Volunteer Continuing Education - Dave Taylor - The Conspirators

how's everybody doing good crowd I love to see this my name is Sam wheeler I'm the state historian director of library services welcome to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library I'm so glad that y'all came out on a beautiful night like this I first encountered our speaker tonight Dave Taylor on YouTube a couple years ago I was watching YouTube which I tend to do clicked on a video called John Wilkes Booth in the woods an 11 part series and I watched every single one of them he was is a bit of a first-person reenactment booth on the run post assassination in the pine thicket it was to me a very interesting series of videos number one that somebody would would portray John Wilkes Booth I thought was interesting but number two the insights that I got from watching that video I really thought that was a really novel approach to education so that's why I kept on clicking to watch each one of these videos I talked about that unique series to several of the volunteers here at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and I was shocked that they reached out to mr. Taylor and they invited him here to speak last year I came to that event and I didn't know what to expect I learned that he was a third grade teacher still is god bless you for that I learned that a young man from Illinois originally and he was a self-proclaimed boothy who proudly portrayed Abraham Lincoln's murderer but that night I got to tell you Dave I was so impressed with your presentation how many show of hands how many people came out last year to see that program the hands are going up I think you'll agree extremely well-researched presentation and the the presentation itself very engaging speakers I tried to stay around to talk to you guys afterwards but you were inundated with folks wanting to talk to you and so I never got a chance to tell you wonderful presentation of which we've archived it on YouTube for those of you who missed it you can go check it out on YouTube and we're going to be recording this one for YouTube as well I'm going to do that I've never done this before but I'm going to give a plug for your Twitter handle how many of you have a Twitter account few people you can follow him at booty barn bo o thi e ba are in I continued to follow him on Twitter over the last year it's a lively account this trip that he and Kade have made out here to Springfield they've talked about it all along the way they've been hitting historic sites I've learned he continues to portray booth I've learned he's continued his excellent research on the conspirators and I've also learned about changes in his life his girlfriend Kate Ramirez who I got to meet last year I don't know how you did it but you found an awesome match she's a living historian and guess who she portrays Mary Surratt on April 14th what happened on April 14th anything on April 14th Dave and Kate went to Ford's Theater to give a private tour or so Kate saw and they became engaged at Ford's Theatre on April 14th that is awesome [Applause] so I'm glad you found one another and I am glad we found you days and I'm glad you both found your way back out here to Springfield at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum tonight dave is going to tell us about the conspirators so please make Dave feel welcome [Applause] [Applause] well thank you so much Sam from that wonderful introduction it's great to see all these faces this is the biggest crowd I've ever talked to before so that's great I'd like to thank you all for having me back at the Graham Lincoln Presidential Library Museum it was a great honor for me to speak last year about John Wilkes Booth and I was so humbled by your responses after my speech people coming up to me I received emails and notes and actually even Sam himself not too long ago to the kindness of his heart sent me something that apparently he just found hanging around the museum and I'm so grateful Sam for this generous gift but I have to tell you you really should have gone for the shipping damage insurance because I'm afraid when it got to me it's left leg was completely broken but but don't feel bad Sam I managed to patch it up with a little persistence some elbow grease and a lot of mud sweat and tears and as I understand Sam and no one even noticed it was gone so that was the best thing about the whole thing now when I was here with you all last summer I spoke about this man John Wilkes Booth I talked about his personal history and about his actions that led him to Ford's Theatre on April 14th 1865 this time however instead of being our focus booth is going to play a secondary character instead tonight we are going to look at the history of four of his conspirators now a total of nine people were put on trial for their connection in Lincoln's death one received a sentence of 6 years and that would be Edmund Spangler who was about at the 5:00 o'clock hour down here three of the conspirators received life sentences and they are dr. Mudd was about 7 o'clock and then at 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock Arnold and O'Laughlin I cannot put the point around here it doesn't show up so that's why I have to tell you one was tried to years later in a civilian court and a hung jury occurred and so he was set free and that is John Surratt who is just right up here and then for were executed for their involvement initially I hope to discuss all these conspirators with you but there is no way that you can cover all nine of these individuals in a short amount of time so instead we are going to relate the stories of the four conspirators who paid the ultimate price from their connection with John Wilkes Booth and I speak of David Herold who was at nine o'clock hour here Mary Surratt who was about ten Lewis Powell was right at midnight and then George Atzerodt of whom he is read about at eight o'clock so let's begin David Edgar Herald was born on June 16th 1842 in Washington DC he was the seventh of eleven children born to Adam George and Mary Porter Herold his three elder brothers had all died in the 1830s leaving Davey to be raised as the only son with seven sisters yes the Harold family resided in a home in front of the Washington Navy Yard where mr. Herold worked as the chief clerk the Herald's were fairly affluent for their time with mr. Herold owning five other buildings in DC and two buildings in Baltimore where he was from the Harold's wealth and residents in the bustling city of Washington allowed them to invest in Davey's education a fellow student of Davey's in one of his earliest schools recalled this about the future conspirator the boy who sent by me about my own age whose was a little round-headed round I'd round body boy named David Herold his general rotundity was completed by a voice that rolled his arse I envied David his disposition in that he got along with the big boys so well when a big boy imposed on David he would generally is generally escaped with a funny remark which was called witty which generally got a laugh and David was called you learn when not going to school Davi quickly developed a passion for hunting his father regularly took his only son down into Southern Maryland in order to go hunting for partridge over time Davi became extremely familiar with the county's roads people and neighborhoods of Southern Maryland this knowledge would be a valuable asset to John Wilkes Booth years later baby continued his education and at the age of 13 he was enrolled at Georgetown College he studied pharmacology from 1855 until 1853 he was then accepted at Gonzaga College but it does not appear that he ever attended there instead Harold finished up his education at the Rittenhouse Academy in Washington DC Davy then found employment working as a pharmacist clerk but it appears that Davy never really lost the witty disposition that is described in his youth many people who knew Davey would later attest to his humor and that he retained a degree of boyishness even into his 20s one of his employers the druggist Frances Walsh described Davy thusly he was like most youngsters light trifling and a great many things but as to his moral character I never saw anything to find fault with he was temperate in his habits and regular in his hours David Herold would claim that he first met John Wilkes Booth in the spring of 1863 when Booth was in Washington performing Herald specifies that he went backstage to meet the actor after boost performance in the play the marble heart this was likely on April 13th 1863 Herold like practically all others bhoot conversed with was instantly charmed by the young actor and felt an immediate friendship according to Herold during booths engagement in the city which lasted until May he met mr. booth off and on sometimes once a week or maybe two or three times we would always stand and have a chat he left the city and I did not see him for seven or eight coincidentally John Wilkes Booth made yet another important acquaintance around the same time when he met Harold it actually occurred five days later at another performance of the marble heart two boys were in the audience that night and they were so spellbound by booth acting's that one of them turned to the other and said I'd like to meet that man he makes you thrilled so between the second and third acts of the play the boys requested to meet mr. booth and the stage manager allowed them entry to the actors dressing room the actor gave us each a hand with a very sweet smile he continued with his makeup asking us how we liked the play and we telling him the parts we most admired on leaving he handed us each a rose from a bunch that had presented had been presented to him over the footlights that account comes from the memory of one of the two boys named Gustave Sherman the other boy booth met the one who said that booth made him thrill was none other than the president's son tad Lincoln it's eerie that John Wilkes Booth performance in the same play five days apart should drawing two individuals so connected to his dark future at that time however John Wilkes Booth had no plots against Lincoln and so Harold continued in his career as a pharmacist Clerk On June 22nd 1863 Davy actually filled a prescription of sorts it was a request for a small vial of castor oil the recipient of the castor oil was President Lincoln the records are unclear but it is entirely possible that harold delivered this prescription to the White House himself baby's father Adam George Harold died on October 6 1864 and was buried in the family plot in Congressional Cemetery in his last will and Testaments Davey's father made his wife the executor of his estate and left specific instructions that if she should die before him then the task would devolve to his three eldest daughters in the final coat a seal of his will mr. Harold states in no case shall the duty of managing my estate fall upon my son David this last addendum seems rather harsh but may speak to the idea that Davies was still deemed a bit too immature by his family and those who knew him his sister Jane stated that as the only boy in the family he was apt to be spoiled and that he was easily led off very yielding James stated her belief that he might be very easily made of to love by someone James prediction would come to pass some time after her father's death in either the fall or winter of 1864 we do not know exactly when Davy Herold and John Wilkes Booth cross paths once again booth had returned to Washington but was not acting this season during the summer of 1864 he had concocted a plan that was the source of all of his efforts booth met up with Harold and confided to him