Feb. 13, 2026
PRESIDENTS' DAY WEEKEND - "THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY: THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL THAT HANGED A WOMAN"
Reid Carter launches Presidents' Day weekend with the assassination that changed America. April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre during a coordinated conspiracy to decapitate the government. Secretary of State Seward stabbed in his bed. Vice President Johnson's assassin lost his nerve. Twelve-day manhunt ended with Booth shot dead in a Virginia barn. Eight conspirators tried by military tribunal - not civilian court. Mary Surratt became the first woman executed by the federal government despite pleas for mercy. Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt hanged beside her. Justice or revenge?
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WEBVTT
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Caalaruga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Friday, February thirteenth,
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twenty twenty six, President's Day weekend, and we're spending it
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where we always end up in the courtroom or in
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this case, the military tribunal, because before there was a
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holiday celebrating American presidents, there was the night that killed one,
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the conspiracy that tried to destroy the government, and the
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trial that executed four people, including a woman who may
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have been innocent. April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, Good Friday,
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Ford's Theater, Washington, d C. President Abraham Lincoln watching a
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comedy called Our American Cousin with his wife Mary. The
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Civil War was effectively over. Lee had surrendered five days earlier.
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The nation was supposed to be healing. Then a gunshot.
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A twenty six year old actor named John Wilkes Booth
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stepped into the presidential box, pressed a single shot derringer
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to the back of Lincoln's head and pulled the trigger.
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Jumped to the stage, broke his leg on landing, shouted
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sick semper tyrannus, thus always to tyrants, fled into the night.
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Lincoln died the next morning, April fifteenth, eighteen sixty five,
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first American president assassinated. But here's what most people don't know.
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Booth didn't act alone. This was a coordinated attack on
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the entire federal government. Three targets, three assassins, same night,
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same hour. Secretary of State William Seward was stabbed repeatedly
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in his bed by Lewis Powell. Vice President Andrew Johnson
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was supposed to be killed by George Azarot, who got
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drunk and chickened out. Booth escaped for twelve days before
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being shot dead in a Virginia barn. But eight other
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conspirators were captured, tried by military tribunal, not civilian court,
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and four of them hanged, including Mary Surrett, the first
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woman executed by the United States federal government. I'm reed, Carter.
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This is celebrity trials today. The Lincoln assassination, the conspiracy,
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the controversial military tribunal, and the hanging of Mary Surrett,
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Part one of our President's Day Assassination Trials series. Let's
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set the scene, Washington, d c. April eighteen sixty five.
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The Civil War is ending. Robert E. Lee surrendered the
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Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse on April ninth.
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The Confederacy is collapsing. Lincoln is planning reconstruction. The mood
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in the Capitol is euphoric. John Wilkes Booth is not
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celebrating twenty six years old. Famous actor from a famous
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acting family. His brother Edwin Booth was considered the greatest
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American actor of the era. But John Wilkes was a
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star in his own right. Handsome charismatic, traveled the country
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performing Shakespeare, made the equivalent of half a million dollars
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a year in today's money. He was also a Confederate sympathizer.
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Didn't fight in the war. His mother made him promise
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not to enlist, but he supported the Southern cause passionately.
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Attended Lincoln's second inauguration in March eighteen sixty five, stood
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just feet from the president. Later told a friend, what
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an excellent chance I had to kill the president on
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inauguration day if I had wished. Originally, Booth's plan wasn't assassination.
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It was kidnapping. Capture Lincoln, transport him to Richmond, trade
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him for Confederate prisoners of war. He recruited a team.
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Lewis Powell, a former Confederate soldier built like a linebacker.
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David Harold, a twenty two year old pharmacy clerk who
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knew the back roads of Maryland. George Atserot, a German
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immigrant and boat operator who could get them across the Potomac.
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Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlin childhood friends of Booth who'd
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served in the Confederate Army. John Surrat, a Confederate courier
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and spy, and John Surrat's mother, Mary Surrat. She owned
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a boarding house on h Street in Washington where the
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conspirators met. Whether she knew the full scope of the
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plot would become the most controversial question of the trial.
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March seventeenth, eighteen sixty five, the kidnapping attempt failed. Lincoln
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changed his schedule at the last minute, didn't show up
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where Booth expected him. Arnold and O'Laughlin quit the conspiracy
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after that, said it was too risky. But Lee's surrender
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on April ninth changed everything for Booth. The kidnapping plan
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was useless now no prisoner exchange needed. The Confederacy was dead,
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so Booth escalated. Kidnapping became assassination, and not just Lincoln
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Booth wanted to decapit tate the entire government in one night.
