Arrest of Atzerodt

[BettyO]

Atzerodt was captured at the home of his cousin, Hartman Richter (no longer standing, unfortunately).

Here is a rather in-depth account of his capture in which he is described as being rather snide, calm and collected! If this is true, then ol' George had a lot more gumption then was previously thought! Another account has him going up to Gettysburg, before going to Richter's!

Unfortunately, for George, if he had this much time on his hands - it's a shame that he didn't alert authorities as to just what was going on and who was involved. It may have saved him from a hemp necktie....

Arrest of Atzerodt, One of Booth’s Accomplices

Atzerodt, the accomplice of Booth, has been captured.

He was taken about 7 o’clock yesterday morning at the residence of his uncle near a village called Germantown, in the upper end of Montgomery County, Maryland, by a company of cavalry under the command of Captain Townsend, and brought to the Relay House which point was reached about 7 o’clock last evening.

Atzerodt is represented as cool and collected, reticent, and when questioned, responded only with a laugh. At the time of his arrest, he was in bed.

Atzerodt arrived here last night about half-past none o’clock, in a special train and in double irons. He was placed in a safe place, the location of which, for prudential reasons, we withhold.

Another Account

At 10:25 last night, the train brought Geo. Andreas Atzerodt and Ernst Hartmann Richter, arrested about 4 o’clock yesterday morning at Richter’s farm, near Middleburgh, P. O. Montgomery County, Maryland. They were received at the depot by Col. T. Ingraham and Captain William N. Wermerskirch, and taken to a safe place. Richter stated that Atzerodt, who was his cousin, slept on the 14th instant at the Pennsylvania House, formerly the Kimmel House, in C Street; that he left Washington on Saturday, and went to Rockville by stage, there hired a buggy, drove to Gettysburg, and then rode on a farmer’s wagon to Kloppersville, where he arrived late at night, and remained till next morning; thence he walked to Richter’s farm.

Atzerodt is twenty-eight years old, five feet five inches in height, has a swarthy completion, and dark hair, moustache and imperial (goatee). He seems to be shrewd and was very reserved in his answers. Richter said that he had not seen him for about three months until he came to his farm on Sunday last.

--- National Daily Republican, April 21, 1865

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

From The National Police Gazette


Do you think that if Atzerodt had gone to the authorities, even after the fact, that he would have been spared the hangman? Perhaps a prison sentence aka Mudd, Spangler, Arnold and O'Laughlen?

[Laurie Verge]

Since the hanging offense appears to have been applied to only those who were in contact with Booth right up to the very night of the assassination, I suspect that George was doomed from the start. There seems to have had to be no contact between the failed kidnapping and after the assassination to be spared execution.

[RJNorton]

I agree with Laurie. He was present at Booth's final meeting, and he knew the plans for the night. All of those who attended that meeting, with the exception of Booth (of course), were hanged. On June 21 Doster read a statement from Atzerodt to the court. In that statement, Atzerodt admitted he was at the final meeting (which he said took place at 8:00 P.M.), and while there he learned of Booth's plan to kill Lincoln that night. He also knew of the plans for Seward. He said he turned down Booth's request for him to kill Johnson. He did not go to the authorities during his "window of opportunity." I am not sure I understand Doster's reasoning in reading this statement of Atzerodt's to the court. I don't think it helped ol' George's chances.

In the statement Doster read to the court, Atzerodt said Booth told him that he would hang anyway, even if he didn't kill Johnson. Booth was right.

[DanielC]

Excellent points by all, and I agree 100% His signature at the Kirkwood House doomed him. It is my understanding there was a written confession by George while he was held at the Relay House???

[RJNorton]

Dan, like many other assassination-related items we have searched for, hasn't that statement been "lost to history?" Certainly there could be another discovery in the future like the one Joan Chaconas made. We can hope. All I have ever seen is that George's statement (if indeed he really gave one) at the Relay House is missing/lost.

