Mary Surratt grave section 12 - Mt Olivet - Washington DC - 2014-07-18 : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Mary Surratt grave section 12 - Mt Olivet - Washington DC - 2014-07-18 / Tim Evanson
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | Grave of Mary Surratt in section 12 at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C., in the United States.Mary Elizabeth Jenkins was born to Archibald and Elizabeth Anne (née Webster) Jenkins on a tobacco plantation near the southern Maryland town of Waterloo (now known as Clinton). Sources differ as to whether she was born in 1820 or 1823.Her father died in the fall of 1825, and Mary's mother inherited the property. Surratt was enrolled in the Academy for Young Ladies in Alexandria, Virginia, on November 25, 1835. It was a Catholic boarding school, and she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1837. She stayed until 1839, when the school closed.After leaving school, she met John Harrison Surratt. She was 16 or 19 and he was 26. An orphan, he was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm. He was a bad seed, and had fathered at least one bastard child by the time he met Mary. Nonetheless, they wed in August 1840. John purchased a mill in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and the couple moved there. The Surratts had three children over the next few years: Isaac (born 1841), Elizabeth Susanna (nicknamed "Anna", born 1843), and John, Jr. (born 1844).The Neales had already given John a portion of their film, but in 1843 he purchased another 236 acres of land ("Foxhall") from his father near where Wheeler Road and Owens Road in D.C. is today. Richard Neale died in September 1843, and a month later John purchased 119 acres of land adjoining Foxhall. The Surratts moved into Mrs. Neale's house in the District of Columbia in 1845, but Sarah Neale and died in August. John's behavior deteriorated over the next few years: He drank heavily, failed to pay debts, and had an increasingly volatile and violent temper.The Neale farmhouse burned to the ground in 1851, and Mary moved into the home of her cousin, Thomas Jenkins, in Waterloo. John didn't live with them, instead working a construction gang on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Despite already owning more than 650 acres of farmland, John purchased 200 more acres near Waterloo, and by 1853 had constructed a tavern and an inn there. When Mary refused to move into the new residence, John sold both the Neale farm and Foxhall in May to pay debts and she was forced to move back in with him in December.With the money he earned from the tavern and sale of his other property, John Surratt bought a townhouse at 541 H Street in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants.The area round the tavern was officially named Surrattsville in 1854. The community did not amount to much -- just the tavern, a post office (inside the tavern), a forge, and a dozen or so houses (some of them log cabins). But John Surratt quickly built up his family's holdings by selling off land and building a carriage house, corn crib, general store, forge, granary, gristmill, stable, tobacco curing house, and wheelwright's shop at Surratt's Tavern. The family by now was making enough money to send all three children to nearby Roman Catholic boarding schools. But as John's drinking worsened, so did the family's debts. John sold another 120 acres of land in 1856, and then most of the family's slaves. More land was sold, and a mortgage taken out on the D.C. townhouse.The Civil War began on April 12, 1861. Although Maryland remained part of the United States (martial law in the state prevented it from seceding), but the Surratts were Confederate sympathizers and their tavern was being used as a "safe house" for Confederate spies. Isaac Surratt enlisted in the Confederate States Army and John Jr. moved back home and became a courier for the Confederate Secret Service, moving messages, cash, and contraband back and forth across enemy lines.John Surratt collapsed suddenly and died in August 1862 from a stroke. The family owned only two middle-age male slaves, but Mary's management of the estate raised this to six slaves in just two years. Nonetheless, Mary discovered that her husband left many unpaid debts. Several of her slaves ran away and Mary tired of running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without her son's help.Surratt began moving her belongings into the D.C. townhouse in October 1864, and on December 1 leased the Surrattsville tavern in Surrattsville to former D.C. policeman and Confederate sympathizer John M. Lloyd for $500 a year. She began advertising for tenants shortly after moving into the city.The Surratt boardinghouse quickly became a hotbed of Confederate activity -- and a plot of kidnap, and then kill, Abraham Lincoln. Louis J. Weichmann moved into Mary Surratt's boarding house on November 1, 1864. On December 23, 1864, Dr. Samuel Mudd introduced John Surratt, Jr. to John Wilkes Booth, and Booth recruited him into his plot to kidnap Lincoln. Other Confederate agents began frequenting the boarding house. Booth visited the boarding house many times over the next few months, sometimes at Mary Surratt's