Fort Jefferson in the 

Dry Tortugas near Key West, Florida, along with Mudd, Arnold, 

and O’Laughlen. In 1869, Spangler and the others were pardoned by 

President Johnson. After his release, Spangler visited Dr. Mudd on 

his farm in Maryland. Having become friends with Spangler while in 

prison, Dr. Mudd gave him five acres of land to farm. Spangler also 

worked as a carpenter in the neighborhood. Spangler died in 1875, 

Edman “Ned” Spangler imprisoned 

aboard the USS Montauk, 

Alexander Gardner, wet collodion 

negative, detail, April 1865
•• 83 ••

probably of tuberculosis. He was buried in a graveyard connected to 

St. Peter’s Church near Dr. Mudd’s farm in Maryland. 

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Spangler’s background; 

his relationship to Booth; his possible role in aiding Booth’s escape 

from Ford’s Theatre; his arrest, trial, imprisonment, and pardon.
•• 84 ••

John H. Surratt Jr.

John Harrison Surratt Jr. was born on 13 April 1844 in Washington, 

D.C. In 1859, he enrolled in St. Charles College, where he studied 

for the priesthood. While at St. Charles, he met Louis Wiechmann, 

who would later be a witness against the conspirators during their 

trial. John Surratt Sr. died suddenly in 1862, by which time the 

younger Surratt was helping his mother run the family tavern in 

Maryland. In September 1862, Surratt was appointed postmaster 

in Surrattsville, Maryland—a duty he performed until November 

1863. As postmaster, Surratt also served as a courier and spy for the 

Confederate Secret Service Bureau. After carrying dispatches about 

Union troop movements across the Potomac River, he was introduced 

to John Wilkes Booth through Dr. Samuel Mudd in December 1864. 

Surratt agreed to take part in the plan to kidnap Lincoln. According 

to a lecture given by Surratt in 1870, after the failed attempt to 

capture Lincoln on 17 March 1865, he carried foreign dispatches to 

Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin in Richmond, 

Virginia. Benjamin paid Surratt $200 and requested that he take the 

Portrait of John H. Surratt Jr. in 

his Canada jacket, Mathew Brady, 

albumen print, detail, ca. 1866
•• 85 ••

dispatches to Canada. Surratt returned to the District on 3 April, 

but left soon afterward to travel to Montreal, Canada. According to 

Surratt, he found out about the assassination of Lincoln while he was 

in Elmira, New York. He did not return home, but instead fled to 

Canada after seeing his name in the newspaper in connection with 

the attempt on Seward’s life. Surratt stayed in Canada as his mother 

and co-conspirators were tried, sentenced, hanged, and imprisoned.

With aid from ex-Confederates, Surratt booked passage to 

Europe under an alias and disguised as an Irishman. He went first 

to England, and then Italy. In Rome, under the alias John Watson, 

he served in the Ninth Company of the Pontifical Zouaves, which 

was charged with protecting the Papal States. He was recognized 

by Canadian Confederate sympathizer Henri Beaumont de SainteMarie, whom he had met in Maryland during the war. De SainteMarie notified papal officials and the U.S. minister in Rome. Surratt 

was arrested and imprisoned in November 1866, yet he escaped 

and lived with supporters of Italian nationalist General Giuseppe 

Garibaldi. With their help, Surratt gained safe passage through the 

Kingdom of Italy. Posing as a Canadian named Walters, he booked 

passage to Alexandria, Egypt, where he was arrested by U.S. officials 

in November 1866, while still wearing his Pontifical Zouaves uniform. 

Surratt was returned to the United States in early 1867 and held at the 

Washington Navy Yard. 

Unlike his mother and fellow conspirators, Surratt was tried in 

a civilian court. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that it was 

unconstitutional to try civilians in a military court if a civilian court 

was available. During the trial, Surratt admitted to taking part in the 

initial kidnapping conspiracy, but he claimed to have no involvement 

in the assassination plot. The trial lasted for two months, but the jury 

could not come to a unanimous decision. Eight jurors found him 

guilty, and four found him not guilty. A mistrial was declared, and 

Surratt was released. After his release, Surratt taught at a school and 

farmed tobacco. He also went on a lecturing tour in 1870, speaking 

about the kidnapping conspiracy. Surratt died of pneumonia in 1916 

and was buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Surratt’s background; 

his work as a Confederate agent; his relationship to Booth; his role in 

the group of conspirators; his escape from the United States after the 

assassination; his arrest, trial, and acquittal.
•• 86 ••

Edwin M. Stanton

Edwin McMasters Stanton was born on 18 December 1814 in 

Steubenville, Ohio. He attended a private school and seminary called 

the Old Academy. His father, a doctor, died suddenly in 1827, leaving 

his family in financial trouble. To survive, Stanton’s mother opened 

a store selling medical supplies, books, stationery, and groceries. 

