Edman Spanger

Edman Spangler was born in York, Pennsylvania on 10th August, 1825. While at Bland School in York he met John Wilkes Booth. During the American Civil War Spangler moved to Washington where he found work as a carpenter and scene shifter at Ford's Theatre.

On 14th April, 1865, Spangler was involved in preparing the State Box for President Abraham Lincoln. During the work a fellow employee testified that Spangler was highly critical of the president.

After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a member of the audience, Jacob Ritterspaugh, claimed the Spangler hit him in the face in an attempt to stop him chasing after John Wilkes Booth. Spangler also said: "Don't say which way he went." Spangler was arrested by the police and charged with being part of the plot to kill the president.

On 1st May, 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered the formation of a nine-man military commission to try the conspirators. It was argued by Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, that the men should be tried by a military court as Lincoln had been Commander in Chief of the army. Several members of the cabinet, including Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy), Edward Bates (Attorney General), Orville H. Browning (Secretary of the Interior), and Henry McCulloch (Secretary of the Treasury), disapproved, preferring a civil trial. However, James Speed, the Attorney General, agreed with Stanton and therefore the defendants did not enjoy the advantages of a jury trial.

The trial began on 10th May, 1865. The military commission included leading generals such as David Hunter, Lewis Wallace, Thomas Harris and Alvin Howe and Joseph Holt was the government's chief prosecutor. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold were all charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln. During the trial Holt attempted to persuade the military commission that Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government had been involved in conspiracy.

Joseph Holt attempted to obscure the fact that there were two plots: the first to kidnap and the second to assassinate. It was important for the prosecution not to reveal the existence of a diary taken from the body of John Wilkes Booth. The diary made it clear that the assassination plan dated from 14th April. The defence surprisingly did not call for Booth's diary to be produced in court.

On 29th June, 1865, Spangler was found guilty of being involved in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln and was sentenced to six years in prison. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt and David Herold were also found guilty of the crime and hanged at Washington Penitentiary on 7th July, 1865.

Spangler was sent to Fort Jefferson with fellow conspirators Samuel Mudd, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold. Spangler was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on 1st March, 1869.

After his release from prison Spangler was given 5 acres of land to farm by Samuel Mudd. Edman Spangler also did carpentry work before his death on 7th February, 1875.

I was in the President's box that afternoon when Henry Ford was putting the flags around it. Harry Ford told me to go up with Spangler and take out the partition of the box; that the President and General Grant were coming there. While Spangler was at work removing it he said, "Damn the President and General Grant." I said to him, "What are you damning the man for - a man that has done no harm to you?" He said he ought to be cursed when he got so many men killed.

I was at Ford's Theater on the night of the assassination of the President. I was sitting in the front-seat of the orchestra, on the right-hand side. The sharp report of a pistol at about half-past 10 startled me. I heard an exclamation, and simultaneously a man leaped from the President's box, lighting on the stage. He came down with his back slightly toward the audience, but rising and turning, his face came in full view. At the same instant I jumped on the stage, and the man disappeared at the left-hand stage entrance. I ran across the stage as quickly as possible, following the direction he took, calling out, "Stop that man!" three times.
Near the door on my right hand, I saw a man (Spangler) standing, who seemed to be turning, and who did not seem to be moving about like the others. I am satisfied that the person I saw inside the door was in a position and had an opportunity, if he had been disposed to do so, to have interrupted the exit of Booth.

Lisa's History Room

Issued in the wake of Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, the political cartoon, “Uncle Sam’s Menagerie,” conveys the Northern hostility toward the conspirators, whom the public associated with former president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis. Uncle Sam stands before a cage in which a hyena with the bonneted head of Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), president of the Confederacy, claws at a skull. Davis’ neck is in a noose, which will begin to tighten as a man at right turns the crank of a gallows. The bonnet on Davis’ head alludes to the embarrassing circumstances of his recent capture. As the Civil War drew to a close, Davis fled Richmond with his cabinet in early April 1865 and began a trek southward with federal troops in hot pursuit. While still weighing the merits of forming a government in exile, Davis was captured by Union soldiers near Irwinville, Georgia, in early May 1865. Whether by accident or design, Davis was wearing his wife’s dark gray short-sleeved cloak and black shawl when captured.

Below the caricature of Davis as a cross-dressing hyena, a man grinds out the song “Yankee Doodle” on a hand organ. Above, the Lincoln conspirators are portrayed as “Gallow’s Bird’s,” with their heads in nooses. From left to right they are: Michael O’Laughlin, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Paine, Mary Elizabeth Surratt, Samuel Arnold, Edman Spangler, and Dr. Samuel Mudd. At left, Uncle Sam points his stick at a skull “Booth,” on which sits a black crow. John Wilkes Booth was killed during a government raid on his hideout on April 26, 1865.

Photo, Print, Drawing [Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Edman Spangler, a "conspirator," manacled]

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2. Assassination

On April 2, 1865 Richmond, the Confederate capitol, fell to Union forces. On April 9 General Lees Northern Virginia army surrendered to the Union Forces. These two events were evidence that after four long years the civil war was finally nearing its end even though there were still Confederate forces in the field throughout the South though clearly not enough to bring about a Confederate victory.

Five days later President Lincoln and his wife Mary decided to attend a performance of Our American Cousin at Fords Theater. During that afternoon Spangler was asked by his employer, Harry Clay Ford, to help prepare the State Box for the Presidents anticipated attendance that evening. He helped bring in furniture and remove the partition which converted the two boxes, numbers 7 and 8, into a single box. Later Booth showed up at the theater and invited Spangler and other stagehands of Fords out for a drink. Booth indicated to the employees that he might come back for the evenings performance.

At about 9:30 pm, Booth again appeared at the theatre. He dismounted in the alley to the rear of Fords and asked for Spangler. When Spangler came out, Booth asked him to hold the mare he had hired from the stables of James W. Pumphrey. Pumphrey had warned Booth that the horse was high spirited and she would break her halter if left unattended. Spangler explained he had work to do and asked Joseph Burroughs, another Fords employee, to do so. Burroughs, whose nickname was "Peanut John" or "Johnny Peanut", agreed to hold the horse. At about 10:15 PM John Wilkes Booth entered the presidents box and assassinated Lincoln and then quickly escaped from the theater.

Abraham Lincoln Assassination Conspirators

In the summer of 1864, Booth began formulating plans to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. The plan called for Lincoln to be taken south to Richmond, where he would be held until exchanged for Confederate prisoners-of-war. Booth recruited friends and known southern-sympathizers for his mission, including the eight persons tried before the 1865 military commission. Some who resisted his persuasive efforts, such as actor Samuel Chester, became key government witnesses in the trial.

On March 15, Booth and his most of his fellow conspirators met at a Restaurant three blocks from Ford's Theatre to plan their abduction of the President. Soon thereafter, Booth heard that the President would be attending a matinee performance of Still Waters Run Deep on March 17 at the Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of Washington. This, he decided, would the perfect opportunity for a kidnapping and--according to John Surratt--Booth developed a plan to intercept Lincoln's carriage enroute to the play. Booth's plans were foiled, however, when the President changed his plans and decided instead to speak to the 140th Indiana Regiment and present a captured flag.

Booth then turned to plan to kidnap the President at a future performance at Ford's Theatre, where the actor had several friends, but the plan failed to win the support of some of his co-conspirators, who dismissed it as infeasible.

On April 14, 1865, after the fall of Richmond rendered moot his kidnap scheme, Booth set in motion his final plan--one of assassination. Booth may have made the decision to kill the President after hearing Lincoln deliver a speech urging Negro suffrage, according to Booth's former friend, Louis Weichmann. Weichmann spoke of his viewing of the the President's speech with Booth:

"I had never seen Mr. Lincoln up close and I knew he was a tall man, however nothing could have prepared me for the sight of him. A long shadow did he have. And his arms, when at his sides, touched near his knees. Very professionally he said that there would never be any suffrage based on differences in the way people look. Upon this, Booth turned to the two of us and said, “That means nigger citizenship. Now by God I’ll put him through!”

