Lincoln Conspirators Imprisoned on Monitors Montauk and Saugus-- Part 1

APRIL 17-25, 1865:  Four of the five Lincoln assassination suspects arrested on the 17th were imprisoned on the monitors USS Montauk and Saugus which had been prepared for the purpose on the 15th and were anchored off the Washington Navy Yard in the Anacostia River.  These USS Saugus had been at both battles of Fort Fisher.

Mrs. Mary E. Surratt was taken into custody at the boarding house she operated after it was learned that her son was a close friend of John Wilkes Booth and that the actor was a frequent visitor at the boarding house.  Mrs. Surratt was jailed ta the Carroll Annex of Old Capitol Prison.

Lewis Paine was also taken into custody when he came to Mrs. Surratt's  house during her arrest.  Edward Spangler, stagehand at the Ford Theatre and Booth's aide, along with Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel B. Arnold, close associates of Booth during the months leading up to the assassination, were also caught up in the dragnet.

--Old B-R'er