Trial Memorabilia

For seven weeks in May and June 1865, the nation’s attention was fixed on the third floor of Washington’s Old Arsenal Penitentiary. There, seven men and one woman were on trial for their lives.

Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, Lewis Powell, Edman Spangler and Mary Surratt were all placed on public trial before a U.S. government military commission for their roles in the conspiracy that led to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

After two days of deliberations, the verdicts came down. For their lesser roles in the Lincoln conspiracy, Arnold, O’Laughlin and Dr. Mudd were condemned to life imprisonment. Spangler, a stagehand at Ford’s Theatre, received a six-year sentence.

Atzerodt, Herold, Powell and Mary Surratt were all sentenced to death. On July 7, 1865, the federal government hanged them.

John Surratt was tried two years later after being apprehended in Europe. His trial ended in a hung jury, and a second trial had barely begun when he was suddenly released – the statute of limitations for his part in the crime had run out. He later embarked on a lecture tour, earning money from his infamy.

Examine the Evidence: Do you believe each conspirator was equally guilty? How would you have felt watching this trial? What is your opinion of the taking of grim souvenirs such as these?