r/HistoryAnecdotes

First: I urge y’all to see all pics and especially the newspapers images, and don’t forget go see the sources in the comments section.

Second: I’m Egyptian and wrote this previously in Arabic and posted it in Egyptian subreddits and thousands had read it, now I translate it to English and post it here.

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In 1863, came the rule of Khedive Ismael Pasha , and between 1869 and 1878, Ismael recruited about 49 American officers to help modernize the Egyptian army. Interestingly, some of them had served in the Union Army, while others fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Yet, they worked together in Egypt!

These officers took part in the military training of Egyptian soldiers and officers, military engineering projects, surveying work, and campaigns in Africa that aimed to expand Egyptian influence in Sudan and Ethiopia. Many of them called themselves "The Military Missionaries."

The American mission, led by the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Army at the time, Charles P. Stone, helped establish a school to train officers and soldiers. Also, the American officers showed their achievements to the commander of the US Army, William Tecumseh Sherman, who visited Egypt in 1872.

This General William Sherman had helped recommend these officers to go to Egypt, and he was one of the famous Union commanders during the American Civil War. He became known for his March to the Sea in late 1864, during which he led his troops from the state of Georgia all the way to the city of Savannah, destroying much of the infrastructure and railroads in all the towns along the march's path. This march succeeded in its goal of cutting Confederate supplies and weakening their morale to the point that many of them fled from their military units and quickly returned to their homes and families to protect them.

But one tragic incident is held against this march, called the Ebenezer Creek incident, in which many freed Black people died. Thousands of these freed people walked behind Sherman's troops seeking protection from the Confederates. As the Union forces were crossing a temporary bridge over a flowing waterway, the army's accompanying troops removed the temporary bridge right after the soldiers crossed, leaving hundreds of Black civilians behind with no safe way to cross. With Confederate forces approaching, panic spread among them, and many rushed into the water in a desperate attempt to survive. A large number drowned, while others were captured.

This incident sparked widespread anger and contributed to increased moral pressure on the military leadership.

For multiple reasons, including this incident, Sherman issued his famous order to allocate land for the freed Black people, in what became known as the "Forty acres and a mule" promise, where the acres would be taken from confiscated Confederate lands, while the mule would be delivered from US Army mules to each freed family.

It was an attempt to compensate for their suffering and open the door to economic independence for them, but President Andrew Johnson later revoked this order.

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Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard

On May 28, 1818, in one of the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the American South, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was born, the third child of a family from the old, aristocratic French Creole class. His father, Jacques Toutant Beauregard, and his mother, Hélène Beauregard, belonged to the elite of the French-speaking society, a society that looked down on the new American culture and clung to old European values and customs.

This was because the state of Louisiana had belonged to France until Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to US President Thomas Jefferson in 1803.

Beauregard grew up in this unique aristocratic atmosphere and received his education at a boarding school in New Orleans before, at the age of eleven, enrolling in the School of the Brothers Pineau in New York City, a school run by two former French officers who had served under Napoleon Bonaparte himself. This fired up little Beauregard's imagination and ignited in his heart a love for military life and admiration for the French commander's tactics.

Despite his family's opposition, as they feared he would become too integrated into American culture, Beauregard insisted on enrolling in the United States Military Academy at West Point. He joined in March 1834, and there, at West Point, he showed remarkable brilliance, graduating in 1838 second in his class out of forty-five students, surpassing many of his classmates who would later become famous names in US Army history.

His fellow students at West Point gave him nicknames like "Little Napoleon," "Little Frenchman," "Little Creole," and "Felix."

Right after graduation, Beauregard worked as an assistant to the artillery instructor, Robert Anderson, the same man he would face two decades later at the Battle of Fort Sumter, which ignited the American Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1861.

Beauregard served in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) under Winfield Scott, proving himself a highly capable military engineer. He was brevetted to captain after the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and then to major after the Battle of Chapultepec. After the war ended, he served as Chief Engineer in New Orleans, overseeing the construction of the US Federal Customs House in the city, before being appointed Superintendent of West Point Academy, a position he did not hold for long due to the outbreak of the Civil War.

But true fame came to Beauregard after Louisiana seceded from the Union in January 1861. He resigned from the US Army and joined the Confederate forces, becoming on March 1, 1861, one of the first officers with the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate army. He was tasked with defending the port of Charleston, South Carolina, where he displayed brilliant engineering and military genius in fortifying the position and strengthening the Confederate cannons around Fort Sumter. On April 12, 1861, Beauregard was the one who ordered the first artillery shot fired at Fort Sumter, signaling the official start of the American Civil War. He then led his troops to victory at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861.

