It is now more than twenty-seven years since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,—an event of the greatest importance at the time, not only to the people of the United States, but to the civilized world. The trial of the conspirators by a military commission created the greatest possible interest; and the proceedings and testimony were published from day to day by all of the great newspapers of the country, and read with avidity. The judgment of those who carefully studied the testimony at the time was formed upon a competent knowledge of the facts.
And yet, even then, the fate of the prisoners on trial before the Commission, to be found innocent or guilty according to the evidence, constituted the great point of interest, and thus tended to divert attention from the evidence against the other parties charged not only with being co-conspirators, but as being the instigators of the plot.
Since that time a new generation has come on to the stage of action, and as the official report of the trial by Ben Pittman, published at the time, is in the hands of but comparatively few people, a concise history of this great event, in popular form, but founded on the evidence, seemed to the writer to be due and called for at the present time.
The necessity for this has been emphasized by a recent revival of efforts that have been made from time to time, ever since the execution of the assassins that were condemned to death, to prejudice public sentiment against the government by the assumption of the innocence of one of the parties executed—Mrs. Surratt.
Only a few months since (May 30, 1891), La Salle Institute in New York City was crowded by an audience that came together expecting to hear Cardinal Gibbons and Father Walter review the case of Mrs. Surratt. Neither the cardinal nor the father appeared, but a Mr. Sloane arose and read to the audience a letter from Father Walter on the subject. This letter contained nothing new to those who were familiar with the case at the time of its occurrence. It was substantially the same that was published over his signature shortly after her execution. After stating that he was her confessor, and that his priestly vows did not permit him to reveal the secrets of the confessional, he very calmly and positively states his belief in her entire innocence, basing that belief on what he professes to know. He then relates the efforts he made to get a reprieve and a postponement of her execution for a few days, and expresses the belief that could he have succeeded in this for only ten days he could have saved her life.
He then complains of the manner in which he was treated by the President, Andrew Johnson, and Judge Holt, who referred him back and forth, each to the other, and that between them he could get nothing accomplished.
A story has also been gotten up of a Union soldier who was a member of the conspiracy and knew all of its members and secrets, who affirms the innocence of Mrs. Surratt. The most rational and, at the same time, charitable thing to be said about this story is, that this Union soldier was manufactured for the occasion.
That portion of the press of to-day that inherits the old copper-head animus, greedily publishes all such things as these, and indulges in the wildest latitude of editorial comment and false statements. They have buried all of the members of the Commission but one many times; have followed all of the principal actors in the scene to violent and miserable deaths; and have made it manifest that had the Almighty Ruler of the Universe viewed the matter in their light, and been as swift in his retributions as they would have had him to be, not one who had any connection with the arrest, trial, and execution of the assassins of the great and good President would have been left alive.
They have manifested an especial venom of feeling against the then Secretary of War, Hon. E.M. Stanton, iterating and reiterating the absurd and false statement that he died from the violence of his own hand, being crazed with remorse. Why they should thus select Mr. Stanton as the especial object of their hatred cannot be seen from any connection he had with this case. His part, though important and involving great responsibility, was, in fact, a very subordinate one. He selected the officers to be embraced in the order of detail for the Commission, under the order of the President, that was all. Judge Holt conducted the trial and recorded the proceedings under the President's order, and when he handed that record over to the President his connection with the case ended. President Johnson then held the temporal destiny of this woman, as well as that of all the others convicted, in his own hand. He and he alone was responsible.
