Existing comment:
The Trial:
For seven weeks in May and June 1865, the nation's attention was riveted on the third floor of Washington's Old Arsenal Penitentiary. There, seven men and one woman in leg irons and handcuffs were on trial for their lives; Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, Edman Spangler, Samuel Mudd, and Mary Surratt.
President Andrew Johnson insisted on trying the conspirators before a nine-member military commission, where a simple majority was required to establish guilt and six votes could impose the death penalty. While the accused were allowed by attorneys to question the 366 witnesses, they were not permitted to speak on their own behalf.
Members of the military commission that tried the conspirators. Americans still debate the use of military versus civilian courts for major offenses.
Sentenced to Death:
Two days of deliberations produced death sentences for David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Powell, and Mary Surratt. For their lesser roles in the Lincoln conspiracy, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin and Dr. Samuel Mudd were condemned to life imprisonment. Edman Spangler, a stagehand at Ford's Theatre, received a six-year sentence. Now it was up to President Johnson to review the tribunal's work and decide whether, as recommended by some of the judges, to spare Mrs. Surratt's life. |