The conspirator who got away

Robert F. Dunn, president of the Naval Historical Foundation living in Alexandria, writes in the Washington Times about Andrew CA Jampoler's "The Last Lincoln Conspirator" which describes John Surratt's run from death following the assasination of President Lincoln:

..Just why Surratt took flight is not exactly clear, but that he did so probably saved his life. His 1867 trial was before a civil court; had he joined the eight in 1865 it would have been before a military tribunal with a fate undoubtedly like that of the other defendants. As it was, in 1867 he was narrowly acquitted and went on to marry, have a family and live until 1915.

Surratt's travels between April 1865 and December of 1866 are a first-rate adventure. He first lived openly in Canada and then went underground with Catholic priests in Liverpool (he was Roman Catholic as was his mother). With American authorities on his trail he made his way through France to Italy. There he joined the pope's army as a Zouave fighting to defend Papal domains.

Apparently tiring of service as a Zouave, he deserted the pope's army, crossed on foot into the Kingdom of Naples and threw himself on the mercy of the British Embassy where officials deigning to turn him over to the Americans put him on a ship to Malta. (In 1866, the British were notoriously sympathetic to Confederates of every stripe). Hiding from a search for him prompted by the American representative in Malta, Suratt continued on to Egypt, still in his Zouave uniform.

He was finally arrested soon after arrival in Alexandria. This, at last, put him in a place where he could legally be detained by American authorities and was. From Alexandria, the USS Swatara took him, confined below decks, across the Atlantic and arrived at the Washington Navy Yard on Feb. 18, 1867...