THE GHOST OF MARY SURRATT

by Dubricus

This is not a first hand account, but comes from a fairly reliable, one might even say unimaginative source.

My father's first cousin rose through army ranks to the level of Colonel. During the Eisenhower administration he held a rather prestigious post in Washington, D.C. His wife, whom I shall call "Rose," had, during World War II, risen to one of the highest non-com ranks in the WACs. They met during the war and married shortly after her discharge. They had two sons. This is Rose's story.

Upon his posting to Washington, the Colonel and his family were assigned very nice officers' quarters at the Arsenal at Ft. McNair, in southeastern Washington. Their house stood along one side of an open, grassy quadrangle. One summer evening during their first week there, their eldest son, "Jimmy," was late coming home. It was nearing twilight and Rose glanced out the front window every now and again to look for him. Finally, she saw him coming across the quad with a young woman in a long white nightgown, with a white shawl pulled around her shoulders, and her long hair loose. Rose did not think much of the way she was dressed. It was after eight in the evening and she thought the woman might be an "early to bed, early to rise" person, as most in the military are.

The woman held Jimmy's hand until they reached the curb on the opposite side of the street. She stopped there and watched Jimmy until he was in the front door. Rose waved at her as she let her son in and shouted, "Thank you." The woman did not respond. When Rose looked out the window again to see where the lady went, she was already gone.

Early the next week, Rose attended an afternoon tea, presented by the post commander's wife. It was the custom that such a tea be given to introduce a new arrival to all the other officers' wives. At some point, Rose either noticed a photo on the wall or she was looking at a history of the fort (I cannot recall). It was a photo of the woman who had escorted Jimmy, but she was older. Rose asked who she was, since the photo was obviously from the mid-nineteenth century.

One of the other wives asked if she had seen Mary Surratt. Rose replied that she had brought her son home. The other woman explained that Mrs. Surratt often escorted small boys, who had stayed out late, to their front doors... that she was searching for her own son.

Rose was told that she had seen the ghost of Mary Surratt, who had been hanged in 1864 for her part in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Her boarding house had been the site of the meetings held by John Wilkes Booth and the other conspirators, including Mrs. Surratt's son, John. After the assassination, John declared that he had been in Canada at the time of the murder, and had then escaped to Europe. She never saw him again.

The Arsenal had been where the conspirators had been imprisoned, tried, hanged, and buried.