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June 21, 2012

The last moments of four Lincoln assassination conspirators

While actor John Wilkes Booth succeeded in his deranged mission of assassinating President Abraham Lincoln near the end of the Civil War, several other conspirators were not so successful – and were hanged because of it.

On July 7, 1865, four conspirators – Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt – were hanged by the neck at Fort McNair in Washington D.C.

Their deaths were a culmination of sorts of a nation ravaged by war, bitter conflict, and the death of the nation’s commander-in-chief, the Great Emancipator.
The condemned Lincoln conspirators can be seen on the scaffold at Fort McNair in Washington with officers on July 7, 1865, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
The bodies of the four conspirators were hanged for around 25 minutes before being cut down
Around 1,000 people gathered in the scorching Washington heat to watch the four conspirators hanged to death; reporters and military personnel can be seen in the background
Lewis Powell,  was 21 at his time of death and described in an 1890 publication as 'the stalwart, brutal, simple-minded boy from Florida;' .
David Herold in his arresting photograph
George Atzerodt,  was described at his trial as a 'notorious coward;' .
Boarding house owner Mary Surratt, who was the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government for her part in the conspiracy
 President Abraham Lincoln


 The pine coffins and open graves await the bodies of the condemned; volunteers were asked to dig the shallow graves
 President Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, taken after he was assassinated by Booth; the president was buried before the conspiracy trial began

Guards can be seen outside of Ford's Theater with black crepe draped around the windows

3 comments:

  1. There is a good book entitled "The Lincoln Conspiracy." Lincoln said, a few weeks before his death, that he had two enemies: the Southern armies in front and the financial powers behind, and of the two, the financial were the more dangerous. He was killed by the Rothschilds.

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  2. lincolns wife's family had slaves

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    1. Exactly. His career is inconsistent on the subject of slavery. He appears to have "come around" on the subject, but for what reason?

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