The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt: How They Responded to the Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirator

Professor Kenneth J. Zanca analyzes the responses of mid-nineteenth century Catholics in America to Mrs. Mary Surratt’s trial and execution for her part in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. These reactions are placed within various contexts: the Catholic Church during America’s Civil War; the wider secular and Protestant culture of the Victorian era; the post-assassination climate of 1865; and Vatican politics. Previous studies of Mrs. Surratt have explored the issues of her guilt or innocence. This work takes a line of inquiry not yet explored by historians, Catholic or otherwise, in that it investigates reactions to her execution through the eyes of contemporary Catholic and Protestant witnesses and commentators.