Mary Elizabeth Surratt (née Jenkins) was an American boarding house owner who became the first woman executed by the United States federal government. Born in Maryland in the 1820s, she married John Harrison Surratt in 1840, with whom she had three children. The couple operated several businesses, including a tavern and an inn, and were known sympathizers of the Confederate States of America, frequently hosting fellow sympathizers.
Following her husband's death in 1862, Surratt relocated to Washington, D.C., to manage a townhouse as a boardinghouse. It was here that she became acquainted with John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators, George Atzerodt and Lewis Powell, who frequented her establishment. Shortly before the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Booth met with Surratt and requested she deliver a package containing binoculars to one of her tenants.
After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Surratt was arrested and tried by a military tribunal. She was convicted of conspiracy primarily based on the testimonies of her tenant, John M. Lloyd, and boarder Louis J. Weichmann. Despite a clemency plea signed by five of the nine trial judges citing her age and gender, President Andrew Johnson did not grant her mercy. Surratt maintained her innocence until she was executed by hanging on July 7, 1865.