Although Beauregard's Napoleonic ambitions did not match the temperament of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, leading to repeated disputes between the two men throughout the war, he remained a stubborn and tough fighter. He fought at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 after the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston, brilliantly led the defense of Charleston, and then stopped the advance of Union General Benjamin Butler (the uncle of the Union consul we will talk about now) at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864.

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George Butler, or The Troublesome Consul

Among all the American figures who came to Egypt during that period, George Harris Butler stands out as a unique case. He was not an officer in the Egyptian army like the others; quite the opposite, he was an enemy of the Khedive's American officers. He served as the United States Consul General in Alexandria, and his story is the strangest and most scandalous of all the American mission's tales.

He was the nephew of the famous General Benjamin Franklin Butler.

During the Civil War, George served as a first lieutenant in the Union Army within the 10th Infantry Corps, working in supplies and equipment, but he resigned in 1863. He was a talented playwright and art critic, publishing articles in major magazines. However, his big problem was his severe alcohol addiction; his drunken episodes constantly got him into trouble, despite his family's attempts to reform him.

In 1870, using his uncle's influence, he secured a job far from America, and it was this prestigious position: United States Consul General in Alexandria, Egypt.

(The era of President Ulysses S. Grant, despite him being personally honest, was famous for increased corruption and nepotism, such as the Black Friday crisis and the Tammany Hall scandal, or "The Tammany Tiger" as described by the satirical cartoonist Thomas Nast.)

George presented his credentials on June 2, 1870, and arrived in Egypt accompanied by his wife, the famous actress Rose Eytinge.

Unlike his predecessor, Charles Hale, who was known for his dedication to his job — and I mentioned in my previous article that he arrested John Surratt in Alexandria, who was one of the participants in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln — George Butler was the complete opposite.

No sooner had Butler taken over the consulate than everything was turned upside down. The first thing he did was dismiss all the American consular agents in the various provinces, then he began selling their positions at public auction to the highest bidder. So if you wanted to become an American agent in, say, Asyut or Mansoura, you had to pay Butler first!

An American missionary working in Alexandria, a Reverend named David Strange, tried to intervene on behalf of these harmed agents. When Butler ignored him, the reverend wrote directly to President Ulysses S. Grant complaining of "corruption and malicious maladministration" in the consulate. But Strange exaggerated in his complaint and mentioned something extremely scandalous: that Butler and his friends were summoning female dancers to perform before them "in puris naturalibus" (that is, completely without clothes)!

Thus, the American consulate in Alexandria turned into something like a nightclub and dance hall, where corruption reached its peak.

Butler also had a major conflict with the American officers working in the Egyptian army, especially the Confederates. These men had come to help the Khedive modernize his army, and in Butler's eyes, they were political enemies from the Civil War era.

In 1870, Khedive Ismael considered appointing the famous Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard (the hero of Fort Sumter) as commander of the Egyptian army. But Butler used his influence as the new consul to convince the Khedive to withdraw the offer, and the Khedive complied. Later, Butler justified his stance by saying: "There was no room in Egypt for both Beauregard and me."

Naturally, the anger of the Confederate officers in Egypt flared up, and hatred escalated between the two sides.

On the evening of Friday, July 12, 1872, while Consul Butler was dining at an elegant Greek restaurant on the Alexandria Corniche, accompanied by his private secretary, George Wadleigh, and a consulate employee named Charles Stroulogou, three of the most prominent former Confederate officers—General William Wing Loring, General Alexander Welch Reynolds, and Major William Campbell—were sitting just a few meters away from him, eating their food quietly and cautiously, fully aware that their presence in the same place was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

When Generals Loring and Reynolds finished their meal and got up to leave, they passed by Butler's table and gave him a casual greeting, motivated by the military courtesy they were raised on. But Major Campbell, who had an old personal dispute with Butler, did not follow their example. Instead, he continued on his way without showing any recognition of the consul's existence at all, as if he wasn't even there.

At that moment, Butler felt his dignity had been violated. He lost control of himself and called out to Campbell in a loud, sharp voice, cutting through the restaurant's quiet and forcing everyone to turn toward him, saying with clear defiance: "Good evening, Major Campbell!" Campbell stepped back a few paces toward the table and asked him sharply: "Are you addressing me, sir?" Butler replied with biting sarcasm: "Yes, I am addressing you, Major, because I see you have forgotten how to greet people of my standing."