Booth tried to convince several of his co-conspirators to participate in his plot to kill several high government officials ( including the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and probably General Grant), but found few willing.

Around 10:15, as the President and the First Lady watched a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre, Booth, showed a card to a presidential aide and was allowed entry through a lobby door leading to the presidential box. Reaching the box, Booth pushed open the door. The President sat in his armchair, one hand on the railing and the other holding to the side a flag that decorated the box, in order to gain a better view of a person in the orchestra. From a distance of about four feet behind Lincoln, Booth fired a bullet into the President's brain as he shouted "Revenge for the South!" (according to one witness) or "Freedom!" (according to another). Major Rathbone, seated with the President in the State Box, sprang up to grab the assassin, but Booth wrested himself away after slashing the general with a large knife. Booth rushed to the front of the box as Rathbone reached for him again, catching some of his clothes as Booth leapt over the railing. Rathbone's grab was enough to cause Booth to fall roughly on the stage below, where he badly fractured his leg.

Rising from the stage, Booth shouted "Sic semper tyrannus!" and ran across the stage and toward the back of the theatre. Booth rushed out the back door of the theatre to a horse being held for him by Joseph Burroughs (better known as "Peanuts"). Booth mounted the horse and swept rapidly down an alley, then to the left toward F Street--and disappeared into the Washington darkness.

A Confederate operative, David Parr, introduced Powell to John Surratt, who in turn introduced Powell to John Wilkes Booth. Booth recruited Powell, along with other conspirators, to participate in the kidnapping of President Lincoln. Booth planned to kidnap Lincoln on March 17 as he attended a play at the Seventh Street Hospital, then take him to Richmond where would be held in exchange for Confederate POWs. The plan collapsed, however, when Lincoln cancelled his appearance at the play.

The kidnap conspiracy turned into an assassination conspiracy by April. Powell agreed to participate in Booth's plot to assassinate high government officials in the hopes of throwing the federal government into chaos. Powell's assigned role was to enter the home of Secretary of State William Seward and kill him as he lay on his bed recovering from a recent carriage accident.

The conspiracy began to unfold around eight o'clock on April 14, when Powell met with Booth, who gave him weapons and a horse. At ten o'clock Powell and David Herold arrived at Seward's home in Washington. Powell told the servant who answered the door, William Bell, that he had a prescription for Secretary Seward from his doctor. Over Bell's objections, Powell began walking up the steps toward the Secretary's room, when he was confronted by the Secretary's son, Frederick Seward. Seward told Powell he would take the medicine, but Powell insisted on seeing the Secretary. When Seward resisted entry, Powell clubbed him violently with his revolver (fracturing Seward's head so severely that he would remain in a coma for sixty days), then slashed the Secretary's bodyguard, George Robinson, in the forehead with a bowie knife. Finally reaching the Secretary in his bed, Powell--shouting, "I'm mad, I'm mad!"--stabbed him several times before he could be pulled off by Robinson and two other men. Powell raced down the stairs and out the door to his one-eyed bay mare. Attempting to flee in the direction of the Navy Yard bridge, Powell instead made a wrong turn and ended up spending the night in a cemetery near the Capitol

David Herold accompanied Lewis Powell to the home of Secretary of State William Seward on the night of April 14. While Powell entered the Seward home and made his knife attack on the Secretary, Herold waited outside with his horse.

(According to co-conspirator George Atzerodt, Booth had chosen Herold to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel. It is believed to be Herold's gun, bowie knife, and map of Virginia that were discovered by investigators in a room at the Kirkwood rented by Atzerodt. Whether Atzerodt's story is entirely accurate and why, if so, Herold did not carry out his attack on Johnson is unknown.)

After the attack on Seward, Herold crossed the Navy Yard Bridge and made his way into Maryland, where he met up with the injured John Wilkes Booth. Herold and Booth's escape route took them to the home of John Lloyd in Surrattsville, where they picked up carbines, and then to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, where Booth found treatment for his broken leg. A pursuing party of soldiers finally caught up with Herold and Booth at Garrett's farm in northern Virginia in the early morning of April 26. Faced with the prospect of being shot or dying in a burning barn, Herold surrendered.

Booth recruited O'Laughlen in the late summer of 1864 to participate in the plan to kidnap Abraham Lincoln and take him to Richmond, where he would--it was hoped--later be exchanged for Confederate prisoners-of-war. O'Laughlen, along with Booth and other conspirators, attended a March 15 meeting at Gautier's Restaurant in Washington where plans were laid for the kidnapping. The plot to intercept Lincoln's carriage while enroute to a play at the Campbell Hospital fell through when Lincoln changed his plans. Booth's next plan involved kidnapping Lincoln at Ford's theatre. O'Laughlen's was to have extinguished the gas lights at the theatre, but the plan was abandoned as infeasible.

O'Laughlen returned to Washington shortly before the assassination, but what role--if any--he played in Booth's final, desperate plan is unknown.

O'Laughlen voluntarily surrendered himself to federal authorities on April 17, 1865.

Mary Surratt's eldest son, John, served in the Civil War as a Confederate secret agent. John Surratt's acquaintances included many of the key figures in the assassination conspiracy, including John Wilkes Booth, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Lewis Powell.

Lewis Weichmann, who attended college with John Surratt, resided at Mary Surratt's boarding house in Washington during the period in which the conspiracy plot was hatched. Weichmann, although describing his landlord as "exemplary" in character and "lady-like in every particular," provided testimony that incriminated Mary Surratt. He described numerous private conversations in the Surratt house between Mary and Booth, Powell, and other conspirators. Typically, according to Weichmann, Booth would ask Mary--if John were not at home--if she could "go upstairs and spare a word." He testified that on April 2 Mary Surratt asked him "to see John Wilkes Booth and say that she wished to see him on 'private business'"--and that Booth visited with her in her home that evening. He told of Booth giving him $10 on the Tuesday before the assassination which he was to use to hire a buggy to take Mary Surratt to Surrattsville to collect--according to Surratt--a small debt.

On the day of the assassination, April 14, Mary Surratt sent Weichmann to hire a buggy for another two-hour ride to Surrattsville. Weichmann reported that Surratt took along "a package, done up in paper, about six inches in diameter." Surratt and Weichman arrived sometime after four at Surratt's tavern. Surratt went inside while Weichmann waited outside or spent time in the bar. Surratt remained inside about two hours. Between six and six-thirty, shortly before the began their return trip to Washingon, Weichmann saw Mary Surratt speaking privately in the parlor of the tavern with John Wilkes Booth. At nine o'clock, Surratt saw Booth for a last time when he visited her home in Washington. After the visit, according to Weichmann, Surratt's demeanor changed--she became "very nervous, agitated and restless."

Less than seven hours later, as the President lay dying and Booth having fled, investigators paid an initial visit to the Surratt home. When the investigators left, Surratt reportedly exclaimed to her daughter, "Anna, come what will, I am resigned. I think J. Wilkes Booth was only an instrument in the hands of the Almighty to punish this proud and licentious people." [Weichmann affidavit, 8/11/1865]

On April 17, shortly after eleven at night, a team of military investigators again arrived at the Surratt home to interview her and other residents about the assassination. While they were doing so, Lewis Powell, carrying a pick-axe, knocked on the door. When he claimed to have been hired by Mary Surratt to dig a gutter, Surratt was asked whether she could confirm his story. Surratt answered, "Before God, sir, I do not know this man, and have never seen him, and I did not hire him to dig a gutter for me." While in the Surratt home, investigators uncovered various pieces of incriminating evidence, including a picture of John Wilkes Booth hidden behind another picture on a mantelpiece. Facing arrest, Surratt asked a minute to kneel and pray.

Dr. Samuel Mudd introduced John Surratt to John Wilkes Booth on December 23, 1864 in Washington. Surratt joined the Confederate conspiracy to abduct President Lincoln and participated in the March 15 meeting with other conspirators at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue, where plans were laid for a March 17 kidnapping.

