158 years ago this week, on July 7th, 1865, four individuals known as the "Lincoln Conspirators" were executed for their involvement in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln; Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt.
Their execution took place at Fort McNair in Washington D.C. and photographer Alexander Gardner was on hand to capture the grisly scene. Here the condemned are being readied on the scaffold as soldiers observe from the fort wall beyond. In typical Victorian fashion, Mrs. Surratt (seated on the left) is being shielded from the sun with an umbrella, regardless of the fact that she is about to be hanged.
Her son, John Surratt, a man who had played a much larger role in the conspiracy than his unfortunate mother, had escaped the city the night of the shooting at Ford's Theatre, fleeing north. Surratt successfully avoided capture and passed directly through the Champlain Valley on his way to Canada.
At Whitehall, he boarded a Lake steamer bound for Rouses Point and disembarked at Burlington, Vermont, eventually making for St. Albans by train and finally to Montreal.
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