Seward Attack

[Linda Anderson]

According to George Atzerodt's confession published in From the Pages of the Surratt Courier, Vol One, Atzerodt overheard Booth tell Powell that he had visited a pretty chambermaid at Seward's house and he had "a great mind to give her his diamond pin." Another of Atzerodt's confessions which was published in the National Intelligencer, 7/9/1865, states that "one of Booth's plans to obtain an entrance to the Secretary of State's room was an invention which, if successful, would involve others in his foul acts. He had made the acquaintance of a woman of strong Southern feelings, living not far from Secretary's house, who was to make the acquaintance of a servant who was to be introduced to Booth, and by this means he would learn something of the location of the rooms---. As far as known it failed."

Atzerodt does not say when these meeting or meetings took place. George Robinson, Seward's nurse, told Seward's son Gus, who in turn sent a letter to Col. Welles, that he [Robinson] had seen a man looking like Powell come to Seward's dining room window on the mornings of the 13th and 14th of April asking about the health of the Secretary.

There is a footnote to Gus's letter to Col. Welles, which is published in The Evidence. The footnote states that, "The man who was seen talking with a Seward maid is believed to be Lewis Powell."

So it sounds like Booth had Seward in mind at the very latest on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.