On the night of April 14, 1865, Surratt--by his own account--was in Elmira, New York on a spying mission for General Edwin Lee. He fled to Canada upon learning of the President's assassination. He remained in Canada until after his mother's execution on July 7, 1865.

On April 14, the day of Lincoln's assassination, Spangler helped prepare the State Box for the president. He removed a partition separating two boxes, creating a larger one for Lincoln and the other members of his party. While working on the box, Spangler allegedly made derogatory remarks--such as "Damn the President!"--about Lincoln. (On the other hand, a defense witness testified that Spangler smiled and clapped along with other theater workers when the president arrived at Ford's.)

Sometime between nine and ten o'clock, Booth appeared at the rear of the theatre and called for Spangler. Booth asked Spangler to hold his horse. Spangler in turn asked Joseph Burroughs (better known as "Peanuts") to watch Booth's horse. When Peanuts told Spangler that he "had to go in to attend my door," Spangler said he should hold the horse anyway and "if there was any thing wrong to lay the blame on him."

Immediately after the shooting of Lincoln, Spangler hit Jacob Ritterspaugh, another Ford's employee who followed Booth out the rear door and observed him head down an alley on his horse. Ritterspaugh testified that when Spangler slapped him on his mouth he said, "Don't say which way he went." Spangler was convicted almost entirely on the testimony of Ritterspaugh. Defense witnesses were offered to contradict Rittersbaugh's testimony. James Lamb testified that after Booth's exit, when Ritterspaugh returned to the stage, he said, "That was Booth! I'll swear it was Booth!" According to Lamb, Spangler responded by slapping Ritterspaugh and saying, "Shut up. What do you know about that? Hold your tongue." The words attributed to Spangler in Rittersbaugh's testimony would probably constitute aid in furtherance of Booth's escape, while Lamb's version (supported by another defense witness) would probably not be a crime.

Spangler was questioned the day after the authorities, then arrested on April 17 and charged with being an accomplice to Booth.

In the late summer of 1864, Booth recruited Arnold, then unemployed and bored, to join the conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond. On March 15, 1865, Arnold met Booth at Gautier's Restaurant in Washington to plan the kidnapping, scheduled for two days later. When Lincoln cancelled plans to attend a play at the Campbell Hospital on March 17, the abduction plans fell through and Arnold returned to Baltimore.

A March 27 letter from Arnold to Booth was discovered by investigators during a search of Booth's hotel room after the assassination. On April 17, authorities arrested Arnold in Old Point Comfort, Virginia, where he worked as a clerk.

Through the Surratt's, Atzerodt met John Wilkes Booth, who persuaded him to participate in his plan to kidnap President Lincoln, and hold him in Virginia in exchange for Confederate POWs. Atzerodt met Booth and other conspirators at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue to discuss the President's abduction. In a confession (excluded from trial) given on May 1, 1865 to Maryland Provost Marshal James McPhail, Atzerodt admitted his willingness to join the kidnapping conspiracy.

After the kidnapping plan changed to one of assassination, Booth, according to the prosecution, assigned Atzerodt the job of killing Vice-President Andrew Johnson. On the morning of April 14, Atzerodt (using his own name) checked into room 126 of the Kirkwood House in Washington, the same hotel in which the Vice President was staying. At ten o'clock, when he was supposed to begin making his move against Johnson, Atzerodt was attempting to build up his courage by drinking at the hotel bar. He never got any further, and spent the next several hours wandering aimlessly around the streets of Washington.

Atzerodt had aroused suspicion by asking a bartender about the Vice President's whereabouts. The day after Lincoln's assassination, a hotel employee contacted authorities concerning a "suspicious-looking man" in "a gray coat" who had been seen around the Kirkwood. John Lee, a member of the military police force, visited the hotel on April 15 and conducted a search of Atzerodt's room. The search revealed that the bed had not been slept in the previous night. Lee discovered under a pillow a loaded revolver and, between the sheets and the mattress, a large bowie knife. He also found in Atzerodt's rented room a map of Virginia, three hankerchiefs, and a bank book of John Wilkes Booth.

The search of Atzerodt's room, needless to say, made him in the eyes of authorities a prime conspiracy suspect. Atzerodt's arrest came on April 20 at the home of his cousin, Hartman Richer, in Germantown, Maryland.

About four o'clock on the morning following the Lincoln assassination two men on horseback arrived at the Mudd farm near Bryantown. The men, it turned out, were John Wilkes Booth--in severe pain with a badly fractured leg that he received from his fall to the stage after shooting the President--and David Herold. Mudd welcomed the men into his house, first placing Booth on his sofa, then later carrying him upstairs to a bed where he dressed the limb.

After daybreak, Mudd made arrangements with a nearby carpenter to construct a pair of crutches for Booth and tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a carriage for his two visitors. Booth (after having shaved off his moustache in Mudd's home) and Herold left later on the fifteenth, after Mudd pointed the route to their next destination, Parson Wilmer's.

When a military investigator tracking Booth's escape route, Lt. Alexander Lovett, reached Mudd's home on April 18, Mudd claimed that the man whose leg he fixed "was a stranger to him."

Lovett returned to the Mudd home three days later to conduct a search of Mudd's home. When Lovett told of his intentions, Mudd's wife, Sarah, brought down from upstairs a boot that had been cut off the visitor's leg three days earlier [see above photo]. Lovett turned down the top of the left-foot riding boot and "saw the name J Wilkes written in it." Mudd told Lovett that he had not noticed the writing. Shown a photo of Booth, Mudd still claimed not to recognize him.

Photo, Print, Drawing [Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Edman Spangler, a "conspirator," manacled] digital file from original neg.

Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. For information, see "Civil war photographs, 1861-1865," https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/120_cwar.html
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-cwpb-04221 (digital file from original neg.) LC-B8171-7788 (b&w film neg.)
Call Number: LC-B817- 7788 [P&P] LOT 4195 (corresponding photographic print)
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Lewis Powell was born in Randolph County, Alabama, on April 22, 1844, to George Cader and Patience Caroline Powell. [1] He was the youngest son in a family of eight children. [1] Powell's father was ordained a Baptist minister in 1847, [2] and in 1848, the family moved to Stewart County, Georgia, where his father had received an appointment as pastor of Beulah Church in the village of Green Hill. [3] About this time, Powell's father freed the three slaves he owned. [4] Powell and his siblings were all educated by their father, who was the local schoolmaster. [2]

In his early years, Powell was described as quiet and introverted, and well liked by others. [1] He enjoyed carving, fishing, [5] singing, [6] reading, and studying. [2] He also loved attending church, Sunday school, and prayer meetings. [5] He often nursed and cared for sick and stray animals, earning the nickname "Doc" from his sisters. [2] Powell could also be immensely stubborn, and the entire family was well known for their hot tempers. [5]

When Powell was 13, he was kicked in the face by the family mule, breaking his jaw. The break healed in a manner that made the left side of his jaw more prominent. [2] Powell's late teen years were spent on the move. George Powell co-signed a loan for a family friend, and when that friend defaulted in 1859, the Powells were forced to sell their farm to make good the debt. [7] The Powells moved that same year to the village of Bellville in Hamilton County, Florida. [7] [2] The following year, George Powell established a church in Apopka, a town on the border between Orange and Seminole County, and the family took up residence on a farm a half mile outside Live Oak Station in Suwannee County. [8]

