The Execution and Burial of Lincoln Conspirator Lewis Powell
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- On July 7, 2020, I visited the grave of Lincoln assassination conspirator Lewis Thornton Powell in Geneva, Florida. The following video recalls his execution and the eventual burial of his skull in this cemetery in 1994.
The books used in this video were American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael Kauffman and Alias "Paine": Lewis Thornton Powell, the Mystery Man of the Lincoln Assassination by Betty Ownsbey
Powell is a distant ancestor. His brother George, was my 3x great grandfather. Thank you for the excellent video.
Wow. Do me a solid stay away from DC
I read the “American Brutus”. Great book. I never heard of the after story of Powell. Very interesting. Thank you for the research.
A great presentation on a notorious historical character. Thank you!
This was so interesting, Dave, and I really, truly appreciated you making the video at the very time to the date of the execution. All the extra details were very interesting as well; I've heard of Powell's skull being kept at various places, but had forgotten where the rest of him went. It's so very eerie to look at that skull, seeing the teeth and imagining Powell showing those very teeth, grimacing while he wrought havoc that evening long ago in the Seward home.
I grew up in Southern Maryland and have followed the Booth escape route. I have learned so much more about what happened because of your videos. Thank you very much for making them.
I would enjoy doing that myself (I'm in PA.) Did you follow the route all the way to the Garrett farm site? I would be fascinated to visit that spot, even though it's just a marker on a medial strip.
@@hovanti Yes I did, from Ford's theatre to the Garrett farm. Most of the places are still there. Unfortunately some of the places you can't get to and someone built a house on the site where Booth hid in the pine thicket. And yes where the Garrett farm house used to be is just a marker in the median of route 301 about 2 or 3 miles south of the town of Port Royal Virginia. Following Booth's trail was incredibly interesting.
I would like to go on the tail
Very well done. This certainly cleared up a lot of things that I had wondered about on what happened to Powell's remains.
Good to see a new video from you Dave. Like your videos please bring us more if you can. You do them so well & very informative.
A subject I've been fascinated with since my childhood in the 60s. Thanks !!
Thank you, Dave, for posting this and sharing the history of Powell. It is indeed sad when a young life is cut short, regardless of circumstances. I've been to the burial sites of the other conspirators, but not Powell's grave. The headstone looks rather recent. Is this the original? The Lincoln assassination was probably one of the most pivotal moments in our history and will always be a "what if it didn't happen" event. What drew your interest in this topic?
Dave, it has been my understanding for years that Powell was mentally slow. Did you come across info that supports this idea?
Outstanding Dave, as always. I find it all fascinating and , you always bring out tinteresting details! Thanks!
Great video! Thank you for taking the time to make this.
Alias Payne I just finished. Awesome book. Finally found it on eBay.
Love your videos Dave!! Wish we had more. Hope all is well.
Thanks for this upload.
Absolutely fascinating. I first became intrigued by the Lincoln assassination as a ten year old boy in 1956. I THOUGHT I was fairly well versed on the conspirators.
Most of what you presented here was new to me.
Thank you.
I think you missed-out one part of the executions, when Powell said "Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us."
I could have also just as easily included David Herold's words of "That old lady is as deep in as any of us."
@@LincolnConspirators Herold said that? Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about Lincoln's assassination and the conspirators.
Interesting video. Thank you for posting.
Outstanding, Dave!!
What's creepy is knowing there's just a headless skeleton underneath that dirt cause his head is still un buried. You can look up his skull💀. It makes sense since death by the hanging does break your neck which over time decomposing will separate from the rest of your body.
So awesome, thank you for your hard work and super, thorough research. I never knew this information.
Sooo...was there no way the exhume the mass grave and identify the rest of the remains?
The location in Rock Creek Cemetery is known. It was my long time understanding that the rest of his remains were reinterred with the skull. At any rate, this is fascinating, and David makes excellent videos on the subject. Most people mispronounce Surratt, Atzerodt and others. Well done video. Very enjoyable.
Why was Powell allowed to wear a hat when Atzerodt and Herold weren’t? You can even see Powell’s hat on his head, while he’s sat down, just behind the wooden beam, on one of the execution pictures.
