Samuel Arnold
In 1864 Booth recruited Baltimore schoolmate Arnold to kidnap Lincoln in Washington in March 1865. After the plan’s failure, Arnold landed a job in Virginia. He was arrested April 17, 1865, after confessing to the plot to kidnap Lincoln. Co-workers supported Arnold’s claim that he was in Virginia at the time of Lincoln’s assassination. Still he was charged with conspiracy, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. President Johnson pardoned Arnold in March 1869. In 1906 he was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. He was 72.
George Atzerodt
Born in Prussia, Atzerodt met John Surratt during the Civil War. He was assigned to kill Vice President Johnson on the same night Booth killed Lincoln. He made no attempt on Johnson’s life. He rented and stayed in a room at the Kirkwood House in Washington directly above where Johnson was staying. He was arrested April 20, 1865, in Germantown and charged with conspiracy. He was found guilty and sentenced to hanging. He was executed July 7, 1865. His remains eventually were moved to St. Paul’s cemetery in Baltimore. He was 30.
David Herold
He met Booth through a friendship with John Surratt. Herold was assigned to take fellow conspirator Lewis Powell to Secretary of State William Seward’s home on April 14, 1865. During the attack, Herold rode off. He met up with Booth in Maryland and stayed near Bryantown. On April 26, the two were on the lam. The Union cavalry captured them in a tobacco barn in Virginia. Herold surrendered. Booth was shot and killed after the barn was set on fire. Herold was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to hanging. He was executed on July 7, 1865, and buried at the Congressional Cemetery on the banks of the Potomac. He was 23.
Michael O’Laughlen
He lived across the street from Booth’s family in Baltimore. After the kidnapping plan failed, O’Laughlen returned to Baltimore. He did return to Washington the day before Lincoln’s assassination. He voluntarily surrendered to authorities April 17, 1865. He was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. He died from yellow fever in jail in September 1867. He was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. He was 27.
Lewis Powell
He met Booth through John Surratt. Powell, who served in the Confederate Army, was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Powell broke into Seward’s house and attacked him with a knife on the same night of the Lincoln assassination. Seward was badly wounded. Powell injured five people during his wild rampage in the Seward home. Powell ran out of the house and hid for three days after the attack. On April 17, 1865, he appeared at Mary Surratt’s home just as she was being placed under arrest. Powell was arrested and charged with conspiracy and attempted murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to hanging. He was executed on July 7, 1865. He was 21.
Mary Surratt
The mother of John Surratt Jr. Her husband in December 1853 bought a Washington property on H Street that would later become her boarding house. After her husband died in 1864, Mary Surratt rented that house out. During the Civil War, Surratt Jr. became a Confederate spy and messenger. Surratt Jr. met Booth, and early in 1865, Booth became a frequent visitor to the boarding house. On the night of April 17, 1865, officers arrested Mary Surratt. She was charged with conspiracy and aiding the assassins and assisting their escape. She was found guilty and sentenced to hanging. She was executed July 7, 1865. She was 42.
John Surratt Jr.
In December of 1864 he met Booth. He said his role with Booth’s group ended after the unsuccessful Lincoln kidnapping plot. Surratt reportedly was in New York when Lincoln was assassinated and later fled to Canada, where he stayed while his mother was hanged in July 1865. He later fled to England and Rome, and was arrested in Egypt in November 1866. He was tried in a civil court for murder in June 1867 and later freed after the jury was deadlocked. In 1916 he was buried in the New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore. He was 72.
