Mary Elizabeth Surratt (née Jenkins; 1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

She was convicted primarily due to the testimonies of Lloyd, who said that she told him to have the "shooting irons" ready, and Louis J. Weichmann, who testified about Surratt's relationships with Booth.

[12] Although her father was a nondenominational Protestant and her mother Episcopalian,[3][13][14] Surratt was enrolled in a private Catholic girls' boarding school, the Academy for Young Ladies in Alexandria, Virginia, on November 25, 1835.

[26] Mary Surratt became involved in raising funds to build St. Ignatius Church in Oxon Hill (it was constructed in 1850), but John was increasingly unhappy with his wife's religious activities.

[33] With the money he earned from the tavern and sale of his other property, on December 6, 1853, John Surratt bought a townhouse at 541 H Street ( Now known as 604 H St. 2024)[34] in Washington, D.C., and began renting it out to tenants.

[40] Isaac and John Jr. attended the school at St. Thomas Manor, and Anna enrolled at the Academy for Young Ladies (Mary's alma mater).

[49] The Surratts sold off another 100 acres (40 ha) of land, which enabled Anna to remain at the Academy for Young Ladies and for John Jr. to enroll at St. Charles College, Maryland (a Catholic seminary and boarding school in Ellicott's Mills).

[45][47][59] John Jr. quit his studies at St. Charles College in July 1861 and became a courier for the Confederate Secret Service, moving messages, cash, and contraband back and forth across enemy lines.

[35][76] For example, Larson and Chamlee say that on September 21, 1864, John Surratt wrote to Louis J. Weichmann, observing that the family's plans to move into the city were advancing rapidly "on account of certain events having turned up,"[35][76] perhaps a cryptic reference to either his Confederate activities in general or the conspiracy to kidnap or kill Lincoln.

[76] Chamlee, too, found little economic reason to move into the city and concluded that it would have been more profitable to rent the H Street boarding house entirely to lodgers.

[87] Atzerodt, a friend of both John Jr. and Booth and a co-conspirator in the plot[93] to kidnap Lincoln, visited the boarding house several times in the first two months of 1865.

[90][96] As part of the plot to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, John,[clarification needed] Atzerodt, and Herold hid two Spencer carbines, ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville.

[113] (It is possible that either James L. Maddox, property supervisor at Ford's Theatre and a friend of Booth's, or actor John Matthews, both of whom may have known about the plot to attack government officials, mentioned Surratt's name.

)[113] Historian Otto Eisenschiml has argued that David Herold's attempt to steal a horse from John Fletcher may have led them to the Surratt boarding house,[114] but at least one other scholar has called the link uncertain.

[150] The federal government initially attempted to find legal counsel for her and the others, but almost no attorneys were willing to take the job for fear they would be accused of disloyalty to the Union.

[125][152] A member of the military commission trying the conspirators challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt, as he had objected to requiring loyalty oaths from voters in the 1864 presidential election.

[128][157] Weichmann also testified at length about the Surratt family's ties to the Confederate spy and courier rings operating in the area and their relationships with Atzerodt and Powell.

[128] Finally, he told the military tribunal about the general excitement in the boarding house in March 1865 after the failed attempt to kidnap Lincoln.

[161][162] Numerous witnesses were called at the end of the defense's case to testify to her loyalty to the Union, her deep Christian faith, and her kindness.

[165] Bingham also said that Lloyd's testimony had been corroborated by others and that his unwillingness to reveal the cache of weapons in the tavern was prompted by his subservient tenant relationship to Surratt.

[168] The government did not fully investigate Booth's meetings with Surratt at noon or the evening of the murder, and its questioning and cross-examination of witnesses was poorly prepared and weak.

Although it was delivered to Captain Christian Rath, who was overseeing the execution, Powell's statement had no effect on anyone with authority to prevent Surratt's death.

[176] Anna Surratt pleaded repeatedly for her mother's life with Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, but he refused to consider clemency.

[63] Five of the nine judges signed a letter asking President Johnson to give Surratt clemency and commute her sentence to life in prison because of her age and sex.

[179] Civilian workers did not want to dig the graves out of superstitious fear, so Rath asked for volunteers among the soldiers at the Arsenal and received more help than he needed.

[187] The guards ordered all visitors to leave at 12:30 p.m.[185] When she was forced to part from her mother, Anna's hysterical screams of grief could be heard throughout the prison.

On the morning of July 7, they asked a District of Columbia court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the military tribunal had no jurisdiction over their client.

[190] Johnson was informed that the court had issued the writ and promptly cancelled it at 11:30 a.m. under the authority granted to him by the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863.

[197][201] The name of each person was written on a piece of paper by acting Assistant Adjutant R. A. Watts,[205] and inserted in a glass vial, which was placed into the coffin.

[217] The strain of her mother's death left Anna mentally unbalanced, and she suffered from periods of extreme fear that bordered on insanity.