It is interesting that only Lewis Powell's remains, of all the executed conspirators, were not claimed. Some information suggests that Powell's father feared for the safety of his family if he took the body?
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Great channel and website.
Powell is one of the most fascinating villains in American history.
Interesting video. Too bad about the error on the headstone. Should be “Mosby’s”, not “Mosbys.” At least he has a stone, though. Where’s Atzerodt ?
I have been trying to no avail to find the actual physical location of the hangings today. There are no modern photos, or coordinates of of it! I know it's modern day Ft McNair , but no site is identified. Does anyone out there have anything on it?
He was the only one of the conspirators who tried to help others. He repeatedly told people that Mrs. Surratt was innocent and did not deserve to be accused or hang. He also pointed out to people that Axelrod had told Booth on April 14 that he was not going to assassinate Johnson as he was expected to do. And of course he did not. What are the great unfair aspects of the trial is that the accuseds were tried together and none of them was allowed to testify in his or her own behalf or on behalf of others. Powell probably could have saved himself if he had lied and said that he was encouraged to participate in the assassination by his military superiors or by the Confederate government. Stanton was eager to prove those people guilty and the indictment upon which the conspirators were tried allegedThat the Confederate government was involved. Powell could’ve been the star witness and it probably would’ve saved him since he was only doing what do in following directions. Some people believe that in fact he was directed to join Booths conspiracy by his superiors in the confederacy.
Excellent video. I wish people would learn to spell the word "cavalry" correctly, especially since it is on someone's head stone.
Can anyone explain to me why the Americans refer to mounted soldiers as "calvary"????
Cavalry is the word for an army component mounted on horseback. Calvary refers to the site outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, or calvary can also refer to a depiction of the crucifixion, or an experience of intense mental suffering.
I noticed that too - probably a misspelling or mis-application of the word.
Although it is interesting that Calvary is also known as Golgotha or “place of the skull”, which kind of fits this situation, where only his skull is buried in the grave😜
Cavalry on the gravestone is misspelled.
Would you go to the one of the other conspirators graves on July 7th 2025 witch is the 160th anniversary of the hanging
Thank U!
Thanks
I can't believe Surratt Jr got off
I had no clue he was a Mosby Ranger
I remember Powell was featured on a web site called Hot Dead Guys lol. He was very good looking!
I assumed you would have been at the site of the gallows today at Fort McNair.
Its now a tennis court.
weird they catalog body parts
So is his body with his skull or is just his skull buried there?
No comment why a guy from Florida is a rider in Mosby's Virginia 43rd? He had how many aliases? A partisan ranger who failed his primary mission because he didn't properly check his Whitney side arm? I don't think so ...
Fascinating dude. A stone cold killer. Civil War vet.
Who bought it?
A properly performed judicial hanging should cause a fracture of the two top neck vertabrae (C1 and C2) resulting in a quick death. Was Powell's hanging purposely done in a way to cause slow strangulation?
That is interesting. That could explain why Mary died so quickly. She being a woman, they may have taken great care to make sure her death was quicker being the very chivalrous nature of men at that time. With the men, maybe they either didn't care or (like maybe in Powell's case) they purposefully made it to where they would suffer.
@@71avalon36 This is doubtful. The last words spoken to Powell by Captain Rath (the hangman) were: “I want you to die quickly Payne.” So it seems the hangman wanted to do a professional job. Also, an executioner back then was judged on how quickly their prisoners died. Apparently their were “gasps” and “wails” from the onlooking crowd upon viewing how long it took Powell to die. This would have made Rath look really bad and that would have disappointed him immensely. There’s just no way that he would have intentionally made it so that Powell suffered. Not in a case as notorious as this one where the whole USA would have been paying attention.
@ Mike 649Foxx Very interesting info. I did not know, but with the 19th century mentality it makes sense. Thanks for the heads up. I appreciate it!
Hanging is meant to break the neck but I think it rarely ever does as it has to be done just right. Rope length, weight, drop height, etc.
Or, he simply miscalculated the drop required for the largest person.
Lewis Powell is my 5th cousin 3 times removed.
I guess the old adage or saying"rest in peace"went out the window.😜😜😜😜
Looks like, despite Mr. Powell's good looks, he had some major dental issues.
I think I read his teeth were bad