about his audacious plot booth was planning to abduct President Lincoln and take him south to the Confederacy his intended reason for the scheme was to force the Union to reinstate the prisoner exchange Abraham Lincoln had hosted this program in July of 1863 in retaliation for the Confederacy's refusal to exchange African American soldiers and their white officers when General Grant was made commander of the Union armies the Confederacy appealed to him to please reinstate the program citing the terrible conditions of overly populated prisoner of war camps but General Grant held fast to Lincoln's wishes and refused to reinstate the prisoner exchange by abducting Lincoln and turning him over to Jefferson Davis and Richmond Booth believed he could bring back the prisoner exchange and hand the Confederacy the most effective bargaining chip to bring about peace talks what's more booth claimed the Confederacy would undoubtedly pay handsomely to anyone who could bring the working the way booth described the plot was equal parts adventure fame and fortune all of these things appealed to the 22 year old Davy Herold even more appealing however was the fact that this worldly and famous actor was seeking his assistance unlike his family and acquaintances John Wilkes Booth felt Davey worthy and important enough to help him in his quest Davey signed on to assist booth and whatever way he could and word later proved himself to be among the actors most devoted followers when he joined booth on his escape after the assassination of Lincoln contrasting Davy Harold's well-established devotion to John Wilkes Booth is our next individual whose true intentions and knowledge of John Wilkes Booth's plans make her the most controversial of all the conspirators I speak of course of Mary Surratt Mary Elizabeth Jenkins was born in Prince George's County Maryland in 1823 she was the second of three children born to Archibald and Elizabeth and Jenkins when Mary was two years old her father died unexpectedly leaving her mother to care for her and her two brothers alone and always look at this and it just reminds me so much of the picture of Sarah Bush Lincoln just clearly in some ways contrary to other widows at the time Mary's mother did not remarry and actually found success running the family's small plantation the land of which now houses Andrews Air Force Base where Air Force One regularly lands and it departs from little is known about Mary's early life in 1835 a 12 year old Mary was enrolled in an Academy for young ladies a Catholic boarding school in Alexandria Virginia though raised in the Episcopal Church within two years of being at the boarding school Mary converted to Catholicism when the school closed in 1839 sixteen year-old Mary returned home to her mother's plantation back at home Mary made the acquaintance of a neighbor ten years her senior John Surratt surratt had fathered an illegitimate son in 1838 and in 1840 he faced a court order to take financial responsibility for the boy but this incident did not seem to interfere with John and Mary's courtship on August 6 1840 John Surratt and Mary Elizabeth Jenkins applied for a marriage license in Washington DC after the wedding the newlyweds moved into a property Surratt owned over the next four years Mary Surratt gave birth to the couple's three children Isaac Douglas was born on June 2nd 1841 Elizabeth Susannah who went by Anna was born on January 1st 1843 and John Harrison Surratt jr. who will see later came along on April 13th 1844 in 1845 John's seniors adopted mother died and he was the sole inheritor of her farm estate the Surratt settled into life as southern planters with Mary working hard to raise the couple's three children during their time on the farm Mary Surratt was also very much involved in the establishment and construction of a new Catholic Church in the area she raised funds and was present at the dedication of st. Ignatius Church on may 2nd 1850 as time went on Mary relied heavily on the church for support due to problems at home her husband John senior was prone to excessive drinking and volatile behavior she established a close relationship with the priest of st. Ignatius Father Joseph finale and she often sought his guidance in spiritual and emotional comfort but apparently their closeness became the subject of gossip and after a couple of years father for Noddy was unexpectedly transferred up to Massachusetts regardless Mary would continue to keep up a correspondence with pranati over the next few years On January 1st 1852 John Surratt senior purchased 187 acres of land not far from mother's Mary Mary's mother's plantation Surratt was tired of being a farmer and so the land he purchased was located at an intersection a common road for those traveling to Washington from Southern Maryland Surratt sold off from of his farmland in order to finance the construction of a house and cavern Mary was hesitant to move herself and her children into this crossroads home which was completed in the summer of 1853 and now stands as the Surratt House Museum in Clinton Maryland but John Surratt senior would forced his wife's hand however when he sold most of their remaining farm property Mary and the rest of the family went to live at the cavern in December of 1853 at the same time having used the proceeds of the farm to pay off most of his debts John Surratt jr. invested in another piece of real estate a four-story townhouse in Washington DC this house later to be known as the nest that hatched the egg of the conspiracy plot cost the sarasu $4,000 but for the next few years the Surratt would rent out the townhouse and keep residents in their tavern instead in 1854 the tavern became the polling place for the ninth election district in Maryland and then became the local post office with John's senior as the postmaster the entire area around the cavern was then named surrattsville which was common at the time to name the area after the post minister and now if you go and Clinton Maryland you'll still see signs of surrattsville Sarastro high school still stands and the name is still all over the place down there Mary struggle however raising her children in such a public place by 1855 she was successful in finding boarding schools for her children which removed them from the hustle and bustle of a crossroads tavern and away from their alcoholic father John's seniors drinking problem had only increased and after owning a tavern he became his own best customer in 1857 the school that her sons Isaac and John jr. had attended closed down Mary Surratt Rose wrote honestly to the school's former master that her husband is drunk almost everyday and I fear there is but little hope of his ever doing any better the priest she wrote to was able to find Isaac now 16 an employment as a clerk in Baltimore but her youngest son John returned home Mary eventually was able to get him enrolled in st. Charles as College where he began studies for the priesthood a course of study he would not complete on the day of Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration on March 4th 1861 Mary Surratt was bidding goodbye to her eldest son Isaac the election of Lincoln had sent shockwaves throughout the United States and the citizens of Southern Maryland were extremely fearful at the prospect of a Lincoln presidency Isaac was leaving his clerkship in Baltimore and heading west to Texas where he would eventually join a Confederate regiment Isaac would never see his parents again shortly after Isaac's departure Anna now graduated from her school returned home to surrattsville and she went about assisting her mother and father and running the tavern on August 25th 1862 Mary Surratt became a widow when her husband John senior died unexpectedly John jr. was recalled from his studies in st. Charles and from then on John Harrison Surratt jr. took his father's place as the tavern keeper and postmaster situated as they were on a busy stagecoach line in Confederate leanings Southern Maryland young John Surratt jr. quickly became acquainted with members of the underground Confederate Network that operated in the area due to his advantageous position as postmaster John Jr was quickly recruited into the underground Confederate mail line it seems very difficult to believe that Mary was not aware of her son's clandestine activities happening right in her own home as a product of Southern Maryland and a Confederate sympathizer herself it is unlikely that Mary had any problems with her son's efforts on behalf of the Confederacy but 14 months after being appointed postmaster john surratt luck ran out when he was caught in possession of Confederate contraband and relieved of his post master position remarkably Surratt was only in prison for a few days before he was allowed to return home he likely recounted the plight of his poor mother who required his a to work in her tavern and that was likely enough to affect his early release John Surratt duties with the Confederate underground changed as a result of his loss of position instead of being a stationed agent in surrattsville his knowledge of southern maryland made him the perfect candidate to become a Confederate courier rather than staying home and helping his mother at the tavern John Surratt would now be gone for days at a time as he delivered letters and people along the secret line he even made clandestine trips down to Richmond Mary could no longer rely on her youngest son to complete his share of the work to be done at the tavern property by September of 1864 Mary Surratt decided it was time to rent out the tavern and move her family full-time into the boardinghouse on Washington's eighth Street that had been purchased years earlier she found a renter for her tavern a Southern Maryland native and fellow Confederate sympathizer named John and Lloyd she then packed up her things and departed surrattsville leaving many creditors behind the house in Washington slowly filled with different borders including a man named Louis Weichmann a young man who had attended st. Charles Academy with John Surratt and was now an employee with the War Department Waichman witnessed many of the comings and goings at the Surratt boarding house over the next few months and he became one of the key witnesses against Mary Surratt at her trial on December 23rd 1864 John Surratt and Louis Weichmann were walking down the streets of Washington when they encountered another care of men one of whom was well known to Surratt this man was dr. Samuel a mud of Charles County Maryland dr. motherland about ten miles south of the Surratt tavern and had known the sarasu of the 1850s John Surratt introduced white men to dr. Mudd and then there's a doctor introduced them both to his companion the eminent stage actor John Wilkes Booth mr. booth invited the man back to his hotel room at the National Hotel where Whiteman alleges the three other men all went and talked in secret the foursome then went to the Pennsylvania House for drinks and oysters and this the meeting between these men however was not accidental John Wilkes Booth had been down to dr. Mudds farm twice in the last two months looking for men to help him in his abduction plot during booths trips down to Southern Maryland his planned escape route with the abducted Lincoln the actor had heard about John Surratt and that the Tavern in surrattsville would be a sympathetic stop booth asked dr. Mudd to assist him in making the young man's acquaintance it is for that reason that dr. Mudd left his farm and traveled into Washington booth and Mudd were actually making their way to Mary Surratt boarding house when they happen to run into John Surratt and watch them after their