In 1831, Stanton went to Kenyon College, paying for it by selling 

books. In 1835, he began studying law at the firm of the well-known 

attorney Chauncey Dewey in Cadiz, Ohio. Stanton married Mary 

Ann Lamson in 1836. He continued to work for a law firm, and, in 

1837, he was elected to be the prosecutor of Harrison County, Ohio. 

Mary died in 1844, and when Stanton was admitted to the bar in 

1847, he moved to Pittsburgh and began to practice law. In 1856, he 

married Ellen Hutchinson, and they moved to Washington, D.C., 

where Stanton built a successful practice in the federal courts.

Stanton gained notoriety in 1859 for his successful defense of 

Congressman Daniel E. Sickles, who had murdered his wife’s lover, 

Portrait of the Hon. Edwin M. 

Stanton, wet collodion negative, 

ca. 1855–1865
•• 87 ••

Phillip Barton Key II, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia 

and the son of Francis Scott Key. Stanton defended Sickles using a 

plea of temporary insanity, the first time such a defense was used 

in a U.S. court. (Later, Sickles received the Medal of Honor for his 

questionably heroic actions as a major general during the Gettysburg 

Campaign.) 

Beginning with his 1860 appointment as the nation’s attorney 

general under President Buchanan, Stanton became more involved in 

politics. At that time, Buchanan’s cabinet was in disarray following 

the Southern states’ secession, but when Lincoln became president, 

Stanton did not continue as attorney general. Instead, in 1862, Lincoln 

made Stanton his secretary of war, replacing Simon Cameron, who 

was deemed incompetent. Although Lincoln originally wanted 

Joseph Holt for the job, Secretary of State William Seward persuaded 

him that Stanton was the better choice. Stanton did an admirable job 

as secretary of war, maintaining the position throughout most of the 

Civil War and through Lincoln’s reelection, afterward becoming an 

instrumental member of Lincoln’s cabinet. 

Stanton, who was present at Lincoln’s deathbed, then coordinated 

both the investigation and trial of the conspirators. After the trial, 

Stanton continued as secretary of war under President Andrew 

Johnson for several years, managing the demobilization of Union 

forces and working tirelessly to rebuild the South during the early phase 

of Reconstruction. However, Stanton and Johnson soon disagreed 

over the course of Reconstruction. In 1868, the president tried to 

force Stanton to resign, an act which led to the first impeachment of 

a president in U.S. history. However, when the Senate did not vote to 

convict Johnson, Stanton resigned from his office.

After his term as secretary of war, Stanton returned to private 

practice. He was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President 

Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, but Stanton, who had a lifelong problem 

with asthma, died from respiratory insufficiency only four days later. 

Stanton was buried next to his son James in Oak Hill Cemetery in 

Washington, D.C.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Stanton’s background, 

his role in the manhunt for Booth and his accomplices, his role in the 

trial, and his legacy in U.S. history.
•• 88 ••

Joseph Holt

Joseph Holt was born on 6 January 1807 in Breckinridge County, 

Kentucky. He was educated at St. Joseph’s College in Bardstown, 

Kentucky, and Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. As an adult, 

Holt settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and began practicing law. In 

1832, he married Mary Harrison and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, 

where he became assistant editor of a newspaper and was elected as 

Commonwealth’s Attorney, the prosecutor of felony crimes for all of 

Kentucky, from 1833 to 1835. The Holts then moved to Mississippi, 

where Joseph practiced law. Mary died when both she and Holt 

contracted tuberculosis. After Joseph recovered, he returned to 

Louisville. Holt eventually married Margaret Wickliffe, and when 

he was appointed commissioner of patents by President Buchanan in 

1857, the couple moved to Washington, D.C. 

The president appointed Holt postmaster general in 1859. Then, 

after John B. Floyd resigned from Buchanan’s cabinet to join the 

Portrait of Judge Joseph Holt, 

wet collodion negative, detail, ca. 

1860–1875
•• 89 ••

Confederacy, Buchanan selected Holt, who was antislavery, to replace 

Floyd as secretary of war in late 1860. When Lincoln took office in 

1861, Holt returned to Kentucky, where he worked hard to ensure 

that his home state did not secede from the Union. Kentucky stayed 

neutral or was under Union control throughout the Civil War. 

In 1862, Holt joined the Union army as a colonel and was 

appointed Judge Advocate General of the Union army by President 

Lincoln. In 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general and turned 

down two positions offered to him by President Lincoln: secretary of 

the interior and attorney general. 

After the Lincoln assassination, Judge Advocate General of the 

U.S. Army Holt and Secretary of War Stanton were instrumental in 

forming the military commission for the trial of the conspirators. 

Holt served as the chief prosecutor in the military trial, but his career 

was hurt by the popular perception that he handled the trial poorly. 

