Lewis Powell: The conspirator who was "different."

[L Verge]

Very good points, Scott. I have based my thoughts on how devout Mrs. Surratt was on stories that have come down through the family. As we know, at 12 years of age, she went across the Potomac River as an Episcopalian (in a long line of Episcopalians) to be educated by the Sisters of Charity in Alexandria, Virginia. When she came back a few years later, she began converting her entire family to Catholicsm. Only her younger brother refused to convert.

We have no evidence that she convinced her husband to convert - either before or after their marriage. All evidence points to them being married outside the church. I have had their great-grandchildren tell me that Mr. Surratt never converted, hated the Catholic Church, and was not buried in blessed ground. We know from her letters to a priest that it was not a happy marriage - and the two things that stand out are his drinking and his refusal to take her to church. Also, she had to turn to the church to get her sons any education. It appears that Mr. Surratt did pay the bills for daughter Annie to be educated in Bryantown.

Near the end of her life, Mrs. Neale (Mr. Surratt's foster - and maybe real - mother) converted to the Catholic faith also. The priest made a note, however, found by James O. Hall, to the effect that he didn't know if the conversion would work since she had been a Protestant for so long. Finally, when she did move to D.C., it appears that Mrs. Surratt took every advantage of attending services.

I will agree that her attorneys had to call on priests to testify to her devotion to the church. They would have been stupid not to have. I also think that Frs. Wiget and Walter contributed to that personification in attempt to spare the Church some embarrassment. Likewise, John Brophy of Gonzaga College was a real apostle in proclaiming her innocence based on her religioius duties.

It has been a few years since I read Kenneth Zanca's book on Mary Surratt and the Catholic Church, but I would recommend it to those who want to pursue the religious angle. And, Scott, you are quite right that the whole issue goes back to exactly which side God is on in any war between Christians -- and other religions that believe in a Supreme Being.

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Forgot to add one juicy detail: Most of us know that the Surratts had two sons, but Mr. Surratt had three. A few months after his marriage to Mary (she was 17, he 27), he was hauled into court by another woman on bastardy charges. It was Mary who insisted on the boy being baptized in the Catholic Church.