conversation in the hotel rooms John Surratt signed on to help booth with his kidnapping plot it was this act that brought John Wilkes Booth into the household and life of Mary Surratt around the first of January 1865 John Wilkes Booth made his first appearance at the Surratt boarding house and met Mary over the next few months Booth became a regular visitor to the house and was often in conversation with Mary when her son John was not at home this arrest would prove to be great assets to John Wilkes Booth and his plot it was through the work of John Surratt that boot came to gather the other key members of his conspiracy including George Atzerodt George Andrew and Surratt was born on June 12th 18 35 in Derna Prussia George was the fourth of six children born to Johann Heinrich and Victoria Hahn at Sarat Johann Atzerodt was a blacksmith and his family originally hailed from CBOC Prussia which was located about 25 miles due south of Derna the family's residence in Derna seems to have been temporary as all of George's other siblings were born in CBOC in the early 1840s however this area of Prussia was suffering from economic troubles that had been caused by years of extreme heat and drought which had limited crop growth yo.hannes sister had married a man named johann richter and so in 1844 the two families decided to emigrate to the United States the after US including nine year old George arrived in Baltimore On June 26 1844 and the Richter's followed in July the two Yohan's Atzerodt and Richter whose names were changed to John purchased a farm together in Montgomery County Maryland which is located northwest of DC the family settled in an area known as Germantown where many other German immigrants settled in 1848 John at Sarat sold his share of the farm to Richter and moved his family south across the Potomac River and into Westmoreland County Virginia it was there that John Apsara returned to his craft as a blacksmith but the elder at Surratt died in 1856 and a now twenty-one year old George found employment in Washington DC as a coach maker by 1857 George decided to go into business with his older brother John the 2a Surratt brothers moved down into Southern Maryland and set up shop in Port tobacco the county seat of Charles County Maryland over the next few years the brothers repaired and painted buggies and coaches and wagons in a busy commercial center but the Civil War was definitely a time of divided sympathies but southern maryland was fairly unified in its southern leanings it was just after the start of the Civil War that John Apsara the older brother left the carriage business behind John went north to Baltimore and joined his brother-in-law as a detective to the Maryland provost marshal James MacPhail one answer out brother was working for the Union George meanwhile maintained his residence in Port tobacco and continued in the dwindling carriage business George substituted his income by becoming a Confederate smuggler the port tobacco River empties right out unto the Potomac River and so George became an expert at ferrying mail supplies and men across the river past the Union lines while living in port tobacco George Atzerodt became familiar with a woman named Elizabeth Rose wheeler mrs. wheeler was a widow two times over and soon she and George were living together as common-law husband and wife in 1863 the couple welcomed a child who they named Edith though George's line of work was a dangerous one it does not appear that he was ever caught crossing the river with contraband for a while George's life merely consisted of his daytime work as a character painter his drinks over at the Bronner Hotel in Port tobacco his occasional ferrying across the Potomac and his nights with mrs. wheeler and Edith George was brought in a John Wilkes Booth abduction plot due to the efforts of John Surratt John Surratt had previously used George's services to get across the Potomac and so it was not unusual when on the 14th of January 1865 that Surratt traveled down to Port tobacco and told George of an extreme plan of blockade running John Surratt laid out the abduction plot to George highly emphasizing the fortune that was to be made in such an endeavor George signed on to assist Surratt in booths plot understanding that his role was to be waiting at Port tobacco until such time as the abducted president would arrive George would then ferry the president and his kidnappers across the river in the latter part of January George would travel up to Washington at Surat behest and finally make the acquaintance of John Wilkes Booth this meeting took place in the parlor of Mary Surratt's boarding house a few days later George wood company booth and Davy Herold down a port tobacco where the actor would inspect the boat that John Surratt had purchased for the plot George would continue to keep the boat hidden for kidnapping plot that never came to fruition about a week after George Atzerodt signed on to boost kidnapping plot John Surratt was meeting with the fourth and final person who would join baby Mary and George on the gallows Lewis Powell Lewis Thornton Powell was born on April 22nd 1844 in Randolph County Alabama his parents were patients and George Powell he was the eighth of twelve children to whom died as infants and this is an image of Lewis Powell around the age of two Lewis's father George was a farmer who became a Baptist minister when Lewis was three years old the family moved from Alabama when Lewis was four and they settled in Georgia where George had a pastor and as a young boy growing up in Georgia Lewis was taught at home by his parents and fulfilled the duties that were needed on the family's farm young Powell was very fond of animals and had a menagerie of pets he earned the nickname of doc by his sisters due to his habits of bringing home stray and wounded animals and nursing them back to health Powell was fond of fishing and on occasion he would play hooky from Sunday school in order to head down to the river a neighborhood boy recalled story that Powell told me he slipped off one Sunday morning with some tackle for some sports while fishing in the river Powell got a bite he had a terrible fight - Landon and when he finally succeeded it came near biting off one of his fingers and then walked back into the water Paulo was confused by the strange appearance of his quarry an old black neighbor was the one to inform young Powell that he must have caught the devil and that he was lucky that he escaped unscathed this reformed the boy apparently after that he didn't dare go fishing on Sundays anymore he likely learned later that he had not hooked the devil but likely an alligator snapping turtle in 1860 the Powell family moved to Hamilton County Florida Louis Powell was 16 years old when Abraham Lincoln was elected and the secession crisis began Florida seceded from the Union On January 10th 1861 and on May 30th of that year Lewis Powell had enlisted in the military though he was only 17 under the age requirement for Confederate enlistment he lied on his paper and claimed he was 19 illness would strike Powell twice during his early career in the second Florida infantry in 1862 he relisted for the duration of the war Powell first saw combat at the siege of Yorktown in 1862 and participated in many of the battles in the Peninsular campaign illness struck tile again during the summer and fall of 60 Q which put him back in a military hospital he next saw combat at the Battle of Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863 by the summer of 1863 Powell's regiment became part of the Army of Northern Virginia and they were stationed in the foothills of Pennsylvania on July 1st 1863 Lewis Powell took part in the Battle of Gettysburg he survived the first day of battle unscathed but on July 2nd Powell received a gunshot wound to his right wrist which also broke his arm he was captured by the Union the next day and sent to a military hospital housed at the Pennsylvania Hall at the Pennsylvania College campus Powell was now a prisoner of war as has been stated Powell had spent quite a bit of time in military hospitals prior to his wounding at Gettysburg and this is likely why after a fairly short period of time for recovery Powell was actually providing assistance to the Union doctors and nurses at Penn home though limited by his arm being in a sling Powell lived up to his nickname of doc in helping to care for the other wounded Confederate soldiers in the hospital duty in a hospital was far more preferable and being sent to a prisoner-of-war clip and paula was described by the surgeons as being good at the work and kind to the sick and wounded in mid-july a 30 year old woman named Maggie Branson arrived at the Penhall hospital in order to tend to the wounded she was from Baltimore and had come out specifically to tend to wounded Confederate soldiers whom she sympathized with greatly Branson and Powell found themselves working alongside each other throughout July in August of 1863 by September 2nd Powell was transferred to West building's Hospital in Baltimore to continue his services as a prisoner of war on hospital Stuart II Maggie Branson also transferred to the West buildings hospital putting her back in her hometown on September 7th Lewis Powell escaped from West building's hospital according to another inmate at the hospital who was wounded more severely at Gettysburg Powell had been tending to his needs in Baltimore for a few days until a young lady visitor brought him a cloak to aid in his disguise and a large cake in which was concealed a ten dollar bill with this money he bribed the guards on duty and wrapped in his cloak he made his escape the young lady visitor who provided Powell with the means for his escape was almost assuredly either Maggie Branson or her younger sister Mary Powell spent a couple hours with the Branson sisters at their boarding house shortly after escaping but then started to make his way back south while making his way south Powell stabbed at a home in Warrington Fauquier County Virginia which belonged to a man named John Scott Payne a Confederate soldier himself Powell spent a few days in the home of john Payne and made the acquaintance of the man's 11 year old nephew Lewis Payne during the next couple of years particularly when arrested by the authorities Powell would assume this boy's identity given his name as Lewis Kane and claiming to be a resident of Fauquier County this is why in the newspapers and texts around the time of Lincoln's assassination Powell is regularly referred to as Lewis Payne his alias in October of 1863 Powell had joined up with Colonel John Singleton Mosby is partisan Rangers Mosby's Rangers excelled in guerrilla warfare engaging and hit-and-run raids on the Union encampments during his time with Mosby Pell lodged at the homes of different members of the Payne family throughout foxier County Powell stayed with Mosby for over a year on Christmas Eve of 1864 Powell actually saved the life of some Union soldiers he had captured the Union soldiers had sacked a house and had burned all the furniture inside and then had been subsequently arrested and captured by Mosby's men Powell and another Ranger were given charge of the men in order to take them to Warrenton on the way Powell wrote ahead to occur friend and during this time the man who had owned the home that had been sacked and burned caught up with the now unarmed Union soldiers and then he began firing at them one of the Union soldiers was killed and another was wounded before Powell was back on the scene Paul actually pointed his own revolver at the avenging homeowner and told him to stop his massacre he stated that he had captured these men