Holt continued to serve as the judge advocate general until he retired 

from public life 1875. He died in 1894 in Washington, D.C., and was 

buried in the Holt family cemetery in Addison, Kentucky.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Holt’s background 

and military experience, his role in the trial proceedings, and his 

legacy in U.S. history.
•• 90 ••

Thomas “Boston” Corbett

Thomas “Boston” Corbett was born in London on an unknown date 

in 1840. His family immigrated to the United States through New 

York City that same year, eventually settling in Troy, New York. As 

a young man, Corbett apprenticed to a milliner and worked in that 

profession intermittently throughout his life. Corbett suffered from 

mental issues—which he exhibited before, during, and after the Civil 

War—that may have derived from exposure to mercury, which was 

commonly used in the hatmaking industry. Corbett eventually moved 

back to New York City, where he married, but both his wife and their 

baby died in childbirth. 

Following that tragedy, Corbett moved to Boston, Massachusetts. 

Unable to procure a job, he drank heavily and eventually became 

homeless. After a particularly hard night, a street preacher from the 

Methodist Episcopal Church convinced Corbett to quit drinking 

and join the church. Corbett became quite devout, was baptized, 

Portrait of Sgt. Boston Corbett, 

U.S.A., wet collodion negative, 

detail, ca. 1860–1865
•• 91 ••

and changed his name to Boston to honor the city in which he had 

been converted. Corbett’s zeal at church meetings earned him the 

nickname “The Glory to God Man.” He began to wear his hair long 

in imitation of Jesus Christ, though he was forced to cut it when he 

joined the Army. 

Corbett began working at a hat manufacturer’s shop in downtown 

Boston in 1857. He also became a street preacher and religious fanatic. 

In 1858, on his way home from church, Corbett was propositioned by 

two prostitutes. Deeply upset, Corbett returned home to his Bible, 

reading in the Gospel of Matthew about those who, to avoid sin, 

had “made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.” 

Inspired by these words, Corbett castrated himself with a pair of 

scissors. 

In 1861, Corbett enlisted as a private in Company I of the 12th 

Regiment, New York State Militia, but his eccentric behavior and 

religious fanaticism were not tolerated in the unit. Corbett regularly 

held unauthorized prayer meetings, argued with his senior officers, 

and publicly condemned his superiors for their profanity and other 

misdeeds. After refusing to apologize, Corbett was court-martialed 

for insubordination and sentenced to be shot. Eventually, his sentence 

was reduced, and he was discharged in 1863. 

Almost immediately, Corbett reenlisted with Company L of the 

16th Regiment Cavalry, New York State Volunteers. In 1864, he was 

captured in Virginia by Confederate Col. John S. Mosby’s men and 

held at the Andersonville prison for five months. After being released 

in an exchange, Corbett was treated for scurvy, malnutrition, 

and exposure. He was promoted to sergeant upon returning to his 

company. 

On 24 April 1865, Corbett was among the detachment of soldiers 

from the 16th Regiment Cavalry, New York State Volunteers, who 

were sent out to apprehend Booth at Garrett Farm. Corbett mortally 

wounded Booth on 26 April. 

After being discharged from the Army in 1865, Corbett went 

back to work as a milliner in Boston. His fanatical behavior made it 

difficult for him to keep a steady job, as he often was fired for stopping 

and praying instead of working. When business slowed, he worked as 

a preacher, first in Connecticut and then in New Jersey. As another 

means to make money, Corbett gave lectures about shooting Booth 

as “Lincoln’s Avenger,” which he offered at Sunday schools, women’s 

groups, and tent meetings, until his erratic behavior deterred people 

from booking him. 

Corbett became increasingly paranoid that the U.S. government 

was out to get him for robbing them of the opportunity to arrest, try, 
•• 92 ••

and execute Booth. He blamed the government for his inability to 

keep a job, and he believed that secret pro-Confederate organizations 

sought to avenge Booth by killing him. He began to carry a pistol with 

him at all times. On one occasion in 1875, during a soldiers’ reunion 

in Ohio, Corbett drew his weapon on some men who questioned 

whether Booth had really been killed. 

In 1878, Corbett bought land in Concordia, Kansas, through the 

Homestead Act. He built himself a dugout and continued to preach. 

Owing to his fame as Lincoln’s Avenger, he was appointed assistant 

doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka in 1887. 

However, after only a month at his new job, believing that members 

of the House were discriminating against him, Corbett pulled out 

his revolver and chased them out of the building. After his arrest, a 

judge declared him insane and sent him to the Topeka Asylum for the 

Insane. In 1888, Corbett escaped from the asylum and reportedly fled 

to Mexico. Some evidence indicates that he instead fled to Minnesota, 

where he lived under the name of Thomas Corbett until dying in the 

Great Hinckley Fire of 1894.

Some relevant issues for role-players to focus on: Corbett’s background 

and military experience, his role in the killing of Booth, his life 

afterward, and conspiracy theories concerning Booth’s demise.
•• 93 ••

SUGGESTED STOPS AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

This section, in addition to providing practical information about the 

suggested stops, provides useful discussion prompts and techniques 

to augment the Lincoln Assassination Staff Ride. This information is 

for both leaders and participants. Each stop is designed to engender 

discussion and learning within the group. The suggested discussion 

questions are broken into three main sections to facilitate the 

application of historical learning and lead to the successful execution 

of this staff ride. These techniques include the Socratic dialogue 

method, role-playing, and decision gaming. 

