Mary Surratt: An American Secret

Mary Surratt should have been executed . She should have been executed because she lied about knowing people .

Mary Surratt was the defendant among the executed that received a punishment far out weighing her role in the crime. Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. She was sentenced to death and became the first woman to be executed by the U.S. government. Mary Surratt was the mother of John Surratt who was a conspirator that helped John Wilkes Booth plan Lincoln’s kidnap and later, his assassination. With the help of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, “Lincoln and the Writ of Liberty,” and the movie The Conspirator, it can be proven that Mary Surratt’s punishment was unjust. Mary Surratt received a punishment far worse than what she deserved because she was innocent, blamed for her son’s actions, and she did

To resume to the summary, the book “Chasing Lincoln's Killer” by James L. Swanson. The book is about the killer John Wilkes Booth, and not shows the full view of Abraham Lincoln because the book is talking about John Wilkes Booth Saga. The Story follows John Wilkes Booth along with his plan, and the plan was to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. The book shows the sketch also, shows how he, J. Wilkes Booth, killed Abraham Lincoln a point blank shot kill. After he killed the president, John Wilkes Booth flead from the theatre and went out of Washington to keep himself safe from danger. Throughout his adventure, he has been going through ups and downs across his road, on the contrary he had companions to help him out when he his going through horrible times. John Wilkes Booth helpers gave him a home to live even having the risk of being arrested for helping out a murderer. This means, it shows that John Wilkes Booth reputation is high and can have an ample amount of helpers throughout his

On the fateful night of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln attended a special performance of the comedy, Our American Cousin, accompanied by his wife, Mary Todd, Major Henry Rathbone, and Rathbone’s fiancee, Clara Harris. Little did he know that a figure, armed with a drawn pistol, would step into his presidential box and fatally wound him to appease the appetite for vengeance shared by many Confederate sympathizers. Yelling “Sic semper tyrannis,” the figure scrambled to safety in the dark of the night after tasting the short-lived sweet taste of revenge, while his accomplice ran for his life after a failed assassination attempt of Secretary William Seward. This assassin had embarked on

Everyone knows that John Wilkes Booth was the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, but not everyone knows John Wilkes Booth’s take on it. Like Why did he do it? Who were his accomplices? What happened after he did it? Well that is was this paper is about.

Mary Surratt was guilty and deserved to be put in prison for helping assassinate the president. Mary Surratt lied when it came to talking about the kidnap/assassination plot to kidnap/assassinat Abraham Lincoln and frequently talked to John Wilkes Booth.

It is to be that Booth visited Surratt after finding out that the president would be at Ford’s Theater on April 14th 1865. Louis Weichmann testified upon the people that John Wilkes Booth had asked Mary Surratt to deliver a package to John Lloyd before he took off after the shooting. Mary most likely knew why Booth couldn't deliver the package to Lloyd himself, he was on the run from the government and security.

After that, the book speaks to how John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices planned and executed the assassination of President Lincoln. The book then details John Wilkes Booth and his perils of getting away to a place where he can seek refuge from the manhunt. Next, Andrew Johnson is sworn in and takes the office ofhte presidency as the seventeenth president. Booth continues running for twelve days following the assassination of President Lincoln. It was on the twelfth day that Booth was apprehended in a tobacco warehouse on Garrett Farm. After setting the barn containing John Wilkes Booth ablaze, a firefight ensued. Though the soldiers were ordered not to kill John Wilkes Booth, a corpral named Boston Cobrett shot and killed John Wilkes Booth, claiming that God has instructed him to do it. With the head of the conspiracy dead, there were still other people that were somehow involved with the plot to assassinate Lincoln, Mary Surratt, David Herald, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell faced trial on July 6, 1865, and were all four hanged on July 7,

Booth, along with his coconspirators began to plan the assassination of Lincoln (Ito 30) these conspirators included; George Azterodt, Mary Surratt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, Edward Spangler, Louis Paine, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen (Ito 30). Though many of these conspirators did not actually commit murder they were still however charged with the crime of assisting Booth in plotting the murder of both Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward (Ito 30).

John Wilkes Booth had a very mischievous plan to kill the president. It was sneaky and skillfully arranged.

Mary Surratt was a part of Abraham Lincoln’s kidnapping plot. In Source one it states “Mary knew about the kidnaping part but not the plan to kill the Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt was guilty for trying to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. Source2 “Booth had originally wanted to kidnap the president.” Booth only wanted to kidnap Abraham Lincoln to give a little scare, but after a while he got the idea in his mind that he wanted to kill Abraham Lincoln. In Source 2 it states “But our cause being almost lost, something decisive must be done”. Booth had written in his diary on what he was planning on doing. “Abraham Lincoln’s secretary new, however chose to keep it a secret”. The secretary knew and didn’t tell anyone, not even Abraham Lincoln she could have helped him in not being shot.

The death of Abraham Lincoln is described very vividly: “...the sphere of Britannia metal poked a neat round hole in Lincoln’s skull and then pushed fragments of that bone deep into Lincoln’s brain as it traveled precisely seven and a half inches before plowing to a stop in the dense gray matter.” (page 208). After the arrests of the other co-conspirators like Azterodt and Powell, detective Lafayette Baker attempts to hunt down John Wilkes Booth and David Herold who are hiding out in a swamp in Maryland. Eventually, the two conspirators are found in a barn in Virginia and John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed as the barn burned to the ground. Finally, the assassin of the killer of Abraham Lincoln is killed in the same manner as the president.

In late summer of 1864 Booth began developing plans to kidnap Lincoln, take him to Richmond (the Confederate capital), and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war. By January, 1865, Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George

In the article, Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination it states that there had been a group of 7 that were conspiring to kidnap the President, led by John Wilkes Booth, but that plan never worked out like Booth planned. March 20th 1865 which was the day the kidnapping was supposed to happen but Lincoln never did show up to the spot that Booth and

John Wilks Booth, an actor and hater of the south and blacks, makes plans to tear apart the United State’s government by planning his assassins timing to kill part of Lincoln’s Cabinet along with the president’s death. However, his original plan involved only capturing President Lincoln, then holding him hostage in exchange for confederate prisoners of war. But not long before his plans were going to take place,