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Artist
Alexander Gardner, 17 Oct 1821 - 10 Dec 1882
Sitter
Lewis Thornton Powell, 1845 - 7 Jul 1865
Date
1865
Type
Photograph
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 8.3 × 5.1 cm (3 1/4 × 2")
Mount: 10.1 × 6.3 cm (4 × 2 1/2")
Mat: 35.6 × 27.9 cm (14 × 11")
Topic
Photographic format\Carte-de-visite
Equipment\Shackles
Lewis Thornton Powell: Male
Lewis Thornton Powell: Law and Crime\Criminal\Conspirator
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of John Wilmerding
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.80.172
Exhibition Label
Ex-Confederate soldier Lewis Powell (alias Lewis Payne/Paine) was one of the conspirators in John Wilkes Booth’s plot to incapacitate the government by assassinating Abraham Lincoln and other high-ranking officials. As the largely improvised plot evolved, Booth tasked Powell to kill Secretary of State William Seward. The night of April 14, as Booth went to Ford’s Theatre, Powell gained entry to Seward’s Washington home by saying he had medicine for the secretary, who had been injured in a carriage accident. Powell forced his way into Seward’s bedroom and stabbed him repeatedly, although not fatally. Rushing from the house, Powell discovered he had been abandoned by two other conspirators who were to help with his getaway. Powell returned to his residence at Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse, where he hid until his arrest on April 17. The trial began in May; Powell was sentenced to death and was hanged on July 7. Powell is seen here in manacles on the ironclad Saugus; the prisoners were held on ships for security reasons.
