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Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy

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The recently published biography of Mary Surratt, by Elizabeth Steger Trindal, is a chilling study of abuse of power by our United States government at a time when our nation was at war with itself. Mary Surratt, widow of a tavern owner, mother of three, and devote Catholic, was hanged for her alleged role in the assassination of President Lincoln. Step by meticulous step, Trindal walks you through the life passages of Mary Surratt, the places she went, the people she knew, the actions she took, that all led to her conviction, and eventual death by strangulation by the United States government. Was she entirely innocent, was she partially guilty, or was she the cold blooded women that history has known her as? Fifteen years of research are reflected as chapter by chapter the scene is set for the final demise of Mary Surratt. The first thirteen chapters lay the framework for understanding how Mary became associated with key players in the assassination of President Lincoln, including tie-ins with John Wilkes Booth himself through her son. The relationship that John Surratt, Mary's son, sought with John Wilkes Booth may well have been the reason Mary was put to death. A wonderful quality of this book is its readibility despite Trindal's dedication to well-researched, extensively footnoted statements of fact. This book reads as easily as a suspense-filled mystery novel. Trindal skillfully plays on the ultimate question raised by the book. How could such a peaceful, God-fearing, motherly woman be brought under suspicion and eventual conviction for such a brutal crime? The only concern I had while reading this book was a noticeable southern perspective on events and activities of the time. But, in a way, this southern perspective helped me to better understand the passions and motivations of the people portrayed in the book. My accolades go out to Elizabeth Steger Trindal for this thought-provoking work that will make any American historian reevaluate the past and maybe even the present. If you are a history lover, or a civil war or Lincoln buff, then this book is a must for your bookshelf. Not just for its look at one unfortunate woman's life, but for its study of the workings of the nation's political and social arena at the time of this woman's life.

I enjoyed this book very much. It gives a thorough biography of Mrs. Surratt without going into too much clogging detail. Well researched, we get a glimpse of her life before, during and after her trial. The book covers the other alleged conspirators only as they touch her life. Easy to read, it is suitable for those in high school and up. Don't skip the footnotes in the back - there's some good reading to be had there, too.

Elizabeth Trindal has done a masterful job of weaving 15 years of research into an enjoyable read of a sadly unmentionable subject. That being the Federal Governments unconstitutional trial and subsequent murder of Mary Surratt. This could very well be a 19th Century version of Ruby Ridge or Waco. And like Ruby Ridge or Waco as long as the economy grows and my neighborhood is safe, who cares what happens to a few folks on the fringe of my sphere. I care. I believe Mary Surratt was an innocent who became a sacrafice on the federal altar of "make everyone feel good,"justice. Elizabeth Trindal's sad and truthful account of poor Mary only serves to reinforce the old adage,"bad men cannot make good citizens". I recommend you buy, read and pass along this excellent book. Anyone interested in truthful accounts of our Nation's history will not be able to put it down. Elizabeth Trindal certainly deserves an award and our appreciation for this work.

We must keep our history alive and vividly honest. If we forget or rewrite our history we are doomed to repeat it. These are words that we need to live by today more than ever.

If you have been appalled by the tragedy of our government then you must read the story of Mary Surratt. The government has failed before. It seems we learned little from this tragic story.

This book is easily read but best of all it was an "all night" read. I could not put it down until the last tragic moment. This is american history at its best and at its worst.

You will find history, intrigue, mayhem, tragedy, and tons of Civil War info. I hope you'll take the time to read this wonderful book. Enjoy!

This book was very easy to read; however, it should not be taken as a serious, factual review of the subject matter. I appreciate the author indicating when she frequently assumed activities or thoughts by the words she used (e.g., perhaps), but these assumptions as to what could have happened or what someone is thinking (which occurs so often it became annoying) have no place in a serious book on history. It is very evident the author was emphasizing her opinion that Mrs. Surratt was innocent with the wording and punctuation she used (e.g., exclamation marks as points of emphasis).

