The Accused
The illustration at left is from The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators, by Benn Pitman, who was the official court stenographer with the title Recorder to the Commission. Pitman’s 1865 book was the Government-approved official record of the Abraham Lincoln assassination trial.
From top left, clockwise beginning with John Wilkes Booth, are Booth, Lewis Powell (also known as Lewis Payne), David Herold, Michael O’Laughlen (also known as Michael O’Laughlin), John Surratt, Edman Spangler (also known as Edmund, Edward, or Ned Spangler), Samuel Arnold, and George Atzerodt. In the center is Mary Surratt.
Benn Pitman was present during the entire trial, observing, recording all that was said, and forming his personal opinion of the facts in the case. It is therefore interesting that Pitman places Mrs. Surratt, not Booth, in the center of his illustration of alleged conspirators.
Where's Dr. Mudd?
Parents are familiar with the "Where's Waldo?" picture books. The question here is: "Where's Dr. Mudd?" Benn Pitman completely omits Dr. Mudd from the official illustration of the alleged conspirators. In a letter to Dr. Mudd’s lawyer, General Thomas Ewing, Pitman explains:
Phonographic Institute
Cincinnati
August 24, 1865
Dear Sir:
Red'd your corrected remarks. I will for your sake as well as for my own reputation do the best I possibly can for you. The whole is in type, but I think all can be corrected, though it may be attended with some expense & trouble.
The book is 7/8 done. I think you will be pleased with it. I am conscious of having done the work carefully and fairly.
It has been a prodigious labor. If we are not disappointed with the engravers the book will be ready in three weeks.
The accused will be engraved in the highest style of cut.
I intended to omit Dr. Mudd from the illustration - without consulting with anyone about it - partly, perhaps mainly from consideration to his family. The publishers now think and half demand that I should give the likeness of the Dr. with the rest of the accused.
I have written to Dr. G.D. Mudd about it. Can you assist me to a photograph? If I cannot obtain one there is danger of the publisher using one of the vile caricatures that have appeared in the illustrated papers.
Very resp.
Benn Pitman
Pitman apparently never obtained a photograph of Dr. Mudd, or decided to keep him out of the illustration anyway, or the publisher didn’t press the matter. And apparently neither Secretary of War Stanton nor any other Government official noticed the omission. Whatever happened, Dr. Mudd does not appear in the illustration of the accused conspirators in the U.S. Government's official report of the Abraham Lincoln assassination trial.
Mary Surratt
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Lewis Powell
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George Atzerodt
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David Herold
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There was little question as to the guilt of Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. Arguments about the guilt of Mrs. Mary Surratt continue to the present time.
Mary Surratt was the owner of the Washington boarding house where Booth and his fellow conspirators plotted against Lincoln. She denied knowing of Booth’s conspiracy against Lincoln. Many, including John Ford, the owner of Ford's Theatre, passionately believed in her innocence. Mrs. Surratts' son John Surratt was in New York at the time of the assassination, and fled to Canada when he heard of it.
Lewis Powell admitted that he was part of the plot against Lincoln, and that he tried to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward.
George Atzerodt admitted that he had agreed to murder Vice President Andrew Johnson, but lost his nerve and failed to do so.
David Herold had accompanied Booth during the entire twelve-day escape attempt, from the night of the assassination until he was captured at the Garrett farm.
Edman Spangler
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Samuel Arnold
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Michael O'Laughlen
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Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
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The Court did not believe that Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, or Dr. Mudd had anything to do with planning or carrying out the assassination of President Lincoln, but thought their prior associations with Booth nevertheless warranted conviction for conspiracy. Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Dr. Mudd would spend the next four years of their lives in prison together. Michael O’Laughlen would die in prison during the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. The four men would develop bonds of friendship in prison that none of these very different men could have ever imagined. In fact, Edman Spangler lived with Dr. Mudd and his family during the final months of his life.
Here are brief sketches of the three men who would go to prison with Dr. Mudd:
Edman Spangler was born August 10, 1825 in York, Pennsylvania. He worked his whole life as a carpenter. He first met John Wilkes Booth as a young man while working on a carpentry job for Booth’s father, the famous actor Junius Brutus Booth. In 1861, Spangler moved to Washington to work as a carpenter at the new Ford’s Theater. There, he became reacquainted with John Wilkes Booth who was now a famous actor like his father.
Spangler’s boss, John T. Ford, considered Spangler a valued employee, and a man innocent of any involvement in Lincoln’s assassination. To his everlasting credit, John Ford continued to assert Spangler’s innocence and fight for his release during the entire four years Spangler was in prison.