2nd Florida Infantry and capture Edit

On June 12, 1861, Lewis Powell left home and traveled to Jasper, Florida, where he enlisted in Company I of the 2nd Florida Infantry. He was accepted because he lied about his age – he claimed to be 19. [9] Powell's unit fought in March and April 1862, in the Peninsula Campaign. Powell became a battle-hardened and effective soldier. He won praise from his commanding officers, and claimed that when he shot his rifle he did so to kill – never to wound. He was alleged to have carried the skull of a Union soldier with him, which he used as an ashtray. [10] His one-year enlistment having expired, Powell received a two-month furlough, during which time he returned home to visit his family. He re-enlisted at Jasper on May 8, 1862. [11] In November 1862, Powell fell ill and was hospitalized at General Hospital No. 11 in Richmond, Virginia. [11] He returned to active duty within a few weeks, and fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg. [12] His unit was then assigned to Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, which was organized at the beginning of 1863. Third Corps finally went into combat at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Powell was shot in the right wrist on July 2. [10] He was captured, and sent to a prisoner of war hospital at Pennsylvania College. [13] Transferred to Camp Letterman, the vast medical field hospital northeast of Gettysburg, on July 6, [14] Powell worked as a nurse in the camp and at Pennsylvania College until September 1, [15] when he was turned over to the Provost Marshal. He was taken by train to Baltimore, Maryland, and—still a POW—began working on September 2, at West Buildings Hospital. [16] In Baltimore, Powell met and developed a relationship with a woman named Margaret "Maggie" Branson, who was volunteering as a nurse. It is believed that Branson assisted Lewis in escaping from the hospital on September 7. [16] Some historians contend that she actually provided him with a Union Army uniform. [17] [18]

Escape and Mosby's Rangers Edit

Margaret Branson took Powell to her mother's boarding house at 16 North Eutaw Street in Baltimore. Many, perhaps most, Marylanders were Confederate sympathizers, and the Bransons were fervent believers in the Southern cause. The Branson boarding house was a well-known Confederate safe house and frequent rendezvous point for members of the Confederate Secret Service – the Confederacy's spy agency. [19] Powell may have spent up to two weeks at the Branson house before heading south. [17] While still in Maryland, he learned the location of Harry Gilmor and his "Gilmor's Raiders"—a unit of Confederate cavalry detached from Second Corps—and spent a few days with them. [20] He crossed into Virginia and on September 30, he ended up at the home of John Scott Payne, a prominent doctor and Confederate sympathizer who lived at Granville Tract, a plantation about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Warrenton. By now, Powell was wearing a ragged Confederate uniform, and Payne welcomed him into the home for a meal and a night's stay. They discussed the exploits of Colonel John S. Mosby's Mosby's Rangers, a large detached unit of partisans based in Warrenton. Powell joined Mosby the following day. [21]

For more than a year, Powell served under Mosby. Mosby considered Powell to be one of his most effective soldiers, and Powell earned the nickname "Lewis the Terrible" for his ferocity and murderousness in combat. [22] He lived as a civilian with the Paynes, putting on his uniform and participating in military activities only when conducting a partisan raid. [20] Powell participated in a number of actions, including the Wagon Raids of October and November 1863 the Battle of Loudoun Heights on January 10, 1864 the battle of Second Dranesville on February 20–21 the action at Mount Zion Church on July 3 and 6 the Berryville Wagon Raid on August 13 the Raid on Merritt's Cavalry Division in September the Mansassas Gap Railroad Raid on October 3–7 the Greenback Raid on October 14 [23] the Valley Pike Raid on October 25 and the Rout of Blazer's Command on November 17. This last raid proved to be a turning point for Powell. Union Army Lieutenant Richard R. Blazer was a noted Native American fighter who had been sent to destroy Mosby's Rangers. Instead, Blazer's unit was routed and Blazer captured. Powell and three others were given the privilege of taking Blazer to prison in Richmond, Virginia, in late November. [20]

Powell's visit to Richmond changed him. He returned to Warrenton morose and introspective. Historian Michael W. Kauffman argues that Powell saw a Baltimore acquaintance in Richmond, and that turned his thoughts back to the time he had spent in September 1863, romancing Margaret Branson and her sister, Mary, at the Branson boarding house. [20] Powell biographer Betty Ownsbey, however, argues that his Richmond trip made him aware that the Confederate cause was lost, and his depression was caused by his desire to get out of the fighting. [24] Several other historians claim that the Confederate Secret Service had already recruited him into its ranks during the previous year—with Mosby's consent—and that Powell's moodiness came from moral misgivings he had as he contemplated being sent north to assist with various kidnap plots against Abraham Lincoln. [25] [26] [27] [a] [28] [29]

Recruitment Edit

It is known that Powell deserted on January 1, 1865. [30] He made his way to Richmond, where he sold his horse and purchased a ticket on a train headed for Alexandria. [31] On January 13, he entered the Union Army's lines at Alexandria, claimed to be a civilian refugee, [31] and—under the name "Lewis Payne"—took an oath of allegiance to the United States. [32] [33] [20] [b] [30] On January 14, Powell arrived in Baltimore and checked into Miller's Hotel. [23] [34] He made contact with the Bransons, and soon took up residence in their boarding house again. [35] [36] He used the name "Lewis Payne", and the Bransons introduced him to David Preston Parr, a merchant whose china shop was used for meetings, as a mail drop, and as a safe house for Confederate agents and spies. Over the next few weeks, Powell met frequently with Parr, [37] a Confederate Secret Service agent. [38] [31]

The same day that Powell arrived in Baltimore, John Surratt and Louis J. Weichmann purchased a boat at Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland. Surratt, and to a much lesser degree Weichmann, were members of a group led by John Wilkes Booth which planned to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln and spirit him into Virginia, where he could be turned over to Confederate military authorities. The boat was needed to ferry Lincoln across the Potomac River. The two men then traveled to Baltimore on January 21. [37] In testimony for the prosecution in June 1865, Weichmann said that Surratt had $300 which he needed to give to a man in Baltimore. Although Surratt never revealed the man's name, the prosecution at Powell's 1865 trial attempted to show that this man was Lewis Powell. [35] Historian Edward Steers Jr. agrees that it is likely that Surratt met Powell at this time, [35] while historians David Griffin Chandler and Elizabeth Trindal present their meeting at Parr's China Hall store as fact. [39] [40]

Either in late January or early February 1865, [39] [34] Powell encountered John Wilkes Booth outside Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore. [34] [41] Booth treated Powell to lunch at the hotel, and recruited him into the plot to kidnap Lincoln. [39] Powell became a fervent believer in Booth, and Booth came to trust Powell implicitly. Although several others had been part of the conspiracy for some time, Powell swiftly became the second most important person in the plot – next to John Surratt. [39] Booth made arrangements for Powell to stay at Herndon House boarding house under the name "Reverend Lewis Payne" whenever he traveled to Washington, D.C. [39] During this time, Powell used a variety of aliases in addition to "Lewis Payne", including use of the last names Hall, Kensler, Mosby, Paine, and Wood. [42]

Kidnap conspiracy at Surratt's boarding house Edit

In early February, Powell, using the alias "Mr. Wood", appeared at Mary Surratt's boarding house in Washington. Mary was John's mother, and she had taken up residence in the boarding house in the fall of 1864 after renting out her tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland, to former District of Columbia police officer John M. Lloyd. Powell asked for John Surratt, who was not at home. He then requested something to eat and a place to stay, and Mary granted both requests after her son returned home and vouched for "Mr. Wood". Powell told Louis J. Weichmann, who was a boarder in the house, that "Wood" was a clerk in Parr's china shop in Baltimore. Powell left the next day. [43] [44] [45]

Powell's role in the plot almost came to an end when, on March 12, 1865, he beat a black maid at the Branson boarding house. She had him arrested and accused him of being a Confederate spy. It was a serious charge: Maryland was under martial law, and the Union Army's Provost Marshal had supervision over such cases. Using the name "Lewis Paine", Powell swore he was from Fauquier County, Virginia, and knew nothing about the war. Declaring he was only 18 years old, he pretended to be stupid and not understand the English language too well. Lacking evidence that he was a spy, the Provost Marshal released Powell on March 14. Powell took an oath of allegiance to the United States, and the Provost Marshal wrote on his allegiance form that "Lewis Paine" was to live north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the duration of the war. [32] [46] [42] [47]

