Mary Surratt

Rare card · No. 55845

Mary Elizabeth Surratt (née Jenkins; May 4, 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Sentenced to death by hanging, she became the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government. Surratt maintained her innocence until her death, and the case against her was and remains controversial. She was the mother of John Surratt, who was later tried in the conspiracy, but was not convicted. Born in Waterloo, Maryland in the 1820s, she attended school in Alexandria, Virginia. She wed John Harrison Surratt in 1840 and had three children with him. An entrepreneur, John became the owner of a tavern, an inn, and a hotel. The Surratts were sympathetic to the Confederate States of America and often hosted fellow Confederate sympathizers at their tavern. Upon her husband's death in 1862, Surratt had to manage his estate. Tired of doing so without...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain