Mary Surratt : an American tragedy
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-294) and index.

Mary Surratt's son, John Surratt, was believed to have acted in a plot with John Wilkes Booth and others to not only murder the president, but also to kill Secretary of State Seward. John Surratt was in Canada, and Booth yet to be apprehended. But Mary and others were arrested in connection with the assassination of the president. Eventually they were brought to trial by a military commission. Tried by a military tribunal despite protests by her defense lawyers that it was illegal to try a civilian before a military court, Mary and three others were tried for the crime of conspiring with Booth and found guilty. Many prominent citizens pleaded with President Andrew Johnson for a stay of Mary's execution, but he steadfastly refused. On July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt along with the other accused assassins were hanged. This book examines that event while asking whether, in its grief over the death of President Lincoln, America condemned an innocent woman.