The Trial Today: June 7

Here’s a sample of what occurred on this day in the Lincoln conspiracy trial:

• Many sparks flew between the prosecution and defense attorneys
• Thomas Ewing criticized the government for having lost a piece of evidence and for presenting spurious letters not in any way proven to be connected to the conspirators
• Assistant Judge Advocate John Bingham countered that the charge cited all conspirators that were known and not known, supporting the government’s right to enter the letters into evidence
• The debate over whether to strike a piece of evidence from the record got so lively, a woman fainted in the courtroom
• The youngest known witness, a 13 year-old boy named Minnie, took the stand
• Rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution worked to revive the reputation of Louis Weichmann
• One of the commissioners came to the defense of a secret society
• By working together and using legal maneuvers, Frederick Aiken, lawyer for Mrs. Surratt, and Thomas Ewing, lawyer for Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler, managed to eke out a minor victory against the prosecution much to the vocal dismay of the assistant judge advocates
• Mary Surratt’s brother returned to the stand to defend his loyalty to the Union
• It was brought out that one of the defense witnesses had been tried for murder
• Anna Surratt, Mary Surratt’s daughter, returned to the stand to explain the Confederate images found at the Surratt boardinghouse belonged to her, not her mother
• One of the newspaper reporters wrote a poem about Dr. Mudd’s chances

The June 7, 1865 entry for the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators is now released and has more information. Please click here to access it. You can also access it through The Trial homepage.

Throughout May and June of 2020, I am publishing a day by day chronology of the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. This includes almost daily posts announcing the release of what happened at the conspiracy trial 155 years ago. For more information about the creation of this project please click here.