The Surratt Courier

[wpbinzel]

The November/December 2022 issue of The Surratt Courier is now available on the Surratt Society's website. This edition features articles about the plan to abduct Lincoln; delving into Booth's diary; how were the rewards distributed after the capture of the conspirators; and the last Lincoln assassination suspect. It may be viewed by anyone who is interested at: https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...d1be78.pdf

[wpbinzel]

The January/February 2023 issue of The Surratt Courier has been posted on the Surratt Society's website: http://www.surrattmuseum.org . The direct link to the issue is: https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...ad93cb.pdf . Its perspective is on lesser known information about members of the Surratt family, including John Surratt, Sr.; Isaac Surratt; and Anna Surratt. Anyone who is interested is welcomed to visit the website to read the current and recent issues.

[Dennis Urban]

Today also marks the third anniversary of the passing of Laurie Verge. She is greatly missed and is still quoted on this forum. We know so much more because of her. May she never be forgotten.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Yes, Dennis!

[Anita]

I still engage with Laurie while reading her posts and articles in the Surratt Courier. Laurie's here with us. Yes, as Dennis says, she is greatly missed and we know so much more because of her.

[wpbinzel]

As I said to some friends as we noted the third anniversary of her passing, Laurie's spirit and the history she instilled in all of us lives on, and we do our best to carry it forward. I find great comfort in that. I miss Laurie, but will forever be grateful that I knew her. I am not sure that there is a higher compliment one can pay.

[wpbinzel]

The March/April 2023 issue of The Surratt Courier has been posted on the Surratt Society's website ( http://www.surrattmuseum.org ) and focuses on eyewitness accounts of Lincoln's assassination. It is an open website and available to all.

[wpbinzel]

The May/June 2023 issue of The Surratt Courier has been posted and is available to all at https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...f29e89.pdf

[Steve]

Thanks Bill!

[wpbinzel]

The July/August 2023 Surratt Courier has been posted, featuring an article written by Laurie Verge (whom we all miss) on Mary Surratt. The direct link is:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...e9235d.pdf

[Dennis Urban]

(08-31-2023 07:32 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  The July/August 2023 Surratt Courier has been posted, featuring an article written by Laurie Verge (whom we all miss) on Mary Surratt. The direct link is:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...e9235d.pdf

Bill, what a wonderful presentation by Laurie 10 years ago. I keep rereading it to see what I missed. To wit, in the middle of page 8 Laurie makes reference to compiling all the conspirator's statements into a single book. She says she started to do just that with information from James O. Hall. Do you know if that compilation was ever completed and, if so, is it available. Hope you know of this.

[RJNorton]

(09-15-2023 01:17 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  

(08-31-2023 07:32 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  The July/August 2023 Surratt Courier has been posted, featuring an article written by Laurie Verge (whom we all miss) on Mary Surratt. The direct link is:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...e9235d.pdf

Bill, what a wonderful presentation by Laurie 10 years ago. I keep rereading it to see what I missed. To wit, in the middle of page 8 Laurie makes reference to compiling all the conspirator's statements into a single book. She says she started to do just that with information from James O. Hall. Do you know if that compilation was ever completed and, if so, is it available. Hope you know of this.

Dennis, I can tell you it was indeed completed as I bought a copy many, many years ago. It's entitled "From the War Department Files: Statements Made by the Alleged Lincoln Conspirators Under Examination 1865." I do not know if it's still available from the museum. (At least I think this is the booklet you are referencing.)

[wpbinzel]

(09-15-2023 01:17 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  

(08-31-2023 07:32 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  The July/August 2023 Surratt Courier has been posted, featuring an article written by Laurie Verge (whom we all miss) on Mary Surratt. The direct link is:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...e9235d.pdf

Bill, what a wonderful presentation by Laurie 10 years ago. I keep rereading it to see what I missed. To wit, in the middle of page 8 Laurie makes reference to compiling all the conspirator's statements into a single book. She says she started to do just that with information from James O. Hall. Do you know if that compilation was ever completed and, if so, is it available. Hope you know of this.

