Mrs. Surratt – Today In Southern History
7 July 1865
7 July 1865
On this date in 1865…
After a military trial that was later ruled unconstitutional, MarySurratt was hanged with the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Mrs. Surratt was the first woman executed by the U.S. government, but today she is widely considered to have been innocent and railroaded by government prosecutors during the post-assassination hysteria.
Other Years:
1540 – Spanish Conquistador Francisco Coronado attacked the Zuni village of Hawikuh in New Mexico while on his quest for the fabled “Seven Cities of Gold.”
1742 – At the Battle of Bloody Marsh, a Spanish assault on British colonial forces is beaten back in a decisive victory on Simons Island, GA
1862 – The first mobile railroad post office was tested on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri.
1863 – Orders barring Jews from serving under US General Ulysses S. Grant were revoked
1875 – Jesse James’ gang was blamed for the train robbery at Otterville, Missouri.
1876 – In Hamburg, South Carolina, white farmers battled a black reconstruction militia with 7 killed. The northern press dubs it the “Hamburg Massacre”
1898 – US President William McKinley approved the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii after northern interests overthrew the island’s government
1906 – Legendary baseball pitcher Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama.
1912 – Oklahoma Native American athlete Jim Thorpe won 4 of 5 events to win the Pentathlon gold medal at the Stockholm Olympics
1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped”.
1948 – The Cleveland Indians signed 42-year-old veteran Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige
1980 – Jim King completed a 368 hour marathon riding of the Miracle Strip Roller coaster in Panama City, FL
2001 – In his first appearance at Daytona since the death of his father, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the Pepsi 400
2016 – A lone black gunman killed five police officers and wounded others during a racial protest march in Dallas TX
2019 – Mississippi closed all its beaches after a toxic algae bloom due to flooding on the Mississippi River
2020 – Texas recorded more than 10,000 daily cases of COVID-19 for the 1st time
2021 – Defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning beat Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 in Game 5 to retain the Stanley Cup in hockey
2023 – The White House announced the last of US chemical weapons had been destroyed in eastern Kentucky, as part of international Chemical Weapons Convention
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If Booth had acted just three months earlier, history would have been changed forever.