[jonathan]

(08-20-2012 04:28 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  In the statement Doster read to the court, Atzerodt said Booth told him that he would hang anyway, even if he didn't kill Johnson. Booth was right.

If Booth actually did say this to Atzerodt, I can't help but wonder if George was aware that it didn't have to be true. As I understand it, had he left the meeting and immediately gone to the authorities and warned them, he could have walked free, or at the very least gotten a much lighter sentence. But I tend to doubt that Atzerodt knew the finer points of that particular law, and instead just accepted Booth's word. For that matter, I guess it's unlikely that Booth knew the finer points of that law either. Of course, this assumes that Atzerodt was telling the truth about that meeting, which I believe is questionable to say the least. It's not very hard to imagine a scenario where the meeting occurs the way George says, then he leaves and tells the authorities what is happening, the attacks are thwarted, and Atzerodt is hailed as a hero. He could have gone down in history as a shining example of recognizing your mistakes before it's too late.

To me, it seems a natural follow up question would concern how much Atzerodt really cared if Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward lived or died. I believe he was under the impression that he was going to benefit financially from the plot, and I have to assume that money was what he cared about above all. If that was the case, it seems even more tragic for George that he apparently didn't know he could still avoid the noose, even at such a late hour. If we believe his account of that last meeting, his attitude was, "I'm not killing anybody. Those guys can do what they want, but I'm not killing anybody.". If this was the case, Atzerodt lost out on every point…..He didn't really care if the targets were attacked or not, he didn't get paid, and he didn't know enough about the law to avoid the noose! That's just tragic.

[BettyO]

Totally tragic all the way around. He simply had all areas of Lady Luck against him....personally, I feel that he should have gotten the same sentence as Spangler, O'Laughlen, Arnold, Mudd, et. al.....

I wonder how much his status as an immigrant was held against him? I have always wondered if he had communication problems, etc.

[jonathan]

(08-21-2012 09:22 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Totally tragic all the way around. He simply had all areas of Lady Luck against him....personally, I feel that he should have gotten the same sentence as Spangler, O'Laughlen, Arnold, Mudd, et. al.....

I wonder how much his status as an immigrant was held against him? I have always wondered if he had communication problems, etc.

I've wondered about the "language barrier" also, as you see it mentioned from time to time. But Atzerodt came to the United States in 1843 or 1844, when he was 8 or 9 years old. Meaning he had lived here at least 20 years when he died. So surely in those 20 years he would have overcome the language barrier. I suppose there's the possibility that, living in Germantown, there was little English spoken. Two things about that bother me though. First, I've been to Germany, and I know that there is a lot of English spoken there, though I don't know if it would have been the same in the mid 1800's, and I don't know if it would have been the case where Atzerodt lived as a boy. Second, it's always been my impression that immigrants tend to be eager to adopt the language, and so it seems like a lot of English would have been spoken while George was growing up, even in Germantown, MD.

[Bill Richter]

My father came here from Germany via Latin America in 1930. He spoke English, but British English. He came in time to speak American English, but he never got rid of his German accent. Unlike some immigrants who basically adapted to this country so much as to "forget" their native tongue, my father prided himself in his ability to speak German to the day he died. But he never really understood the United States. It was his adopted home but never his real home, culturally speaking.

How much Adzerodt "learned" English is problematical. I had him speak heavily accented English with a German grammar base in Last Confederate Heroes. I also wondered if he really understood what was going on around him while in the hands of the authorities. He obviously had some difficulty expressing himself in English. I thought that had a German-speaking officer or lawyer spoken with him his story about the assassination would have made more sense. Those who took notes as he confessed obviously had trouble understanding him.

He was viewed by the authorities as a dumb Dutchman, as they called all Germans incorrectly. He was also viewed as corrupted by Southern society and slavery, as most Yankees believed the average Southerner was in those days. George could be eager to adopt English to get along, but have you-all ever spoken to a native speaker in a foreign country? I have and it can be a formidable barrier, I can guarantee you. Besides not everybody can pick up a foreign language. Take a beginning Spanish class and see.

