Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy / Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission, and a Review of the Trial of John H. Surratt

by T. M. Harris

That the purpose of this conspiracy was to assassinate the heads of the government from its very first inception, is made clear by the whole run of the evidence brought out on the two trials. Atzerodt, in his confession, which he had gotten up to be used in his defence, claims that he was a member of a conspiracy to kidnap the President, and carry him to Richmond. John H. Surratt, in his Rockville lecture, claims the same thing. They both claim that when Booth laid aside this plan as impracticable, and proposed to change it to a conspiracy to assassinate, that they withdrew, and would have nothing further to do with it. It is evident that the statements of both are false, both as regards the original purpose of the conspiracy, and also their abandonment of it. Surratt in his confessions to McMillen stated that he received a letter from Booth in Montreal on the 10th of April. This letter was written from New York, and summoned him to Washington at once, as it had become necessary for them to change their plans and to act quickly.

He left Montreal in obedience to this summons on the 12th of April, and was in Elmira on the morning of the 13th. In his defense of an alibi, he tried to prove that he remained at Elmira until after the 15th, and then returned to Montreal, where he arrived on the 18th.

His counsel argued that the plan up to that time had been to capture, and that it was then for the first time that Booth had determined to assassinate; that this was the change of plan referred to in his letter, and that, as Surratt, according to their plea, never saw him after this change of plan had been determined upon, he knew nothing about it, and was never a member of a conspiracy to assassinate. He admitted that he left Montreal in response to Booth's letter, but claimed that he did not go any further than Elmira, in his defense.

This, also, is his story in his Rockville lecture, in which he admits that he was a member of the conspiracy to capture the President, but asserts that he was never a member of the conspiracy to assassinate him. Why did he obey Booth's summons which required him to come at once to Washington? Why did he come by way of Elmira? He says in his lecture that he went to Elmira in the interest of a plan to liberate the rebel prisoners that were held at that place. He had just been to Richmond, carrying dispatches from Davis and Benjamin to their agents in Canada. Active measures were at once resorted to to accomplish the assassinations that had been planned without delay, and had the scheme been fully realized it was no doubt a part of this plan to bring into active service at once all the secret treasonable military organizations throughout the North, liberate all the rebel prisoners held in Northern prisons, and inaugurate a new rebellion in the North, in aid of the existing rebellion in the South. Surratt admits that he went to Elmira on this business. He went there no doubt to arrange with other conspirators there for carrying out this purpose when notified of the success of the assassination plot. No doubt similar arrangements had been made at Chicago to liberate the prisoners at Camp Douglass; and perhaps at other places. The partial failure of the assassination plot, and the signal triumph of our arms, admonished these Northern traitors that they had better not enter the arena of actual war, and frustrated all the plans of Jefferson Davis and his Canada Cabinet. Surratt's admissions are right in the line of our theory, and tend to prove its correctness; but his claim that he was only a member of a conspiracy to capture is manifestly untrue. Let us hear the conclusion of that eminent jurist, Judge Pierrepont, founded on a careful consideration of all the evidence on this point. "Now you see gentlemen, what is meant by a change of plan. In the spring of 1864 the plan was to murder Mr. Lincoln. They laid various plans for its accomplishment. They thought to do it as he went to the Soldiers' Home, by the telescopic rifle, and they did not intend, in the event of concluding to carry out that plan, to let his wife or his child stand in their way. They then thought to do it by having Payne call upon Mr. Lincoln, get into conversation with him, listen to his stories, seem to be interested in them, and then, at that moment, to strike the knife home, deep into his heart. They at another time thought to poison him, and for this purpose tried the cup; but it seemed that that failed them once, and, as Booth said, might fail them again. They finally concluded they would try to kill him in the theatre, instead of on his way to the Soldiers' Home, and have Payne kill Secretary Seward at his house. That plan they carried out. But, gentlemen, notwithstanding this change of plan, never was there for more than a year any other purpose than to murder. They had long since abandoned the idea of kidnapping, for that required too much machinery, too many men, and subjected them to too much danger; and the changes in plan that had taken place recently were simply as to the mode of killing, and the men who should strike the fatal blow." Here we have the mature opinion of an eminent jurist, founded on a thorough and careful examination of all the evidence, and we feel confident that no candid, intelligent man who studies all the evidence with care can come to any other.