Spangler lived frugally. He slept at Ford’s theater, taking his meals at a nearby boarding house. He was a friendly, good-hearted, hard working, and dependable man. His only vice was drinking with his friends, but it never interfered with his work. His spare-time passion was crabbing in the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
In a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Spangler was in the alley behind Ford’s Theater when Booth rode up there to assassinate the President. Booth dismounted, asked Spangler to hold the reins of his horse, and went inside the theater. Spangler, who had scene-shifting duties to perform, asked another person to hold the reins and went inside to perform his duties during the play Our American Cousin.
In the confusion and pandemonium that reigned after Booth shot the President, jumped to the stage, and ran from the theater, observers mistakenly thought Spangler had assisted Booth, and reported this to the authorities. The unfortunate carpenter was arrested and ultimately convicted of helping Booth escape, although the military judges signaled their uncertainty of his guilt by giving him the relatively light sentence of six years.
In prison, Spangler and Mudd would become friends. Spangler taught Mudd carpentry, and Mudd credited Spangler with saving his life during the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. Spangler spent the last few months of his life at the Mudd farm, where he died in 1875.
Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen were both born in 1834 and both grew up in Baltimore. Arnold’s father owned one of Baltimore’s largest bakeries. In 1848 he attended St. Timothy’s Hall boarding school near Baltimore where he became friends with another student by the name of John Wilkes Booth. When the Civil War broke out, Arnold and two brothers joined the Confederate Army, fighting with the First Maryland Infantry. Discharged for medical reasons, Arnold worked for a while with his brother in Georgia, but returned to Baltimore in 1864.
In 1845, the Booth family bought a house across the street from the O’Laughlen’s. John and Mike soon became good friends. As they grew older their paths took them in separate directions, with Booth pursuing his acting careen and O’Laughlen working in the family hay and feed business. When the Civil War started, O’Laughlen joined the Confederate First Maryland Infantry. He was discharged in June 1862, and then divided his time between Baltimore and his brothers’ family business in Washington, D.C.
Although Arnold and O’Laughlen both grew up in Baltimore and both had served in the same Confederate Army unit, they had never met. That changed in August 1864 when John Wilkes Booth invited both men to a meeting at his Baltimore hotel room.
Booth proposed to the two men a plan to capture President Lincoln and exchange him for Confederate prisoners needed to replenish the Confederate Army’s ranks. Union General Grant had stopped prisoner exchanges as a way to starve the South of fighting men. To their ultimate regret, the two men agreed to join Booth’s plan.
Several months passed without Booth taking any action to carry out his plan. Then, in a Washington D.C. restaurant on March 15, 1865, Booth brought Arnold and O’Laughlen together for the first time with his other kidnap conspirators, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and John Surratt. Booth proposed that the group handcuff Lincoln in his box at Ford’s Theater, lower him by rope from the box to the theater stage, carry him out of the theater to a waiting carriage, and then flee from the city with the captured President.
Arnold, who had agreed to help capture Lincoln in a country setting, was stunned by the complete impracticality of Booth’s plan, and said so. Besides, he argued, since General Grant had resumed prisoner exchanges, what was the point of continuing the kidnap plot? The meeting broke up with nothing planned.
Two days later Booth learned the President was scheduled to attend a play at Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of the city. This was more of the country setting Arnold had in mind. Booth quickly assembled the conspirators, but Lincoln had a change of schedule and never went to Campbell Hospital. At this point, Arnold and O’Laughlen concluded that the idea of kidnapping Lincoln was going nowhere, told Booth they were finished with the plot, and returned to Baltimore.
Booth assassinated President Lincoln a month later on Good Friday evening, April 14, 1865. Tracking Arnold through a letter he had written to Booth, detectives arrested Arnold at his new job at Fortress Monroe the following Monday morning. Arnold implicated O’Laughlen, who was arrested at his sister’s house in Baltimore.
Arnold and O’Laughlen were as surprised as everyone else at Booth’s assassination of Lincoln. They admitted they were part of Booth’s original plot to kidnap Lincoln, but denied having anything to do with Lincoln’s assassination. The court believed them. It spared them from hanging, but sentenced them to life imprisonment. O’Laughlen would not survive prison as the others did. He died in the prison’s great 1867 yellow fever epidemic. After Mike O’Laughlen’s death, Dr. Mudd said of him:
I never met with one more kind and forbearing, possessing a warm friendly disposition and a fine comprehensive intellect. I enjoyed greater ease in conversational intercourse with him than any of my prison associates.
Here are brief sketches of the three men who would go to prison with Dr. Mudd:
Edman Spangler was born August 10, 1825 in York, Pennsylvania. He worked his whole life as a carpenter. He first met John Wilkes Booth as a young man while working on a carpentry job for Booth’s father, the famous actor Junius Brutus Booth. In 1861, Spangler moved to Washington to work as a carpenter at the new Ford’s Theater. There, he became reacquainted with John Wilkes Booth who was now a famous actor like his father.
