The First Woman Executed by the US Government

On July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were executed for their role in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt became the first woman to be executed by the United States Government. An excerpt from the article:

"At 1:22pm on July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt became the first woman ever to be executed by the United States government. Surratt, Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), David Herold, and George Atzerodt were all involved in John Wilkes Booth’s elaborate plot to completely disrupt the Union government by killing President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. Atzerodt was supposed to kill Johnson, but he got cold feet and got drunk instead. Powell was supposed to kill Seward, but Seward survived his attack. Herold brought Powell to Seward’s home and helped Booth escape Washington, DC. Surratt, according to Johnson, “kept the nest that hatched the egg.” She, it was believed by many, was the center around which the whole plot evolved. After a month long trial and just two days of deliberation, all four were charged with conspiring to assassinate the President of the United States and were sentenced to hang for their crime. In June and early July of 1865, Mary Surratt was the most hated woman in the country and there was little doubt in Americans’ minds that she played a definite role in the assassination plot. For the almost 150 years since her death, though, public opinion has been somewhat divided."