and had promised them no harm would come to them while they were under his charge the Avenger then left that act was one of Lewis Paulo's last as a member of Mosby's Rangers in January of 1865 Powell traded in his Confederate uniform for a suit of civilian clothes and traveled to the Union occupied city of Alexandria where he took the oath of allegiance under his alias of Payne for a time it looked like Lewis Powell was done with more power would eventually make his way from Alexandria up to Baltimore and while in Baltimore he returned to the boarding house run by Maggie and Mary Branson within 10 days he had moved in the Branson's as I said were active Confederate sympathizers and their house was a common place for those involved in underground Confederate operations to gather likely through the branch Pawel met a man named david christen par who ran a china shop in baltimore the shop was also a mail drop for the confederate mail lang power would later claim that he found work as a clerk in pars china shop but this was likely just a cover regardless it was through par that Louis Powell made the acquaintance of John Surratt July turns out January 21st 1865 Surratt traveled up to Baltimore and on the following day he met Powell at pars china shop Surratt initiated a conversation with Powell about the abduction plot but it does not appear that Powell signed on immediately Surratt may have provided Powell with some funds that had been given to him by John Wilkes Booth and then gave Powell's some time to mold a plan over about a week later John Wilkes Booth's traveled up to Baltimore and met Lewis Powell personally the charismatic actor conversed with Powell and was successfully able to bring him into the fold Powell agreed to help kidnap Abraham Lincoln thus it was by the beginning of February 1865 that John Wilkes Booth had met and recruited all of the people who would assist him in his plot to abduct Abraham Lincoln but as we are all painfully aware that kidnapping plot never occurred in early April when the Confederate government fled Richmond and General Lee's surrender the Army of Northern Virginia Booth was faced with the realization that the goal he had been working on for months was no longer a possibility eventually John Wilkes Booth gathered his remaining conspirators and told them of his new darker plan the assemblage was small and consisted only of David Herold George assery and Lewis Powell John Surratt was not in Washington and had been otherwise occupied with assignments from the desperate Confederacy for the last few weeks Surratt had only barely departed Richmond before that city was evacuated as a resident resident of Washington Davy Herold was always within grasp of John Wilkes Booth George Atzerodt had been living in a DC hotel since March keep his living expenses being paid for by John Wilkes Booth Lewis Powell had remained in Baltimore until March 14th when he was called by booth to Washington for one of their failed kidnapping ventures during this period Powell stayed at the Surratt boarding house from there Powell returned to Baltimore and then even visited New York for a brief period but by March 27th however Powell was back in Washington and living at the Herndon House Hotel his living expenses also financed by John Wilkes Booth these three men Herold Atzerodt and Powell were common visitors to the Surratt boarding house during this time so booth gathers gathers these three men together on April 13th 1865 in Powell's room at the Herndon House Hotel it was there as the city below celebrated the end of the war and the grand illumination that booth laid out his plan from his reconnaissance that day Booth learned that Lincoln was going to be invited to attend the next day's performances at both Ford's Theatre and the rival theater in town Grover's National Theater regardless of which theater Lincoln chose booth would be then it and he would assassinate the president in his private box booth then divvied up the roles for the rest of the conspirators Lewis Powell was likely already aware of his task because earlier in that day he had visited the home of Secretary of State William Seward whose home was located in laughing at square right behind the White House Seward had been wounded in a carriage accident several days earlier and was recuperating in his bed booth perceived Seward to be the mouthpiece of Lincoln's administration as a staunch abolitionists and a member of Lincoln's inner circle Seward was a secondary target for booths rage it was then that booth informed George Atzerodt of his assignments he was to take a room at the Kirkwood House Hotel which was the residency of Vice President Andrew Johnson George would assassinate Johnson at the same time booth with attacking Lincoln effectively cutting off the head of the union government it is important to note that our knowledge of this April 13th meeting comes from the subsequent confessions made by George Atzerodt in each retelling of the story George changes some details and does his best to deflect his own guilt still according to George he balked at his assignment of murder he had signed on to abduct a president and was promised a large sum of money doing so disheartened but not surprised by George's reaction booth made it clear to him that the assassination of Johnson would occur and that if George did not have the courage then perhaps Harold did but what will become of you booth told George reminding George of how for the past six weeks he had been in intimate contact with booth his gang and there were many witnesses who was going were going to be able to connect them all together George was in a very difficult situation with the assignments given out the meeting broke up the next morning April 14th the final phases of the plan were put in place as instructed George Atzerodt registered at the Kirkwood House Hotel at around 8 a.m. shortly after registering however astronaut was approached by Davy Harold Harold told him to go and rent a horse for a ride down to the Tavern in surrattsville during the kidnapping plot weapons had been hidden at the Surratt tavern and Booth wanted to make sure they would be readily available for his escape that meant according to at Sarat booth had something there and wanted me to see after them they were in mrs. Surratt old house kept by Lloyd's and I agreed to go I went and hired a horse but astronaut would never make this trip however because at around 11 a.m. John Wilkes Booth went and visited Mary Surratt at her boarding house while there booth learned that Mary was planning a trip to her tavern in order to settle some of her husband's debts Booth offered to pay for the wagon and asked that she wait to depart until he could come back with a package Mary agreed when booth then booth likely through Herold got word to answer us that he did not need to go to surrattsville anymore through return to the boardinghouse and presented Mary with a small wrapped package which contained a pair of field-glasses binoculars with her border Louis Weichmann as her driver Mary Surratt took the wrapped binoculars and made her way to her cavern in Prince George's County at around 8 p.m. April 14th booth assembled his conspirators once more he set the timeline for that night at 10:15 they would all strike as one booth would shoot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre Powell would kill Seward in his home and George still wavering in his courage would be aided by Harold to end the life of Johnson in his hotel room according to booth they would all be viewed as heroes to the south and would put an end to Lincoln's tyranny when the meeting broke up and Booth departed George confided to Harold that he did not think he could murder the vice president more than that George drew temporary courage and lied to Harold about not having the key to his rented room in the crooked house earlier that day Davy had put his gun and a tote filled with items of booths that they needed for the escape in George's rented room George instead of going back to the Kirkwood went for a drink at the Oyster Bay bar Davey sat with him and likely reiterated that the die had been cast and there was no other choice now time was running out however and Davy had to leave George in order to pick up his own rented horse George held at the Oyster Bay bar until just before 10:00 p.m. when he left to pick up his own horse as planned George Atzerodt was feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders as he rode his horse to the Kirkwood House Hotel he sat at the bar of the Kirkwood as the moment to strike drew painfully close we all know what happened next John Wilkes Booth committed murder at Ford's Theatre Louis Powell brought immense bloodshed at the Seward house and George Atzerodt showed what some have called cowardice but what I call conscience as he left the vice-president unharmed after Lincoln's death on April 15th Andrew Johnson would take the presidential oath of office in the parlor of the Kirkwood house at around the same moment that booth and Powell were striking against lincoln and seward a resident of the Kirkwood house recalled being woken up by running in the hallway and pounding on a nearby door this was likely David Herold banging on George's door hoping to get in to get his weapons and supplies but then rushing out when he realized that George was not there the escape of Booth and his conspirators had begun due to time constraints I'm going to skip over the details of the escape of the conspirators for those of you who are interested in spending close to 12 hours learning about and tracing the escape route of the assassins my fiance key happens to know a guy who dresses up in period costume and narrates a tour for the Surratt House Museum in Maryland and so feel free to ask her about that crazy man later on but finally on April 26 12 days after the shot rang out at Ford's Theatre John Wilkes Booth was cornered and killed in Caroline County Virginia David Herold accompanied booth on his escape and was arrested by authorities at the same time George Atzerodt had made his own escape northward into Montgomery County Maryland he was found on April 20th in his cousin's home on that farm property that his father had once co-owned Lewis Powell never escaped the city of Washington though his exact whereabouts between his attack on Seward and his subsequent arrest are not really known for certainty it is thought he hid out in a wounded in a wooded area around Glenwood Cemetery a couple miles north of the city center Powell was arrested on the night of April 17th when he appeared at Mary Surratt boarding house at the same time investigators were there searching for evidence as to John Surratt whereabouts the detectives had orders to arrest everyone there and so Mary Surratt was taken into custody at the same time it was a time of Swift just back to them and on May 9th all of the conspirators involved in booths abduction and assassination plots except for John Surratt who had escaped out of the United States and into Canada faced the military commission that was to try them charged in the planned assassination of Lincoln Seward and Johnson the cases of the three men we have discussed were difficult to defend against Lewis Powell had gravely wounded five men in Seward's residence in his attempt to kill the Secretary of State though they all miraculously survived his intent to kill was obvious Powell endured most of the trial with little interest sealed to his fate though David Herold may not have murdered or injured anyone himself his prior interactions with and escaped with booth fully demonstrated his knowledge of the assassination plot and this became an important