Conviction
When the trial was over on June 30th, all eight defendants were convicted. Mary Surratt, Lewis Payne, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were convicted of actual participation in the assassination, and sentenced to death.
The other four defendants had nothing to do with the assassination, but were still considered conspirators, and sentenced to prison. Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlen had earlier conspired with Booth to kidnap Lincoln, but that impractical scheme had been abandoned well before the assassination. Edman Spangler was an innocent stagehand at Ford's theater who was wrongly accused of helping Booth escape from the theater. Dr. Mudd likewise had no knowledge of the assassination, but was convicted of conspiring to help Booth escape because he did not alert the authorities to Booth's presence at his farm.
Writing after the trial, General August V. Kautz, a member of the Military Commission, wrote:
The defense lasted through until about the 19th of June when we began to hear the arguments in behalf of the prisoners. An attempt was made at the close to prove insanity on the part of Payne (Note: Payne was one of Lewis Powell’s aliases), who finally defeated the attempt of his counsel by maintaining his sanity, that he knew what he was doing when he tried to kill Mr. Seward. The interest of the case centered mostly about Mrs. Surratt and Payne. Dr. Mudd attracted much interest and his guilt as an active conspirator was not clearly made out. His main guilt was the fact that he failed to deliver them, that is, Booth and Herold, to their pursuers.
Mrs. Surratt was shown to have been active in the conspiracy to kidnap, prior to the capture of Richmond. That she was a willing participant in his death was not clearly made out. My own impression was that she was involved in the final result against her will by her previous connection with the conspiracy. Booth was a fanatic in the matter and craved a notoriety that would appear heroic if he survived the act, and prove martyrdom if he perished. He, no doubt, held most of his confederates in the conspiracy under the impression that it was organized for the purpose of kidnapping, who would have been deterred if they had known that they might be required to kill.
During the many weeks that the court was in session, I never saw the face of Mrs. Surratt. She sat behind the railing farthest away, and her face was constantly screened by a large palm leaf fan. I could not even recognize her picture for she was entirely unknown to me. I presume this is the case with every member of the court. All the other members of the court are indelibly impressed on my mind. Herold was a simpering foolish young man, so short of stature that he appeared like a boy and never seemed impressed with the gravity of his position. He must have been simply a plastic tool in Booth’s hands.
Payne was a sullen character whose expression rarely changed. He seemed to be fully aware that he had taken a desperate chance and lost, and had the nerve to abide the result manfully. He was manly and strong in every respect, but how much moral character there was in his makeup was not apparent on the surface.
Atzerodt looked the hired assassin and the testimony went to show that he failed to perform his part in the compact, which was to kill Genl. Grant, either from want of courage or want of sufficient intelligence. He excited no sympathy from anyone.
Dr. Mudd was the most intelligent looking and attracted most attention of all the prisoners. There was more work done in his defense. His subsequent career showed him to be a man of more character and intelligence than anyone of the prisoners.
Spangler does not seem to have been a conspirator knowingly. He was simply a tool of Booth’s and held his horse for him, and cut the stick with which Booth held the door to the box, in which Mr. Lincoln was in at the theater. His greatest crime was his ignorance, and that he did not see the ends to which he was being used.
Arnold was shown to have been associated with the conspirators, but what part he performed and to what extent he was implicated was not shown to the Commission. He was a good-looking, amiable young man, who seemed to have gotten into bad company. The same degree and character of guilt applied to O’Laughlen.
All of the prisoners had counsel but the greatest effort was made in behalf of Mrs. Surratt and Dr. Mudd. The Hon. Thom. Ewing made an elaborate defense of Mudd and Mr. Johnson, by proxy, defended Mrs. Surratt, through Mr. Aiken.
On July 5th, President Johnson approved the sentences of the Military Commission and issued the following Executive Order:
The foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G. A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, and Samuel A. Mudd, are hereby approved, and it is ordered that the sentences of said David E. Herold, G. A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and Mary E. Surratt be carried into execution by the proper military authority, under the direction of the Secretary of War, on the 7th day of July, 1865, between the hours of 10 o'clock, A.M., and 2 o'clock, P.M., of that day. It was further ordered, that the prisoners, Samuel Arnold, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler, and Michael O'Laughlin be confined at hard labor in the Penitentiary at Albany, New York, during the period designated in their respective sentences.
The execution
Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt were quickly hung as ordered on July 7th. A week after the executions, President Johnson issued a second Executive Order, changing the location where Dr. Mudd, Spangler, O’Laughlen, and Arnold would be imprisoned from the penitentiary at Albany to the military prison in the Dry Tortugas islands of Florida. The four men were not told of the change of plans. The Executive Order read:
The Executive Order, dated July 5, 1865, approving the sentences in the cases of Samuel Arnold, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler, and Michael O'Laughlin is hereby modified, so as to direct that the said Arnold, Mudd, Spangler, and O'Laughlin, be confined at hard labor in the military prison at Dry Tortugas, Florida, during the period designated in their respective sentences.
The Adjutant-General of the Army is directed to issue orders for the said prisoners to be transported to the Dry Tortugas, and to be confined there accordingly.
Two days later, July 17, 1865, the New York Tribune carried a story about Dr. Mudd and his three companions following the end of the trial. About Dr. Mudd, it said “Mudd seems in very good spirits over his escape from the gallows. He says very little about the trial. He acknowledged that the testimony of the witness Weichmann in reference to himself is correct.”
If Dr. Mudd was quoted correctly, his statement that Weichmann’s testimony was correct is his first admission that he lied about not seeing Booth between November 1864 and the morning after the assassination. He would make the same admission to others during his trip to the Dry Tortugas.
The Executive Order, dated July 5, 1865, approving the sentences in the cases of Samuel Arnold, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler, and Michael O'Laughlin is hereby modified, so as to direct that the said Arnold, Mudd, Spangler, and O'Laughlin, be confined at hard labor in the military prison at Dry Tortugas, Florida, during the period designated in their respective sentences.
The Adjutant-General of the Army is directed to issue orders for the said prisoners to be transported to the Dry Tortugas, and to be confined there accordingly.
Two days later, July 17, 1865, the New York Tribune carried a story about Dr. Mudd and his three companions following the end of the trial. About Dr. Mudd, it said “Mudd seems in very good spirits over his escape from the gallows. He says very little about the trial. He acknowledged that the testimony of the witness Weichmann in reference to himself is correct.”
If Dr. Mudd was quoted correctly, his statement that Weichmann’s testimony was correct is his first admission that he lied about not seeing Booth between November 1864 and the morning after the assassination. He would make the same admission to others during his trip to the Dry Tortugas.