I may have reached the same opinion as to Mrs. Surratt's innocence; however, recognizing the writer's bias, made it hard for me to take the information in the book objectively and have faith in my own conclusion. There was actually more information about the pain, suffering, and anguish of Mrs. Surratt and her daughter than objective facts. Therefore, after reading this book, it has left me wanting more information to fill in the significant gaps about this conspiracy and Mrs. Surratt's role.

A civilian tried and convicted by a military court--and hanged. How did America do this? Mrs. Trindal, who I am delighted to personally know, answers these questions in her well researched and exquisitely written book. Anyone who enjoys our history, even when it is not "pretty" should read this very easey to read book. The book is exhaustively researched, but reads like a novel--this is a trick that I think is difficult to accomplish, yet somehow this author has done so. Bravo!

Though a fascinating subject, this was a difficult book to finish. There was very little, if anything, new on the subject of Mary Surratt and the degree of her complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The use of "no doubt", "perhaps", and "probably" have no place in a biography purported to be the definitive answer to the question of Mary Surratt's guilt or innocence. The abundance of exclamation points hit a raw nerve, too. Most of us who enjoy reading about history find excitement and fascination without punctuation prompts by the author. Serious readers with even the barest knowledge of the subject should avoid this book. Martha Bricker(mbric@icdc.com) West Point, PA

I had a bad feeling about this book when I saw that the dust jacket on proclaimed the objectivity of a book with the subtitle "An American Tragedy." Objectivity isn't always necessary, and there is nothing wrong with writing a book that promotes a particular point of view, but I suspected that the blurb protested too much (it did.) One reads such a book with a more skeptical eye, especially since other books on the topic contradict important claims.

As an example, one very important issue is whether or not Mary Surratt (hereafter MS) delivered a message from John Booth to John Lloyd in Surrattsville on April 14 about preparing "shooting irons" to be picked up that night. Trindal quotes MS's lawyer Aiken as saying that she could not have, because Booth didn't know that the Lincolns would be at Ford's Theater until it was too late to give the message to MS before she left at 1:30. Trindal does not say how Aiken knew this. According to Anthony S. Pitch's "They Have Killed Papa Dead!": The Road to Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance, p. 85-86, Booth learned that the Lincolns would be at Ford's around midday, which may have given him time to see MS before she left. More importantly, he had found out the previous day, April 13, that the Lincolns had been invited to a performance at Grover's theater on the 14th, and he rented an adjoining box. He could have intended to shoot the President at Grover's on the 14, which gave him plenty of time to deliver the message about "shooting irons." This is confirmed by Edward Steers, Jr. in Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, p. 109. In addition, both books say that George Atzerodt confirmed Booth's message in his discussion with his lawyer; this was not used in the trial. (Pitch, p.88, p. 421, note 55 ; Steers p.141)

This is an extremely tendentious book, in which the author has perhaps tried to be a little too clever. She argues out of both sides of her mouth, undercutting her own reasoning. The book is told from a Southern perspective, sometimes interjecting rather long digressions to justify the Confederacy, as in the discussion of the events leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter. In the hands of a subtler writer, this might be justified as showing the point of view of Southern sympathizers, such as Mary Surratt. It is a little hard to believe, however, that she was privy to the high-level negotiations about the provisioning, or not, of Fort Sumter. And as Atheen M. Wilson commented in her May 29, 2010 review, if the slaves were as happy as Trindal asserts, one cannot imagine why there was a need for Fugitive Slave Law. Surely once any slave had experienced the ghastly life of the free states they would run home on their own accord.

In building this case for the noble Southerner fighting the terrible injustices perpetrated by the North, she is undermining the argument that as a good woman, Mary Surratt would have nothing to do with Lincoln conspiracy. After recounting at some length the horrors inflicted on Southern prisoners of war, she quotes Booth describing his original plan as "purely humane and patriotic in its principles, . . . and legitimate as an act of war." Later she quotes, with apparent approval, Powell's lawyer arguing that his client was acting in a noble fashion for the right as he saw it. In the face of all this, it is absurd to argue that Mary Surratt can't be guilty because of her spotless reputation and undoubted piety. Why wouldn't she, like Booth and Powell, enter into the conspiracy believing that her goals were noble and violence was justified? Anyone with any decent knowledge of history knows that the genuinely pious can be quite violent, perhaps the more so because they are confident of heaven.

