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.
(1)
Joseph Burroughs worked as a carpenter and scene shifter at Ford's
Theater in Washington. He gave evidence at Edman Spangler's trial
on 16th May, 1865.
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.
(2) Joseph Stewart was a member
of the audience who attempted to capture
