Execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators

Background. The execution resulted from a military commission trial following the April 1865 assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The tribunal, operating under martial law in Washington, D.C., convicted four defendants of conspiracy. While civil court advocates criticized the military process, Attorney General James Speed defended it based on the defendants' status as enemy combatants. The commission required a two-thirds majority for death sentences, which was secured for the four condemned prisoners.

Execution. On July 7, 1865, at 1:15 p.m., General Hartranft led the four condemned prisoners through the courtyard to the gallows at the Washington Arsenal. Mary Surratt, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell were hanged. The bodies were initially buried at the Arsenal before being disinterred in October 1867 and reburied in Warehouse No. 1. Surratt was later moved to Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Escape. John Surratt, Mary Surratt's son, avoided execution by escaping to Canada. He was not captured until November 1866 in Egypt. He stood trial in a civil court in Washington in 1867 but was released after a mistrial and never retried. This contrasted with the fate of his mother and the other three conspirators who were hanged in July 1865.