John
Surratt
was born in Congress Heights, Washington,
on 13th April, 1844. His father John Harrison Surratt ran a tavern
and boarding house in Surrattsville. This was taken over by his mother,
Mary Surratt, after the death of her
husband.
Surratt wanted to be a priest and while studying at St. Charles College,
Maryland, met Louis Weichmann. On
the outbreak of the American Civil War
he returned home and worked as the postmaster of Surrattsville. He
also acted as a Confederate agent. This including carrying messages
along the Potomac River to the Confederate
Army.
In December, 1864, Dr. Samuel Mudd, another
Confederate agent, introduced Surratt to John
Wilkes Booth. Soon afterwards Surratt agreed to join Booth's scheme
to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in Washington.
The plan was to take Lincoln to Richmond
and hold him until he could be exchanged for Confederate
Army prisoners of war. Others involved included George
Atzerodt, Lewis Paine, Michael
O'Laughlin, David Herold and Samuel
Arnold.
John Wilkes Booth decided to carry out
the deed on 17th March, 1865 when Lincoln was planning to attend a
play at the Seventh Street Hospital that was situated on the outskirts
of Washington. The kidnap attempt
was abandoned when Lincoln decided at the last moment to cancel his
visit.
Surratt later claimed that after the failed kidnap attempt, he broke
contact with John Wilkes Booth. He travelled
to Elmira, New York on a spying mission for General Edwin Lee. Surratt's
task was to provide information about the Federal prison in Elmira.
He was still in Elmira when Abraham Lincoln
was assassinated on 14th April, 1865. Fearing that he would be implicated
in the plot, he fled to Canada.
His mother Mary Surratt, and three
of those that had been involved in the original kidnap plot, Lewis
Powell, George Atzerodt and David
Herold, were arrested, tried and hanged at Washington Penitentiary
on 7th July, 1865.
In September, 1865, Surratt moved to England and later lived in Italy
and Egypt. He was arrested in Alexandria on 27th November, 1866. Unlike
his fellow conspirators, Surratt obtained a civil rather than a military
trial. After hearing 170 witnesses between 10th June, and 11th August,
1867, the jury voted 8-4 that he was not guilty of the charge of conspiring
to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
After his release from prison Surratt worked as a teacher in St. Joseph
Catholic School in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was during this period
he gave public lectures on his role in the conspiracy to kidnap Abraham
Lincoln.
In 1872 Surratt joined the Baltimore Steam Packet Company and eventually
became its treasurer. He married Mary Hunter and the couple had seven
children. John Surratt died in his Baltimore
home on 21st April, 1916.
Forum Debates
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
(1)
John Surratt, lecture on the Abraham
Lincoln
conspiracy at Rockville, Maryland (6th December, 1870)
Ladies
and gentlemen: - Upon entering that door a few moments ago the impression
on my mind was so strong as to vividly recall scenes of three years
ago. I am not unacquainted with court room audiences. I have stood
before them before; true, not in the character of a lecturer, but
as a prisoner at the bar, arraigned for the high crime of murder.
In contrasting the two positions I must confess I felt more ease as
the prisoner at the bar than I do as a lecturer. Then I felt confident
of success; now I do not. Then I had gentlemen of known ability to
do all my talking for me; now, unfortunately, I have to do it for
myself, and I feel fully capable of performing the task; still I hope
you will all judge me kindly.
I am not here to surprise you by any oratorical effort - not at all
- but only to tell a simple tale. I feel that some explanation, perhaps,
indeed an apology is due you for my appearance here this evening.
In presenting this lecture before the public I do it in no spirit
of self-justification. In a trial of sixty-one days I made my defense
to the world, and I have no need or desire to rehearse it; nor do
I appear for self-glorification. On the contrary, I dislike notoriety,
and leave my solitude and obscurity unwillingly. Neither is it an
itching for notoriety or fame. My object is merely to present a simple
narrative of events as they occurred.
At the breaking out of the war I was a student at St. Charles College,
in Maryland, but did not remain long there after that important event.
I left in July, 1861, and returning home commenced to take an active
part in the stirring events of that period. I was not more than eighteen
years of age, and was mostly engaged in sending information regarding
the movements of the United States army stationed in Washington and
elsewhere, and carrying dispatches to the Confederate boats on the
Potomac. We had a regular established line from Washington to the
Potomac, and I being the only unmarried man on the route, I had most
of the hard riding to do. I devised various ways to carry the dispatches
- sometimes in the heel of my boots, sometimes between the planks
of the buggy. I confess that never in my life did I come across a
more stupid set of detectives than those generally employed by the
U.S. government. They seemed to have no idea whatever on how to search
men. In 1864 my family left Maryland and moved to Washington, where
I took a still more active part in the stirring events of that period.
It was a fascinating life to me. It seemed as if I could not do too
much or run too great a risk.
