The assassination of President Lincoln occurred on April 14th, 1865. As soon as the next day when he passed away, federal agents were on the move to find the supporters that helped John Wilkes Booth in this entire undertaking. This heinous crime had to be solved and individuals had to be put responsible and put on trial. Over the next two weeks, agents across Washington D.C., Maryland and northern Virginia scoured the fields and local communities for any leads. In the end, hundreds of people were questioned, detained, and some were imprisoned in local jails and in the Navy Yards. Overall though, only ten were believed responsible for the death of William Seward, the Secretary of War, and President Abraham Lincoln. The eight that were imprisoned were on the floating prison of the USS Montauk, which is shown below.
One of the individuals was the person that killed Lincoln, and that was John Wilkes Booth himself. Luckily, the 16th New York Cavalry found him and David E. Herold at the Garrett farm in Virginia on April 26th, 1865. Herold surrendered, while Booth was cornered and burnt out as the Cavalry lit the barn on fire. Booth was killed on the farm. As Booth was in Ford’s Theatre killing Lincoln in the presidential room, Mr. Lewis Powell was stabbing and killing Secretary of War, William Stewart. Meanwhile, there were seven other supporters of Booth that had helped him or knew his intentions about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
In conclusion, four of the seven agents under the Confederate Knights of Golden Circle that helped Booth were sentenced to being hanged on July 7, 1865. There were the following supporters:
- 1) David E. Herold – Guide Powell to Secretary of State Seward’s home, then met up with Booth
- 2) Lewis Powell – Killed Secretary of War William Seward in his house
- 3) George Atzerodt – Chickened out from killing Vice President Andrew Jackson – drank all night
- 4) Mary Surratt – Boarding house for assassins, and she was the first woman who was executed ever
However, there were four more persons that were tried and found guilty. However, the death sentence was not given to them. At the same time though, where they were headed to for their life sentence was just as deadly and isolated. The following four individuals were taken to the most deserted and completed in the middle of nowhere fort to be sent to. Fort Jefferson is on the far western islands of the Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas, which is about 70 miles west of Key West.
- 5) Samuel Bland Arnold – childhood friend of Booth – lifetime sentence within the fort
- 6) Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd – set Booth’s fractured left leg, became doctor during Yellow fever
- 7) Michael O’Laughlen – childhood friend of Booth, died of Yellow fever at Fort Jefferson in 1867
- 8) Edman “Ned” Spangler – six years of hard labor at the fort, became friends with Dr. Mudd
Even though the above four people that were sentenced to life in prison at this fort, the ones that were still alive were given pardons under President Andrew Johnson in 1869 and were allowed to leave the fort.