Special Judge Advocate Finds Military Trial Of Lincoln Conspirators Well Justified

First edition, paperback, Washington: Government Printing Office 1865, 122 pp, 5 3/4 x 8 7/8, John A. Bingham (1815-1900), Special Judge Advocate, in reply to the arguments of the several counsel for Mary E. Surratt, David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, George A. Atzerodt, Michael O’Laughlin, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler and Samuel Arnold, charged with conspiracy and the murder of Abraham Lincoln, late president of the United States. Bingham answers objections raised by the lawyers for the accused that the military tribunal set up to try the conspirators had no jurisdiction, that it was illegal and unconstitutional.  Bingham’s arguments were delivered June 27th and 28th before the Military Commission, Washington, DC.

Bingham writes, in very small part, “The crime charged and specified...is not simply the crime of murdering a human being, but it is the crime of killing and murdering on the 14th day of April, A.D. 1865, within the military department of Washington and the intrenched lines thereof, Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States and commander-in-chief of the army and navy thereof; and then and there assaulting, with intent to kill and murder, William H. Seward, then Secretary of State of the United States; and then and there lying in wait to kill and murder Andrew Johnson, then Vice President of the United States, and Ulysses S. Grant, then lieutenant general and in command of the armies of the United States, in pursuance of a treasonable conspiracy entered into by the accused with one John Wilkes Booth, and John H. Surratt, upon the instigation of Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson, and George N. Sanders and others, with intent thereby to aid the existing rebellion and subvert the Constitution and laws of the United States...”

Covers are toned with light chipping and have been reinforced along the spine with archival tape.  Pages are strong and very clean.

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