Surratt, Mary Eugenia

Surratt, Mary Eugenia (b. Jenkins)

alleged assassination conspirators; born in Waterloo, Md. Mrs. Surratt was widowed in 1864 and she opened a boarding house in Washington, D.C. It was here that John Wilkes Booth allegedly plotted the assassination of President Lincoln with his colleagues; her young son John, who had served as a message runner for the Confederacy, was alleged to have been involved in some way. Following Lincoln's assassination, John escaped to Canada while his mother was arrested and tried (May 10–June 30, 1865) for participating in the conspiracy. Although she insisted she had no part in the plot, she was hanged on July 7, 1865 (along with three others). John returned to the U.S.A. and was acquitted by a civil court in 1867. He later was a freight agent for the Baltimore Packet Company.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.