Louis J. Weichmann
Encyclopedia
Louis J. Weichmann was one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution in the conspiracy trial of the Abraham Lincoln assassination
. Previously, he had been also a suspect because of his association with Mary Surratt
's family.
in Maryland. There he met and befriended a fellow seminarian, John Surratt, Jr.
This friendship was to later have profound consequences for both of them.
In 1862, a year after the outbreak of the American Civil War
, both Louis Weichmann and John Surratt left the seminary without becoming priests. Weichmann went to Washington, D.C., where he taught school for two years at St. Matthew's Institute for Boys. After leaving this position in 1864, he became a clerk in the Department of War, headed by Secretary Edwin Stanton
. Surratt had in the meantime become a courier and agent for the Confederacy. As a result of his earlier friendship with John Surratt, Jr.
, Weichmann took lodgings in the boarding house of Surratt's mother, Mary Surratt
, in Washington D.C. This brought him into contact with the major conspirators involved in Abraham Lincoln's assassination. According to Weichmann's testimony at the trial of the conspirators, John Wilkes Booth
, David Herold
, Lewis Payne, George Atzerodt
, John Surratt, Jr.
, and others continually met at Mary Surratt
's boarding house.
Weichmann testified that on the day Abraham Lincoln was shot, April 14, 1865, he accompanied Mary Surratt to her other property in Surrattsville, (now Clinton, Maryland
), where she delivered items that Booth later retrieved after the assassination. He further testified that Mary Surratt
met with John Wilkes Booth
no fewer than three times on that fateful day. Dr. Samuel Mudd
, who treated Booth's broken leg on the night Lincoln was killed, and claimed to have no knowledge of the conspiracy, was linked by Weichmann's testimony to the events for which he was tried and found guilty as well. Augustus Howell, a blockade runner who worked with John Surratt, Jr.
, claimed during the trial that Weichmann had provided classified information obtained by his position at the War Department over to the Confederates. He, supposedly, was hoping to obtain a better job from the Confederate government at Richmond in exchange for his services; however, these accusations were never substantiated.
, where he opened a business school. One of his brothers, a Catholic priest, and two of his sisters had moved and settled there. Because of some lingering doubt as to the truth and motives of his testimony, Weichmann became a controversial and somewhat ostracized figure by many people. That Mary Surratt was the first woman tried and executed for a capital crime by the federal government
caused a backlash against him. There also were strong anti-Catholic elements that attempted to link Lincoln's death to a Catholic conspiracy
.
Partially because of this, he swore out an affidavit, shortly before his death, reaffirming that all his testimony concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination was totally and completely true. He died a few days later in Anderson, and is buried there at St. Mary's Cemetery. In spite of using the spelling Weichmann at the conspiracy trial, in all his official correspondence and as the author of his book, the original family spelling of Wiechmann appears on his tombstone.
Abraham Lincoln assassination
The assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to a close. The assassination occurred five days after the commanding General of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, and his battered Army of...
. Previously, he had been also a suspect because of his association with Mary Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...
's family.
Background and early life
Weichmann was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of German immigrants. The family surname was originally Wiechmann, but as in the case of many who emigrated to the United States, the name underwent several phonetic spelling changes. His father Johann was a Lutheran, and his mother Maria was a Catholic. Johann Weichmann was a tailor by trade, and he moved with his wife and their five children first from the vicinity of Baltimore to Washington D.C., and later to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Louis attended Central High School. He wrote in his autobiographical work, A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865, that he desired to pursue a career as a pharmacist, but, at the behest of his mother, he reluctantly agreed to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood. At the age of seventeen he entered the seminary at St. Charles CollegeSt. Charles College, Maryland
St. Charles College was a seminary college in Catonsville, Maryland, originally from Ellicott City, Maryland.- 1776:Charles Carroll of Carrollton signs the Declaration of Independence for Maryland. One of the wealthiest men in the Americas, Carroll staked his fortune on the American Revolution...
in Maryland. There he met and befriended a fellow seminarian, John Surratt, Jr.