The Socratic method is meant to spark discussion and create a 

productive dialogue. It uses how and why questions to encourage the 

participants to talk and to deepen the dialogue within the group. 

Such questions have been suggested here. Some, specifically identified 

as “devil’s advocate” questions, are designed to provoke more lively 

debate. 

Role-playing allows participants to explore the role of each 

individual involved in the event. If role-playing, units should assign 

specific historical figures (from the lists provided) to designated 

personnel before the staff ride is carried out. The process of preparing 

for staff ride role-playing allows participants to become limited 

subject matter experts. This creates a depth of knowledge across the 

group, which can be presented and shared with the rest of the group 

during the staff ride, thereby furthering everyone’s education. 

Finally, decision gaming is a group activity that enables staff ride 

participants to work as a team while applying critical thinking skills 

to decipher the problem at hand. The ensuing discussion should focus 

on the importance of contingency planning in the understanding of 

history, allowing for different possible outcomes. Decision gaming 

has the added benefit of keeping the group active during the staff ride.
Upper

Marlboro

Piscataway

Port

Tobacco

Newport

Port

Royal

Bowling

Green

Fredericksburg

Staord

Centerville

Fairfax

Alexandria

WASHINGTON

MARYLAND

VIRGINIA

Annandale

Surratt Tavern

Picked up weapons

14 April (midnight)

Dr. Samuel Mudd

Leg was set

15 April (0400)

Thomas Jones

Stayed in woods

16-21 April

Col. John Hughes

Mistaken landing site

22 April (just after daylight)

Elizabeth Quesenberry

Provided with food

23 April (morning)

Lucas’ Farm

Slept in cabin

23 April (evening)

Garrett’s Farm

Arrived 24 April (early afternoon)

Killed 26 April

Ford’s Theatre

Lincoln shot

14 April (2215)

Samuel Cox

Help sought

16 April (shortly after midnight)

0 10

Miles

BOOTH AND HEROLD’S

ESCAPE ROUTE

14–26 April 1865

Potomac River

Occoquan River

Bull Run

Rappahannock River

Map 5
•• 95 ••

Stop 1. Ford’s Theatre: Location of President 

Lincoln’s assassination

Logistics

Ford’s Theatre is located at 511 Tenth Street NW in Washington, 

D.C. Parking is available in an underground paid parking lot on the 

north side of the theater. This site is currently run by the National 

Park Service. It is open 900–1630 daily, except Thanksgiving Day 

and 25 December. A limited number of free same-day tickets are 

available at the box office beginning at 830 daily. Advance tickets 

are available for a fee. Groups of ten or more should contact the 

group sales office to reserve a tour time. Tours are half an hour to 

an hour in length.

Summary

Ford’s Theatre originally was built in 1833 as a house of worship by 

the First Baptist Church of Washington. In 1861, when the church 

moved to another location, the building was bought by John T. Ford 

Ford’s Theatre, albumen print, ca. 1865
•• 96 ••

and renovated to be a theater. Initially called Ford’s Athenaeum, it 

burned down in 1862, and was rebuilt in 1863. After Lincoln was 

killed by John Wilkes Booth in the presidential box of the theater 

in 1865, it was appropriated by the U.S. government, which ordered 

that it never be used as a place of public amusement again. From 

1866 to 1887, the building was used by the U.S. War Department. At 

various times, it held Record and Pension Bureau records, housed 

the Army Medical Museum, and was used as a clerk’s office. In 1893, 

the front of the building collapsed, killing twenty-two people and 

injuring sixty-eight, leading many to believe the building was cursed. 

In 1911, it was repaired and used as a government warehouse. In 

1928, the building was handed over to the Office of Public Buildings 

and Parks of the National Capital, and, in 1932, Ford’s Theatre was 

made a National Historic Site. That same year, a Lincoln museum 

was opened on the first floor. In 1933, the building came under the 

control of the National Park Service, and, in the mid-1960s, the 

building was restored through funding from Congress. When its 

doors were reopened in 1968, Ford’s Theatre once again became the 

site of theatrical plays. 

The facility went through another renovation in the late 2000s to 

make the theater more audience-friendly and to accommodate the 

increasing number of tourists visiting the site each year. The building 

currently can hold 665 people. The Ford’s Theatre Museum houses 

many artifacts related to the Lincoln assassination, including the 

Derringer pistol used to kill Lincoln, Booth’s diary, the original door 

of the presidential theater box, Lincoln’s coat, and the blood-stained 

pillow from the president’s deathbed. 

Roughly one million people visit the site annually.

