The military trial of the eight accused Lincoln Conspirators had been in session since May 10, 1865. 149 years ago today, the verdicts were finally announced. The still debated and controversial sentences came down with a bang on the morning of July 6, 1865.
Andrew Johnson's signature was affixed to the following document sent to the Old Arsenal Penitentiary:
"The foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G. A. Atzerod, Lewis Payne, and Mary E. Surratt...are hereby approved and it is ordered that the sentences of David E. Herold, G. A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and Mary E. Surratt be carried into execution by the proper military authority, under the direction of the Secretary of War, on the 7th day of July, 1865, between the hours of 10 o'clock A. M. and 2 o'clock P. M. of that day."
The sentencing of Mary Surratt was shocking in itself because the United States government had never executed a woman. But the date of execution was unbelievable. The four wouldn't sit for months waiting for death. Instead all would be hanged the next afternoon. That left less than or just about 24 hours for the construction of the gallows, final visits, and convincing Johnson to change his mind. Reuben Mussey, Johnson's secretary, wondered if that was too short of a time period. Johnson agreed that it was but rather ominously said that there had been enough time for "preparations" to be made.
Around 11 AM on the 6th, General John F. Hartanft, along with General Winfield S. Hancock, walked from cell to cell, reading the somber news and leaving all different reactions in the wake. However, they only saw the four condemned. Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, Edmund Spangler, and Dr. Samuel Mudd were ignorant of both their own fates and the fates of their comrades.
Lewis Powell (alias Lewis Payne) accepted the news with the same indifference he had shown since his arrest. Identified as the attacker of William Seward, he knew his fate was sealed from the beginning. His demeanor while being photographed showed this.
His family was home in Florida at the time and could not make it to Washington. He would be the sole conspirator to die before seeing a relative. However, Reverend Abram Gillette accompanied him to the scaffold.
George Atzerodt first seemed to be as unaffected as Powell. But soon his skin paled considerably and he began to tremble with fear. He saw a Lutheran minister and also asked for various members of his family to be sent for (John: his brother, Marshal McPhail: his brother in law, Rose Wheeler: his common law wife, and Edith: his daughter). His wife did visit.
David Herold was shocked almost beyond comprehension and later broke down into tears, twitching and shaking uncontrollably. He was visited by the Reverend Dr. Olds and his sisters. Though his home was close by in the Navy Yard, his mother was too distraught to leave.
Mary Surratt was affected most when she heard the decision. Various sources say that she sank to the floor and her emotions became unhinged. Her daughter, Anna, soon returned. Father Jacob Walter and Father Bernardine Wiget, both friends of the Surratt family, were with Mrs. Surratt when she died.
Dozens, including Anna Surratt and friends of her mother, and two of Herold's sisters, rushed to the Executive Mansion to see Johnson. However, he had barricaded himself in his office and would see no one or receive messages about pleas for clemency. Also ignored was a petition with signatures belonging to members of the military commission asking for Mary Surratt to be given a lesser sentence. Johnson claimed he never saw it.
Not everyone was as satisfied with the verdicts as Johnson and Edwin Stanton were (both who seemed to be ignoring Abraham Lincoln's advice about "charity for all"). A distinguished lawyer named Orville H. Browning, a close friend to Lincoln, was livid when he heard the news and expressed his rage to his journal. "The execution of these persons will be murder," Browning wrote. "This commission was without authority and its proceedings void."
John Clampitt and Fredrick Aiken, the junior lawyers defending Mary Surratt, also learned of their client's fate via newspaper. Springing to action, both hurried off to see the still unmoving Johnson. They found the stairs blocked by Preston King, a former senator from New York, and guards armed with bayonetted rifles. King rebuffed them and said it was "useless to attempt an issue of that character." The two men then went to Judge Joseph Holt to ask for a stay of execution. Anna, sobbing on her knees, begged Holt for assistance but he gave no words of comfort. Clampitt later wrote that "his heart was chilled, his soul impassive." He and Aiken finally succeeded in securing a writ of habeas corpus from Justice Andrew Wylie. That night it was sent to Andrew Johnson and with a stroke of his pen, he changed history.
All through the afternoon and into the night, Samuel Arnold recalled that the "noise of hammers was distinctly heard, as if some repairing about the building was being done...The hammering continued throughout the afternoon until late, when the noises from the hammers ceased..."
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