distinction at the trial whether someone knew of the change from abduction to assassination became a life or death comparison Herold as an active participant in boost plot shared vicarious liability in Lincoln's death it was George Atzerodt who became the government's stool pigeon while Davy would give a long statement to the authorities claiming he just happened to run into booth while riding outside of Washington on April 14 it was George who put it all on the line and named names George gave multiple confessions including one to his own brother-in-law the provost marshal detectives George hoped and prayed that his statements would help him become state's witness the rule of law that existed in 1865 made it so that during a criminal trial a defendant could not testify on their own behalf it was akin to our modern policy of pleading the fifth to avoid self-incrimination however during the trial the conspirator conspirators this silence was mandatory so it was George's hope that his wealth of information would require the government to make him a witness rather than a defendant this outcome however was not to be the government merely took Georgia confessions and found outside witnesses to verify some of their contents George likely held out hope the longest that he would be spared death but his knowledge of the assassination plot and failure to do anything to stop it made him just as vicariously liable as Herold and then we come to the most controversial conspirator Mary Surratt during the trial the prosecution seized on two key witnesses against Mary as I mentioned before the life or death distinction during the trial became whether one knew about the assassination plot or not this is why dr. Mudd and the other conspirators in the abduction plot received life sentences instead of death using the testimonies of two men the prosecution did provide some strong evidence that Mary knew what was planned on April 14th the first key witness against her was her boarder Louis Weichmann Whiteman testified about the comings and goings of Booth and his gang of conspirators most of whom had spent nights in the boarding house he spoke of mrs. Surratt engaging in private conversations with booth even when John Surratt was not at home he presented many examples of non sequiturs that Mary stated on the day of the assassination while riding out to the Surratt tavern on April 14th Mary observed pickets relaxing on the road she inquired with a farmer when they were scheduled to leave their post when the farmer replied they usually left by 8 o'clock Mary responded she was glad to know it to counter the defense's assertion that Mary ran her errand for booths innocent of the contents of the package before her was this response from white men who testified that Mary had placed the binoculars on the floor of the buggy and told him that it was glass and she was afraid of getting wet upon returning to the city and completing the errand Weichmann claimed that Mary Surratt looked upon the revelers in the city and said I'm afraid all this rejoicing will be turned into mourning and all this glory into sadness the sadness came to pass a few hours later and when detectives arrived at around 2:30 in the morning on April 15th to search for John Wilkes Booth and john surratt the sleeping household had not heard about the assassination yet a groggy Whiteman answered the door and was shocked to find detectives demanding entry into the home Whiteman rushed to Mary's room and told her here mrs. Surratt our detectives who have come to search the house according to Waichman Mary responded for God's sake let them in I expected the house to be searched Lightman gave the detectives entry and it was only then that they finally learned why they sought booth and John Surratt the other key witness against Mary Surratt was the renter of her cavern John and Lloyd for which there is no known photograph but here's his grave and he is buried about 60 yards from Mary Surratt herself compared to white men who gave lengthy and repeated testimony John and Lloyds testimony was fairly short but very very damaging lourdes claimed that we Mary Surratt arrived at her Tavern on the 14th she gave him the wrapped package of field-glasses and stated as stated lloyd also claimed that Mary told him well mr. Lloyd I want you to have those shooting irons ready there will be parties here tonight who will call for them the shooting irons a reference to the weapons that had been in that the tavern during the abduction plot and they had been hidden away in the floor joist of the second floor storage room at the tavern Lloyd testified that after Mary left he removed the two rifles from their hiding place and got a couple of bottles of whiskey ready one was likely for himself he put them all in a place in one room so to have them convenient for any parties who might call for them at midnight John Wilkes Booth and Davy Herold arrived at Surratt tavern and woke Lloyd up Lloyd testified that Harold told him to make haste and get those things no other clarification was needed due to his convert conversation with Mary early in the day Lord gathered up the binoculars the rifles the ammunition and gave them to Harold and as they rode away booth bragged to Lloyd saying we have assassinated the president and secretary Seward the testimony of these two men were the lead cause of Mary Surratt conviction she was not helped at all by the fact that Lewis Powell had made his appearance at her boarding house right when she was in the process of being arrested the detectives of the boarding house were waiting for a wagon to take the ladies in when Powell arrived he was dressed like a laborer and had acquired a pickaxe asked why he had come around so late Powell claimed that he had been hired by mrs. Surratt to dig a gutter and wanted to know what time she should start in the morning during their questioning of Powell the wagon arrived to take the ladies away as they were talking marrying they were taking Mary out of the house they stopped her and asked her if she knew the man who had come to her door she replied before God sir I do not know this man and I have never seen him and I did not hire him to dig a gutter for me after that she was whisked out and taken in custody when it later came out at the trial that Mary Surratt had known Lewis Powell very well and that the man had spent multiple nights in her boarding house this failure to identify him became another piece of evidence against her there is no doubt that the testimony and evidence against Mary Surratt is damning however her defense team in 1865 and since have done a fairly good job of demonstrating the unreliability of the two men who sealed her fate as discussed like Mary Surratt Louis Weichmann was on intimate terms with the conspirators as well Waichman had been present in the meeting where dr. Mudd introduced booths to John Surratt for the first time out of the four men there three of them were proven to be a part of the plot to abduct the president later booth was known to have sent for messages for John Surratt through Waichman there is little doubt that white men also faced immense pressure from the War Department and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to provide adequate testimony in later years John Surratt would claim that whiteman was a part of the abduction plaques and that he betrayed his mother to save himself John M Lloyd was no angel either he openly admitted to having been writes Martin and drunk most of the day on April 14th he knew about the weapons hidden in the tavern by Harold and John Surratt but he would claim ignorance as to their intended purpose by his own account Lloyd did nothing to stop booth and Herold after they told him the news of what they had done in fact Lloyd originally lied to the authorities when they first arrived at the tavern on the morning of the 15th he claimed he had not seen anyone the night before granted he likely did this to protect himself in hopes that the stop at the tavern would never be made known but had he been honest that first day perhaps Booth would have been caught soon it wasn't until after he had been imprisoned in DC for a week that he finally came forward with everything could he have also decided that it was in his best interest to sell out mrs. Surratt in order to protect himself did mrs. Surratt actually tell him to get the shooting irons ready or was this a lie to prevent him from being put on trial as a conspirator himself I just want to point out the way that Johnny Malloy died was that he was crushed by a ton of bricks he became a construction worker later and it just says a fall received in a fall he was he was crushed by bricks so Kate who portrays Mary Surratt and believes Ameristar to be innocent to some degree says that that was karma lastly much has been made about Mary Surratt claimed ignorance of Lewis Collins identity when he was arrested at her boarding house at the trial the conspirators Mary's defense team worked hard to establish that Mary had poor vision through testimony it was learned that Mary required assistance to thread a needle and that she was unable to read at night Mary Surratt refused to wear her glasses even though that may have helped her vision issues it is also important to investigate the circumstances of Lewis Powell's arrest in April of this year Kate and I attended and both spoke at the Surratt house museums annual Lincoln assassination conference another speaker at the conference was a physician and fellow Lincoln researcher dr. Blaine Houmas dr. homelesses talked covered Mary Surratt two different medical conditions including his belief that Mary Surratt was actually suffering from cancer in her final days but most relevant to our discussion here is that dr. Holm has researched what interior lighting was like in the 1860s and how that combined with her poor eyesight would make identifying powell difficult powell arrived at the Surratt boarding house between 11:00 and 11:30 at night the occupants of the house were waiting for a carriage to arrive to take them in for questioning and the gas lights were low when Mary Surratt was called into the hallway to identify Powell this is an approximation of what she saw dr. Thomas created this image by analyzing the brightness of the gas lining of the day and the descriptions of Powell and Mary's positions in the hallway could it be possible that Mary Surratt truly did not recognize Powell when she was called to identifying might she had just made an honest assertion that she had not requested anyone to dig a daughter for her in the end however the military commission members chose to put their belief in the testimonies of waichman and Lloyd like Louis Powell David Herold George Atzerodt Mary Surratt was sentenced to be executed the four condemned conspirators were alerted of their death sentences at around noon on July 6 1865 their execution was scheduled for the next day July 7th it was unbearably hot in Washington on that day with temperatures close to 100 degrees at about 1/12 p.m. the penitentiary door swung open and the procession to the gallows built only the day before 50 yards away began Mary Surratt was overcome by the sight of the graves that had been dug next to the gallows that she had to be carried up the stairs Herold and a Surratt were said to have trembled like leaves as they made the climb and sat on chairs provided for them Powell walked to his death like a soldier it was said with a firm step it was only after the death sentences had been read and prayers given for the souls that tears began to fill up the 21 year old Powell's eyes he strained his neck upwards and looked to the heavens the conspirators