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. Why did Booth initially want to capture the president?

b. Why, and when, did Booth change his plan from 

capturing the president to killing him?

c. Why did Booth prefer to use a theater, specifically Ford’s 

Theatre?

d. How could Lincoln’s security have been improved?

e. Devil’s advocate question: Would it have made a difference 

if Grant had been present?

f. What lessons can we learn from this event? For instance, 

what similarities can be seen between the conspirators’ 

activities and those of terrorist or insurgent cells today?
•• 97 ••

2. Role-playing

a. Abraham Lincoln

b. John Wilkes Booth

3. Decision gaming

Booth Gang Decision Game

It is 14 April 1865. You are a co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth and 

presently in Washington, D.C. Booth has just found out that Lincoln 

and Grant will be attending a play at Ford’s Theatre this evening. He 

has gathered you together as a group to discuss the plan to assassinate 

several major Union leaders and sow chaos to aid the Confederacy. 

Which leaders should you target, and why? Which conspirators 

should do what? How might earlier plans for the kidnapping plot aid 

you in this new endeavor? How have previous kidnapping attempts 

against President Lincoln influenced your assessment of the current 

plot and its chances for success? 

Talk among yourselves and develop an overall, detailed plan of 

action for the evening of 14 April 1865.

Goal: To gain insight that will help with the understanding of 

how terrorist and insurgent group members think in order to 

better combat them and counter future attempted attacks.
•• 98 ••

Stop 2. Petersen House: The site where President Lincoln died

Logistics

The Petersen House is located at 526 (formerly 453) Tenth Street NW, 

across the street from Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, D.C. Parking 

is available across the street in the underground paid parking lot 

on the north side of Ford’s Theatre. This site is currently run by the 

National Park Service. The house is typically open 930–1730 daily, 

except Thanksgiving Day and 25 December. Admission is free; the 

ticket used for Ford’s Theatre can be used for entry. Groups should 

The Petersen House, stereograph print, ca. 1909
•• 99 ••

contact Ford’s Theatre ahead of time to ensure availability. The tour 

is self-guided and takes about twenty minutes. 

Summary

The Petersen House was built in 1849 by German tailor William 

Petersen. At the time of Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, it was 

being used as a boarding house. Soon after Lincoln was moved to 

the house, and as doctors attended him, an understandably shaken 

Mrs. Lincoln spent the night in the front parlor accompanied by 

Elizabeth L. C. Dixon, wife of Senator James Dixon, until the 

president expired at 0722 the next morning. Meanwhile, Secretary 

of War Stanton used the rear parlor as a headquarters from which 

to run important government operations including the manhunt for 

those responsible for the attacks. In 1876, the Petersen family sold the 

property to Louis Schade, who live there and ran a newspaper called 

the Washington Sentinel out of the basement. During the 1880s, the 

Schade family rented the house out. In 1893, Osborn H. Oldroyd 

rented the building to open a museum in which he displayed his 

large collection of “Lincoln articles,” artifacts linked to President 

Lincoln or his assassination. In 1896, Congress approved funding 

to buy the house, and, in 1926, the U.S. government officially 

took possession of Oldroyd’s collection of more than 3,000 objects 

and moved them to Ford’s Theatre, where they now make up the 

bulk of its museum’s exhibits. In 1932, the Petersen House was 

made a National Historic Site, and in 1933 it became a museum 

administered by the National Park Service. Today, visitors can tour 

three rooms, which are presented as they were in 1865, including 

the back room where Lincoln died and the front parlor room where 

cabinet members waited and grieved. Many of the items in the house 

are now replicas, as the originals were purchased by a collector and 

are now on display at the Chicago History Museum. Next door, in 

Ford’s Theatre’s Center for Education and Leadership, is a museum 

pertaining to the assassination and a gift shop, which holds the 

famous “Lincoln Book Tower,” an impressive cylindrical tower 

made out of every known published work about the president.

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. Why was President Lincoln brought to the Petersen House?

b. Why did Booth and his fellow conspirators want to target 

Seward, Johnson, and possibly Grant, in addition to 
•• 100 ••

Lincoln? What did they hope to accomplish by these 

multiple attacks?

c. Devil’s advocate question: How did most people in the 

North view the attacks on President Lincoln and 

Secretary Seward? Whom did they blame? 

d. How did Stanton organize the manhunt for Booth and 

his co-conspirators? 

2. Role-playing

a. Lewis Powell

b. David Herold

c. George Atzerodt

d. Mary Surratt

e. Dr. Samuel Mudd

f. Samuel Arnold

g. Michael O’Laughlen

h. John Surratt

i. Ned Spangler

j. William H. Seward

3. Decision gaming

MDW Commander Decision Game

It is the evening of 14 April 1865. You are the commander of the 

Military District of Washington (MDW). President Lincoln has 

been shot in the head and is not expected to recover. Secretary of 

State William H. Seward has been attacked as well, although he is 

expected to recover from his knife wounds. Across the street from 

Ford’s Theatre, doctors are attending the president at the Petersen 

House. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton is using that location as a 

headquarters from which to depose witnesses and orchestrate the 

manhunt to capture the persons responsible for the two known 

attacks on Union leaders. Stanton has tasked you with creating a plan 

of execution for this manhunt. Subordinate cavalry units are standing 

by. General, what are your orders?

