Where was John Surratt on April 14, 1865 ?

[John Fazio]

(01-18-2018 07:35 PM)L Verge Wrote:  "Why would your grandfather have done that?" Not sure what you mean by that question.

All I can tell you, John, is that my grandmother, Laura Huntt (b. 1874), told me that the family story was that Mrs. Surratt was known to them and that she visited T.B.'s blacksmith shop after the one in Surrattsville closed down (probably because of her husband's death and debts). Great-grandpa said that Mrs Surratt was not the "proper" lady and would rant and rave about the black-hearted Lincoln and offer money to anyone who would kill him. He was never questioned by troops except to be asked if he had heard riders during the night - and he had - but the troops never told him what had happened. John Chandler Thompon, who ran the T.B. Hotel (tavern) across the field was the one that relayed the news. Thompson did testify at the trial about Herold's March 17 stay at his hotel, however.

Mr. Huntt also said that he offered condolences to Mrs. Surratt's younger brother after the execution and that James Archibald Jenkins pretty much scoffed it off and declared that his sister knew exactly what she was doing and deserved what she got.

I should also mention that Mr. Huntt did not own any slaves. He married a Methodist abolitionist from the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1860, and they were living briefly in Baltimore City during the April riots there in 1861. However, his father and brothers still owned slaves on the family plantation about three miles from T.B.; and my great-great-grandfather impoverished himself paying bounties to keep his sons out of the war. He would not have his sons fighting for the Union - especially after Lincoln had, at first, promised that Marylanders would not have to take up arms against the South if the state remained in the Union. Then came the drafts...

Laurie:

I had asked the question because I thought you were being facetious, not literal.

Thank you for this information. Particularly interesting is the corroboration of Mrs. Surratt's offers to have Lincoln killed and also the younger brother's attitude. I am, as you know, satisfied of her guilt. But I still believe that Johnson should have spared her life. In the debate as to who was lying, Holt or Johnson, I believe the evidence points to Johnson.

John