were then brought to their feet their arms and legs were bound and one by one the noose is replaced around their necks we have no documentation of any words spoken by David Herold in his final moments when the Moose was placed around George Atzerodt next he began to say gentlemen take warning before his broke his horse broke from emotion he then started again and said goodbye gentlemen who are before me now may we all meet in the other world when the hangman Christian wrath adjusted the noose around Lewis Powell's neck he told the doomed man I want you to die quick pain to which Powell spoke his final words you know best captain after the white execution hoods were put over their heads the conspirators are slowly moved forward on to the trapdoor of the gallows as the soldier stepped back an uneasy and shaking mary surratt called out her final words don't let me fall but fall she did at around 1:25 p.m. captain Christian wrapped stations himself in front of the gallows he began a slow clap Alexander Gardner the photographer who captured all these images using his large wet-plate camera readied his other stereo scopic camera he was going to capture the image of when the trap fell in stereo you in order to create a three-dimensional image and catch the final moments of the conspirators on the third clap Rath pushed his hand forward giving the signal to the prop knockers below the trap fell and Gardner captured the moment this is Garner's image called the drop using the to slide sides of the stereo view one can animate the image such as this as shown in this image and supported by eyewitness testimonies Mary Surratt appears to have died instantly from a broken neck and she is the one all the way to the left George Atzerodt chest was set to have heaved for a brief a brief convulsion and then he was still Georges all the way to the right in this image second from the right we can see David Herold legs kick as he fell he was said to have twitched for a moment and then was gone contrary to Raths wishes however that death would come quick for Lewis Powell it did not in this image the most distinct movement is from Powell's head snapping back but not of the rope did not catch him in the right spot to break the young man's neck the audience was aghast to see him twist and ride and kick for a full seven minutes as he slowly choked to death eventually however he Q became still the bodies of the conspirators were left hanging for twenty minutes before they were cut down and all four were pronounced dead by physicians their bodies were placed in plain wood coffin and buried a few feet from the gallops they would remain there for two years until 1867 when their bodies were reburied under the floor of a warehouse at the Washington Arsenal Arsenal they were joined there by with the body of John Wilkes Booth finally in 1869 in one of Andrew Johnson's final acts as president he released all of the bodies to their families one of the soldiers who witnessed the execution of the conspirators summed them all up with one line in a letter home to his family he wrote thus perished four of the greatest criminals our land has ever produced so I asked you why did you come here tonight why did you come to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to hear about these four criminals who aided in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln the answer I believe may be one word context the death of Lincoln is one of those key events in our history and we still feel the ramifications of it today a hundred and fifty two years later in order to make sense of its magnitude we must understand the context in which it occurred John Wilkes Booth is a key part of that context but the plot was more than just one man there's no doubt that these three men and one women actively contributed to one of the greatest crimes in American history the passions that Lincoln inflamed in Booth which led him down the path of assassination also motivated his conspirators to act alongside him the lies and choices of the four executed conspirators speak to Lincoln's impact on the world around him there have been authors who have portrayed the conspirators as nothing but pawns in boose game as dauntless individuals who seemingly surrendered their entire will to booth and allow themselves to be controlled by the actor turned assassin but as Ben has been demonstrated none of the people charged in Lincoln's murder were weak minded puppets each conspirator had lived a robust and complex life prior to their association with booth in the same way that we cannot portray boost as merely a deranged southern actor we cannot portray his band of conspirators as weak-willed sheep who blindly did his bidding we will never know the inner battles that each of these men and woman felt as they slowly committed to the roles that would put them in direct confrontation with their governments and their God when I look at this image I feel conflicted I feel sympathy for their lives which were thrown away on a misguided and lost cause but I also feel anger because any one of those four people hanging there could have prevented the tragedy of Lincoln's assassination but didn't instead they each chose to follow their leader and tell him you know best captain all the way to their graves thank you [Applause] Thank You Dave we really appreciate it we are going to have a question and answer session for those that want to stick around we just ask that you wait for us they hand a microphone for you to you and if you would stand and ask the question so we can all hear it Bob we'll start with you in in what cemetery are these people very actually questioning yes what's the material each one of these people buried and cane I spent a lot of time in cemeteries so we can definitely answer that Mary Surratt is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington DC it's kind of in the north northwest quadrant of Washington DC she has a stone that says just Mary Surratt mrs. Durant on it David Herold is buried in his family plot in Congressional Cemetery which is in South nums southeast and Mary Stratton northeast not what everyone whatever I say David Harrell is very in Congressional Cemetery with his father and his siblings he has no marker of his own he was buried and his sister was buried on top of him and so there's just the Harold family graves George Atzerodt is missing in action the bodies were leased in 1869 and John at Sarat his brother who became a detective and actually helped track down his own brother eventually took possession of his brother's body put him in the vault of Glenwood Cemetery in Washington DC and at that point we lose him John apparently did not pay for to bury George or may have and then didn't cover the expenses entirely and unfortunately Glenwood cemeteries records have a missing block because in the in the 1960s a board member of the cemetery was being removed or being fired and he decided just despite the cemetery she could take a couple books of internment records with him and so they're gone and so the last we know is that George was in the public vault of Glenwood Cemetery in DC and then after that we don't know and Lois Pell i partially told the story last year those who were here powell is buried in two places 1869 happens the bodies are removed to their families as I said Powell the family moved around a lot too he was born in Alabama moved to Georgia was in Florida they had tried previously to get Louis's body but were refused and then when the bodies were released in 69 they did not know about it and so an undertaker just took possession of a Powell's body and buried him in a cemetery in DC about 20 years ago by 1885 and the cemetery that Powell is in is being disbanded and so they if you don't come you know get your villages body and move them somewhere else we're going to dig them up them from all on a mass grave and so this is happening the Undertaker is still alive and he's like well it's been almost 20 years no one has come to ask about those powell he even put things in the newspaper about it and so he decides that well it's best that we just take Powell's body and put it in a mass grave in Rock Creek Cemetery so most Apollo is there but as a memento the Undertaker decides to take his head so the Undertaker takes Apollo's head and he keeps it for a little bit and then but then he is altruistic he decides I'm going to donate it to the Army Medical Museum which sounds strange but the Army Medical Museum had pieces of Lincoln they had the skull fragments that would take him out of Lincoln's brain during his autopsy and they also had John Wilkes Booth's vertebrae which was shot through the back of the neck and during his autopsy they removed his third fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae and they were there and so it seemed appropriate I guess to give Lewis Powell's head over to the Army Medical Museum which was housed in Ford's Theater Ford's Theater was gutted you know taken by the government they paid the Ford brothers $100,000 gutted the inside turned it into a three story office building the top floor was the Army Medical Museum so booth and Powell I'm sorry the skull fragments from Lincoln did not come until later I apologize but the vertebrae of booth and Lewis Powell stole for each back at Ford's Theatre in the 1880s but I'm still not done so Apollo's head is in the Army Medical Museum and then at one point they the Army Medical Museum is flushed with Native American remains because during the different Indian Wars everyone unfortunately took a trophy and so a lot of that came back and they were donated to the Army Medical Museum and so they had a lot of remains and so the Army Medical Museum decided to donate a big chunk of stuff over to the Smithsonian's fledgling anthropology department so they sent a whole bunch stuff over to the into Smithsonian say Merry Christmas we go apparently Powell somehow his head got in that mix whether it was purposefully or accidental his head is with all those bones that went there and so Denny's in the Smithsonian fast forward in 1992 Clinton had just passed the National repatriation act which means if you are an institution that receives federal funding you need to go through your anthem your anthropology departments and find any Native American remains and make an effort to return them to the tribe if they want and so there's an anthropologist and he's gone with your bones femur Scofield stole how many steps he's looking at skull and he realizes that this a white boy this skull does not belong to any of American and there's a luckily there's a nice tag on there that says skull of El Payne executed July 7 1865 and the anthropologists used to volunteer at Ford's Theatre that's why it's great to be a volunteer you never know what you'll get someday you might identify someone ped you didn't know you were here so the Anthropology I've worked in there is an obscured Speaker he realizes this who this is and so he will call to historians one is Michael Kaufman who wrote the book American Brutus which is the best book on the Lincoln assassination Bar None 11 and then also Betty Owens be who a lot of the pictures I showed you of young Louis Powell come from her she wrote the only book that exists out there a biography on Lewis Powell and did so by contacting different family members so that's how she found all those younger pictures of Powell and so they are called they come in and they were able to identify Powell skull as a child he was kicked in the head by a mule not like Lincoln and broke his jaw and so the skull fracture was still there that had recovered and so they could identify that Powell and then and I think even 95 or 