The day before Powell was released, John Surratt sent a telegram to Parr in Baltimore, telling him to send Powell immediately to Washington. Powell was freed just in time to take the 6:00 p.m. train to the capital. [48] [49] [c] [42] [46] [35] Powell arrived at the Surratt boarding house and identified himself as "Reverend Lewis Payne", a Baptist preacher. When members of the boarding house recognized him as Mr. Wood from several weeks earlier, Powell explained that he knew a Mr. Wood and that they had been confused. In a new suit, his demeanor suave and cultured—quite unlike his previous surly attitude—the members of the household accepted his explanation. But when "Reverend Payne" met with John Surratt, he claimed not to know him – even though on his previous visit he claimed to be a friend of John's. To Weichmann, this was highly suspicious behavior, but Mary said she was happy with "Reverend Payne's" explanations. Powell stayed for three days, then left. [50] [51] [52]

Powell was not the only conspirator to have arrived in the city. Booth had assembled his entire team—which consisted of John Surratt, Lewis Powell, Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Michael O'Laughlen—because he wanted the men to plan to kidnap Lincoln the next time he attended a play at Ford's Theatre. Booth rented the President's Box at the theater on March 15, and he provided tickets to Powell and Surratt so that they could familiarize themselves with the layout of the theater and how to access the box. The two attended the theater as planned – in the company of two of Mary's female boarders.

The group then had a late-night planning meeting at Gautier's Restaurant at 252 Pennsylvania Avenue. It was the first time that Arnold and O'Laughlen met the others, and it was the first time Booth revealed his plan to kidnap Lincoln from Ford's Theatre. Booth assigned Powell—whom he called Mosby—the job of catching a handcuffed Lincoln as he was lowered from the president's box onto the stage. Arnold said that Powell, the strongest of the men, should be the one to subdue and handcuff Lincoln, not catch him from below. As the men argued, Booth kept altering his plan and Powell's role in it. [53] Throughout the meeting, Arnold and O'Laughlen expressed their anger at Booth. They said they had joined a plot to kidnap Lincoln in the country, where the president would be unguarded and there was little chance of encountering a military patrol. Now Booth was changing that plan significantly, and they did not like it. The meeting broke up at 5:00 a.m. after Arnold said trying to kidnap Lincoln from a theater full of people in the middle of the city was suicidal. [54] [55]

On the morning of March 17, Booth learned that President Lincoln had been invited to attend a matinee theatrical performance at the Soldiers' Home. The Soldiers' Home was in a rural part of the District of Columbia about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the city limits (at that time Florida Avenue), and Lincoln usually visited the facility without an escort. The group met in front of the Surratt boarding house at 2:00 p.m., to receive instructions from Booth. Booth sent Herold out to the Surratt tavern with equipment, and informed the others that they should wait at a local saloon while he rode out to the Soldier's Home to scout the area. When Booth arrived at the Soldier's Home, he learned that Lincoln had decided to address a group of Indiana soldiers at a downtown hotel instead. [54] Powell and the other conspirators never left the tavern. [56]

Powell returned to the Branson boarding house that evening, then traveled to New York City with Booth on March 21. [57] Powell stayed at the Revere House, a fashionable hotel, and later moved to a boarding house. [58] [d] [59] There is evidence that Booth and Powell then traveled to Toronto, Upper Canada, a major center of Confederate activity. Richard Montgomery, a Confederate spy, said that he saw Powell meet with Jacob Thompson and Clement Claiborne Clay, the two heads of the Confederate Secret Service, in Toronto. [60] On March 23, Booth sent a coded telegram to Louis Weichmann, which John Surratt understood to mean that Powell should stay at the Herndon House after he returned to Washington. [61] [62] [59] Powell returned to the capital on the night of March 27, and checked into the Herndon House using the alias "Kensler". [63] Powell joined Booth that night to watch a performance of the opera La Forza del Destino at Ford's Theatre. [64]

On April 11, President Lincoln addressed a crowd from the balcony on the north side of the White House. In this speech, Lincoln discussed his plans for accepting the rebellious states back into the Union, and singled out Louisiana as the first he would like to see do so. Lincoln announced that he also wanted to see African Americans given the right to vote. Booth and Powell stood on the White House lawn listening to the speech. Booth seethed at the idea of giving blacks political power, and told Powell, "That means nigger citizenship. Now, by God, I will put him through. That will be the last speech he will ever make." [65]

It is unclear just when Powell learned that the kidnap plot had turned to an assassination. There is testimony from the nurse attending the Secretary of State indicating that Powell may have learned of his role to assassinate Seward on Thursday, April 13. A man fitting Powell's description appeared at the Seward home that day to inquire about the Secretary's health. Powell himself was inconsistent. He once said he learned he was to kill Seward on the morning of Friday, April 14, but later claimed he did not know until the evening of April 14. [66]

On the afternoon of April 14, Booth learned that Abraham Lincoln would be attending a play at Ford's Theatre that night. Booth decided that the time had come to kill Lincoln. [67] [68] Booth sent David Herold to tell Powell the news. The two men probably spent the afternoon and early evening at the Canterbury Music Hall on Pennsylvania Avenue, where Powell met and possibly had a tryst with Mary Gardner, a performer there. [69]

At 8:45 p.m. that night, Booth, Atzerodt, Herold, and Powell met in Powell's room at the Herndon House in Washington, D.C., where Booth assigned roles. [67] [68] They would strike that very night, Booth said. Powell (accompanied by Herold) was to go to the home of Secretary of State William H. Seward and kill him. Atzerodt was to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson. [e] [70] Booth was to murder Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.

The attack on Seward Edit

At about 10:10 p.m., the same time Booth made his way to the unguarded presidential box at Ford's Theater, Powell was escorted to the Seward residence on Lafayette Square near the White House by David Herold. Seward had been injured in a carriage accident on April 5, and suffered a concussion, broken jaw, broken right arm, and many serious bruises. Local newspapers reported that Seward was at home convalescing, so Powell and Herold knew where to find him. Powell was armed with a Whitney revolver and large knife, and wore black pants, a long overcoat, a grey vest, a grey dress coat, and a hat with a wide brim. [71] [72] Herold waited outside, holding Powell's horse. Powell knocked and rang the bell, and the door was answered by William Bell, Seward's African American maitre d'. Holding up a small bottle, Powell claimed that Seward's physician, T. S. Verdi, had sent some medicine to the house. Bell was suspicious, as Verdi had departed the home only an hour earlier and left instructions for Seward not to be disturbed. Bell asked Powell to wait, but Powell pushed past him and began mounting the stairs to the second-floor bedrooms. [72]

Seward's son, Frederick W. Seward, appeared at the top of the steps. When Powell reached the second floor, he told Fredrick that he was delivering medicine, but Fredrick refused Powell’s request. [72] As Lewis Powell and Fredrick bickered over the medicine story, Seward's daughter, Fanny Seward, stuck her head out of her father's bedroom door and warned the men that Seward was sleeping. She then returned to the bedroom. [73] Once Fanny went into her father’s bedroom, Frederick asked Powell to leave. Powell was about to take a few steps, but he pulled out his revolver and pulled the trigger with the barrel of the gun against Frederick's head. [72] The revolver misfired, and Powell pistol-whipped Frederick, knocking him to the floor. Bell fled the house, screaming "Murder! Murder!", and raced to the office of General Christopher C. Augur next door for help. [72]

Powell drew out his knife and burst through Seward's bedroom door. Inside were Seward's Army nurse, Sergeant George F. Robinson, and Fanny Seward. Powell slashed Robinson on the forearm, and the soldier fell. Lewis pushed Fanny aside and leapt onto the bed. He savagely began knifing Seward in the face and throat. Seward, however, was wearing a metal and canvas splint on his jaw, which deflected most of Powell's blows. However, Powell managed to cut through Seward's right cheek and along his right throat, causing a large amount of blood flow. [f] Believing Seward to be dead, Powell hesitated. Terrified of Fanny’s screams of “Murder!”, Herold fled on his own steed, leaving Lewis Powell on his own to escape from Seward’s mansion. Just as John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, Seward's other son, Augustus Henry Seward, burst into the room. Powell stabbed him several times after Augustus dragged Powell onto the floor. Robinson and Augustus Seward wrestled with the strong, uninjured Powell. Powell stabbed Robinson in the shoulder and slashed a portion of Augustus' scalp from his head. [74]

