Mary Elizabeth Surratt (; May 4, 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Sentenced to death, she was hanged and became the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government. She maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and remains controversial. Surratt was the mother of John Surratt, who was later tried in the conspiracy, but was not convicted.

Born in Maryland in the 1820s, Surratt converted to Catholicism at a young age and remained a practicing Catholic for the rest of her life. She wed John Harrison Surratt in 1840 and had three children with him. An entrepreneur, John became the owner of a tavern, an inn, and a hotel. The Surratts were sympathetic to the Confederate States of America and often hosted fellow Confederate sympathizers at their tavern.

Upon her husband's death in 1862, Surratt had to manage his estate. Tired of doing so without help, Surratt moved to her townhouse in Washington, D.C., which she then ran as a boardinghouse. There, she was introduced to John Wilkes Booth. Booth visited the boardinghouse numerous times, as did George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell, Booth's co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Shortly before killing Lincoln, Booth spoke with Surratt and handed her a package containing binoculars for one of her tenants, John M. Lloyd.

After Lincoln was assassinated, Surratt was arrested, then tried by a military tribunal the following month, along with the other conspirators. She was convicted primarily due to the testimonies of Lloyd, who said that she told him to have the "shooting irons" ready, and Louis J. Weichmann, who testified about Surratt's relationships with Booth. Five of the nine judges at her trial asked that Surratt be granted clemency by President Andrew Johnson because of her age and sex. Johnson did not grant her clemency, though accounts differ as to whether or not he received the clemency request. Surratt was hanged on July 7, 1865, and later buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Early life

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins (baptismal name, Maria Eugenia) was born to Archibald and Elizabeth Anne (née Webster) Jenkins on a tobacco plantation near the southern Maryland town of Waterloo or 1823. There is uncertainty as to the month as well, but most sources say May.

Although her father was a nondenominational Protestant and her mother Episcopalian, Surratt was enrolled in a private Catholic girls' boarding school, the Academy for Young Ladies in Alexandria, Virginia, on November 25, 1835. She stayed at the Academy for Young Ladies for four years, His family had settled in Maryland in the late 1600s. The Neales divided their farm among their children, and Surratt inherited a portion of it. John converted to Catholicism prior to the marriage, John purchased a mill in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and the couple moved there. Richard Neale died in September 1843, and a month later, John purchased of land adjoining Foxhall. having shortly before her death deeded the remainder of the Neale farm to John. Mary Surratt became involved in raising funds to build St. Ignatius Church in Oxon Hill (it was constructed in 1850), but John was increasingly unhappy with his wife's religious activities. His behavior deteriorated over the next few years. John drank heavily, often failed to pay his debts, and his temper was increasingly volatile and violent.

In 1851, the Neale farmhouse burned to the ground (an escaped family slave was suspected of setting the blaze). John found work on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Mary moved with her children into the home of her cousin, Thomas Jenkins, in nearby Clinton. Within a year, John purchased of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853, he constructed a tavern and an inn there. Mary initially refused to move herself and the children into the new residence. She took up residence on the old Neale farm, but John sold both the Neale farm and Foxhall in May 1853 to pay debts and she was forced to move back in with him in December.

With the money he earned from the tavern and sale of his other property, on December 6, 1853, John Surratt bought a townhouse at 541 H Street ( Now known as 604 H St. 2024) in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants. In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern and called it Surratt's Hotel.

thumb|left|A woodprint depicting Surrattsville and the Surratt home, printed in 1867 in [[Harper's Weekly.]]

The area around the tavern was officially named Surrattsville that same year. Travelers could take Branch Road (now Branch Avenue) north into Washington, D.C.; Piscataway Road southwest to Piscataway; or Woodyard Road northeast to Upper Marlboro. Although Surrattsville was a well-known crossroads, the community did not amount to much: just the tavern, a post office (inside the tavern), a forge, and a dozen or so houses (some of them log cabins). John Surratt was the hamlet's first postmaster.

He expanded his family's holdings by selling off land, paying down debt, and starting new businesses. The family had enough money to send all three children to nearby Catholic boarding schools. The family's debts continued to mount, however, and John Sr.'s drinking worsened. John sold another of land in 1856 to pay debts. By 1857, Surratt had sold all but of the family's formerly extensive holdings Most of the family's slaves were also sold to pay debts. The couple also borrowed money that same year against their townhouse in Washington, DC, and at some point used the property as collateral for a $1,000 loan. and their tavern regularly hosted fellow sympathizers. The Surratt tavern was being used as a safe house for Confederate spies, and at least one author concludes that Mary had "de facto" knowledge of this.

