Lewis Thornton Powell

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Object Details

Artist: Alexander Gardner, 17 Oct 1821 - 10 Dec 1882
Sitter: Lewis Thornton Powell, 1845 - 7 Jul 1865

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.

Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of John Wilmerding

Date: 1865

Object number: NPG.80.172

Restrictions & Rights: CC0

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")

See more items in: National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location: Currently not on view

Data Source: National Portrait Gallery

Topic: Photographic format\Carte-de-visite; Equipment\Shackles; Lewis Thornton Powell: Male; Lewis Thornton Powell: Law and Crime\Criminal\Conspirator; Portrait

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm48927ee62-454d-42ae-8224-eaf3fb6886dc

npg_NPG.80.172

NPG

LEWIS THORNTON POWELL

National Portrait Gallery

https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.80.172

CC0

Metadata Usage: CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

Record ID: npg_NPG.80.172