Powell was confronted by State Department messenger Emerick "Bud" Hansell in the hallway. Hansell had just arrived at the house moments earlier and found the front door ajar. As Hansell turned to flee, Powell stabbed him in the back. Powell ran out of the house, yelling “I’m mad! I’m mad!” Then he threw his knife in the gutter of the street, got onto his waiting horse, and disappeared throughout the night. [75]

Flight and capture Edit

Powell now realized that David Herold had abandoned him. Powell had almost no knowledge of the streets of Washington, D.C., and without Herold he had no way of locating the streets he was to use for his escape route. [75] [g] [76] He mounted his horse, and began riding at a relatively slow pace north on 15th Street. [75]

Powell's exact movements from the time he was seen cantering up 15th Street until the time he appeared at the Surratt boarding house three days later are not clear. It is well-established that he ended up (by riding or walking) in the far northeast part of the District of Columbia near Fort Bunker Hill, where he discarded his overcoat. [h] [76] In the overcoat pockets were Powell's riding gloves, a false mustache, and a piece of paper with Mary Gardner's name and hotel room number on it. [77] Sources differ widely on what happened. Historian Ernest B. Furgurson says Powell's horse gave out near Lincoln Hospital (now Lincoln Park), a mile east of the United States Capitol on East Capitol Street. He then hid in "a cemetery" (without specifying which). [78] Ownsbey says Powell hid in a tree for three days. [76]

Historians William C. Edwards and Edward Steers Jr. claim Powell made it to both Fort Bunker Hill and Congressional Cemetery (at 18th and E Streets SE), [79] while Ralph Gary claims that Powell hid out in a marble burial vault at Congressional Cemetery. [80] Andrew Jampoler, however, says Powell just wandered the streets of the city. [81] Whether Powell abandoned his horse, [82] [83] [84] [85] was thrown by it, [84] or both is unclear, [76] and Powell never gave a public or formal statement about what happened. [i] [86] [j] [87]

Powell decided to return to Surratt's boarding house to seek help. His clothes were somewhat bloody from the attack at Seward's home, and he dropped his hat at the Seward home. [88] During much of the Victorian era, it was considered unseemly for any man (even a menial laborer) to be seen in public without a hat, and Powell would have been viewed with suspicion had he tried to enter the city without one. [89] Ripping the sleeve from his undershirt, Powell placed the sleeve on his head in the hope that people would think it was a stocking cap. [90] [91] To complete his disguise as a common laborer, he then stole a pickaxe from a farmyard. [89] Powell then headed for Surratt's.

Members of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia already suspected John Surratt of complicity in Lincoln's murder, and had visited the Surratt boarding house for the first time as early as 2:00 a.m. on April 15, less than four hours after the attacks. [92] [93] [94] Nothing incriminating was found. Federal authorities decided to make a second visit. Military investigators arrived at about 11:00 p.m. on Monday, April 17, to bring Mrs. Surratt and others in for questioning. As they were about to depart at 11:45 p.m., Powell showed up on the doorstep. [95] Powell claimed to be a menial laborer who had been hired that morning by Mrs. Surratt to dig a gutter in the street. He explained his arrival at the house by saying that he wanted to know what time he should begin work in the morning. His clothes aroused intense suspicion, as he wore rather good quality boots, pants, dress shirt, vest, and coat. [96] His pickaxe seemed unused, [97] and his hands were uncalloused and well manicured (unlike those of a common laborer). [98] Mary denied knowing him. She would later claim that her extremely poor eyesight and the darkness of the room prevented her from recognizing Powell. Powell stood under a bright lamp just five feet from her when she made her denial. [99]

Taken into custody, Powell was discovered to have a box of pistol cartridges, a compass, hair pomade, a brush and comb, two fine handkerchiefs, and a copy of his oath of allegiance (signed "L. Paine") in his pockets. These were not the possessions of a menial laborer. Although he claimed he was a poor man who barely earned a dollar a day for ditch-digging, Powell's wallet contained $25. [100] About 3:00 a.m. on April 18, William Bell identified Powell as the man who assaulted Seward. Powell was formally arrested, and imprisoned aboard the USS Saugus, a Union monitor then at anchor in the Anacostia River at the Washington Navy Yard. [101] A second identification was made around mid-morning on April 18 when Augustus Seward visited the Saugus and positively identified Powell as the man who attacked him and his father. [102]

The federal government arrested a great many people for their role in the Lincoln assassination. Arrests included John T. Ford, owner of Ford's Theatre Ford's brothers, James and Harry Clay Ford John "Peanuts" Burroughs, the African American boy who unwittingly held Booth's horse in the alley behind Ford's Theatre Mary Surratt's brother, John Zadoc "Zad" Jenkins Surratt's boarder, 15-year-old Honora Fitzpatrick and many others. Some, like Judson Jarboe, had merely seen one of the key conspirators walk by. All were released, although many were incarcerated for up to 40 days or more. [103]

The most important prisoners were kept aboard monitors, to prevent escape as well as any effort to free them. Along with Powell on the Saugus were Michael O'Laughlen, Samuel Arnold, Edman Spangler, and George Atzerodt's cousin, Hartmann Richter – who had harbored Atzerodt for four days. Aboard the USS Montauk were David Herold, George Atzerodt—he was later moved to the Saugus—and the body of John Wilkes Booth. Samuel Mudd and Mary Surratt were held at the Old Capitol Prison – now the site of the United States Supreme Court Building. [104] [k] [105]

Confinement Edit

Reporters were denied access to the prisoners, but photographer Alexander Gardner received clearance. On April 27, Gardner began taking photographs of those who were caught up in the government's dragnet. One by one, each prisoner was brought on deck and photographed in a few positions. Gardner took far more photographs of Powell than anyone else. Powell obliged Gardner by posing seated, standing, with and without restraints, and modeling the overcoat and hat that he had worn the night of the Seward attacks. Among the most famous of the photographs is one in which Powell sits against the gun turret of the Saugus, staring into the camera in a modern fashion, relaxed and direct. [106]

Powell's confinement was not easy. He was constantly shackled with a form of manacles known as "lily irons", a riveted handcuff that had two separate iron bands on each wrist that prevented bending of the wrist or use of the hands independently. [107] Like all the male prisoners, a heavy iron ball at the end of a 6-foot (1.8 m) long chain was manacled to one of his legs. [108] Shackles were riveted closed about the ankles, which caused Powell's feet to swell considerably. [109] [l] [110] Like all the prisoners, he had only a straw pallet on which to sit or lie and a single blanket for warmth. [111] [112] The same meal was served four times a day: coffee or water, bread, salted pork, and beef or beef soup. [108] On April 29, all the prisoners aboard the monitors and at the Old Capitol Prison were moved to newly constructed cells at the Washington Arsenal. [113]

The prisoners were not permitted to bathe or wash until May 4, when all bindings and clothes were removed and they were permitted to bathe in cold water in the presence of a soldier. [114] In early May, General John F. Hartranft, special provost marshal overseeing the prisoners, began improving the living conditions. Powell and the other prisoners began to receive fresh clothing—including undergarments—more frequently, more food, and writing instruments. [115] When Powell was observed raising the iron ball to his head, Hartranft feared Powell might be contemplating suicide, and had the ball removed on June 2. [115] Living conditions improved again on June 18, when the prisoners were given a box to sit on, outdoor exercise time each day, and reading material and chewing tobacco after each meal. [111]

