May 25, 1865 — Military Commission, Arsenal Penitentiary, Washington DC

For the Prosecution — May 25.

I know that prisoner yonder, Dr. Samuel Mudd [pointing to the accused, Samuel A. Mudd.] Christmas gone. I was his slave, and lived with him four years; I left him about a month before this I heard him talk about President Lincoln. He said that he stole in there at night, dressed in woman’s clothes; that he lay in watch for him, and if he had come in right they would have killed him. He said nothing about shooting him; he would have killed him, he said, if he had come in right, but he could not; he was dressed in woman’s clothes.

A man named John Surratt and a man named Walter Bowie, visited Dr. Mudd’s last summer. Mr. Surratt was a young-looking man, slim made, not very tall, nor very short, and his hair was light. He came very often. Dr. Samuel Mudd and his wife both called him Mr. Surratt; they all called him that. He was there almost every Saturday night to Monday night; and when he would go to Virginia and come back he would stop there. He did not sleep at Dr. Mudd’s, but out in the woods. Besides him, there was a Captain White, from Tennessee, they said; a Captain Perry, Lieutenant Perry, Andrew Gwynn, Benjamin Gwynn, and George Gwynn; they all slept in the woods. When they came to the house to eat, Dr. Mudd would put us out to watch if anybody came; and when we told them somebody was coming, they would run into the woods again, and he would make me take the victuals out to them. I would set them down, and stand and watch, and then the rebs would come out get the victuals. Surratt and Andrew Gwynn were the only two that I saw come out and get them. I have seen Surratt in the house, up stairs and in the parlor, with Dr. Mudd. They never talked much in the presence of the family; they always went off by themselves up stairs.

Some men were lieutenants and officers, came from Virginia, and brought letters to Dr. Sam Mudd; and he gave them letters and clothes and socks to take back. They were dressed in gray coats, trimmed up with yellow; gray breeches, with yellow stripes down the leg. After Dr. Mudd shot my brother, Elzee Eglent, one of his slaves, he said he should send him to Richmond, to build batteries, I think he said.

Cross-examined by Mr. [Thomas] EWING.

It was about four years ago, that Dr. Mudd said that Mr. Lincoln came through, dressed in woman’s clothes; he said it at the table. Dr. Mudd never slept in the woods, only the men that used to come there; the bed-clothes were taken out into the woods to them.

I am sure I saw Mr. Surratt there a dozen times last summer. I do not think he slept in the house any time; none of them ever did, but Watt Bowie. The last time I saw Mr. Surratt there, apples and peaches were ripe. I do not know what month it was. He said he was going to Washington then. He took dinner there six or seven times last summer; but when the men from Washington were after them, they got scared, and ate in the woods. Mr. William Mudd, Vincent Mudd, and Albert Mudd saw Mr. Surratt there; they all visited the house while the rebs were about. When Sylvester Mudd and some others came, they would run out of the way. A young man named Albion Brooke saw Mr. Surratt at Dr. Mudd’s several times last summer. It was winter when Surratt commenced to come there, and he kept coming, on and off, till summer was out; and after that I did not see him. He used to go to Virginia and come back, and to Washington and back, and every time he would bring the news. Sometimes he would come once a week, and then again he might not come for two weeks.

 Source: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators (New York: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, 1865), pp. 170-171.