Lewis Powell ( conspirator ) Lewis Thornton Powell ( April 22 , 1844 – July 7 , 1865 ) , also known as Lewis Paine or Payne , attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate United States Secretary of State William H . Seward , and was one of four people hanged for the Lincoln assassination conspiracy , and given his home state , Alabama , was the only assassination conspirator executed who had been from the Deep South . Early life . Lewis Powell was born in Randolph County , Alabama on April 22 , 1844 to a Baptist minister , George Cader , and his young wife Patience Caroline Powell . The youngest of eight children , he spent the first three years of his life in Randolph County before his father was ordained and the family moved to Stewart County , Georgia . Powell and his siblings were all educated by their father who was the local schoolmaster . In his early years , Lewis was described as quiet and introverted , and well liked among others . He enjoyed fishing , reading , and studying . An animal lover who took the liberty to nurse and care for sick and stray animals , he earned the nickname " Doc " from his sisters for his hospitality . When Lewis was 13 , he was violently kicked in the face by the family ' s donkey , breaking his jaw . The break healed in a manner making his jaw more prominent on the left side of his face . After some years in Stewart County , the family moved to Worth County , then finally moving to Live Oak , Florida in 1859 , when Lewis was 15 . Civil War service . On May 30 , 1861 at age 17 , Lewis left home and enlisted in the 2nd Florida Infantry , Company I in Jasper , Florida . Sometime in November , 1862 , he was hospitalized for " sickness " at General Hospital No . 11 in Richmond , Virginia . He went on to fight at numerous battles unscathed before being wounded in the wrist on the second day of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg , July 2 , 1863 , from where he was captured and sent to a POW hospital at Pennsylvania College . Powell stayed at Pennsylvania College until September , when he was transferred to West Buildings Hospital in Baltimore , Maryland . It was at West Buildings where Powell met and developed a relationship with a volunteer nurse named Margaret " Maggie " Branson . It was believed that it was with the help of Branson that Lewis was able to escape from the hospital within a week of his arrival , fleeing to Alexandria , Virginia . Back in Virginia , he located Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his cavalry in late fall 1863 and rode with the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry . After leaving the company , he returned to Baltimore on January 13 , 1865 , crossing the lines at Alexandria . Powell returned to the boarding house of Maggie Branson . During his time with the Rangers , in 1864 , Powell became involved in the Confederate Secret Service . It was in Baltimore that he was arrested for severely beating a black servant at the Branson house . He was arrested and held in jail 2 days on charges of being a " spy " . Required to sign an Oath of Allegiance , he did so , under the name Lewis Paine . It was also in Baltimore that he met fellow CSS operative John Surratt through a man named David Preston Parr , also with the CSS . Lincoln assassination plot . On April 13 , John Wilkes Booth , George Atzerodt and David Herold all met at Powell ' s room at the Kirkwood Hotel , where Booth assigned roles . On April 14 , Powell was to go to the home of Secretary of State William H . Seward and kill him , accompanied by Herold . Atzerodt was to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson ; he would fail because he lost his nerve and got drunk . Booth was to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln , a task he completed . On April 14 , 1865 , Powell , armed with a knife and a Whitney Revolver was escorted to the Seward residence by David Herold . Powell gained entry into the house by claiming that he had medicine for Seward from Dr . Verdi . ( Earlier in the month , on April 5 , 1865 , Seward had been injured in a carriage accident , and suffered a concussion , a broken jaw , a broken right arm , and many serious bruises . He was at home convalescing . ) Powell then attempted to kill William Seward by breaking into his bedroom and stabbing him repeatedly . A jaw splint worn by Seward helped to save his life by deflecting the knife away from his jugular vein . Powell also injured Seward ' s two eldest sons ( Augustus and Frederick , his assigned military nurse , Sergeant George F . Robinson , and messenger Emerick Hansell , who arrived right as Powell was escaping . After the attempt on Seward ' s life , Powell threw his bloody knife up into the gutter of the Seward house and fled on horseback . He discarded his light - colored coat in a Washington suburb cemetery where he hid . At some point , the horse , purchased by John Wilkes Booth in December 1864 , that Powell was riding either threw him or he fell off . The horse was later found near the Lincoln Branch Barracks , close to the Capitol . After hiding out in a tree for three days , Powell went to Mary Surratt ' s boardinghouse only to arrive at the same time that she was being arrested for her part in the assassination . Although it was night time , when asked why he was there , carrying a pickaxe , Powell claimed that he had been hired to dig a gutter . Surratt denied knowing who he was , despite his having visited and stayed at the boardinghouse on several occasions . Powell was arrested and taken into police custody . After Seward family servant William Bell picked him out from a police lineup , Powell was taken to the Washington Navy Yard , where he was confined aboard the monitor gunboat USS " Saugus " . Powell and the other surviving conspirators were later transferred to the Old Capitol Prison . Trial and execution . Powell was tried under the name of " Payne " by a military tribunal . He was represented by William E . Doster , a Yale and Harvard graduate the former District of Columbia provost marshal . Thirty two witnesses were called to testify concerning Powell , including Seward ' s son , Augustus , and William Bell , who worked for the Seward household as a servant and doorman , and who admitted Powell the night of the assassination attempt . The evidence was overwhelming against Powell ; it included a performance at Ford Theatre attended by Powell , John Wilkes Booth , and two boarders from Mary Surratt ' s boardinghouse , Honora Fitzpatrick and Apollonia Dean . Doster tried to argue that Powell was insane at the time of the assassination attempt , an argument refuted by physicians called on behalf of the prosecution . He then argued that Powell was acting as a soldier , attempting to complete his duty as he had been ordered . The commission rejected this defense as well and Powell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and treason . Powell was executed with three other conspirators on July 7 , 1865 . He went to the gallows calmly and quietly , though at some point he was believed to have pleaded for the life of Mary Surratt shortly before he was hanged . His spiritual advisor , Rev . Gillette , thanked the guards for their good treatment of him while he was in prison , on his behalf . He insisted to his death that Mrs . Surratt was innocent . While hangman Christian Rath was placing the noose over young Powell ' s head he remarked , " I hope you die quick . " He had been impressed by Powell ' s courage and determination in the face of death . To this Powell replied , " You know best , captain . " However , Powell did not die quickly as hoped by Rath . After the drop he struggled for life more than five minutes . His body swinging wildly , twice he " Moved his legs up into the sitting position " and was the last to die . Mary Surratt died instantly . David Herold gave a brief shudder . George Atzerodt , whose neck did not break upon impact , also shuddered for several minutes before dying . Skull discovery . In January 1992 , Powell ' s skull was discovered stored at the Smithsonian Anthropology Department . Two years later the skull was re - interred at the Geneva Cemetery in Seminole County , Florida , next to the grave of his father . In film . In 2011 , Powell was portrayed by Norman Reedus in the Robert Redford film " The Conspirator " .