In the fall of 1864 I was introduced to John Wilkes Booth, who, I
was given to understand, wished to know something about the main avenues
leading from Washington to the Potomac. We met several times, but
as he seemed to be very reticent with regard to his purposes, and
very anxious to get all the information out of me he could, I refused
to tell him anything at all. At last I said to him, "It is useless
for you, Mr. Booth, to seek any information from me at all; I know
who you are and what are your intentions." He hesitated some
time, but finally said he would make known his views to me provided
I would promise secrecy. I replied, "I will do nothing of the
kind. You know well I am a Southern man. If you cannot trust me we
will separate." He then said, "I will confide my plans to
you; but before doing so I will make known to you the motives that
actuate me. In the Northern prisons are many thousands of our men
whom the United States Government refuses to exchange. You know as
well as I the efforts that have been made to bring about that much
desired exchange. Aside from the great suffering they are compelled
to undergo, we are sadly in want of them as soldiers. We cannot spare
one man, whereas the United States Government is willing to let their
own soldiers remain in our prisons because she has no need of the
men. I have a proposition to submit to you, which I think if we can
carry out will bring about the desired exchange."
There was a long and ominous silence which I at last was compelled
to break by asking, "Well, Sir, what is your proposition?"
He sat quiet for an instant, and then, before answering me, arose
and looked under the bed, into the wardrobe, in the doorway and the
passage, and then said, "We will have to be careful; walls have
ears." He then drew his chair close to me and in a whisper said,
"It is to kidnap President Lincoln, and carry him off to Richmond!"
"Kidnap President Lincoln!" I said. I confess that I stood
aghast at the proposition, and looked upon it as a foolhardy undertaking.
To think of successfully seizing Mr. Lincoln
in the capital of the United States surrounded by thousands of his
soldiers, and carrying him off to Richmond, looked to me like a foolish
idea. I told him as much. He went on to tell with what facility he
could be seized in various places in and about Washington. As for
example in his various rides to and from the Soldiers' Home, his summer
residence. He entered into the minute details of the proposed capture,
and even the various parts to be performed by the actors in the performance.
I was amazed - thunderstruck - and in fact, I might also say, frightened
at the unparalleled audacity of this scheme. After two days' reflection
I told him I was willing to try it. I believed it practicable at that
time, though I now regard it as a foolhardy undertaking. I hope you
will not blame me for going thus far. I honestly thought an exchange
of prisoners could be brought about could we have once obtained possession
of Mr. Lincoln's person. And now reverse the case. Where is there
a young man in the North with one spark of patriotism in his heart
with would not have with enthusiastic ardor joined in any undertaking
for the capture of Jefferson Davis and brought him to Washington?
There is not one who would not have done so. And so I was led on by
a sincere desire to assist the South in gaining her independence.
I had no hesitation in taking part in anything honorable that might
tend toward the accomplishment of that object. Such a thing as the
assassination of Mr. Lincoln I never heard spoken of by any of the
party. Never!
Days, weeks and months passed by without an opportunity presenting
itself for us to attempt the capture. We seldom saw one another owing
to the many rumors afloat that a conspiracy of some kind was being
concocted in Washington. We had all the arrangements perfected from
Washington for the purpose. Boats were in readiness to carry us across
the river. On day we received information that the President would
visit the Seventh Street Hospital for the purpose of being present
at an entertainment to be given for the benefit of the wounded soldiers.
The report only reached us about three quarters of an hour before
the time appointed, but so perfect was our communication that we were
instantly in our saddles on the way to the hospital. This was between
one and two o'clock in the afternoon. It was our intention to seize
the carriage , which was drawn by a splendid pair of horses, and to
have one of our men mount the box and drive direct for southern Maryland
via Benning's bridge. We felt confident that all the cavalry in the
city could never overhaul us. We were all mounted on swift horses,
besides having a thorough knowledge of the country, it was determined
to abandon the carriage after passing the city limits. Upon the suddenness
of the blow and the celerity of our movements we depended for success.
By the time the alarm could have been given and horses saddled, we
would have been on our way through southern Maryland towards the Potomac
river. To our great disappointment, however, the President was not
there but one of the government officials
- Mr. Salmon P. Chase, if I mistake not. We did not disturb him, as
we wanted a bigger chase than he could have afforded us. It was certainly
a bitter disappointment, but yet I think a most fortunate one for
us. It was our last attempt. We soon after this became convinced that
we could not remain much longer undiscovered, and that we must abandon
our enterprise.
I proclaim it here and before the world that Louis J. Weichmann was
a party to the plan to abduct President Lincoln. He had been told
all about it, and was constantly importuning me to let him become
an active member. I refused, for the simple reason that I told him
that he could neither ride a horse nor shoot a pistol, which was a
fact.
I have very little to say of Louis J. Weichmann. But I do pronounce
him a base-born perjurer; a murderer of the meanest hue! Give me a
man who can strike his victim dead, but save me from a man who, through
perjury, will cause the death of an innocent person. Double murderer!!!!
Hell possesses no worse fiend than a character of that kind. Away
with such a character. I leave him in the pit of infamy, which he
has dug for himself, a prey to the lights of his guilty conscience.
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