Existing comment:
Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Paine):
The son of a Baptist minister, Lewis Powell was a quiet boy who earned the nickname "Doc" for his care of sick animals. After joining the 2nd Florida Infantry at the age of 17, Powell was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg. He escaped with the help of a volunteer nurse.
In January 1865, Powell left the Confederate army, swearing an oath of allegiance to the Union under a false last name -- Paine. He became one of Mrs. Surratt's boarders on H Street, where he met John Wilkes Booth.
On the night of April 14, Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Powell arrived at Seward's home with David Herold, claiming they were there to deliver a prescription. The secretary, who had been injured in a carriage accident on April 5, was recovering in bed.
Insisting he had to deliver the medicine in person, Powell was stopped on the stairs by Sewards' son, Frederick. Powell drew his revolver; when it misfired he clubbed Frederick across the head. Powell burst into the secretary's room, stabbing Seward in the face and neck with a bowie knife. The jaw splint that Seward was wearing may have saved his life.
Powell escaped but was arrested at Mary Surratt's house three days later. |