Think about the following: What actions should be carried out 

immediately in the aftermath of Lincoln’s shooting? What resources 

will be necessary (e.g. military, police) to ensure this manhunt is 

successful? How will different entities work in concert? How will you 
•• 101 ••

ascertain whether the Confederacy had a direct hand in these attacks? 

What other things are important to be aware of in this situation?

Discuss among yourselves and come up with a plan to successfully 

capture those responsible for Seward’s injuries and Lincoln’s death. 

Goal: To gain insight concerning ways in which government, 

police, and military can respond to terrorist or insurgent attacks 

in an effective manner, working together to carry out the most 

efficient response and possibly deterring future such attacks.
•• 102 ••

Stop 3. Surratt Boarding House: The site of meetings 

among the conspirators

Logistics

Located at 604 H Street NW (previously 541 H Street), the former 

Surratt Boarding House is now the site of a restaurant in the 

Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Limited parking 

is available along the street and in a paid parking garage on Sixth 

Mary Surratt’s boarding house, wet collodion negative, ca. 1890
•• 103 ••

Street NW, to the east of the restaurant. This site is a privately 

owned business. Individuals and groups should call ahead or visit 

the restaurant’s website to confirm business hours and ensure 

availability. Because this site is a restaurant, it could be a convenient 

spot for lunch during the staff ride.

Summary

The Mary E. Surratt Boarding House in Washington, D.C., was the 

site of meetings among the conspirators who working with John 

Wilkes Booth in late 1864 and early 1865. The ground floor of the 

building, which is used as a kitchen and dining area by the presentday restaurant, served those same functions for Mary Surratt when 

she ran the building as a boarding house. On the first floor (currently 

occupied by the karaoke bar and lounge), Surratt, her daughter 

Anna, and a twenty-year-old boarder named Nora Fitzpatrick shared 

the back room. The front room served as a parlor. The second floor 

was occupied by the Holoman family, Louis Weichmann, and John 

Surratt Jr. when he was home. The conspirators, usually meeting in 

a room in the attic, initially planned to kidnap President Abraham 

Lincoln, but their plans evolved into a plot to kill Lincoln and other 

important Union leaders instead. 

The building, built in 1843 by Jonathan Walker, was purchased 

by John Surratt Sr. in 1853 to be used as a boarding house. After 

John’s death in 1862, his wife Mary continued to run the boarding 

house while also renting out her home in Surrattsville, Maryland, 

which she operated as a tavern. According to testimony during the 

trial of the conspirators, the D.C. boarding house was a meeting place 

for Confederates and Confederate sympathizers and was the main 

meeting site for those involved in the conspiracy to kill Lincoln. 

For her role in the plot, Mary Surratt was hanged, becoming 

the first woman to be executed by the U.S. federal government. In 

1866, the house was auctioned off to pay the Surratt family’s debts. 

It continued mainly as a boarding house until 1922, by which time 

it had come into disrepair. In 1925, the house was renovated so the 

ground floor could be used as a commercial space. While occupied 

by the Piccadilly Bottle Supply Company, the building was raided by 

the D.C. police in 1928 for violation of the Prohibition Law. Since the 

1930s, the space has mainly been used by individuals and businesses of 

the District’s growing Chinese immigrant community. The building 

was added to the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites in 1968, and to the 

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Today, the site is 

occupied by a popular restaurant.
•• 104 ••

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. How is this site linked to the attacks on President Lincoln 

and Secretary Seward?

b. Devil’s advocate question: How involved was Mary 

Surratt? Was she sentenced too harshly? Based on the 

evidence, does it appear that she was involved in the 

conspiracy to murder President Lincoln? 

2. Role-playing (if not done at previous stop)

a. John Wilkes Booth

b. Lewis Powell

c. David Herold

d. George Atzerodt

e. Mary Surratt

f. Samuel Arnold

g. Michael O’Laughlen

h. John Surratt
•• 105 ••

Stop 4. Old Arsenal Penitentiary: The site of the trial 

of the conspirators by military commission

Logistics

Grant Hall is located in Building 20 on Fort Lesley J. McNair in 

Washington, D.C. Parking is available in a lot to the south of the 

building. Because this stop is located on an active military base, 

visitors should be prepared to stop at the gate. Anyone without access 

to a military base will be required to sign in and must be escorted by 

an ID-card holder while on base. This site is currently used by the 

Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an academic institution within the 

U.S. Department of Defense. Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall hosts 

a quarterly public open house in the third-floor courtroom. Check 

website for date and times. At all other times, this building remains 

locked. To request access to Grant Hall outside of scheduled open 

house times, contact the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Groups 

Grant Hall, which was once the Old Arsenal Penitentiary, on present-day Fort 

Lesley J. McNair, 2014 (U.S. Army)
•• 106 ••

of twenty or more should contact the Joint Base Myer-Henderson 

Hall Public Affairs office in advance to schedule a tour. 

