A Few of My Characters
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- Abraham Lincoln, 1846 or 1847 (Library of Congress)
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- Mary Lincoln, 1846 or 1847 (Library of Congress)
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- Emily and Hardin Helm (Kentucky Historical Society)
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- Katherine and Elodie Helm (Kentucky Historical Society)
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Mary Surratt’s Loyal Daughter: Anna Surratt
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The second of John and Mary Surratt’s three children, Elizabeth Susanna Surratt was born on New Year’s Day, 1843, and was christened on December 10 of that year at St. Peter’s Church in Washington, D.C. For most of her life, …
Posted in American Civil War
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The Schoolteacher and the Surratt Family
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The failed conspiracy to kidnap President Lincoln in 1865, and the conspiracy to assassinate him which grew out of the first, drew a host of disparate people into their orbit. Among them was a Catholic schoolteacher named Anna F. Ward. …
Posted in American Civil War
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The Christmas Shopping Trip that Never Was
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On December 23, 1864, Louis Weichmann left his Washington, D.C., boardinghouse to do some Christmas shopping for gifts for his sisters. Instead, he was waylaid by history. Weichmann, age twenty-two, was employed in the War Department. In the fall of …
Posted in American Civil War, John Surratt
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Sarah Slater and Her Souvenir Spoons: Her Last Will and Testament
As those who are familiar with the goings-on at Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse know, one of the more intriguing characters to pass through its doors was a veiled lady named Sarah Slater, a courier for the Confederate government who traveled on …
Posted in American Civil War
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Mary Surratt’s Boarders
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In the fall of 1864, Mary Surratt, a widow from Prince George’s County, Maryland, moved to Washington, D.C. and opened her property at 541 H Street (the light-colored house below) to boarders. Mary’s late husband, John, had acquired the house years …
Posted in American Civil War, Mary Surratt, Nora Fitzpatrick
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Two Letters from a Grieving Daughter
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Whatever one believes about the guilt or innocence of Mary Surratt, her daughter, Anna, is surely deserving of our sympathy. On July 6, 1865, she had been given the horrifying news that her mother would be executed; the following day, …
Posted in American Civil War, Mary Surratt
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July 6-7, 1865
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On July 6, 1865, General John F. Hartranft, who had been placed in charge of Washington, D.C.’s Old Arsenal Prison, went from cell to cell, informing Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell (known at the time by his alias of Lewis Payne), …
Posted in Mary Surratt
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Lincoln Remembered in Washington, D.C.
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It’s a beautiful spring evening in Washington, D.C., way too nice to be sitting in a hotel room, but I had a marvelous two days and wanted to talk about them while they were fresh in my mind. (Apologies for …
Posted in American Civil War
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April 3, 1865: Richmond Falls, and John Surratt Departs
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One hundred and fifty years ago today, on April 3, 1865, Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, fell to the Union. The day before, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had fled the city, having authorized the burning of warehouses …
Posted in John Surratt, Mary Surratt, Nora Fitzpatrick
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The Carte de Visite and the Lincoln Assassination
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Lately, I’ve developed a weakness for cartes de visite—the small photographs that were prized during the last half of the nineteenth century—and have amassed a tiny collection of them, including one of my favorites here of an unidentified lady. As …
Posted in American Civil War, Mary Surratt, Nora Fitzpatrick
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