On March 7, 1861, three days after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration as President of the United States, Isaac left Maryland and traveled to Texas, where he enlisted in the Confederate States Army (serving in the 33rd Cavalry, or Duff's Partisan Rangers, 14th Cavalry Battalion). John Jr. quit his studies at St. Charles College in July 1861 and became a courier for the Confederate Secret Service, moving messages, cash, and contraband back and forth across enemy lines. The Confederate activities in and around Surrattsville drew the attention of the Union government. In late 1861, Lafayette C. Baker, a detective with the Union Intelligence Service, and 300 Union soldiers camped in Surrattsville and investigated the Surratts and others for Confederate activities. He quickly uncovered evidence of a large Confederate courier network operating in the area, but despite some arrests and warnings, the courier network remained intact. or August 26 in 1862 (sources differ as to the date). The cause of death was a stroke. The Surratt family affairs were in serious financial difficulties. Lafayette Baker swept through Surrattsville again in 1862, and several postmasters were dismissed for disloyalty,

The loss of John Jr.'s job as postmaster caused a financial crisis for the Surratt family. By 1864, Mary Surratt found that her husband's unpaid debts and bad business deals had left her with many creditors. When he was not meeting with Confederate sympathizers in the city, her son was selling vegetables to raise cash for the family. Mary was tired of running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without her son's help. In the fall of 1864, she began considering moving to her townhouse in the city. The second floor had a front and back parlor, with the room in the rear used as Mary Surratt's bedroom. The third floor had three rooms: two in the front and a larger one at the back. The fourth floor, which was considered an attic, had two large and one small room, occupied by a servant. and on November 1, 1864, Anna and John Jr. took up residence there. Mary Surratt herself moved into the home on December 1. On November 30, December 8, and December 27, Mary Surratt advertised for lodgers in the Daily Evening Star newspaper. She had initially said that she wanted only lodgers who were known to her personally or were recommended by friends, but in her advertisements, she said rooms were "available for 4 gentlemen."

Some scholars have raised questions about Surratt's move into the city. Historians Kate Larson and Roy Chamlee have noted that although there is no definite proof, a case can be made that Surratt made the move into the city in furtherance of her and her son's espionage activities.

Conspiracy

Louis J. Weichmann moved into Surratt's boarding house on November 1, 1864. On December 23, 1864, Samuel Mudd introduced John Surratt Jr. to John Wilkes Booth. Booth recruited John Jr. into his conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln. Confederate agents began frequenting the boarding house. Booth visited the boarding house many times over the next few months, to kidnap Lincoln, visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865. He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865 (for one night or several, sources differ), but he proved to be a heavy drinker, and Surratt evicted him after just a few days.

He continued to visit the townhouse frequently afterward, however. Powell posed as a Baptist preacher and stayed at the boarding house for three days in March 1865. David Herold also called at the home several times. On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to the Surratt tavern. She said that she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor. On April 14, Surratt said that she would once again visit the family tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt. Shortly before she left the city, Booth visited the boarding house and spoke privately with her. He gave her a package, later found to contain binoculars, for Lloyd to pick up later that evening.

Booth's plan was to assassinate Lincoln and have Atzerodt kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Powell kill Secretary of State William H. Seward. Booth killed Lincoln, Atzerodt never attempted to kill Johnson, and Powell stabbed Seward repeatedly but failed to murder him. As they fled the city after Lincoln's assassination, Booth and Herold picked up the rifles and binoculars from Surratt's tavern.

Arrest and incarceration

Around 2 a.m. on April 15, 1865, members of the District of Columbia police visited the Surratt boarding house, seeking John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt. Why the police came to the house is not entirely clear. Most historians conclude that Weichmann's friend, Department of War employee Daniel Gleason, had alerted federal authorities to Confederate activity centered on the Surratt house, but that does not explain why police rather than federal agents appeared there. Within 45 minutes of the attack on Lincoln, John Surratt's name had become associated with the attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward. The police as well as the Provost Marshal's office both had files on John Surratt Jr. and knew he was a close friend of Booth. (It is possible that either James L. Maddox, property supervisor at Ford's Theatre and a friend of Booth's, or actor John Matthews, both of whom may have known about the plot to attack government officials, mentioned Surratt's name.) Historian Otto Eisenschiml has argued that David Herold's attempt to steal a horse from John Fletcher may have led them to the Surratt boarding house, but at least one other scholar has called the link uncertain. Mary lied to the detectives that her son had been in Canada for two weeks. She also did not reveal that she had delivered a package to the tavern on Booth's behalf only hours earlier.

thumb|left|upright=0.7|Lewis Powell was the co-conspirator whose untimely arrival at the Surratt boarding house on April 17 convinced many of Mary Surratt's guilt.

