Existing comment:
Aunt Rachel's Story
The following article from the "Washington Star", Dec. 21, 1892 was found in the David Rankin Barbee collection at Georgetown University. Highlighting has been added.
Aunt Rachel Hawkins was a slave in the Surratt family. She lives now in a little house on 3rd Street near F Southwest. The house is neat and cosy [sic]. It is as clean as a pin is said to be. The rooms are large and well-ordered. In one of them Aunt Rachel lies buried in a white featherbed. She is "pretty low." She divides her time between reminiscent talks and the telling of her prayer beads. She is a devout Catholic. She likes to be addressed as Aunty. It sounds like "old times."
She propped herself up in the pillows for a chat, for Aunt Rachel is never so happy as when to an attentive listener she is recounting the incidents of the good old days. She teems with them. Her memory is vigorous and although a little off in dates she is usually able to indicate the time by associating it with some prominent event, etc.
Aunt Rachel was born, "Why, bless yo' heart honey, de Lawd only knows w'en!" Sne first belonged to the family of Cornelius Wildman aud subsequently to that of Sylvester Boon. [NOTE: Reference to these two families can be found in papers from Dr. Richard Mudd. One of the Wildman girls claimed to be the best friend of Mary Surratt and accompanied Annie home from the execution.] In the year John Brown was hung she began her servitude with
Mrs Surratt. She was the house servant at the homestead at Surrattsville. Here she was wedded to one of the slaves of Walter P. Griffin, the father-in-law of Sydney E. Mudd. She remained with the Surratt family till the close of the war, when she moved to Washington.
She speaks tenderly of her former mistress, and says Mrs. Surratt always treated her like one of the children. Mrs. Surratt was kind-hearted and wouldn't do hurt to a soul.
Dere were Marse John and Missus Annie, who tended school down at Bryantown in Charles County, and Marse Isaac, who runned away to Texas. It was not long after the death of John Surratt, Sr.", continued the aunty, "when Mrs. Surratt moved to Washington and left the farm in charge of Mr. Lloyd. Booth and Dave Herold used to come down often and them and Mr. Llovd were "mighty thick". Mrs. Surratt visited the country home but seldom. Booth used to recite by way of practice and frequently paced the floor while rehearsing lines. He was a very a fine gentleman, and a great favorite with the servants because of of his liberality.
On the morning of Good Friday, 1865, while coming to town, she met Mrs. Surratt and Booth, who were on the down road, She remembered this particularly because the couple were in a very small buggy drawn by a milk-white horse. The meeting occurred at the top of Good Hope Hill. They returned to Washington the same day, and that night the assassination took place. [NOTE: She probably has the time confused and also confused Booth and Weichmann.] The kitchen where she was most employed adjoined the pantry where the guns were afterwards found, and she had several times heard Booth and Lloyd in there, but did not know what for.
She was over at Mr. Griffin's when the soldiers took possession of the place and ransacked things. |