The Hedgehog Report – Phoenix Edition

Photo by Mathew Benjamin Brady – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain

July 7, 1865. Four people were hanged in Washington, D.C. for their roles in the President Lincoln assassination plot. One of them, Mrs. Mary Surratt, has been debated by historians as to her guilt or innocence. She operated the boarding house where Booth and the others congregated prior to carrying out the assassination of Lincoln, the attempted assassination of Sec. of State Seward, and the planned assassination of Vice-President Johnson.

All agree that Surratt was sympathetic, at least to some degree, with the Confederate cause. But there is little agreement about what she knew, when she knew it, and if she knew enough to be found guilty as a co-conspirator who should be sentenced to death.

She was tried as part of a military tribunal, not through the regular court system. All four were tried and sentenced together. Both the prosecution and defense are said to have botched their roles in proving guilt or exonerating Surratt. Several of the judges in the tribunal wrote President Johnson asking for clemency for Surratt, but there was little appetite for leniency, and Johnson was himself one of the targets in the overall plot.

Surratt pleaded her innocence right up to the gallows, and one of the guilty men who was hung, shouted aloud her innocence as he stepped toward the platform.

After the hanging, the medical examiner found that none of the four had their necks broken, meaning they strangled to death. Two were seen struggling for air for five minutes, while Surratt (who was ill at the time) and one of the others seemed to die quickly.

Check the wiki page on Mary Surratt for the full account of her involvement, trial, and execution.

Was she completely innocent? Was she aware of their plot, while not directly involved? Was she directly involved? Should she have been executed as a co-conspirator?

These are the questions, post your answers here.