Dennis - Roger is correct. The transcripts were hand-typed by Laurie (who had to decipher Mr. Hall's handwriting) and published. It was available at the book/gift shop at the Surratt House Museum, but the Joint County Commission that owns the Museum has decided to go in a different direction away from the relevance of the House in the saga of Lincoln's assassination, so I doubt that it is still available there. No promises, but I will see if I can find a copy for you. It is my recollection that most of the statements were also included in The Evidence by Ed Steers and Bill Edwards.

(And OBTW, on Tuesday, September 19th, at 7:00 p.m. PACIFIC Time, I am giving a presentation to the Los Angeles Civil War Round Table via Zoom, entitled "Mary Surratt and the Lincoln Assassination -- Innocent or Guilty?" It is a presentation that Laurie personally asked me to develop when she could no longer physically get to locations to speak. My understanding is that the LACWRT Zoom meetings are open to all who are interested, and once I get the Zoom link, I will post it.)

[Dennis Urban]

(09-15-2023 08:17 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  

(09-15-2023 01:17 PM)Dennis Urban Wrote:  

(08-31-2023 07:32 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  The July/August 2023 Surratt Courier has been posted, featuring an article written by Laurie Verge (whom we all miss) on Mary Surratt. The direct link is:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/_files/ugd...e9235d.pdf

Bill, what a wonderful presentation by Laurie 10 years ago. I keep rereading it to see what I missed. To wit, in the middle of page 8 Laurie makes reference to compiling all the conspirator's statements into a single book. She says she started to do just that with information from James O. Hall. Do you know if that compilation was ever completed and, if so, is it available. Hope you know of this.

Dennis - Roger is correct. The transcripts were hand-typed by Laurie (who had to decipher Mr. Hall's handwriting) and published. It was available at the book/gift shop at the Surratt House Museum, but the Joint County Commission that owns the Museum has decided to go in a different direction away from the relevance of the House in the saga of Lincoln's assassination, so I doubt that it is still available there. No promises, but I will see if I can find a copy for you. It is my recollection that most of the statements were also included in The Evidence by Ed Steers and Bill Edwards.

(And OBTW, on Tuesday, September 19th, at 7:00 p.m. PACIFIC Time, I am giving a presentation to the Los Angeles Civil War Round Table via Zoom, entitled "Mary Surratt and the Lincoln Assassination -- Innocent or Guilty?" It is a presentation that Laurie personally asked me to develop when she could no longer physically get to locations to speak. My understanding is that the LACWRT Zoom meetings are open to all who are interested, and once I get the Zoom link, I will post it.)

Thank you Roger and Bill. I am sure that at one time or another I've read all the statements of the conspirators but it would be nice to have them all in one document for reference. Laurie's publication was probably a small and limited one. I did check Abe Books but they did not have one. Thanks for checking for a copy of the transcriptions.

Bill, please do let us know the link to your 9/19 Zoom presentation. I'm sure this presentation will interest the forum members.

[wpbinzel]

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Mary Surratt — Innocent or Guilty?
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
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Mary Surratt — Innocent or Guilty?
In 1865, Mary Surratt was tried, and convicted by a military tribunal, as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and was hanged—thus becoming the first woman ever to be executed by the federal government. Those events remain controversial to this day. Who was Mrs. Surratt? What was her role? Why was she charged as a conspirator, and tried by a military tribunal? Was she innocent, or guilty? Attend our meeting, and Bill Binzel will answer these questions, and more.


William P. Binzel
William P. Binzel is a native of southcentral Ohio, who has resided in the Washington, DC area for more than forty years. A retired attorney, he spent twelve years on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, eleven years in the financial services sector with MasterCard International, and ten years as general counsel, and executive vice president, of an educational nonprofit foundation focused on financial literacy. Mr. Binzel’s undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin is in U.S. History. A life-long student of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and the Lincoln assassination, Bill is President of the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, and Vice President of the Surratt Society (an organization that supports research into Lincoln’s death and related topics). He is an editor and contributor of articles to The Surratt Courier. He served as historic editor of The North Star – Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, published earlier this year by Random House. He is a docent at the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum near Bryantown, MD; has served as a docent at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, MD; and is a narrator of the Surratt Society’s extensive tour of the twelve-day escape route of John Wilkes Booth from Ford’s Theatre to the Garrett’s farm in Caroline County, VA.