Lewis Powell (conspirator)
 |
Lewis Thornton Powell (April 22, 1844 – July 7, 1865), also known as Lewis Paine or Payne, attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate United States Secretary of State William Seward, and was one of four people hanged for the Lincoln assassination conspiracy.
Early life
Powell was born in Randolph County, Alabama to a Baptist minister. He enlisted in 1861 as a private with the Confederate Second Florida Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and taken prisoner in July 1863. After his parole and release, he returned to Baltimore and met John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt.
Lincoln plot
Powell attempted to kill William Seward on the same night, April 14, 1865, that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, by breaking into his bedroom and stabbing him repeatedly. Earlier in the month, on April 5, 1865, Seward had been injured in a carriage accident, and suffered a concussion, a broken jaw, a broken right arm, and many serious bruises. A neckbrace worn by Seward helped to save his life. Another member of the conspiracy, George Atzerodt, failed to to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson, because he lost his nerve and got drunk.
Powell was tried under the name of "Payne" by a military tribunal and was executed with three other conspirators on July 7, 1865. He went to the gallows calmly and quietly, though at some point he was believed to have pleaded for the life of Mary Surratt shortly before he was hanged. He is reported to have thanked the guards for their good treatment of him while he was in prison and then shouted "Mrs. Surratt is innocent! She doesn't deserve to die with us!" On the gallows his very last words were "I thank you, goodbye."
Skull discovery
In January 1992, Powell's skull was discovered stored at the Smithsonian Anthropology Department. Two years later the skull was re-interred at the Geneva Cemetery in Seminole County, Florida, next to the grave of his mother.[citation needed]
