Erica Woods
HIS 2101
S. Smith, Instructor November 3, 2014 The Conspirator: One bullet killed the President, but not one man. The Conspirator was directed by Robert Redford. It was released in the United States on November 3, 2010. The Conspirator is the true story of the only female charged as a conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Mary Surratt. Seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. Mary Surratt owned a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the attacks. Frederick Aiken defended Surratt before a military tribunal. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realized his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and prisoner in order to capture her son, the only conspirator that had escaped a manhunt. He later turned himself in after his mom was executed. The Conspirator had a few scenes that were not accurate. Overall, this movie is historically accurate because after John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, he was taken to a house across the street from the theater to be cared for, four of the captured conspirators were executed by hanging, and the trial by military tribunal was deemed unconstitutional. On the late evening of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth snuck into the viewing box where President Abraham Lincoln and others watched a play at Ford’s Theater. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head at a close range. The President was moved across the street to a gentleman’s home where he was pronounced dead the following morning. According to Lincoln’s family physician, Dr. Robert King Stone in a statement he had made during the trial, “I was sent for by Mrs. Lincoln immediately after the assassination. I arrived there in a very few moments. . . . [I] found that the President had been removed from the theatre to the house of a gentleman living directly opposite the theatre, had been carried into the back room of the residence, and was there placed upon a bed. I found a number of gentlemen, citizens, around him. . . .” In the move, President Lincoln is carried out of Ford’s Theater and taken across the street. A man comes out of a door and says, “in here,” so they carried Lincoln inside to a back room and laid him down on a bed. There were so many people all around the room and inside the house. This scene from the movie is historically accurate. According to an article of what happened in Lincoln’s library, at Ford Theater that night, “Lincoln had no pulse, but once Charles Leale, an army surgeon got to him, and removed a blood clot, his breathing improved. Lincoln was in a deep coma, and was moved across the street, however not much could be done to save him. The next day, at 7:22 am Lincoln was pronounced dead.” Another reason why I think this movie is historically accurate is because four of the conspirators that were captured were executed by hanging. On June 29th, 1865, Mrs. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler, and Samuel Arnold were found guilty of being a part of the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. They were executed by hanging. In the movie, they sent letters to Mrs. Surratt’s daughter, Anna, and a family priest to give to her son that she would be hung for her crimes. Four of the conspirators that were found guilty were sentenced to be hanged at Washington Penitentiary on July 7th, 1865. In the picture, you can see that four conspirators were hung including Mary Surratt, Lewis Payne Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. They were hooded and had a noose placed around their necks. The movie did not go in detail on if any of the victims struggled or died quickly. While looking up facts on Lincoln’s assassination and the trial, I found in a couple of excerpts that Mrs. Surratt and Herold died instantly and the other two struggled. In the ending of the movie, it was stated that Mary Surratt became the first women to be executed by the federal government. According to Spartacus Educational it states, “Five out of the nine members of the Military Commission, recommended that Mrs. Surratt be shown mercy "due to her sex and age.” President Andrew Johnson was later to say he was never told this and he gave the order to hang the woman who he pointed out "kept the nest that hatched the egg.”” I believe that this scene in the movie was factual according to history. Lastly, I believe that this movie is historically accurate because in the film, a military tribunal tried Mary Surratt, and some of her defenders believed that the tribunal was unconstitutional. Acting President Andrew Johnson ordered that the conspirators to be tried by a military tribunal. According to an Order of the President, signed by Andrew Johnson: That the persons implicated in the murder of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to assassinate other officers of the Federal Government at Washington City, and their aiders and abettors, are subject to the jurisdiction of, and lawfully triable before, a Military Commission. The image below shows the military commission for the trial. In the movie, Reverdy Johnson, who was initially defending Mary Surratt, was talking to Aiken on the steps of the Capital. In the movie he stated, “Military trying a civilian is an atrocity.” The definition of atrocity is an appalling or atrocious act, situation, or object, especially an act of unusual or illegal cruelty inflicted by an armed force on civilians or prisoners. The Sixth Amendment in the United States Constitution, states that all citizens have the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed. Mary Surratt was not granted a fair trial because the government violated her constitutionally protected rights. At the end of the movie, the film showed after the execution of the conspirators, John Surratt turning himself in. The ending credits of the movie, it stated that John Surratt was tried by a civil court and the result case was a hung jury, and the government finally dropped the charges. In conclusion, despite some of the flaws that were in the movie, it is historically accurate because after Lincoln was shot by Booth he was taken to a house across the street from the theater to be cared for, four of the captured conspirators were executed by hanging, and trial by military tribunal was deemed unconstitutional. I thought the movie was actually good. It was the title of the movie that made me wants to watch it and research it. I am into movies and shows about conspiracies dealing with assassinations or any high profile case. Although The Conspirator is about two hours long in length, it was very interesting. I was always told that John Wilkes Booth was the only person that was a part of the Lincoln Assassination; so to watch a movie that basically tells you what really happened, is considered a good movie in my opinion. I recommend everyone to watch this movie to get the view point of the only woman that was a part of the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

Bibliography

UMKC School of Law. "commissionphoto." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/commissionphoto.html.

National Archives and Records Administration. "Eyewitness." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=13.

Welcome to A Lincoln Library. "Lincoln Assassination." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.alincoln-library.com/lincoln-assassination.shtml.

Spartacus Educational. "Mary Surratt." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://spartacus-educational.com/USACWsurratt.htm.

LII / Legal Information Institute. "Sixth Amendment | Constitution | US Law." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment.

UMKC School of Law. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/hanginglarge.jpg.

Bos, J.D., Carole D. "Conspirator - Mary Surratt - EXECUTION of MARY SURRATT." AwesomeStories.com. Accessed October 22, 2014. https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/EXECUTION-of-MARY-SURRATT-Conspirator-Mary-Surratt.

UMKC School of Law. "Presidential Order Establishing a Military Commission to Try the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators and Opinion of the Attorney General Concerning such Order." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/commissionorder.html.

Redford, Robert. The Conspirator. 2010. Film.

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[ 1 ]. The Conspirator, Robert Redford, November 3, 2010, October 10, 2014.
[ 2 ]. National Archives and Records Administration. "Eyewitness." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=13.
[ 3 ]. Welcome to A Lincoln Library. "Lincoln Assassination." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.alincoln-library.com/lincoln-assassination.shtml.
[ 4 ]. UMKC School of Law. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/hanginglarge.jpg.
[ 5 ]. Bos, J.D., Carole D. "Conspirator - Mary Surratt - EXECUTION of MARY SURRATT." AwesomeStories.com. Accessed October 22, 2014. https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/EXECUTION-of-MARY-SURRATT-Conspirator-Mary-Surratt.
[ 6 ]. Spartacus Educational. "Mary Surratt." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://spartacuseducational.com/USACWsurratt.htm.
[ 7 ]. The Conspirator, Robert Redford, November 3, 2010, October 10, 2014
[ 8 ]. UMKC School of Law. "Presidential Order Establishing a Military Commission to Try the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators and Opinion of the Attorney General Concerning such Order." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/commissionorder.html.
[ 9 ]. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/commissionphoto.html
[ 10 ]. The Conspirator, Robert Redford, November 3, 2010, October 10, 2014
[ 11 ]. LII / Legal Information Institute. "Sixth Amendment | Constitution | US Law." Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment.
[ 12 ]. The Conspirator, Robert Redford, November 3, 2010, October 10, 2014