On April 22, Powell repeatedly banged his head into the iron walls of his cell aboard the Saugus. [116] Whether it was a suicide attempt, as his jailers believed, or not, it deeply alarmed military officials. A canvas padded hood, with only a slit for the mouth and nostrils, was fashioned. Powell and all the other prisoners aboard the monitors were forced to wear them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to prevent any further suicide attempts. [107] Only Mary Surratt and Mudd were not required to wear the hoods. [117] [118] Powell cried when the hood was placed on him. [108] The hoods were hot, claustrophobic, and uncomfortable, and in the humid confines of the monitors in the steaming Washington summer, the prisoners suffered immensely. On June 6, Hartranft ordered them removed except for Powell's. [119] [120]

The apparent suicide attempt worried prison officials for another reason. Powell allegedly could not remember what state or country he had been born in or his age. Military personnel became concerned that he was insane or was being driven mad by his confinement. Three physicians were called in to determine his sanity, and on June 17, he was interviewed for three hours and 40 minutes by Major Thomas Akaryote and John T. Gray. The military tribunal later ruled him sane. [121] With Booth dead and John Surratt still at large, Powell was the individual who knew most about the conspiracy, and government officials pressed him for information. Major Thomas T. Eckert spent hours with Powell over the weeks until his execution, trying to get him to talk. [122]

Trial Edit

The trial of the alleged conspirators began on May 9. [123] A military tribunal, rather than a civilian court, was chosen as the prosecutorial venue because government officials thought that its more lenient rules of evidence would enable the court to get to the bottom of what was then perceived by the public as a vast conspiracy. [124] A military tribunal also avoided the possibility of jury nullification since federal officials worried that a jury drawn from the pro-Southern populace of the District of Columbia might free the prisoners. [125] All eight alleged conspirators were tried simultaneously. [126]

The prosecution was led by Judge Advocate General Brigadier General Joseph Holt, assisted by Assistant Judge Advocate General Colonel Henry Lawrence Burnett, and Judge Advocate Major John Bingham. [127] A panel of nine judges, all military officers, sat in judgment over the accused. Conviction required a simple majority of judges, while imposition of the death sentence required a two-thirds majority. The only appeal was directly to the President of the United States. [128] [129] [130] [m] [131]

A room on the northeast corner of the third floor of the Arsenal was used as a courtroom. [132] [133] [134] The prisoners sat together on long benches wearing wrist and ankle manacles and an armed guard on either side of each of them. [132] [135] [136] [135] [137] The exception was Surratt, who sat in a chair unmanacled. [132] [135] [138] [139] Surratt and Powell received the most press attention during the trial. [140]

Powell did not have legal representation until the third day of the trial. James Mason Campbell, son-in-law of late Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, [141] [142] declined to represent him. On the second day, Burnett asked Colonel William E. Doster to assume Powell's defense. [143] John Atzerodt had hired Doster to represent his brother, George Atzerodt, during the trial. Although reluctant since he had his hands full with one client, Doster agreed, [144] but for weeks, Powell refused to speak to Doster. [111]

The prosecution opened its case against Powell on May 13. Weichmann tied Powell strongly to the Booth-led conspiracies against Lincoln. [145] Slowly, the public realized that "Lewis Payne," the name used to formally charge the individual with conspiracy, attempted murder, and murder, was really someone named Lewis Powell. [145] Court testimony turned to other issues for a week before the prosecution's case against Powell resumed. Seward butler William Bell, Augustus Seward, and Sergeant George F. Robinson testified about the attack on the Secretary of State and identified Powell as the assailant. The Herndon House landlady testified that Powell rented a room from her, while two police officers discussed Powell's arrest. [146] A long list of other witnesses testified about minor pieces of evidence – such as the discovery of Powell's knife in the gutter and the recovery of his abandoned horse. [147]

Bell's testimony proved to be a turning point. Powell was freed from his restraints and was obliged to put on his hat and overcoat. He placed his hands on Bell as if to shove him aside. Bell's reaction provoked much laughter in the courtroom, even from Powell. [148] However, Powell was rattled by the testimony and finally agreed to speak with Doster about himself and his case. Powell expressed remorse for hurting Frederick Seward, but most of his discussion was disjointed and rambling, and he still could not remember his age or place of birth. [n] Doster became convinced that Powell was half-witted. Although Powell revealed his real name, the name of his father, and where his parents lived, Powell's many fabrications left Doster too distrustful of those facts to act on them. Doster did not write to George Powell in Florida until nearly a month had passed. [149]

The defense opened its case on June 21. [150] Doster's defense of Powell was essentially a plea for his life. The weight of evidence against Powell was so overwhelming that Doster never attempted to disprove his guilt. Rather, Doster characterized Powell's actions as those of a soldier who "aimed at the head of a department instead of a corps". [151] On June 2, Doster suggested to the court that Powell was insane. Dr. Charles Henry Nichols, superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, testified as to his belief that Powell was insane, as did the two guards who watched over Powell. However, despite additional examinations by a number of physicians, none of them found Powell insane. Many claimed he was stupid or slow-witted, but none found him insane. [152]

Doster made one last bid to save Powell's life by arguing that Powell had not killed Lincoln or Seward and so his life should be spared. [153] Doster ignored the conspiracy laws of the day, which incorporated the concept of vicarious liability, which meant that Powell was responsible for Lincoln's murder even if the original conspiracy were to kidnap, rather than kill, and even if Booth had acted to kill without Powell's knowledge or consent. [154]

Execution eve Edit

The nine judges of the military tribunal began considering the guilt and sentencing of the co-conspirators on June 29. About an hour was spent considering each defendant's guilt. On June 30, the tribunal began voting on the charges facing each individual. They disposed of the Herold and Atzerodt cases before considering Powell's guilt. He was found guilty of all charges, except the two counts of conspiracy with Edman Spangler. The tribunal sentenced Powell to death. [155] [156] President Johnson affirmed the verdicts and sentences on July 5, following an inevitable appeal. [157] [158]

On July 6, the verdicts were made public. [159] General Winfield Scott Hancock and General Hartranft began informing the prisoners of their sentences at noon the same day. [160] Powell was the first to be told that he was found guilty and sentenced to die, and he accepted his fate stoically. Powell asked to see two ministers: Reverend Augustus P. Stryker, an Episcopalian minister at St. Barnabas Church in Baltimore and a Confederate sympathizer, and the Reverend Doctor Abram Dunn Gillette, a loyal Unionist and pastor at the First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Gillette arrived shortly after Powell made his request. Powell spent several hours with Gillette, whom he had seen preach in Baltimore in February 1865. Powell told Gillette about his background, how he came to be involved in the conspiracy, and how much he regretted his actions, which he still justified as those of a soldier. Powell wept profusely during portions of their interview, and blamed Confederate leaders for his predicament. [161]

Powell strenuously attempted to exonerate Mary Surratt. According to one source, Powell asked Gillette to bring Captain Christian Rath to him. Rath came, and Powell declared that Surratt knew nothing of the conspiracy and was innocent. Rath conferred with Eckert, and within an hour had taken down Powell's statement for consideration by President Johnson. [162] Another source, however, says that it was the two Roman Catholic priests who were consoling Mary Surratt, Father Jacob Walter and Father B.F. Wiget, and Surratt's daughter, Anna, who visited Powell that evening and elicited the statement declaring Mrs. Surratt innocent. [163] Whichever version is true (perhaps both), Powell's statement had no effect on anyone with authority to prevent Surratt's execution. [163] Powell was the only one of the conspirators to make a statement exonerating Surratt. [163]

Gillette spent the night with Powell. The condemned man alternately wept and prayed, and fell asleep for three hours near dawn. [162] Reverend Stryker was on his way to Washington, but would not receive permission to see Powell until noon the following day. [164]

Execution Edit

A gallows was constructed in the Arsenal courtyard 12 feet (3.7 m) high and large enough for all four condemned to be hanged at once. [165] [166] Powell asked to see General Hartranft and impressed upon him once more Mary Surratt's innocence. Hartranft wrote a memorandum to President Johnson outlining Powell's statement, adding that he believed Powell to be telling the truth. Powell then made a statement exonerating Atzerodt and declared that Atzerodt refused to kill Vice President Johnson even though Booth had ordered him to do so. [167]

