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The Pursuit & Arrest of John H. Surratt

Taken from the Congressional Record of the 39th, 40th, and 43rd Congresses,
along with other documents

Amid the desperation and panic following the murder of the President, the United States government offered large rewards for the capture of several people thought to be involved in the conspiracy. Principal among them, of course, was John Wilkes Booth, who actually shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. Yet immediately behind him was John Harrison Surratt, the son of Mary Surratt, later to be hung for her own role in the assassination: his reward was set at was $25,000. Surratt, a spy and courier [by his own admission] for the Confederacy, appeared not to have been in the District when the President and the Secretary of State were assaulted, but was implicated as a conspirator by Wiechmann. Soon, however, a mysterious gentleman sent the government a note: Surratt was indeed on the run, but his whereabouts were known.

Thus began an international search for the most-wanted man in America [Booth and the other conspirators having already been captured], involving intrigue, disguise, and death-defying escapes, a chase that spanned two continents and included high diplomacy with both foreign governments and religious institutions, United States naval vessels sailing at full speed into exotic ports, and the seizure of Surratt on the brink of his triumphant escape.

"It was the duty of this Government and of every officer of it
to traverse every continent, to vex every sea, to invade every island of the ocean from the Arctic to the Antarctic circle in pursuit of the man who was implicated in that great tragedy."

George S. Boutwell, Representative from Massachusetts, 2 March 1867

 

 

The Pursuit & Arrest of John H. Surratt

126 pages
8.00" x 11.00"
Softcover, with photographs, maps, & index
$19.95

Taken from the Congressional Record of the 39th, 40th, and 43rd Congresses,
along with other documents.

With a foreword by Civil War author and historian Steven Wright,
along with photographs, illustrations, maps, and index

 ISBN 1-928757-21-9

 

Excerpts from the book:

The complete foreword of the book by Steven Wright

The complete preface of the book by the editor

Excerpt from the text

 

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