Lewis Powell (assassin)
(Redirected from Lewis Payne)
Lewis Thornton Powell (April 22, 1844 – July 7, 1865), also known as Lewis Paine or Payne, attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate United States Secretary of State William Seward, and was one of four people hanged for the Lincoln assassination conspiracy.
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Early life
Powell was born in Randolph County, Alabama, to a Baptist minister. He enlisted in 1861 as a private with the Confederate Second Florida Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and taken prisoner in July 1863. After his parole and release, he resumed fighting with the Confederacy. He rode with John S. Mosby's legendary band of partisan fighters in 1864. After he left Mosby's Rangers, Powell returned to Baltimore and met John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt.
Lincoln plot
After being escorted to the Seward residence by David Herold, Powell attempted to kill William Seward on (April 14, 1865 (the same night that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln ) by breaking into his bedroom and stabbing him repeatedly. Earlier in the month, on April 5, 1865, Seward had been injured in a carriage accident, and suffered a concussion, a broken jaw, a broken right arm, and many serious bruises. A neckbrace worn by Seward helped to save his life by deflecting the knife away from his jugular vein. Four other people were injured in the attack. Another member of the conspiracy, George Atzerodt, failed to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson, because he lost his nerve and got drunk.
Powell was tried under the name of "Payne" by a military tribunal and was executed with three other conspirators on July 7, 1865. He went to the gallows calmly and quietly, though at some point he was believed to have pleaded for the life of Mary Surratt shortly before he was hanged. He is reported to have thanked the guards for their good treatment of him while he was in prison and then shouted "Mrs. Surratt is innocent! She doesn't deserve to die with us!" On the gallows, his very last words were "I thank you, goodbye."
Skull discovery
In January 1992, Powell's skull was discovered stored at the Smithsonian Anthropology Department. Two years later the skull was re-interred with the rest of his remains at the Geneva Cemetery in Seminole County, Florida, next to the grave of his mother.[citation needed]
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Articles lacking sources from July 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements | 1844 births | 1865 deaths | Abraham Lincoln | American assassins | Confederate Army soldiers | People from Alabama | Failed assassins | Florida in the American Civil War | Lincoln conspirators