The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln

by Kate Clifford Larson

Overview

In The Assassin's Accomplice, historian Kate Clifford Larson tells the gripping story of Mary Surratt, a little-known participant in the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln, and the first woman ever to be executed by the federal government of the United States. Surratt, a Confederate sympathizer, ran the boarding house in Washington where the conspirators-including her rebel son, John Surratt-met to plan the assassination. When a military tribunal convicted her for her crimes and sentenced her to death, five of the nine commissioners petitioned President Andrew Johnson to show mercy on Surratt because of her sex and age. Unmoved, Johnson refused-Surratt, he said, "kept the nest that hatched the egg." Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, The Assassin's Accomplice tells the intricate story of the Lincoln conspiracy through the eyes of its only female participant. Based on long-lost interviews, confessions, and court testimony, the text explores how Mary's actions defied nineteenth-century norms of femininity, piety, and motherhood, leaving her vulnerable to deadly punishment historically reserved for men. A riveting narrative account of sex, espionage, and murder cloaked in the enchantments of Southern womanhood, The Assassin's Accomplice offers a fresh perspective on America's most famous murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465024476
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	02/22/2011
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	979 KB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kate Clifford Larson teaches history at Simmons College. Her first book, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero, was described as "brilliant" (Smithsonian Magazine), "astonishingly good, a better debut than any author has the right to wish for" (Dallas Morning News), and "an extraordinary achievement" (Baltimore Sun). Larson lives in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 "Devoted Body and Soul to the Cause" 1

Chapter 2 Creating a Life, Building the Nest 11

Chapter 3 Rebels, Spies, and Couriers 27

Chapter 4 Keeper of the Nest 43

Chapter 5 The Assassin's Accomplice 69

Chapter 6 A Shrewd Witness 97

Chapter 7 The "Materfamilias" of the Criminals 117

Chapter 8 The Case for the Defense 149

Chapter 9 The Verdict: Swift and Deadly 169

Chapter 10 Scenes at the Scaffold 195

Epilogue American Tragedy or American Justice? 223

Acknowledgments 231

Notes 235

Index 255

Editorial Reviews

Mary Surratt was a Washington, D.C. tavern operator who was hanged for her role in the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspiracy. At the time of her speedy military tribunal and swift execution, Surratt's predicament generated considerable public debate about Southern resistance, Northern vengeance, and gender. History buffs will be enlightened by Larson's findings about the scope and scale of Confederate covert activity in the waning days of the Civil Wars. Laural Merlington does not get the opportunity to sink her teeth into the complicated human drama until rather late in the proceedings. Her portrayal of the emotionally-charged interactions between Surratt and her fragile young-adult daughter demonstrates her range as a performer, but such interludes prove rather fleeting. Larson's narrative remains tied to documentation and court transcripts, so listeners hoping for a full-blown 19th Century soap opera will need to turn elsewhere. A Basic Books hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 7).
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Publishers Weekly

Larson (history, Simmons Coll.; Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero) makes a compelling argument that Mary Surratt was deeply involved in the plot to kill Lincoln. Reexamining the testimony of the principals in the plot and of contemporary observers and sifting out the many myths and misrepresentations as to the extent of the conspiracy to kill the President and other prominent leaders, Larson shows that Surratt and her son were tied to Confederate spy operations, intimate with John Wilkes Booth's purpose and planning, and, in Surratt's case, a direct agent in the deadly act. Larson notes that the hanging of Surratt began the doubts about her role, for it shocked conventions and ideas about Victorian womanhood, but Larson allays any reasonable doubt about Surratt's guilt in her careful recounting of the lives of the principals, the chronology and character of their associations, and the review of the court record. Larson has written a detective story that should settle the case. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.

—Randall M. Miller

Library Journal

The life and trial of the first woman to be executed by the federal government. President Andrew Johnson refused to commute the death sentence of widow and mother Mary Surratt for her role in the Lincoln conspiracy, consigning her to the gallows as the one who "kept the nest that hatched the egg." Already brutalized by four years of civil war and wild with rage at Lincoln's murder, the country had little sympathy for the boardinghouse keeper-that is, until her hanging. Her grisly execution shocked the nation's conscience, disturbing settled notions about feminine decorum. Was her trial a sham? Was her conviction a result of anti-Catholic bias? Was she wrongly turned in by witnesses looking to diminish their own intimacy with her co-conspirators? Larson (History/Simmons Coll.; Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero, 2003) clearly establishes that "Mary Surratt was not only guilty, but was far more involved in the plot than many historians have given her credit for." Born in Maryland, Mary Jenkins converted early to Catholicism and at 16 married 26-year-old John Surratt, an abusive alcoholic who died in 1862, leaving her a townhouse on H Street in Washington, D.C. Through her son John Jr., a Confederate courier, she met the charismatic John Wilkes Booth. Young Surratt recruited a number of accomplices for Booth's dramatic plan, originally to kidnap, then to kill the president. At every step, it appears Surratt was deeply complicit. She ran innumerable errands for Booth, ferried weapons, hosted him and other plotters at the H Street house, covered for them at every opportunity, uttered ominous warnings to intimates about what was to happen and lied about itto investigators afterwards. Haughty and arrogant upon arrest, she remained a cool prisoner under harsh conditions. Tried before a military tribunal rather than a civil court-a controversial decision Larson appears to endorse-where rules prevented her from testifying on her own behalf and where she was ineptly represented, Surratt finally broke down under the stress. Although the author never quite brings Surratt to life, Larson settles all doubt as to the justness of the verdict against this most unlikely criminal. An unusual look at the conspiracy to kill Lincoln from the perspective of the only woman plotter. Agent: Doe Coover/Doe Coover Agency

Kirkus Reviews

John Wilkes Booth did not act alone; eight people were eventually indicted as co-conspirators in Lincoln's murder. Accounts of their lives, nefarious plots, and historical trial fill this audiobook with the details true-crime and Civil War aficionados love. Narrator Laural Merlington reads with a forceful expression, modulating her word emphasis and tone to keep the listener's attention level during the prosecution high and the final moments on the scaffold riveting. Although she sometimes gives a gruff snarl for men and a female squeak for women, Merlington's own distinct voice usually prevails. Because the principal conspirator, Mary Surratt, was a woman, having a female narrator brings a credible authenticity to Mary's words—and to her screams as she approaches the stairs of the gallows. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 08 - AudioFile