I have seen people married to Hispanics who would love to communicate with their Hispanic relatives and cannot learn enough Spanish to do so no matter how hard they try. I have taken German (we did not speak it at home since we lived in an English speaking country) and Spanish. I once could think in German, but I never have been able to do that in Spanish and I actually use that in everyday living in Arizona and used it in business. BTEW I took only 16 hours of German in college and 28 hours of Spanish and several refresher courses since.

So George can speak as one likes to believe he can IMO. It is 6 of one and a half dozen of another. But I can say, wearing a cowboy hat rolled Southwestern style, being blond haired and blue eyed and speaking some Spanish will get you really far with Latin women!

[jonathan]

Wouldn't moving here as a child have benefitted Atzerodt in this respect? Isn't it often true that these kinds of things are more easily learned when we're younger? I just find it hard to believe that, after having lived here for most of his life, he would have any kind of real problem with the language. That's not to say he would have understood every word of the courtroom legal-speak and all of the nuances that attorneys use to try and defend their clients, but that's no different than those who were born here. Though I suppose that kind of thing wouldn't have been nearly as bad in those days, or at least I'd like to think not.

[LincolnMan]

Alright Betty (and others)- since we're talking about George being calm and all. Here's something I read somewhere about him that occurred after April 14th but before he was arrested (and please tell me if any of you read it or know about it). Seems George had women on his mind. Poor Georgy. Mind you- if the story is true that means he was calm and collected enough for that-even though he was on the run and involved in the murder of a president!

[Julie-the-Cheesehead]

This was really interesting Betty! Thanks for posting that article!

It seems they got George's age wrong, wasn't he 31 at the time of his death? But it was still interesting how they found him and I agree, it was the signature on the register of the Kirkwood House and also that he was seen in the company of Davey on April 14 (by the horse stable owner) that sealed his fate for execution. I also wish he had done something to help, maybe he might have gotten a lesser sentence if his information helped get Booth sooner.

Hi Betty! I am a newbie on this forum, hi everyone- but I "know" Betty from the interwebs.

[Laurie Verge]

Bill - I can't remember all the details, but I think there is a reference to George visiting a lady near Georgetown before starting his trek to the frontier in Germantown. Ed Steers, where are you? I didn't go on your Atzerodt Escape Tour because of turmoil in my life at that time, but I think this stop of George's was part of that tour.

Wild Bill & Jonathan - I think the language barrier would depend a lot on whether or not the German language was used in the Atzerodt home when George was growing up. We deal with over 2000 children a year at Surratt House and many of them are Hispanic and Spanish is their primary language in the home. We have other children who actually translate to these as the tour goes along - even though they are being mainstreamed in English-speaking classrooms. My daughter is a mentoring teacher, and I know that there is an alphabet phrase for this -- curriculum based on English as the second language.

My opinion is that, even though he was raised in an English-speaking society, he was probably schooled at home via his native German language. He also had a profession that did not require a great deal of conversation and, therefore, did not become fluent in the language to the point where his accent would disappear.

[Rsmyth]

Atzerodt had lunch with Lucinda Metts a family friend on high St. in Georgetown.

[BettyO]

(08-21-2012 02:34 PM)Julie-the-Cheesehead Wrote:  This was really interesting Betty! Thanks for posting that article!

It seems they got George's age wrong, wasn't he 31 at the time of his death? But it was still interesting how they found him and I agree, it was the signature on the register of the Kirkwood House and also that he was seen in the company of Davey on April 14 (by the horse stable owner) that sealed his fate for execution. I also wish he had done something to help, maybe he might have gotten a lesser sentence if his information helped get Booth sooner.

Hi Betty! I am a newbie on this forum, hi everyone- but I "know" Betty from the interwebs.

Hey, Julie! Welcome aboard!! We've missed you and are all glad that you're here! Your old friends as well as new ones welcome you!