96 the Smithsonian gave the skull to the remaining family members of the pala family and his head was finally buried next to his mother in Geneva Florida so Powell's head is in Florida his body is in a mass grave unmarked in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington so Sally takes a while to tell the story of where they're buried you thought I'd just be like oh here here here next well thank you any other question you have a question do you happen to know at what point Andrew Johnson learned of the failed attempt on his life yes Johnson was woken up to learn that that he might have been a target about when he actually learned that he was targeted or when he learned about the assassination on his life you know what I don't know exactly because they feared the entire cabinet and that's why there was I believe it was far well I believe hears from Connecticut governor of Connecticut might be all I know is on the night of the assassination so Lincoln is shot Seward is attacked and so chaos is ensuing these two groups of people claiming that this has happened and now we know it's a conspiracy and so there's a lockdown and so I believe it's a governor of Connecticut who rushes to the Kirkwood house and bangs on the door and he wakes up Johnson he tells him they Lincoln has been shot Seward has been attacked we need to wanted to make sure you were safe and Johnson for a time will say oh he'll get ready and he will go to the Peterson house at to see Lincoln so he is there he goes to visit but he does not stay there I'm guessing Stanton said get out of here I got things under control I'll be present for a little bit but he does send Johnson way while Stanton kind of takes control so Johnson is not there when Lincoln dies so there's definitely that that fear that they're all being attacked but when exactly Johnson learned he was actually targeted I doubt it would be until George's arete George was seen around the Kirkwood house and connected with boots so they may have had Inklings that he had been actually targeted because the bartender the Kirkwood house would give evidence about he was here he was drinking right before everything happened so I'm guessing that's when they first thoughts and then when George is actually arrested and then confessed that that was the job he was given though in many of his confessions he said no no Harold was given that job not me but he slowly builds it - well maybe he was both of us together because I was a chicken so I'm guessing they slowly pieced it together and then George's confession definitely made it clear that he had been a target right over there first has anything been written about what might have happened if Seward had become president Seward was way down on the line I was not that he was not third in luck it had gone on I will tell you had both Lincoln and Johnson being assassinated the line of succession of succession west accession salient Civil War one of those things would actually fall and not to the Secretary of State most people think but to the president pro tempore of the Senate who at that time was lobbying I know Lafayette Lafayette asked foster who was a senator from Montana I think it's Connecticut so he would have been our next president had both Lincoln and Johnson been assassinated he was next in line so Seward did not fall in that line of secession petitions continue well but the question that comes up is and why was he targeted it's possible that dudes thought that Seward was next in fact there's a some account by an editor by the name of Coyle who said he ran into booth the day of the assassination and that booth actually asked him who becomes president if the vice person the president vice president died and he and that coil responded the Secretary of State's thinking that's who was next in line as many people did so booth who may have thought that was who was next but as I described it Seward was very much just a sitting duck I mean it was just easy he was a member of the cabinet he had been wounded he was bedridden in his home Powell was a big soldier could easily make his way in there and so he just was a representative of the Lincoln you know cabinet that I think who's had the same amount of rage against and that it was someone who was easy enough to get to that he could be assassinated as well but also technically had both Lincoln and Johnson being assassinated even the foster wouldn't become president it's hard to know if that would have stuck because there's hard enough for you know john tyler to become after the death of Harrison you know that was way earlier but the Secretary of State would have been needed Seward would have been needed to call a special election if they would have decided to replace Lincoln with someone else so that may have been another reason why booth targeted him but Seward as I said was in a very vulnerable position and so booth saw him in the same dude in the same lens that he saw at Lincoln as a as a traitor and abolitionist as a tyrant how would you rate the movie The Conspirator Robert Redford movie as far as accuracy from a historical perspective all historical yes but how would I rate the conspirator which came out in pink 2011 the Robert Redford movie with James McAvoy and Robin Wright's as Mary Surratt it's not the most exciting movie I'll tell you that tonight's courtroom drama the most exciting thing is when a brick goes through the Surratt House window so you can tell that it takes liberties as it needs to as I described in here you Mary Surratt is such a controversial figure as their guilt and innocence and I think that's why Redford decided let's make a movie that's really around her as opposed to booth and everything like that because they have Mary flat-out saying I hope John Wilkes Booth in the abduction of President Lincoln flower saying that with Mary of course never did and there'd be people on Mary side who say that she was completely innocent of everything and didn't know any sort of Confederate activities were happening in her home which probably isn't reasonable but they do do a good job of what they do a good job of is showing what the trial was like I don't like saying it but it very much was a kangaroo court I mean the the Union the prosecution sat with the military commissioners and were the ones who were kind of telling them what they could and couldn't do it's termed the rule of law and what testimony would be allowed and what wouldn't and things like that no one shown as I said there's eight people who were in that trial and all of them were found guilty and so we have these people who probably should have been but also included in that list was Edmund angler and Spengler was a scene shifter at forts theater he knew booth was friends with booth booth briefly asked Spangler to hold his horse as he went into Ford's Theater before the deed but Spangler quickly gave it to another stagehand but just all of those things together just being a friend a booth was enough that the government they didn't prove their case ball in regards to Spangler having knowledge of the assassination but they still sent it in six years for pretty much being friends with booth and that is no one was going to walk away from that trial completely innocent which was somewhat surprising to even some of the military commissioners Lew Wallace who later went on to write Ben Hur was one of the military commissioners and his study in Crawfordsville Indiana is a wonderful place go visit he was so bored during the trial sometimes though he just sketched the conspirators and years later he actually painted them and this huge scene of them just like standing out and listening to link and give a speech Wallace had right up to the end actually thought that a couple of the conspirators would be acquitted and yet when it came down to everything happening none of them were and so I think it shows that the government definitely had a hold on the commissioners and how the trial was going to turn out and so that part of the conspirator I think is very accurate to show that Stanton very much knew what he wanted the outcome to be and I think the people he chose generally to put on trial were the ones he could prove it except for Spangler and things like that so in terms of how accurate it's a movie but I think it does show to some degree the adversity of how how desperate they were to avenge Lincoln and you know and save I mean the pin that I have right now it has LA on it this was actually given to the members and the officers of the 16th New York cavalry the 16th New York are the ones who finally tracked down and killed booth and the general the 16th New York actually commissioned this metal to be made that is one that's been gold and things like that and actually the LA cents for Lincoln's Avengers and so this is just a replica has obtained and so the desire to avenge Lincoln was strong that once Booth was dead and made Boston Corbett the man who shot him hero but at the same time they needed to make sure that they did right by linking in terms of the conspirators and that's why they're so heavy-handed so the movie I didn't does a good job with that so bottom line we know that Kate thinks that Mary was innocent what what do you think I would say I think she's guilty so she's gonna have a car now I I understand that I think the government did not prove its case making 65 but I have a hard time believing that all these people like Weichmann and Lloyd made up all of this and there's also one piece of evidence that the people in 1865 did not know about in that the day of the assassination about 9:00 p.m. Mary Surratt gets a knock out her boardinghouse store and it's a man named Richard smooth smooth that lived in Southern Maryland and he was the one who actually sold the boat they were going to use in the kidnapping plot to John Surratt but John Surratt and a gang had only paid for half of it and he'd been trying to get his money for quite some time so he shows up April 14th 9 o'clock at night knocks on the door and Mary answers it and lets him in and he's like I would like to risk my money please your son's kind of ducking me I need this and she says you need to get out of here they're probably going to use the boat tonight you need to leave so she said that now whether she still thought it's an abduction plant that is the I guess the straw that will break the camel's back for me is that I think she's guilty but I think a good case to be made that booth did not trust her enough to tell her assassination and that she he may have lied to her and maybe only told her we're going to abduct the president even though it seemed pointless at that point is there's no Richmond to take him to but that is my last best hope for Mary and why Kate will still marry me is that there's a small possibility that she still thought it was abduction but I think she knew I think she was her actions that day I think she knew is that the distinction on maybe why John Surratt wasn't pursued oh there's a large dude yeah but yeah John apartment John Surratt he is in New York at the time of the assassination he has been cast me scouting out the she's the preserve prisoner of war Elmira prison camp thank you he's a he's not with the task that came from city of giving him because I guess they really thought if they could do stage a breakout and Almira they'd have all the chips they need so you know come back so he is in Elmira and he wakes up April 15th recent newspaper and sees that he is wanted because they think he's the one who attacked secretary Stewart they don't know Powell he's a mystery man to them and so he realized reads that he's wanted because they connected booth surrett almost instantly