Known best as Mrs. Mary Surratt, the owner of the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and seven other conspirators met to plan the assasination of Abraham Lincoln.
Mary Surratt is said to have been the mind behind the original plan, which was to kidnap Lincoln and top members of his cabinet. Booth believed the abduction scheme was doomed to failure and the plan changed from kidnapping to murder. She was hanged soon after the assasination of Lincoln. Her son, who was believed to also have been involved, was never convicted and went on to live his life without any punishment for his involvement in the plot.