Having had occasion to follow the history of this sad affair from its incipiency to its conclusion, as revealed by the evidence produced before the commission, and that brought out on the civil trial, my purpose in writing this book has been fulfilled. It was, first, to correct many grave errors in public opinion that have grown out of a wilful and ingenious suppression of the truth and an unblushing publication of falsehoods, in order to cover up from view the fact that the assassination of President Lincoln was the result of a deep-laid political scheme to subvert the government of the United States in aid of the rebellion; that it was not merely the rash act of Booth and his co-conspirators, to whom the work was intrusted; but that behind these stood Jefferson Davis and his Canada cabinet; that it was the work of a great conspiracy.

The second object of the author was to vindicate the government in its method of dealing with the assassins, and to show that the decisions of the commission were founded on adequate testimony. And, lastly, to so gather up and present the truth, as shown by the evidence, that his work might be of some service to the future historian. He feels that he has kept faithful to his purpose to present nothing but the truth. He feels that by this he has not only vindicated the government, but that also in doing this he has vindicated the commission. He has shown that a military commission was the only tribunal before which the conspirators and assassins could properly be tried; that the right of the government to try offenses of this character is a power inherent in sovereignty as is the right of personal self-defence a right that inheres to the individual; that the laws of war recognize this right and justify its exercise. The wisdom of the government in dealing thus summarily with these offenders was seen in its effect on the Canada conspirators, who at first were swearing that "they were not done yet," but who were driven to their holes by the prompt and wise action of the government in dealing thus summarily with their hired assassins as fast as they were caught. The government thus compelled its enemies to respect its authority.

And, finally, the result of the trial of one of the conspirators before a civil court, more than anything else, vindicates its wisdom in sending these prisoners before a military tribunal for trial.

Side Lights on the Conspiracy.

John Matthews gives us the substance of a paper put into his hands by Booth on the afternoon of the assassination, which closed as follows: "Men who love their country better than their lives—Booth, Payne, Atzerodt, and Herold."[33] It will be observed that Booth here identifies Atzerodt with the conspiracy and the evidence shows that he relied on Atzerodt at that time to perform the part he assigned to him: to assassinate Vice-President Johnson. He had transferred Atzerodt from the Pennsylvania House, where he had been boarding, to the Kirkwood House on the morning of that day, having engaged his room but for one day, and paying for it in advance. This change was made because the Vice-President was stopping at the Kirkwood.

That Booth had visited Atzerodt at his room during the day was shown by the fact that his coat, containing his bank book and handkerchiefs marked in his name, was found in Atzerodt's room where he had hung it up and then forgotten to take it again when he left. That the purpose was a murderous purpose was shown by the fact that a pistol, loaded and capped, together with a large dagger, were found hid away in the bed. Booth had been there schooling Atzerodt in his part, and had had such assurances from Atzerodt that he felt safe in coupling his name with his own and those of Payne and Herold in the paper referred to. Matthews stated that whilst he was in conversation with Booth, General Grant passed rapidly down the Avenue in an open carriage, having his baggage along with him; that he called Booth's attention to this fact, when Booth left him abruptly and galloped down the avenue after General Grant. Why did he do this? What did this mean? When Atzerodt had made his way into the country, and was eating his dinner on Sabbath, the 16th, at the house of Hezekiah Metz, he was asked if it was true, as had been reported, that General Grant had been killed, answered, "If the man who was to follow him had done so, it was likely to be true." This explains Booth's purpose in galloping after General Grant when he saw that he was about to leave the city. He hurried to inform O'Laughlin of the fact and to have him follow the General and assassinate him on the road or at the end of his journey, and had told Atzerodt of this arrangement. We can in this way account for the fact that Atzerodt knew that a man had had orders to follow him. The fact that Booth, in the paper referred to, coupled Atzerodt's name with his own and those of Payne and Herold as "men who loved their country better than their lives" shows that he fully expected Atzerodt to perform the part he had assigned him in the tragedy. O'Laughlin was no doubt the man who had orders to follow the General, but upon reflection, wisely declined to do so.