Within minutes, the brief verbal altercation turned into a physical brawl. The four men—Butler and Wadleigh on one side, Loring and Reynolds on the other—threw violent punches, as plates and glasses scattered across the restaurant floor.

In the midst of this immense chaos, Secretary Wadleigh heard his boss Butler shout: "Give it to him, Wadleigh!"—meaning the pistol his secretary was carrying. Wadleigh stepped back a few paces, pulled out his revolver from under his coat with astonishing speed, and fired repeatedly toward Major Campbell, who was still standing there, not expecting things to escalate to the use of firearms.

The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the restaurant. Wadleigh fired between five and six consecutive shots at Campbell. One of them hit Major Campbell in his left leg, a very serious injury that tore through the muscles. Blood gushed profusely onto the restaurant floor, and Campbell let out a loud, agonizing scream before collapsing to the ground, clutching his injured leg with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding that threatened his life.

General Reynolds did not stand idly by. He pulled out his own revolver and fired one shot toward Wadleigh, but the bullet missed its target due to the chaos and darkness, harming no one. Butler, his secretary, and his employee did not wait for the police to arrive. They quickly withdrew from the restaurant and disappeared into the crowded, dark streets of Alexandria.

Butler feared for his life and thought he might be killed. He packed his bags and fled Egypt immediately, before he could be arrested or face the officers' revenge!

After his escape, the US government sent General F.A. Starring to investigate what had happened inside the consulate. Butler's assistant, Stroulogou, confessed to everything: he said Butler was drunk most of the time, took bribes, opened letters not addressed to him, and that he (Butler) was the one who started the shooting at the officers. The problem was that Stroulogou himself also admitted to taking his share of the bribes and participating in the assault on Reverend Strange.

Butler returned to America, and his life continued to unravel; he failed at many jobs. His wife, Rose Eytinge, filed for divorce in 1882, and they separated after having two children. In his final days, he spent his days completely drunk, living on the streets, and was repeatedly committed to mental asylums to prevent him from drinking. But every time he got out, he would return to his addiction.

In Washington, only one woman stood by him, trying to protect him, named Josephine Chesney. After his death, people discovered that they had been secretly married for years.

On May 11, 1886, George Harris Butler died at only 45 years old. The New York Times described him in his obituary, saying: "When not disabled by drink, he was a brilliant conversationalist and writer" !

The End …

I hope you like this post, my deep regards from Egypt 🌹🌹

---------------------------
I recommend you to read my following posts :

”The Anecdotes of Ex Confederate - Union officers in Egypt”

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"The Anecdotes of Egypt and The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1rpb9q3/the_anecdotes_of_egypt_and_the_american_civil_war/

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“On the Anniversary of the Assassination of Abe Lincoln – The Story of Capturing the Most Dangerous Conspirator in Egypt“

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1smptze/on_the_anniversary_of_the_assassination_of_abe/

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"A rare Egyptian book about The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/USHistory/comments/1rt8gwv/a_rare_egyptian_book_about_the_american_civil_war/
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"The Anecdotes of Anwar Sadat with U.S Presidents"

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1rp1ry5/the_anecdotes_of_anwar_sadat_with_us_presidents/

Cornelis de Houtman had been charged with heading an expedition to further improve trade routes to the East for the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the captain became embroiled in a dispute with the Sultan of Aceh, who was reportedly incensed at the Dutchman’s arrogant demeanour.

The tension escalated into an armed conflict on the Dutch ships. As the Dutch crew members fought the Inning Balee army - a navy composed of widows of fallen warriors - Malahayati reportedly stabbed de Houtman with a rencong, a traditional Acehnese dagger, killing him instantly. 

In the chaotic green hell of the Vietnam War, the greatest threat didn’t always come from the tree line. Sometimes, it came from the sky—delivered by the very planes meant to save the men on the ground.

​"Friendly Fire" (or fratricide) remains one of the most painful chapters of the Vietnam conflict. In an era before GPS and precision-guided munitions, the line between "close air support" and "catastrophe" was razor-thin.

​📍 Why Did It Happen?

​It wasn't just human error; it was the nature of the war itself:

​"Danger Close" Combat: Infantry often engaged the NVA or Viet Cong at extremely short ranges.

When calling in an airstrike, a pilot dropping a 500lb bomb from a fast-moving F-4 Phantom had a margin of error of only a few meters.

​The Triple Canopy:

The dense jungle foliage made it nearly impossible for pilots to see their own troops. Soldiers relied on colored smoke grenades, but wind drift or enemy "copycat" smoke often led to fatal confusion.