that that night no one knows how apparently someone outside Ford stator was like John Wilkes Booth his friends were John Surratt and his mother Mary has a house on each streets because they were there really quick and so John Surratt Reid he's wanted and he will then escape from Canada up to New York he will hide out in Montreal during pretty much the entirety of the mother's trial he's hidden out by a Catholic priest and a kind of a suburb of Montreal but he says he does he did not know that his mother in such a dire condition that that information was kept from him and the you know the church that that gave him sanctuary was worried for his life they did not think he would get a fair trial that public was accurate had he been put back and sent back to the United States and so they will hide him out he will be there when his mother's executed but they're still looking for him they send detectives and Weitzman actually himself goes with the group of detectives on the day after Clinton's assassination I believe he goes with them saying I know he's in New York and they go to New York and then they find evidence he's gone to Canada and he goes up there they don't looking for him but they can't find him Surratt will later go across the pond to Liverpool England for time and then he we'll make his way to the Vatican and so as I said he had gone to seminary he had started school for the priesthood and so you know there's always the big conspiracy that the Catholics were behind Lincoln's assassination no they weren't yes some of the conspirators were Catholic Mary and John Surratt were Catholic dr. Mudd was Catholic Senate that's it Asia booth later on would say that John Wilkes Booth Catholic but he ain't going to church they were raised Episcopal and Asia converted to Catholicism and maybe she told her brother you should really be Catholic he's like well I am but it was not a Catholic plot it's just the Catholic Church did provide sanctuary for John Surratt which ruffled a few feathers in the anti-catholic era and so John SAR actually finds you know they don't know who he is though he goes under assumed name he's John Harrison his first a little man he will be with the people join the people's lives the Pope's Pope's army and he will be there until 1867 when he's actually recognized by another person who actually had gone to school with him and st. Charles who actually went lead to the priesthood and then it made his way to the Vatican really go you're John Surratt you're wanted still two years later and so the big thing is the Catholics couldn't be behind it because there was no extradition treaty between the papal States and the United States and yet once they captured John Surratt they wrote yes you will deport him to you so you can put him on trial so the post behind it he didn't hide it very well John Surratt briefly escapes from in captivity with any actually he manages to make this this leap almost off of the cliffs and it lands on something or he may have crawled down a garbage chute those actually was a poop chute but whichever one but somehow he escapes his confinement he makes his way he gets on a boat that takes him to Alexandria Egypt but unfortunately while to vote for him anyway well the boat was going to Alexandra they stopped on the island of Malta which had a plague going on and so when they arrived at the port in Alexandria they said all of you need to go into quarantine for like three or four days to make sure you're not all bringing this play to us and so even though he was ahead of all the people chasing to him because he was stuck in quarantine and Alex Andrea's the authorities the State Department in different places were able to catch up with him arrest him and bring him back he's given a civilian trial two years later to civilian trial the jurors are made up of northerners and southerners and they cannot come to decision it is a hung jury he's not acquitted he's not found innocent he's just let go the government toyed with the fact of trying him again but then decided against it after they threatened him because he went on a lecture circuit and he went on about everything and so he's like no that was morning I mean to go on the lecture circuit to be a speaker that was money I mean Lincoln did it you know and in fact John Surratt gave a speech at the Cooper Union standing behind the exact on this exact same podium saying the exact same podium Lincoln did when he gave his house divided speech know if that's not the right one you know what I mean he's Cooper here in his face and he stood by the same one and gave a speech about how he worked with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap Abraham Lincoln and then he was planning on doing the same in Washington and in the authorities said we can still try you you're giving us more evidence is that what you want and then his you know speaking tour was over and he didn't do that anymore but he will be the oldest he was the longest out of all of them he dies in 1960 1916 he's the last one in Baltimore that was a long story more than what you asked but if you want one final question over there I thought there was one more one more Linda last question I have read that a couple of the judges wrote letters to Johnson asking them five of them to five out of the nine not hang Mary Surratt so my question is that also I have read that they were forced during their time in prison to wear the hood that covered their whole face except for just yes the except for Mary Mayor was never forced to endure the hoods that the rest of the conspirators had the conspirators when they were slowly arrested they were put on the ironclad warships of the Montauk and the Saugus one of which Lincoln visited his last day they were put out anchor in the Washington Navy Yard and they were put there and as they slowly were arrested it was decided to prevent them from conversing with anyone each other and things like that they would be manacled of course and in some of the pictures I put up you could see the handcuffs that they used were a solid ball that called Lily irons and so unlike modern handcuffs where you could hold your own hands and do this your hands are trapped you know this far and so the male conspirators who were brought in are put on those and they are also given clothes to wear over their heads which they only has a whole red round in the nose on the mouth so that they could eat and breathe but they could not see they would continue to wear these even after they were transferred from the ironclad warships to the old Arsenal penitentiary but Mary would never be forced to wear the hoods she was because her place as a woman and it's important to know for a while even the people who were guarding her did not understand why Mary who became a conspirator later unlike these other gentlemen they're arrested there instantly identified as yes they're key conspirators Mary at first spends time at the Old Capitol prison which is now the site of the Supreme Court building she's there just like everyone else they kind of dragged in as a witness so the actors from Ford's Theater in there and everyone comparing boarding houses there and people there arresting down in Southern Maryland are brought there until they get enough evidence that they think she actually may be a part of this a key part of this and they transfer her over to the Arsenal the first day of the trial when the conspirators are brought in they're all wearing their hoods and D even the military judges are horrified by it and they say don't let them come in again wearing this they still had to wear them when they went back into their cells but it was it was pretty rough and a couple of the conspirators who were part of the abduction plot would later write especially Sam Arnold he would write about the miserable condition of those they even got later they got padded hoods so it was even more suffocating because Lewis Powell was apparently trying to kill himself by bashing his head against the wall or so it was said so they gave them all of them except for Mary padded hoods which were even more suffocating that were only removed but when they were brought into the trial room so it was a miserable condition on the Clemmons deeply five out of the nine military commissioners when so they came down with the sentences and they found that these four based on the evidence in the way that the votes had happened they were eligible for for execution based on and it was for nine people if you get a majority you're guilty if you get a three for two-thirds majority you should be executed there's nine so if you get five votes that's majority you're guilty you get one more vote that's two-thirds and so you're executed so Mary we don't know the exact vote counts but that's how we know it should it had to a fault or and more so based on the evidence they believe Mary was guilty there was no doubt and the military commissioners mind that she was guilty and the evidence proved it but because she is a woman and because of her age and because the federal government had never executed a woman before they decided that she should be given clemency and instead received life imprisonment so five of the military judges agreed to this and they signed their names to a clemency fling the Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt was saying that when he gave the sentences to Andrew Johnson to look over that the clemency plea was there Johnson would later claim he never saw a clemency for the for Mary Surratt up until the moment of the drop I would say most people believe Mary guilty following the evidence in the newspaper everyone thought she's guilty but they didn't think they'd execute her and the second she was executed the pendulum of innocence and guilt swung to the other side and it became how could you murder an innocent woman which is why even if Johnson did see that coming simply he would not have admitted to it because there was so much bad blood about it there and Mary Lincoln thought Johnson was involved in the assassination anyway she had especially because the day of booth knowing that George Atzerodt was in HoN percent committed went to the Kirkwood house and left a note for Johnson and it's in the archives and this is don't wish to disturb you are you at home J Wilkes Booth and he left it in the vice president's box and so Mary Lincoln would hear about this later and so she always thought maybe Andrew John says something to do with it and so he tried to avoid as much as possible talking about Mary Stratton assassination and then it was brought up in his impeachment trial that they in fact there's when you study the Lincoln assassination you study three trials the conspiracy trial in 1865 John Surratt trial in 1867 and then Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial because they brought everyone back that it was in the conspiracy trial because they were trying to tarnish Johnson so much the like well maybe he's involved in the Lincoln assassination let's bring everyone back from the other two trials and hasn't testified in detail about these things that have nothing to do with Johnson so the clemency plant I think probably existed and my gut is that Johnson saw it and that he was just like well but she's guilty and then later when he heard that everyone was like how did you do that he's like I didn't see anything but thank you all so much for having me out thank you for coming you

Channel: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Views: 45,642

Rating: 4.5415473 out of 5

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Id: WIbflkz5e8U

Length: 103min 8sec (6188 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2017