Mary Surratt's Accomplice

April 14, 1865 was one of the most shocking days in American history. Only 5 days after the end of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, our then President was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln was watching a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. when Booth managed to get in Lincoln’s private box and fired a single-shot to the back of Lincoln’s head. When talking about Lincoln’s assassination you always hear Booth being mentioned, but what people don’t usually know is that there was a female participant. Mary Surratt, a Confederate sympathizer, was the only female participant in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Her and Booth, along with other conspirators which included her son John Surratt, met in her boardinghouse to plan Lincoln’s assassination. Kate Clifford Larson’s book, The Assassin’s Accomplice, tells the riveting story of the scheme to assassinate Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of Mary Surratt and her life story. Larson holds two degrees from Simmons College, an MBA from Northeastern University, and a doctorate in history from the University of New Hampshire. She part time teaches history at

It gives you Mary’s background information growing up. Her background information helps you understand better why she was part of Booth’s scheme. It was really enjoyable reading about how Mary ran her boardinghouse. She basically nurtured the people that would stay. She was not only the head of the boardinghouse, she was a friend to them. John and Booth’s friendship was enjoyable to read to an extent. Up until after the assassination, she is not mentioned a lot. It is mostly focused on Booth and her son, John. The author focused more on their friendship other than what was going on with Mary before the assassination. It would have been better if the author had focused a little more on Mary during that part of the book since the book is about