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FORT LESLEY J. MCNAIR, D.C. - The abrupt ending of the play "Our
American Cousin" on April 14, 1865, marked the beginning of the most
sensationalized real life drama in American history and politics—
the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Grant Hall,
located on the Fort McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson
Hall, is the building where the May through June 1865 military
tribunal for the eight Lincoln assassination conspirators took
place. This courtroom, located on the third floor of Grant Hall,
opened its doors May 9, 2015 for an open house in observance of the
trial's 150th anniversary.
Authors and Lincoln assassination
experts Michael W. Kauffman and John E. Elliott provided briefings
about the trial.
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Guests visiting Grant Hall on the Fort McNair portion of Joint
Base Myer-Henderson Hall fill the reconstructed courtroom where the
Lincoln conspirators' military tribunal took place, during an open
house May 9, 2015 on the 150th anniversary of the trial's start. (Joint
Base Myer-Henderson Hall PAO photo by Damien Salas)
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Guests were first seated in the cramped courtroom and
given an overview of the trial, then taken outside to the
tennis courts, where four of the co-conspirators were hanged
and originally buried. Four of the co-conspirators were
sentenced to death at the trial June 30, 1865, in what was
then known as the Washington Federal Penitentiary and hanged
shortly after. They were Lewis Powell, David E. Herold,
George A. Atzerodt and the first woman hanged by the federal
government, Mary E. Surratt.
Michael O'Laughlen,
Samuel Arnold and Dr. Samuel Mudd were given life terms and
Edmund Spangler received a six-year sentence for their
involvement in the conspiracy. In 1869 President Andrew
Johnson pardoned Arnold, Mudd and Spangler. O'Laughlen died
of yellow fever in 1867 while still in prison.
Though
a tennis court now exists where the gallows were erected,
Barry Cauchon, a specialist in forensic analysis of period
photographs and one of the presenters for the day, marked
the tennis court with blue tape and outlined the gravesites
in red in the grass nearby to give the audience a better
perspective of where the conspirators were hanged and
buried.
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor with
Confederate sympathies, assassinated President Lincoln, but
was killed April 26, 1865, during his apprehension before he
could see a trial. His remains were originally buried just
outside of the historic federal penitentiary building along
2nd Avenue on Fort McNair.
In February of 1869
President Andrew Johnson issued an order allowing the bodies
to be released to their respective families.
A May 8
reception was held by JBM-HH Commander Col. Mike Henderson
at the Fort McNair Officers Club in observance of the trial.
The U.S. Army Band String Quartet performed for guests,
while they mingled during the reception in the Crystal
Ballroom, across the street from Grant Hall. Kauffman,
Elliott, Cauchon and author and presenter Betty J. Owensby
provided a special presentation about the trial for guests.
“Today is historically significant, as the
nine-member military commission first met on this date May 8
in 1865,” said Henderson in opening remarks. “This
observance will give us all the opportunity to learn in more
detail about and reflect on what happened here 150 years
ago.”
By Damien Salas, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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