At 1:15 p.m., July 7, 1865, [168] [169] the prisoners were taken through the courtyard and up the steps of the gallows. [168] [170] Each prisoner's ankles and wrists were manacled. [171] More than 1,000 people, including government officials, members of the US armed forces, friends and family of the condemned, official witnesses, and reporters, watched from the Arsenal courtyard and the tops of its walls. [172] Alexander Gardner, who had photographed Powell and the others two months before, photographed the execution for the government. [173]

Hartranft read the execution order as the condemned sat in chairs. [168] [174] White cloth was used to bind their arms to their sides, and to tie their ankles and thighs together. [169] [171] On Powell's behalf Gillette thanked the prison officials for their kindness, and said a prayer for Powell's soul Powell's eyes filled with tears. [175] Powell said, "Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us". [176]

The prisoners were asked to stand and move forward a few feet to the nooses. [174] [177] A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place. [171] Powell said to Rath through his hood, "I thank you, goodbye." [175] Rath clapped his hands, [178] [169] [177] and soldiers knocked the supports from under the drops. [171] [179] Surratt and Atzerodt seemed to die quickly. [178] [180] [181] Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes. [178] [180] [181] Powell's body swung about wildly, and once or twice his legs came up so that he was almost in a sitting position. [182] [183]

The bodies were allowed to hang for about 30 minutes before being cut down and placed in wooden gun boxes. [172] [177] [184] [185] [171] [172] The name of each deceased was written on a piece of paper and placed in the box in a glass vial. [172] They were buried, along with Booth, against the east wall of the prison yard. [186] In 1867, the coffins were reburied elsewhere within the Arsenal. [186] [187] In February 1869, after much pleading from the Booths and Surratts, President Johnson agreed to turn the bodies over to their families. [186]

There is some dispute about what happened next. Historian Betty Ownsbey says that Powell's family expressed a wish to reclaim the remains, but did not do so. [188] Historian Richard Bak believes Powell's remains were interred at Graceland Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Powell's remains were disinterred and reburied at Holmead's Burying Ground. According to Powell family legend, Bak says, the family went to Washington in 1871 to retrieve Lewis' remains the skull was missing. On the return trip to Florida, George Powell fell ill, and Lewis Powell's remains were temporarily interred on a nearby farm.

In 1879, the remains were retrieved and the headless corpse was buried in Geneva, Florida. [189] Betty Ownsbey says this is nothing more than a fanciful story. [186] She argues that the events could not have occurred as related by family members, for the city of Washington, D.C., would have issued a disinterment order as well as issued a receipt for the body—neither of which occurred. [190] There are also other reasons to believe the family legend is inaccurate. Graceland Cemetery (a burial ground primarily for African Americans) did not open until 1872, but Powell was reburied before that. Graceland closed in 1894, [191] a date which does not fit with the date of the Holmead's burial as related by Bak or Ownsbey. [o] [192]

Other documents describe an alternative series of events. According to this version, Powell's family declined to retrieve the body, at which point Powell was buried at Holmead's Burying Ground in either June 1869 [193] or February 1870. [194] [195] A. H. Gawler of Gawler's Funeral Home handled the reburial. The burial site was unmarked, and only Gawler and a few Army personnel knew where Powell was interred at Holmead's. [195]

Holmead's closed in 1874, and for the next decade bodies were disinterred and reburied elsewhere. Family members and friends reclaimed about 1,000 bodies. The remains of 4,200 Caucasians were removed to Rock Creek Cemetery, while several hundred African American remains were reinterred at Graceland Cemetery. [196] According to the Washington Evening Star newspaper, Powell's body was exhumed by Gawler's on December 16, 1884. The identifying glass vial was recovered, but the paper it was supposed to contain was missing. [197] Wesley Pippenger, a historian who has studied Holmead's Burying Ground, asserts that Powell's remains were buried at Graceland Cemetery. [198] [p] With unclaimed white remains at Graceland moved to mass graves at Rock Creek Cemetery, [196] Powell's remains may lie there.

Powell biographer Betty Ownsbey suggests a third sequence of events. She argues Powell was interred at Graceland Cemetery, but that his remains were disinterred some time between 1870 and 1884, and moved to Holmead's Burying Ground. Powell's remains were disinterred in 1884, and buried in a mass grave in Section K, Lot 23, at Rock Creek Cemetery. [199]

Discovery and burial of Powell's skull Edit

In 1991, a Smithsonian Institution researcher discovered Powell's skull in the museum's Native American skull collection. [200] After extensive research, Smithsonian and U.S. Army investigators came to believe that A.H. Gawler removed the skull at the time of its 1869/1870 interment. The skull was then donated in 1885 to the Army Medical Museum. At that time, it was stenciled with the accession number 2244 and the capital letter "P". The museum's documentation shows that the skull came from "Payne", a criminal who had been executed by hanging. The Army gave the skull to the Smithsonian on May 7, 1898, and somehow it became mixed with the Native American collection. [201]

The Smithsonian contacted Powell's nearest living relative, his 70-year-old great-niece Helen Alderman, who requested that the skull be turned over to her. [201] Verification of Alderman's relationship took two years. On November 12, 1994, Lewis Powell's skull was buried next to the grave of his mother, Caroline Patience Powell, at Geneva Cemetery. [200]

Powell was portrayed by Titus Welliver in the 1998 film The Day Lincoln Was Shot [202] and by Norman Reedus in the 2011 Robert Redford film The Conspirator. [203]

Powell appeared in the second episode of the first season of Timeless and was portrayed by Kurt Ostlund. In the episode, he goes to kill William Seward, but is stopped and killed by Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter).

Edman Spanger - History

George Atzerodt (1835 – 1865) was one of the conspirators, with John Wilkes Booth, who conspired in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. His original intention was to kill Andrew Johnson, the Vice President, but he was unable to carry out that plan due to a failure of nerve. Atzerodt was hanged for the crime, along with three other conspirators in the plot.

Personal Life

Atzerodt’s family emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1843, when he was still a child. In adulthood, he settled in the small Maryland town of Port Tobacco, where he set up a business repairing carriages. His life proceeded quietly for the next few years, until he traveled to Washington, D.C. and met John Wilkes Booth. Atzerodt never married during his short life.

The Conspiracy

While in Washington, Booth suggested that Atzerodt should join him in an attempt on the life of the President. As Atzerodt was later to confess during his trial, he was willing to join the conspiracy from an early stage. Booth gave Atzerodt the task of assassinating the Vice President, Andrew Johnson, and on the morning of April 14, 1865, he checked into the Kirkwood House hotel in Washington. This was the same building in which Johnson was residing.

In the event, Atzerodt’s nerves failed him, and he was unable to muster up the courage to proceed with his plan to kill Johnson. Instead he went to the bar of the hotel and drank heavily. Because of the effects of his intoxication, he walked the streets of Washington all night. However, a bartender had become suspicious when Atzerodt had asked him about the whereabouts of the Vice President, and told the police that a man in a gray coat (Atzerodt) seemed suspicious.

The following day, after the assassination of the President had taken place at Ford’s Theatre, military police arrived to search Atzerodt’s room. They quickly ascertained that his bed had not been occupied the previous night, and that under the pillow were concealed a Bowie knife and a loaded revolver. Additionally, they discovered that one of Booth’s bank books was in the room. Five days later, on April 20, Atzerodt was arrested in Germantown, Maryland, where he had sought refuge with a cousin.

Trial and Punishment

Captain William Doster, representing Atzerodt in court, claimed that his client was a “constitutional coward”, and that for this reason he was simply incapable of assassinating the Vice President. He further claimed that Booth would therefore not have given him that job. The court rejected this argument, and Atzerodt was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. A little later, Atzerodt confessed to a minister in his cell the minister said later that Atzerodt had told him that Booth’s original plan was to kidnap the President.