​Navigation Limitations: Without modern satellite tracking, pilots and Forward Air Controllers (FACs) relied on map coordinates and visual landmarks in a landscape that all looked the same.

​🕯️ The Scars of Dak To and Beyond

​During the brutal Battle of Dak To in 1967, a tragic miscalculation led to a US bomb landing directly on a command post of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

It was a heartbreaking moment that decimated a unit already fighting for its life.

​From Napalm canisters tumbling off-target to "Puff the Magic Dragon" gunships firing into friendly perimeters in the dark, these incidents left deep psychological scars on the survivors.

​"There is no sound more terrifying than the whistle of your own artillery or the roar of your own jets when you realize they’ve got your coordinates wrong." — Vietnam Combat Veteran.

​Today, we honor the memory of those who fell not only to enemy fire, but to the tragic "fog of war." Their sacrifice serves as a haunting reminder of the high cost of mechanical and human error in the heat of battle.

​Did you know how much the jungle terrain contributed to these accidents? Share your thoughts below. 👇

​

I’m Egyptian and wrote this previously in Arabic and posted it in Egyptian subreddits and thousands had read it, now I translate it to English and post it here

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At the moment President Abraham Lincoln fell to the bullet of John Wilkes Booth inside Ford’s Theatre in Washington on the night of April 14, 1865, not only had America entered a state of shock, but an unconventional justice machine began to turn to pursue the conspirators. But one of them, the most mysterious and the youngest, disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him. This man was John Harrison Surrat Jr., the son of Mary Surrat, who became the first woman executed by order of the US federal government. But Surrat would not be executed easily. His escape journey was an international epic in every sense of the word, from the Canadian wilderness to the alleys of England to the palaces of Rome to the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

On April 13, 1844, in an area known today as "Congress Heights" in Washington, D.C., John Harrison Surrat Jr. opened his eyes to the world, becoming the youngest of the Surrat children. His birth came at a time when America was on the edge of the abyss, just seventeen years before the spark of the Civil War erupted. He grew up in the care of his parents, John Harrison Surrat Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Jenkins, in a house that was a secret station for sympathizers with the Southern cause. He was baptized that same year at St. Peter's Church in the capital, raised in a devout Catholic environment that instilled in his heart the principles of religion and asceticism.

Fate held unexpected surprises for the young boy. His mother – who ran a small boarding house that would later become a den for the most dangerous conspiracy in American history – sent him to "St. Charles College" in Maryland with the aim of studying to become a priest. But his passion for soldiery and espionage was stronger than his desire for religious seclusion.

After his father’s sudden death in August 1862, Surrat, who had just turned eighteen, took over the position of postmaster of the small town of "Surratsville" (named after his family). But this quiet job was nothing but a cover. By 1863, he had already transformed into a Confederate secret agent, carrying messages to Southern ships on the Potomac River and gathering information about Union troop movements around Washington to send to Richmond, the Confederate capital. This was the beginning of his career in the shadows, as he began moving between major cities: Richmond, Washington, New York, and even Canada, carrying the war’s secrets with him.

The turning point in Surrat's life came on December 23, 1864. That day, at a Washington restaurant, Dr. Samuel Mudd introduced young Surrat to the famous actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth, with his charismatic, extremist personality and strong sympathy for the Confederate Southern cause, was looking for new assistants to carry out a bold scheme. Surrat did not hesitate to accept the hand of friendship extended by Booth, and the two became close friends. Soon his mother’s house on H Street became a meeting center for the conspirators, where Mary Surrat ran “the nest that hatched the egg,” as President Andrew Johnson would later describe it.

The original goal of the conspiracy was not assassination, but the kidnapping of President Abraham Lincoln. In mid-March 1865, as the Confederacy's military hopes faded, Booth and Surrat led a motley gang in a failed mission to kidnap the president as he traveled to his summer home north of the White House. The plan was to exchange Lincoln for thousands of captured Confederate soldiers, or even to force a peace deal. But the president canceled his trip at the last moment, foiling the scheme and dashing the conspirators' hopes.

After this failure, Booth’s anger turned toward a more extreme solution. He began planning to assassinate the president, his vice president, and his secretary of state in one blow, to paralyze the federal government. And here, in the midst of these bloody shifts, appears the mystery of Surrat that has never been fully solved. On the night of April 14, 1865, the night Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, accounts differ on where Surrat was.