John Surratt
John Harrison Surratt, Jr. was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy and hanged by the United States Federal Government...
This friendship was to later have profound consequences for both of them.
In 1862, a year after the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, both Louis Weichmann and John Surratt left the seminary without becoming priests. Weichmann went to Washington, D.C., where he taught school for two years at St. Matthew's Institute for Boys. After leaving this position in 1864, he became a clerk in the Department of War, headed by Secretary Edwin Stanton
Edwin M. Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War from 1862–1865...
. Surratt had in the meantime become a courier and agent for the Confederacy. As a result of his earlier friendship with John Surratt, Jr.
John Surratt
John Harrison Surratt, Jr. was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy and hanged by the United States Federal Government...
, Weichmann took lodgings in the boarding house of Surratt's mother, Mary Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...
, in Washington D.C. This brought him into contact with the major conspirators involved in Abraham Lincoln's assassination. According to Weichmann's testimony at the trial of the conspirators, John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
, David Herold
David Herold
David Edgar Herold was an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After guiding fellow conspirator Lewis Powell to the home of Secretary of State William H. Seward, whom Powell intended to kill, Herold fled and rendezvoused outside of Washington, D.C., with Booth...
, Lewis Payne, George Atzerodt
George Atzerodt
George Andreas Atzerodt was a conspirator, with John Wilkes Booth, in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Assigned to assassinate Vice-President Andrew Johnson, he lost his nerve and did not make an attempt. He was executed along with three other conspirators by hanging.-Early life:Atzerodt...
, John Surratt, Jr.
John Surratt
John Harrison Surratt, Jr. was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy and hanged by the United States Federal Government...
, and others continually met at Mary Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...
's boarding house.
Weichmann testified that on the day Abraham Lincoln was shot, April 14, 1865, he accompanied Mary Surratt to her other property in Surrattsville, (now Clinton, Maryland
Clinton, Maryland
Clinton is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Clinton was formerly known as Surrattsville until after the time of the American Civil War. The population of Clinton was 26,064 at the 2000 census. However, as of 2007, there is an...
), where she delivered items that Booth later retrieved after the assassination. He further testified that Mary Surratt
Mary Surratt
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H...
met with John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
no fewer than three times on that fateful day. Dr. Samuel Mudd
Samuel Mudd
Samuel Alexander Mudd I, M.D. was an American physician who was convicted and imprisoned for aiding and conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the 1865 assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and released from prison in 1869...
, who treated Booth's broken leg on the night Lincoln was killed, and claimed to have no knowledge of the conspiracy, was linked by Weichmann's testimony to the events for which he was tried and found guilty as well. Augustus Howell, a blockade runner who worked with John Surratt, Jr.
John Surratt
John Harrison Surratt, Jr. was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy and hanged by the United States Federal Government...
, claimed during the trial that Weichmann had provided classified information obtained by his position at the War Department over to the Confederates. He, supposedly, was hoping to obtain a better job from the Confederate government at Richmond in exchange for his services; however, these accusations were never substantiated.
Later life
In his later years Weichmann moved to Anderson, IndianaAnderson, Indiana
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...
, where he opened a business school. One of his brothers, a Catholic priest, and two of his sisters had moved and settled there. Because of some lingering doubt as to the truth and motives of his testimony, Weichmann became a controversial and somewhat ostracized figure by many people. That Mary Surratt was the first woman tried and executed for a capital crime by the federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
caused a backlash against him. There also were strong anti-Catholic elements that attempted to link Lincoln's death to a Catholic conspiracy
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
.
Partially because of this, he swore out an affidavit, shortly before his death, reaffirming that all his testimony concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination was totally and completely true. He died a few days later in Anderson, and is buried there at St. Mary's Cemetery. In spite of using the spelling Weichmann at the conspiracy trial, in all his official correspondence and as the author of his book, the original family spelling of Wiechmann appears on his tombstone.