I have questions about her presentation of the evidence. Trindal spends a great deal of time talking about Weichmann's perjured betrayal of Mary Surratt, yet she makes great use of his memoir as a source. When she talks about the perjured evidence at the trial, I am expecting to hear that at very least, that he claimed she cleaned and loaded J.W. Booth's derringer for him on April 14. Oddly, while the evidence Trindal presents doesn't seem to demonstrate MS's guilt, it also makes Weichmann's remarks seem to consist mainly of things that Trindal has accepted as factual. I get the same impression here that I got in Samuel Carter's The riddle of Dr. Mudd, that the problem isn't that Weichmann told lies, but that he told inconvenient truths.

This makes me suspect that a lot has been left out. Humorously, Trindal tells us that after being imprisoned, Mary Surratt spotted Weichmann and blew him a kiss, but he ominously ignored her and turned away. "A guilty conscience, perhaps?" (p.133). Then, she cites witness after witness who testify that MS's eyesight was extremely poor and that is why she denied ever having seen Powell. If she couldn't recognize Powell face to face, how could she recognize Weichmann at some distance? Maybe she was hailing a complete stranger who couldn't imagine why some strange woman was blowing him kisses.

Trindal finds it suspicious that it only took the commission one day to reach a verdict when the trial had generated such a mass of evidence. I see nothing sinister in this: the members had, after all, like any jury, had heard all the evidence when it was given, and according to Steers (Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, p.215), had heard the transcript read out the next day. Transcriptions and the like are given to juries for reference, they are not expected to reread all the material in entirety.

Trindal urges the reader to peruse the end-notes, and this is very important. Crucial information is sometimes relegated to them. Indeed, I was often puzzled by the things that she chose to put into the text, as opposed to the notes.

So I am utterly unconvinced that this is reliable and authoritative recounting and interpretation of events. It is certainly poorly argued. One is left to wonder why the government would go to such lengths, allegedly including bribery and torture, to implicate a woman they knew to be innocent, especially since they had seven other suspects; it's not as if they needed a scapegoat. Maybe Mary Surratt is guilty and maybe not, but I'll have to read further to decide. [Added 12/07/2010] There is a book taking the opposite view of Mary Surratt, The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln by Kate Clifford Larson. Another interesting book is: The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt: How They Responded to the Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirator by Kenneth J. Zanca, which does not take a stand as to her guilt or innocence, although it raises some interesting questions.

This is an excellent book. Anyone who is interested in the Civil War era and Abraham Lincoln, will really enjoy this book. Also anyone who studies the law will also find this book fascinating. This book touches on our constitutional rights and how they can be overlooked when a horrible crime has been committed and the government and the people want someone to pay for the crime. Anybody. This is just an excellent book!!!

Mary Surratt is must reading for anyone interested in the humanistic character of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy and of the Civil War era. Modern times seem replete with conspiracy theories. In this exhaustively researched historical novel, Ms. Trindal harks back to one of America's oldest and longest lasting unsolved conspiracy theory that has never lost its grip on the American conscious. Set at a time in which many protections of the Constitution were ignored in the interest of wartime expediency, Ms. Trindal goes beyond dry historical context as she portrays the hearts and souls of the people involved in this tragic event, often drawing from their own words or of those who knew them best. Despite the fact the Union was no longer at war, the first woman executed in our history was denied the basic due process right to a jury of her peers, which may not have found for the government, as a civilian jury did two years later in acquitting the last alleged co-conspirator - Mary Surratt's son. Ms. Trindal draws upon an impressive array of resources, each meticulously end noted, to present the case that while the depth Mary Surratt's knowledge and actions in John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln will continue to be speculative, there is no doubt that her story is truly An American Tragedy.