Spangler’s boss, John T. Ford, considered Spangler a valued employee, and a man innocent of any involvement in Lincoln’s assassination. To his everlasting credit, John Ford continued to assert Spangler’s innocence and fight for his release during the entire four years Spangler was in prison.
Spangler lived frugally. He slept at Ford’s theater, taking his meals at a nearby boarding house. He was a friendly, good-hearted, hard working, and dependable man. His only vice was drinking with his friends, but it never interfered with his work. His spare-time passion was crabbing in the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
In a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Spangler was in the alley behind Ford’s Theater when Booth rode up there to assassinate the President. Booth dismounted, asked Spangler to hold the reins of his horse, and went inside the theater. Spangler, who had scene-shifting duties to perform, asked another person to hold the reins and went inside to perform his duties during the play Our American Cousin.
In the confusion and pandemonium that reigned after Booth shot the President, jumped to the stage, and ran from the theater, observers mistakenly thought Spangler had assisted Booth, and reported this to the authorities. The unfortunate carpenter was arrested and ultimately convicted of helping Booth escape, although the military judges signaled their uncertainty of his guilt by giving him the relatively light sentence of six years.
In prison, Spangler and Mudd would become friends. Spangler taught Mudd carpentry, and Mudd credited Spangler with saving his life during the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. Spangler spent the last few months of his life at the Mudd farm, where he died in 1875.
Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen were both born in 1834 and both grew up in Baltimore. Arnold’s father owned one of Baltimore’s largest bakeries. In 1848 he attended St. Timothy’s Hall boarding school near Baltimore where he became friends with another student by the name of John Wilkes Booth. When the Civil War broke out, Arnold and two brothers joined the Confederate Army, fighting with the First Maryland Infantry. Discharged for medical reasons, Arnold worked for a while with his brother in Georgia, but returned to Baltimore in 1864.
In 1845, the Booth family bought a house across the street from the O’Laughlen’s. John and Mike soon became good friends. As they grew older their paths took them in separate directions, with Booth pursuing his acting careen and O’Laughlen working in the family hay and feed business. When the Civil War started, O’Laughlen joined the Confederate First Maryland Infantry. He was discharged in June 1862, and then divided his time between Baltimore and his brothers’ family business in Washington, D.C.
Although Arnold and O’Laughlen both grew up in Baltimore and both had served in the same Confederate Army unit, they had never met. That changed in August 1864 when John Wilkes Booth invited both men to a meeting at his Baltimore hotel room.
Booth proposed to the two men a plan to capture President Lincoln and exchange him for Confederate prisoners needed to replenish the Confederate Army’s ranks. Union General Grant had stopped prisoner exchanges as a way to starve the South of fighting men. To their ultimate regret, the two men agreed to join Booth’s plan.
Several months passed without Booth taking any action to carry out his plan. Then, in a Washington D.C. restaurant on March 15, 1865, Booth brought Arnold and O’Laughlen together for the first time with his other kidnap conspirators, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and John Surratt. Booth proposed that the group handcuff Lincoln in his box at Ford’s Theater, lower him by rope from the box to the theater stage, carry him out of the theater to a waiting carriage, and then flee from the city with the captured President.
Arnold, who had agreed to help capture Lincoln in a country setting, was stunned by the complete impracticality of Booth’s plan, and said so. Besides, he argued, since General Grant had resumed prisoner exchanges, what was the point of continuing the kidnap plot? The meeting broke up with nothing planned.
Two days later Booth learned the President was scheduled to attend a play at Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of the city. This was more of the country setting Arnold had in mind. Booth quickly assembled the conspirators, but Lincoln had a change of schedule and never went to Campbell Hospital. At this point, Arnold and O’Laughlen concluded that the idea of kidnapping Lincoln was going nowhere, told Booth they were finished with the plot, and returned to Baltimore.
Booth assassinated President Lincoln a month later on Good Friday evening, April 14, 1865. Tracking Arnold through a letter he had written to Booth, detectives arrested Arnold at his new job at Fortress Monroe the following Monday morning. Arnold implicated O’Laughlen, who was arrested at his sister’s house in Baltimore.
Arnold and O’Laughlen were as surprised as everyone else at Booth’s assassination of Lincoln. They admitted they were part of Booth’s original plot to kidnap Lincoln, but denied having anything to do with Lincoln’s assassination. The court believed them. It spared them from hanging, but sentenced them to life imprisonment. O’Laughlen would not survive prison as the others did. He died in the prison’s great 1867 yellow fever epidemic. After Mike O’Laughlen’s death, Dr. Mudd said of him:
I never met with one more kind and forbearing, possessing a warm friendly disposition and a fine comprehensive intellect. I enjoyed greater ease in conversational intercourse with him than any of my prison associates.