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Kill the president, kill the Vice president, kill the Secretary
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of State, create chaos, maybe reignite the war. April fourteenth,
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Good Friday, Booth learned that Lincoln would attend Ford's Theater
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that evening. He knew the theater intimately, he'd performed there
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many times. Knew the layout, knew the schedules, knew exactly
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which door led to the presidential box. That afternoon, Booth
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held a final meeting. Assigned targets. Powell would kill Secretary
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of State William Seward, who was bedridden at home recovering
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from a carriage accident. Harold would guide Powell to Seward's
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house and help him escape. Afterward, Atzerot would kill Vice
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President Andrew Johnson at the kirkwood House hotel, where Johnson
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was staying. Booth would handle Lincoln himself. Ten fifteen pm,
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Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln were in the Presidential Box
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at Ford's Theater with Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee,
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cl Clara Harris. The play was in its third act,
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a comedy. The audience was laughing. Booth entered the theater
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through the front door. Nobody stopped him. He was famous.
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Everyone knew his face. Walked up the stairs to the
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dress circle, approached the outer door to the Presidential Box.
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He'd prepared it earlier that day, carved a small peep
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hole in the inner door and placed a wooden brace
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to jam the outer door shut behind him so nobody
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could follow. Booth waited for a line he knew would
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get a big laugh. The audience erupted in that moment
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of noise. Booth opened the inner door, stepped behind Lincoln,
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pressed his point four to four caliber single shot derringer
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to the back of Lincoln's head and fired. The ball
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entered behind Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye.
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Lincoln slumped forward, never regained consciousness. Major Rathbone lunged at Booth.
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Booth slashed him across the arm with a hunting knife,
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deep wound, nearly severed an artery. Then heaped from the
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box to the stage eleven feet below. His riding spur
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caught on the Treasury Guard flag decorating the box. He
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landed hard, fractured his left fibula, but he stood up
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faced The stunned audience raised the bloody knife, shouted sick
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semper tyrannus. Some witnesses also heard him shout the South
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is avenged. Then he limped across the stage and out
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the back door, where a horse was waiting, gone into
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the Maryland darkness. Across town, Lewis Powell arrived at Secretary
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Seward's home on Lafayette Square. Told the servant he was
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delivering medicine from Seward's doctor, talked his way inside, walked upstairs,
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found Seward in bed, his jaw wired shut from the
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carriage accident. Powell pulled out a bowie knife and started slashing.
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Stabbed Seward in the face and neck, cut his cheek
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open so badly the wound flapped like a hinge. Seward's son, Frederick,
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tried to intervene Powell fractured his skull with a pistol.
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Another son, Augustus, was stabbed. A State Department messenger was stabbed.
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A soldier guarding Seward was stabbed. Five people injured, but
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Seward survived. The metal jaw splint from his carriage accident
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deflected the knife from his jugular vein. The device that
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immobilized him, saved his life. Powell fled into the night. Harold,
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who was supposed to guide him, panicked and ran when
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he heard screaming. Powell was left alone in a city
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he didn't know, and George Atsarrot, the man assigned to
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kill Vice President Johnson. He went to the Kirkwood House,
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sat in the bar, drank and drank and drank, never
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went upstairs, never attempted the assassination, lost his nerve, entirely,
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left the hotel and wandered the streets. One assassin succeeded,
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one failed, one didn't even try. Lincoln was carried across
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the street to the Peterson boarding House, laid diagonally on
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a bed too short for his six foot four frame.
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Doctors examined him. The wound was mortal, nothing could be done.
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Abraham Lincoln died at seven twenty two am on April fifteenth,
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eighteen sixty five. He was fifty six years old. Secretary
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of War Edwin Stanton reportedly said, now he belongs to
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the ages. The largest manhunt in American history began immediately.
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The federal government mobilized everything ten thousand troops, cavalry detectives,
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a one hundred thousand dollars reward equivalent to over two
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million dollars today. Booth's photograph distributed everywhere. Telegraphs sent to
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every city on the eastern seaboard. Booth and David Harold
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fled south through Maryland. Booth's broken leg was agony. Around
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four am on April fifteen, they arrived at the home
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of doctor Samuel Mudd in Bryantown, Maryland. Mud set and
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splinted Booth's leg, made him crutches. Whether Mud knew what
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Booth had done or even who he was, became another
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contested point at trial. The fugitives continued south, crossed into
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Virginia with the help of Confederate sympathizers. Hid in forests
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and swamps, waited for a chance to cross the Rappahannock River.
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April twenty sixth, twelve days after the assassination, Federal troops
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tracked Booth and Harold to Richard Garrett's tobacco farm near
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Port Royal, Virginia. Surrounded the barn where they were hiding.
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Harold surrendered, Booth refused. The soldiers set the barn on fire.
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As the flames spread, Sergeant Boston Corbett spotted Booth through
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a gap in the slats, fired his Colt Revolver. The
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bullet struck Booth in the neck, severing his spinal cord,
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nearly the same spot where Booth had shot. Lincoln soldiers
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dragged Booth from the burning barn. Paralyzed, dying, he whispered,
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tell my mother, I died for my country, then looked
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at his hands. His final words useless. Useless. John Wilkes
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Booth died on the porch of the Garrett Farmhouse at
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seven fifteen am on April twenty sixth, eighteen sixty five.