Summary

The trial of the conspirators involved in Lincoln’s assassination 

was held at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary in Washington, D.C., in a 

makeshift court room on the third floor of what is now Grant Hall on 

Fort Lesley J. McNair. The arsenal was built in 1803 and became an 

ordnance distribution center for the U.S. Army. The British captured 

it in 1814, during the War of 1812. In 1831, a penitentiary was built 

at the arsenal to house prisoners. In 1862, due to overcrowding, 

all prisoners at this penitentiary were transferred to the federal 

penitentiary in Albany, New York. 

During the Civil War, the arsenal was used as a place to 

produce, test, and store weaponry for the Union military. 

President Lincoln once visited the site to fire a newly designed 

repeating machine gun. The arsenal was chosen as the location 

for the trial of the conspirators because, at that time, it was mostly 

empty, yet still tightly guarded. The four conspirators who were 

sentenced to death were hanged in the courtyard of the prison on a 

temporary gallows that had been erected for the execution. In the 

years following the trial of the conspirators, Grant Hall was used 

as bachelor officers’ quarters as well as quarters for other Army 

personnel and their families.

Though the arsenal and the penitentiary no longer exist, Grant 

Hall (the building in which the trial occurred) was restored by 

American Film Company Wildwood Enterprises, Inc. for use in the 

2010 movie The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford. Although 

Grant Hall remains, the other buildings that were in its vicinity at the 

time of trial have since been removed. Standing largely alone, Grant 

Hall currently serves as the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. How well was the manhunt for the conspirators handled? 

b. Devil’s advocate question: Why were the conspirators 

tried by a military commission rather than a civilian 

court? Was Lincoln’s assassination a war crime? 

c. How did Booth and Herold make it to Virginia? Who 

aided them? See Map 5 for an overview of Booth and 

Herold’s escape route.
•• 107 ••

d. Why are there so many conspiracy theories about the 

Lincoln assassination and Booth’s death?

e. How did John Surratt Jr. end up going free?

f. Why didn’t the U.S. government put Jefferson Davis on 

trial?

g. What precedents did this trial set? How is knowledge of 

the trial useful for making legal decisions today?

2. Role-playing

a. Edwin Stanton

b. Joseph Holt

c. Boston Corbett

d. Andrew Johnson 

3. Decision gaming

Military Commission Decision Game

It is 9 May 1865. President Johnson has ordered a trial by military 

commission of the eight alleged conspirators linked to John Wilkes 

Booth. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Judge Advocate 

General of the U.S. Army Joseph Holt have chosen you as the senior 

military officer to lead that commission. John Wilkes Booth has 

been captured and killed. David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis 

Powell, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, Samuel Arnold, 

Edman Spangler, and Mary Surratt are all in custody. John Surratt 

Jr. remains at large. You receive guidance that your commission 

must try the alleged conspirators as war criminals, ensuring that 

they receive due process of law. They must face the nation’s justice 

for the heinous murder of President Lincoln and the attempted 

murders of Secretary of State Seward and Vice President Johnson. 

You knew President Lincoln well, and you were appointed to your 

rank by the slain president. The other handpicked members of 

the commission are standing by for your guidance before the trial 

commences. General, what are your orders?

Think about the following: Why is it important that the 

conspirators be tried by military commission? Should the number 

of those on trial be increased to include those who aided Booth and 

Herold in their escape? Should John Surratt be tried in absentia? 

As the leader of the military commission, how should you proceed 

with the trial? Which witnesses will be key, and what evidence 

is most significant? How should the prosecution approach each 

individual conspirator’s case? If the conspirators are found guilty, 
•• 108 ••

what specific punishments should be meted out to each convicted 

conspirator? Finally, what are the most important elements of legal 

jurisprudence involved in this particular trial? Discuss among 

yourselves and come up with an overall plan for the military trial 

of the conspirators. 

Goal: To gain a better understanding of how the trial of the 

conspirators took place, the argument for its legality, and the 

legal precedents that it set.
•• 109 ••

Stop 5. Surratt House: A critical stop on Booth and Herold’s 

run from the law

Logistics

The Surratt House is located at 9118 Brandywine Road in Clinton 

(formerly Surrattsville), Maryland. Free parking is available nearby. 

This site is a privately owned house museum run by the Surratt 

Society. It is open on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 1100 

to 1500, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 1200 to 1600. General 

adult admission is $5, although group rates are available. The Surratt 

House is a Blue Star museum providing discounts for veterans and 

active duty military from Armed Forces Day in mid-May through 

Labor Day in early September. Groups should contact the Surratt 

House Museum ahead of time to schedule tours. Tours are half an 

hour in length.

Summary

Mary Surratt’s house in Maryland became historically important the 

moment that Booth and Herold stopped there during their flight from 

the law.