From all this it appears that the time has come when a clear, concise history of this conspiracy and trial should be given to the world. To this task the writer has addressed himself, and he offers this volume as the result of his labors. The facts herein narrated in regard to the assassination, as well as to the parts enacted by each of the individual members of the conspiracy, are drawn from the testimony before the Commission. They have been thrown into the form of a connected narrative, and there has been nothing stated as a fact but what is fully sustained by the evidence which formed the basis of the decisions of the Commission. Nothing has been admitted into this narrative but what rests on the specific testimony of unimpeachable witnesses. The author only deems it necessary that the opinion, or belief, of Father Walter, and all others of his persuasion, shall be confronted by the testimony in the case, in order that an intelligent judgment shall be reached. At the time of this trial there were just two classes of people in this country—the friends and the enemies of the government. The former were united and determined in their purpose and effort to preserve and perpetuate the government established by our fathers under the constitution that included in its purpose and provisions the union of the states and made us a nation. The latter were madly bent on its overthrow, and so judged favorably or unfavorably of the occurrences of the times, as they tended to favor or hinder the accomplishment of their purposes. The feelings of both parties had been wrought up to the highest pitch of intensity because the matters at issue had been submitted to the arbitrament of the sword. The result of this appeal was clearly foreshadowed at the time of the assassination of the President, and before the conclusion of the trial of his murderers the cause of the Confederacy had collapsed. The rebellion was virtually overcome. The deep political scheme to give it a new lease of life and bring to its aid new elements of success by the assassinations that had been planned, had been too long delayed, and its execution had become utterly impracticable. The soldiers of the rebellion had fought their fight—a brave and plucky and protracted fight. They realized the hopelessness of their cause and, though greatly disappointed and mortified at their failure, they had the consciousness that they had done all that brave men could do to win success, and so were ready to accept the result, return to their homes, and resume citizenship under the government they were unable to overthrow. Not so with the secret active enemies of the government. They were not willing to accept defeat, but were, nevertheless (happily for the country), in a condition that they could only show their enmity by maligning and villifying the authorities they were unable to overthrow; and of this privilege they fully availed themselves. Thus it has come to pass that the magnitude, scope, and purpose of the assassination conspiracy are unknown to the present generation. All that a large majority of those who have come upon the stage of action since that time know of this, in many respects, one of the most important trials that has ever occurred in our history, is what they have learned through the efforts of these vituperators; and they have never seen it referred to other than as the trial of Mrs. Surratt. The Commission was not called upon to render a decision as to the innocence or guilt of the persons charged by the government with being co-conspirators with John H. Surratt and John Wilkes Booth, who were not in the custody of the government and so not before the Commission; but the government, having assumed the responsibility of charging Jefferson Davis, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, William C. Cleary, Clement C. Clay, George Harper, George Young, and others, with thus conspiring to kill and murder Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Wm. H. Seward, and Ulysses S. Grant, was under the necessity of vindicating its honor and dignity before the world by presenting the evidence in its possession on which its charge was founded. It will be my purpose to present this evidence, and to show the full significance and purpose of the plot, and with whom it originated. Many of the prominent actors in this tragedy have been summoned before a higher tribunal to answer for the deeds done in the body. There we are content to leave them, assured that "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom they have to do," and that there will be no mistakes made in the decisions there rendered. And toward those who yet remain, it is with no feelings of personal enmity that the author shall write. He only knows them as they are revealed in the testimony, and by this he shall endeavor to deal fairly and candidly. They made themselves conspicuous in their connection with public affairs of the greatest importance, and so their acts belong to the public. If they have made a bad record, it is due to the truth of history that their acts shall be fully unfolded. History is a truthful narration of events that have occurred; and its conclusions must be based on a consideration of all of the facts, taken in their proper order and relation to the events. The aim of the writer has been to give a candid and reliable history of the Great Conspiracy as deduced from the evidence before the Commission and to be found in the official report of the proceedings published by Ben Pittman immediately after the trial.
The asperities of the great conflict have been largely obliterated by the many happy years of peace that have intervened since that unhappy period. We have but one country and one flag, which almost all have learned to love as of old. Let us draw wisdom and virtue from the history of the past, learning as well from our errors and mistakes as from our virtues, that we may, by a course of well-doing, gain the favor of Him who holds the destiny of nations in His hands, and who pulls down one and sets another up.
The stability of a popular government must rest on the virtue and intelligence of its people. Our institutions were established on this basis alone, and on this alone can they stand. The divorcement of Church and State by the framers of our constitution was one of the wise conclusions which they drew from the past; but it was no part of their purpose to divorce religion from the State. On the contrary, their politics was a part of their religion and was deduced from the teachings of God's word. Let us beware of the effort of the present time to divorce politics from religion because we rightly divorce the Church from the State.
There is no morality that can make a man a valuable and a reliable citizen of a free state except the morality of the Christian religion as taught in God's word. It is the duty, therefore, of every parent and every teacher to instill into the minds of our youth this Christian morality as a basis for the highest patriotism and noblest citizenship. Let the American flag float over every school-house, and the morality of the Bible be taught with the authority inherent in God's word. Then will the days of assassinations, whether political or religious, come to an end. Owing to a variety of causes, the facts connected with this most important event in our nation's history have been slurred over and obscured. Scarcely one in a thousand of our people to-day have any knowledge of their existence.
The object of the writer will be to revive them and bring them out clearly to the knowledge of all.
T. M. Harris.
Ritchie C. H., W. Va.