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He was twenty six years old. Meanwhile, the conspirators were
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being rounded up. Louis Powell showed up at Mary Surret's
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boarding house three days after the assassination while detectives were
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searching it, wearing a disguise carrying a pickaxe. Said he
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was there to dig a ditch at midnight. The detectives
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weren't buying it. Powell was arrested on the spot. Atsorot
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was found hiding at his cousin's farm in Maryland, arrested
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April twentieth. Edmund Spangler, a stage hand at Ford's Theater
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who'd held Booth's horse, was arrested. Doctor Samuel Mudd was
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arrested after investigators learned he'd treated Booth's leg and failed
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to report it. Samuel Arnold was arrested after a letter
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he'd written to Booth about the kidnapping plot was discovered.
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Michael O. Laughlin turned himself in, and Mary Surrett was
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arrested at her boarding house. Her son, John, the original conspirator,
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had fled to Canada and eventually to Europe. He wouldn't
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be captured until eighteen sixty six. Eight people in custody,
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the leader of the conspiracy dead, and the question how
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do you try them? The answer was controversial? Then it's controversial.
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Now we'll be right back with the military tribunal that
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tried eight civilians for conspiracy to assassinate the president, including
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Mary Surrett, the woman whose execution still haunts American justice.
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May first, eighteen sixty five, President Andrew Johnson ordered a
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military tribunal to try the eight conspirators, not a civilian court,
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not a jury of their peers, a panel of nine
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military officers serving as judge and jury. This was immediately controversial.
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The war was effectively over. The defendants were civilians. The
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Constitution guarantees the right to trial by jury, but Attorney
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General James Speed argued that because the assassination was an
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act of war, a Confederate operation designed to destabilize the government,
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military jurisdiction was appropriate. Defense attorneys challenged the tribunal's legitimacy,
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filed habeas corpus petitions, argued their clients deserved civilian trials
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with constitutional protections, all denied. The military tribunal proceeded May ninth,
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eighteen sixty five. The trial began in the Old Arsenal
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Penitentiary in Washington. The eight defendants, Mary Surrett, UIs Powell,
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David Harold, George Atserot, doctor Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin,
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and Edmund Spangler all shackled, some hooded, treated as prisoners
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of war, not criminal defendants. The proceedings lasted seven weeks.
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Three hundred sixty six witnesses testified. The prosecution, led by
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Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, presented a sweeping conspiracy theory
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connecting Booth's plot to the Confederate government itself, claimed Jefferson
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Davis and other Confederate leaders ordered the assassination. That claim
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was likely exaggerated, but it served a political purpose. Framing
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the assassination as an act of war justified the military tribunal.
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For most of the defendants, the evidence was overwhelming. Lewis
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Powell had nearly killed the Secretary of State. Multiple witnesses
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identified him, his knife was recovered, his clothes were bloody,
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open and shut. David Harold had guided Powell to go
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Seward's house and fled with Booth for twelve days. George
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Atserot had been assigned to kill the vice president and
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was found with weapons. His hotel room at the Kirkwood
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House contained a loaded revolver, a bowie knife, and a
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bank book belonging to Booth. But Mary Surrett's case was
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different and deeply troubling the prosecution's case against her. She
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owned the boarding house where conspirators met, She knew Booth.
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She allegedly told her tenant, John Lloyd to have shooting
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irons ready at her Surretzville tavern, where Booth and Harold
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stopped for weapons during their escape. Lloyd testified she'd told
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him the firearms would be needed soon. Her defense, she
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was a devout Catholic widow a mother. She rented rooms
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to boarders. Her son, John was involved in the conspiracy,
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not her. She may have known something was being planned,
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but didn't know the specifics. Lloyd, the key witness against her,
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was a known alcoholic who'd been drinking heavily the day
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he claimed she gave instructions. His testimony was unreliable. Mary
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Surrat's attorneys argued she was being convicted for her son's crimes,
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that the government couldn't catch John Surrat, so they punished
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his mother instead, that she was a passive landlord, not
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an active conspirator. The tribunal wasn't convinced. June thirtieth, eighteen
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sixty five, the verdicts came down. All eight defendants found
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guilty Mary Surrat, Lewis Powell, David Harold, George Atsot death
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by hanging, doctor Samuel Mudd life in prison, Samuel Arnold,
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and Michael O'Laughlin life in prison Edmund Spangler six years
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in prison. Five of the nine tribunal members signed a
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clemency petition for Mary Surrett, asked President Johnson to commute
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her sentence to life imprisonment on account of her age
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and sex. Johnson later claimed he never saw the petition.
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Holt claimed he personally showed it. To the President. The
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truth died with both of them. July seventh, eighteen sixty five,
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