The Surratt House in present-day Clinton, Maryland, Carol M. Highsmith, 2017
•• 110 ••

Mary Surratt and her husband John built the two-story house 

in 1852 on their 300-acre plantation. In 1853, John began using the 

building as an inn and tavern. A post office was installed inside 

the tavern, and John Surratt became the city’s first postmaster. 

Shortly after, the area became known as Surrattsville. In 1854, 

John added on to the building and named it Surratt’s Hotel. John 

died in 1862, and when Mary moved to their D.C. townhouse in 

1864, she rented the Maryland property to John Lloyd to be used 

as a tavern. It was here that Booth and Herold picked up supplies 

such as rifles, binoculars, and whiskey from John Lloyd on the 

night of Lincoln’s assassination. 

After Mary Surratt’s conviction and execution in 1865, and 

with the Surratt family in a great deal of debt, the house was 

sold in 1868. It was privately owned by five different families 

until 1965, when the property was donated by B. K. Miller and 

his son Thomas Miller to the Maryland-National Capital Park 

and Planning Commission (MNCPPC). The original plan had 

been to move the building to Clinton Regional Park, but this plan 

fell through. In 1968, the MNCPPC used money provided by the 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy the 

land on which the house stood. The Surratt House was added to 

the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The MNCPPC 

restored the house in 1975. That same year, the Surratt Society was 

formed. The Surratt House opened as a historic house museum in 

1976. Additional restoration to ensure the authentic appearance of 

the home was completed in the 1980s.

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. Why did the guard at the Navy Yard Bridge checkpoint 

let Booth and Herold out of the city? 

b. Why were Booth and Herold able to execute such a wellplanned escape? How did they know to meet up in 

Maryland? How were they able to escape the capital, 

make it across Maryland and well into Virginia, and 

avoid capture for almost two weeks?

c. Why did Booth and Herold stop at the Surratt tavern? 

What was John Lloyd’s role in their escape, and how 

did his testimony influence the trial of the conspirators?

d. How was evidence from the Surratt tavern used by the 

prosecution during the military trial, and how did it 

affect their verdict concerning Mary Surratt?
•• 111 ••

e. Devil’s advocate question, if not done at previous stop: 

How involved was Mary Surratt in Booth’s plans? 

Was she sentenced too harshly?

2. Role-playing

a. John Lloyd

b. Louis Weichmann
•• 112 ••

Stop 6. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House: Home of the doctor 

who gave medical attention to Booth

Logistics

The Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House is located at 3725 Dr Samuel Mudd 

Road in Waldorf, Maryland. Free parking is available nearby. This 

site is a privately owned house museum. From mid-March to late 

November, it is usually open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 

1100 to 1600 and on Sundays from 1200 to 1600. Admission for adults 

is $7. Groups should schedule ahead of time by contacting the Mudd 

House. The tour takes half an hour.

Summary

The Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House is a two-story farmhouse located 

near Waldorf, Charles County, Maryland. The house is part of St. 

Catharine plantation, which has been in the Mudd family since the 

1690s. After Dr. Mudd’s conviction and imprisonment in 1865, St. 

Catharine plantation stayed in the Mudd family’s possession, and 

indeed the property is still owned by the Mudd family. It is one of 

The Dr. Mudd House Museum in present-day Waldorf, Maryland, 

David E. Hilkert, 2018 (private collection)
•• 113 ••

only a few properties in Maryland that has been owned by the same 

family for over 300 years.

When Mudd married in 1857, his father gave the approximately 

218-acre plantation to him and his wife, Sarah Frances Dyer Mudd. 

That same year, Mudd worked to repair and enlarge the plantation 

house. In 1864, he updated the kitchen with a cookstove and added 

two more rooms to the house. 

After stopping at Mary Surratt’s tavern in Maryland, Booth and 

Herold next went to Mudd’s plantation, seeking medical attention 

for Booth’s broken leg in the wee hours of 15 April 1865. The doctor 

treated Booth’s leg and allowed the pair to rest in an upstairs bedroom.

Following Mudd’s pardon and release from prison in 1869, he 

lived the rest of his life at the plantation, continuing to farm tobacco 

and work as a medical doctor. 

In 1974, the house was added to the National Register of Historic 

Places. Still privately owned, the Mudd House has been used as a 

historic house museum since that time. 

Discussion Suggestions

1. Socratic dialogue questions

a. How did Mudd aid Booth and Herold in their escape?

b. Why did Mudd wait over twenty-four hours to inform 

authorities of Booth’s and Herold’s visit?

c. Devil’s advocate question: How involved was Mudd in 

Booth’s plans? How likely is it that he was aware of 

Booth’s plan to assassinate the president? Was he too 

harshly sentenced?

2. Role-playing (if not done at previous stop)

a. Dr. Samuel Mudd 

b. John Wilkes Booth

c. David Herold
•• 114 ••

NOTES
•• 115 ••

NOTES
•• 116 ••

NOTES
PIN : 206933–000