request.George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell also boarded at the townhouse for short periods. Atzerodt, a friend of John Jr.'s and Booth's and a co-conspirator in the kidnap plot visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865. He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865 (whether one night or several is unclear, as sources differ). Lewis Powell posed as a Baptist preacher and stayed at the boarding house for three days in March 1865. David Herold also called at the home several times.As part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, John Surratt, Atzerodt, and Herold hid two Spencer carbines, ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville with Lloyd's help. On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to the tavern. She said she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor. But according to Lloyd, Surratt made the trip to tell him to get the "shooting irons" ready to be picked up. On April 14, Mary Surratt once again visited the tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt. Shortly before she left, Booth visited her, giving her a package (binoculars) to give to Lloyd. He also told Lloyd that someone would pick them up later that evening. Surratt gave the field glasses to Lloyd and once again told him to have the "shooting irons" ready for pick-up (Booth and Herold would pick up the rifles and binoculars that evening as they fled Washington after Lincoln's assassination.) Lloyd repaired a broken spring on Mrs. Surratt's wagon before she left.Lincoln was shot at about 9:45 PM on April 14.Around 2 A.M. on April 15, 1865, the D.C. police visited the Surratt boarding house, seeking John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt. Mary lied and said her son had been in Canada for two weeks. (Her lie later was used as evidence that she knew her son was involved in the Lincoln assassination.) By April 17, it was clear to military and civilian police that the Surratt boardinghouse had been a hotbed of activity regarding Lincoln's murder. Federal soldiers arrived late that evening to arrest everyone found there. They discovered a hidden photo of Booth, pictures of Confederate leaders, a pistol, a mold for making bullets, and percussion caps. As Mary Surratt was being arrested, Lewis Powell appeared at her door in disguise. The soldiers asked him what he was doing there, and although it was nearly midnight he claimed he was there to dig a ditch. Surratt denied knowing him, later explaining that she was so blind that she didn't recognize a man standing a few feet from her.Mary Surratt was held at the Old Capitol Prison (the U.S. Supreme Court is located there now) before being transferred to the Washington Arsenal (now Ft. Leslie J. McNair) on April 30. She began to suffer menstrual bleeding, and became weak during her detention. (John Surratt, Jr. was in Elmira, New York, at the time of the assassination, and fled to Canada to avoid arrest).The trial of the alleged conspirators -- Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, Surratt, Dr. Mudd, and others -- began on May 9. A military tribunal heard the case because government officials thought that its more lenient rules of evidence would enable the court to get to the bottom of what was then perceived by the public as a vast conspiracy. But because the writ of habeas corpus had been suspended by Congress during the war, there would be no appeal.Surratt was given special consideration during the trial due to her illness and gender. In the courtroom, she sat apart from the others, she was never manacled, and she was permitted a bonnet, fan, and veil. As her illness worsened, she was moved to a larger and more comfortable prison cell.Powell's arrival at her boarding house three days after the president's murder was critical evidence against her, but most of their case rested on the testimony of just two men -- John Lloyd and Louis Weichmann. Lloyd testified regarding the hiding of the carbines, and the two "shooting irons" conversations he had with Mrs. Surratt. Weichmann testified that Mrs. Surratt knew the co-conspirators intimately, had met privately with them many times over several months, corroborated that she and Lloyd had met (although he could not corroborate the "shooting irons" statements), saw Booth give her the package of binoculars, and attested that she'd turned the package over to Lloyd.Other prosecution witnesses corroborated Weichmann's testimony. The defense strategy tried impeach Lloyd (as a drunkard) and Weichmann (as a Confederate spy). The defense also called numerous character witnesses, who testified about Mary's loyalty to the Union, the innocent nature of her trips to the tavern, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness.The trial ended on June 28, 1865. Surratt was so ill the last four days that she was permitted to stay in her cell.The military tribunal deliberated for two days. On June 30, the nine generals voted to find Mary Surratt guilty and they sentenced her to death. The sentence was announced publicly on July 5. Afterward, Powell insisted Mary Surratt was innocent, but Atzerodt bitterly implicated her even further in the conspiracy.Anna Surratt pleaded repeatedly for her mother's life with Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt and President Andrew Johnson, but they both refused to see her. Johnson said that Surratt had "kept the nest that hatched the egg".Surratt was attended day and night by two Catholic priests (Jacob Walter and B.F. Wiget) and her daughter Anna for the last two days of her life. Her menstrual problems worsened, and she was in deep pain and suffered such severe cramps (for which she was given painkillers). Shortly before noon on July 7, Mary Surratt was taken from her cell and allowed to sit in a chair near the entrance to the courtyard. She and the other condemned were escorted into the prison yard and atop the gallows at 1:15 P.M. Each prisoner's ankles and wrists were bound by manacles. Either weak from her illness or swooning in fear (perhaps both), Surratt had to be supported by two soldiers and her priests while standing and listening to the order of execution. White cloth bound each prisoner's arms to their sides, and their ankles and thighs together. Surratt and the others were allowed to sit. Fathers Jacob and Wiget prayed over her, and held a crucifix to her lips. The noose was put in place, and a white bag was placed over the head of each prisoner. The prisoners stood, and moved forward a foot or two to stand over the trap doors. Mary Surratt's last words were "Please don't let me fall."Surratt and the others stood on the drop for about 10 seconds, and then soldiers knocked out the supports holding the drops in place. Surratt, who had moved forward enough to barely step onto the drop, lurched forward and slid partway down the drop -- her body snapping tight at the end of the rope, swinging back and forth. Her death appeared to be the easiest, as no sign of struggle was seen from her. The others weren't so lucky. Atzerodt's stomach heaved once and his legs quivered, and then he was still. Herold and Powell struggled for nearly five minutes, strangling to death. More than 1,000 people watched her execution.Upon examination, the military surgeons determined that no one's neck had been broken by the fall. Her manacles and cloth bindings were removed, but not the white execution mask. She was buried in a plain pine coffin. Her name was written on a piece of paper and inserted in a glass vial which was hung around her neck. Her coffin and the others were buried against south prison wall in shallow graves, just a few feet from the gallows. A white picket fence marked the burial site. (The site is now a tennis court.)In 1867, the War Department decided to tear down the portion of the Washington Arsenal where the bodies of Surratt and the other executed conspirators lay. On October 1, 1867, the coffins were disinterred and reburied in Warehouse No. 1 at the Arsenal, with a wooden marker placed at the head of each grave. John Wilkes Booth's body lay alongside them. Anna Surratt unsuccessfully asked for her mother's body for four years. In February 1869, Edwin Booth asked President Johnson for the body of his brother. Johnson agreed to turn the body over to the Booth family, and on February 8 Surratt's body was turned over to the Surratt family. Mary Surratt was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 1869. (John M. Lloyd is buried 100 yards from her grave in the same cemetery.)Anna Surratt was left mentally unbalanced by her mother's execution, and she died in 1904. John Surratt, Jr. eventually returned to the United States, was tried for his crimes, and found not guilty. He married and lived in Baltimore near his sister, Anna, and bachelor brother Isaac. Isaac died in 1907. Isaac and Anna were buried on either side of their mother in unmarked graves at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. John Jr. died in 1916 and was buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore.Mary Surratt's grave was marked initially with a rectangular reddish stone which read "Mrs. Surratt". This headstone was defaced and deteriorated by the 1960s. In 1968, Harrison Weymouth (a descendant of the famous Snowden family of Prince George's County) obtained permission to erect a new headstone. A brass plaque was affixed to the front, which read: "Mary Eugenia Jenkins Surratt. Widow from Surrattsville, Prince George's County, Maryland, swept by events and emotions surrounding the assassination of Lincoln from obscurity to the limelight of a military trial and inglorious death on a scaffold, and whose guilt in the conspiracy is still questioned." The pieces of the original marker were given to the Surratt House Museum.This ostentatious plaque was removed at some point in the 1980s or 1990s by the Surratt Society. So was the nearby shrine, which had yet another plaque, with a poetic inscription.Mary Surratt's boarding house still stands, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Citizens interested in Mary Surratt formed the Surratt Society. The Surrattsville tavern and house are historical sites (the Surratt House Museum) run today by the Surratt Society. |
| 撮影日 | 2014-07-18 09:13:32 |
| 撮影者 | Tim Evanson , Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | Washington, District of Columbia, United States 地図 |
| カメラ | NIKON D7100 , NIKON CORPORATION |
| 露出 | 0.008 sec (1/125) |
| 開放F値 | f/5.6 |
| 焦点距離 | 45 mm |