On April 17, a Surratt neighbor told U.S. military authorities that he overheard one of the Surratt's servants saying that three men had come to the house on the night of Lincoln's assassination and that one of the men had mentioned Booth in a theater. (The servant was mistaken about the date, as John Surratt Jr. had indeed been in Elmira, New York, on a mission for a Confederate general). Other pieces of information also mentioned the boarding house as a key meeting place of the possible conspirators. John Jr. could not be found, but after a search of the house, the agents found in Mary's room a picture of Booth, hidden behind another photograph, pictures of Confederate leaders including Jefferson Davis, a pistol, a mold for making bullets, and percussion caps. As Mary was being arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, Powell appeared at her door in disguise. Although Surratt denied knowing him, Two armed guards stood before the door to her cell from the beginning of her imprisonment until her death. Her cell, while airy and larger than the others, was sparsely furnished, with a straw mattress, table, wash basin, chair, and a bucket. Food was served four times a day, always of bread; salt pork, beef, or beef soup; and coffee or water. The other arrested conspirators each had their heads enclosed in a padded canvas bag to prevent a suicide attempt. Sources disagree as to whether Surratt was also forced to wear it. She began to suffer menstrual bleeding and became weak during her detention. She was given a rocking chair and allowed visits from her daughter, Anna. She and Powell received the most attention from the press. The Northern press was also highly critical of her, claiming that she had a "criminal face" due to her small mouth and dark eyes.

John Surratt Jr. was in Elmira at the time of the assassination, delivering messages on behalf of a Confederate general.

Trial

The trial for the alleged conspirators began on May 9. All eight alleged conspirators were tried simultaneously. Lincoln assassination scholar Thomas Reed Turner says that of the eight people accused of plotting to kill Lincoln, the case against Surratt remains "the most controversial... at that time and since." Surratt was given special considerations during the trial because of her illness and sex. In the courtroom, she sat apart from the other prisoners. While the others wore wrist and ankle manacles in the courtroom, she did not. She was also permitted a bonnet, fan, and veil to hide her face from spectators. The federal government initially attempted to find legal counsel for her and the others, but almost no attorneys were willing to take the job for fear they would be accused of disloyalty to the Union. Surratt retained Reverdy Johnson as her legal counsel. A member of the military commission trying the conspirators challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt, as he had objected to requiring loyalty oaths from voters in the 1864 presidential election. After much discussion, this objection was withdrawn, but damage had been done to his influence, and he did not attend most of the court sessions. Most of Surratt's legal defense was presented by two other lawyers: Frederick Aiken and John Wesley Clampitt. on the hiding of the carbines and other supplies at the tavern in March and the two conversations he had with her in which she told him to get the "shooting irons" ready. Weichmann's testimony was important, as it established an intimate relationship between her and the other conspirators. Weichmann had driven Surratt to the tavern on April 11 and 14, confirmed that she and Lloyd had spent much time in private conversation, testified that he saw Booth give her the package of binoculars, and attested that she had turned the package over to Lloyd. Weichmann also testified at length about the Surratt family's ties to the Confederate spy and courier rings operating in the area and their relationships with Atzerodt and Powell. for it indicated that she had played an active role in the conspiracy in the days before Lincoln's death. The prosecution rested its case on May 22. Augustus Howell, a Confederate agent, testified that Weichmann was an untrustworthy witness, as he had sought to become a Confederate spy himself. (The prosecution had attempted to show that Howell was a Confederate spy and should not be trusted.)

Anna Surratt testified that it was Weichmann who had brought Atzerodt into the boarding house, that the photograph of Booth was hers, and that she owned photographs of Union political and military leaders. Augusta Howell, a former servant, and Honora Fitzpatrick, a former slave, testified to Mary's poor eyesight as well. The former servant and the former slave both said Surratt had given Union soldiers food. Numerous witnesses were called at the end of the defense's case to testify to her loyalty to the Union, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness. He also reiterated that Lloyd and Weichmann were unreliable witnesses and that the evidence against her was all circumstantial. The only evidence linking Surratt to the conspiracy to kill Lincoln, he said, came from Lloyd and Weichmann, and neither man was telling the truth.

