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Why Is Mary Surratt Wrong

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The Unfair Execution of Mary Surratt Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14th, 1865, the attempted murder created turmoil throughout the United States. John Wilkes Booth, the killer and the ringleader of the assassination, was shot and killed by the US government later that evening. The government knew that Booth could not have planned the assassination himself, so they started to investigate his associates. Mary Surratt, a devout catholic, devoted mother, and southern sympathizer, was arrested at her boarding house in Washington DC on April 17th. She was later charged and hanged for having concealed, entertained, harbored, aided, and assisted John Wilkes Booth, John H. Surratt and their confederates. There are many opinions about whether …show more content…

Archibald, Mary’s father, died when she was two years old. Mary attended a small catholic school in Alexandria Virginia called The Academy for Young Ladies. The school left a great impact on Mary and she remained a devout catholic and southern sympathizer. At the age of seventeen, she married John Harrison Surratt; they settled on land John had inherited from his family in Neales, Maryland. They had a very unhealthy relationship from early on; they both had different religious views and John became an abusive alcoholic. Mary and John had three children, Elizabeth, Anna, and John Junior Surratt. Both Anna and John played very key roles throughout Mary’s trial and …show more content…

Her cell was sparse, yet she was able to maintain her catholic beliefs throughout her entire trial. Her Military trial began May, 9th and she was tried alongside, Harold, Paine, Adzerodt, Michael Olaughlen, Edman Spangler, Samuel Mudd, and Samurl Arnold. Frederick Aiken and Thomas Clampitt, Marys lawyers, were very inexperienced and both were affiliated with union ties. They were livid that she was being prosecuted under military commission. The war had ended five days earlier; therefore she should have been prosecuted in a civilian’s trial. There were two main witnesses for the prosecution whose testimony was what ultimately lead to Mary’s execution. The first, Lewis Weichmen, landlord to the Surratt family, said that three days before the assassination he accompanied Mary Surratt to tavern for business. Then on the day of the assassination, Wiechmann went with Mary to the tavern once more, where she gave a package to John Lloyd. After getting back to Washington that night, around nine o'clock Weichmann testified that Booth came to the boarding house and had another secret meeting Mary. He said that after the meeting her attitude changed and she became very nervous. The jury was very suspect when learning about Mary’s secrecy and it was starting to become much clearer that she had knowledge of the affairs to be taken place that night. Lloyd, the second

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