Judge Advocate John Bingham presented the closing argument for the prosecution.

The trial ended on June 28, 1865. Surratt was so ill the last four days of the trial that she was permitted to stay in her cell. The military tribunal found her guilty on all charges but two. A death sentence required six of the nine votes of the judges. Surratt was sentenced to death, the first woman executed by the federal government. The sentence was announced publicly on July 5. When Powell learned of his sentence, he declared that she was completely innocent of all charges. The night before the execution, Surratt's priests and Anna Surratt both visited Powell and elicited from him a strong statement declaring Mary innocent. Although it was delivered to Captain Christian Rath, who was overseeing the execution, Powell's statement had no effect on anyone with authority to prevent Surratt's death. George Atzerodt bitterly condemned her, implicating her even further in the conspiracy. Holt did not deliver the recommendation to Johnson until July 5, two days before Surratt and the others were to hang. Rath, who oversaw the preparations for the executions, made the nooses. Tired of making nooses and thinking that the government would never hang a woman, he made Surratt's noose the night before the execution with five loops rather than the regulation's seven. She was joined by two Catholic priests (Jacob Walter and B.F. Wiget) and her daughter Anna. Her menstrual problems had worsened, and she was in such pain and suffered from such severe cramps that the prison doctor gave her wine and medication. She repeatedly asserted her innocence. Anna left her mother's side at 8 a.m. on July 7 and went to the White House to beg for her mother's life one last time. The soldiers began testing the gallows about 11:25 a.m.; the sound of the tests unnerved all the prisoners. Shortly before noon, Mary Surratt was taken from her cell and then allowed to sit in a chair near the entrance to the courtyard. The guards ordered all visitors to leave at 12:30 p.m.

Clampitt and Aiken had not finished trying to save their client, however. On the morning of July 7, they asked a District of Columbia court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client. The court issued the writ at 3 a.m., and it was served on General Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock was ordered to produce Surratt by 10 a.m. General Hancock and United States Attorney General James Speed personally appeared in court and informed the judge of the cancellation of the writ. a procession led by General Hartranft escorted the four condemned prisoners through the courtyard and up the steps to the gallows. Surratt led the way, wearing a black bombazine dress, black bonnet, and black veil. More than 1,000 people, including government officials, members of the US armed forces, friends and family of the accused, official witnesses, and reporters, watched. General Hancock limited attendance to those who had a ticket, and only those who had a good reason to be present were given a ticket. (Most of those present were military officers and soldiers, as fewer than 200 tickets had been printed.) Fathers Walter and Wiget prayed over her and held a crucifix to her lips. About 16 minutes elapsed from the time the prisoners entered the courtyard until they were ready for execution. A white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner after the noose was put in place. Finally, the prisoners were asked to stand and move forward a few feet to the nooses. Surratt, who had moved forward enough to barely step onto the drop, lurched forward and slid partway down the drop, her body snapping tight at the end of the rope, swinging back and forth. Atzerodt's stomach heaved once and his legs quivered; then, he was still. Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes, strangling to death. and soldiers began to cut them down at 1:53 p.m. The night that she died, a mob attacked the Surratt boarding house and began stripping it of souvenirs until the police stopped them. In 1867, the War Department decided to tear down the portion of the Washington Arsenal where the bodies of Surratt and the other executed conspirators lay. On October 1, 1867, the coffins were disinterred and reburied in Warehouse No. 1 at the Arsenal, with a wooden marker placed at the head of each burial vault. She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 1869. She married William Tonry, a government clerk.

After the dismissal of charges against him, John Jr. married and he and his family lived in Baltimore near his sister, Anna. the only one of Mary's children with issue.

Isaac Surratt also returned to the United States and lived in Baltimore. Isaac and Anna were buried on either side of their mother in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Mary Surratt's boarding house still stands and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Those interested in Mary Surratt formed the Surratt Society. The Washington Arsenal is now Fort Lesley J. McNair. She was portrayed by Robin Wright in the 2011 film The Conspirator, which was directed by Robert Redford. She was portrayed by Carrie Lazar in the 2024 television series Manhunt by showrunner Monica Beletsky.

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  • Anna Surratt, daughter
  • Surratt House Museum
  • Read through the Lincoln Assassination Papers about evidence against Mary Surratt
  • Historic Marker at the Surratt Boarding House
  • Brief Mary Surratt Biography (written by a retired teacher especially for students and schools)