Some testimonies, such as that of Sergeant Joseph M. Dye, confirmed seeing Surrat in Washington that evening, describing him as an elegant man in a suit, walking in front of the theater, glancing at his watch, and repeating the act three times. Sergeant Dye later swore at the trial that he saw Surrat sitting in the defendant’s dock and shouted, "That's him." In contrast, Surrat and his friends claimed he was in "Elmira," New York, on a spy mission for Confederate General Edwin Lee, and that he learned of the assassination from newspapers after it happened.

Whatever his location on the night of the crime, what is certain is Surrat's rapid escape immediately afterward. As soon as he heard the news of the assassination, he realized the sword would be drawn against him, so he fled north to Canada. There, he hid with a Catholic priest throughout the trial, execution, and death of his mother and comrades.

The trial of his mother, Mary Surrat, before a military court, was one of the most controversial events in American history. On July 7, 1865, she became the first woman executed by the US federal government, after being convicted of conspiring in Lincoln's assassination. The hangman’s noose hanged her along with Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. John Surrat, in Canada, heard this painful news but did not return to save her, dedicating himself only to saving himself.

After his mother’s execution, Surrat crossed the Atlantic Ocean in disguise in September 1865. He settled in England for a while, then moved to Rome. In the Italian capital, the Eternal City, Surrat found what he believed was a safe haven. Rome at that time was under the temporal rule of the papacy, and there was a foreign military legion guarding the Papal States known as the "Papal Zouaves." This legion consisted of Catholic volunteers from around the world, eager to defend the Holy See against the forces of Italian unification.

In the city of Veroli, where Surrat was stationed with his unit, he happened upon a man who had known him previously in America. This man informed the authorities, and the international justice machine began to move slowly but steadily. On November 6, 1866, at the request of the US government, the Papal authorities ordered Surrat’s arrest.

And in the moment Surrat was leaving Veroli prison, between the hands of his guard, he slipped away and escaped across the Papal border.

Surrat exploited the political chaos in the Italian peninsula and quickly headed to Naples. There, he boarded a British ship bound for the East. His chosen destination: Alexandria, Egypt الأسكندرية مصر. He did not know that this decision, which seemed to him a saving one, would be his death warrant.

On November 23, 1866, Surrat arrived at the port of Alexandria aboard the steamship "Tripoli" coming from Naples. He was wearing the uniform of a Papal soldier (Zouave) and calling himself by the alias "Walters." Alexandria at that time was a cosmopolitan city, teeming with merchants and foreigners of all nationalities, and was under the rule of Khedive Ismail, who was following the path of modernization and openness to the West. Surrat thought he would easily blend in among the thousands of foreigners and disappear in the city’s crowds.

But what he did not know was that the US Consul General in Egypt, Charles Hale, was waiting for him. Precise warnings had arrived from the US Minister in Rome (Mr. King) and from the US Consul in Malta (Mr. Winthrop) to Hale, telling him that the ship carried a dangerous fugitive. Telegraph wires stretched from Rome to Malta, and from Malta to Alexandria, weaving a spider’s web around Surrat.

On November 27, 1866, the decisive confrontation occurred. Surrat was still detained in quarantine at the port, among the third-class passengers — a class for which there were no official lists of names. This place seemed ideal for hiding, but it turned into a tight trap.

Consul Hale recalls in his official report that dramatic moment with unforgettable cinematic details:

Consul Charles Hale says: "It was not difficult to distinguish him among the seventy-eight passengers, thanks to his Papal military uniform, and almost certainly thanks to his American facial features that are rarely mistaken." This overconfidence in disguising himself with an eye-catching military uniform was Surrat’s fatal weakness.

Consul Hale approached Surrat and said to him with the confidence of a judge: "You are the man I want. You are an American." Surrat replied with his usual calm: "Yes, sir, I am." Then Hale asked him: "What is your name?" Surrat quickly answered: "Walters." But Hale cut him off sternly: "I think your real name is Surrat," then announced his official capacity as Consul General of the United States and began the arrest process.

In Hale’s report, we read: "Although the walk took several minutes, the prisoner, who was close to me, made no remark, and showed no surprise or discomfort." Was this calmness born of courage? Or from the conviction that this moment was inevitable? Or was it merely a prelude to another escape plan? When informed that he was not obliged to make any statement, Surrat simply said: "I have nothing to say. I want nothing but what is right."

Surrat had no passport or luggage with him, and had only six francs in his possession. That was the wealth of the man accused of conspiring to kill the president of the greatest country in the world. His travel companions confirmed that he had come to Naples fleeing the Papal army.

Consul Hale noted that the Egyptian government, represented by the Wali of Egypt, Khedive Ismail, raised no objection to the arrest or extradition. On the contrary, it was fully cooperative. In a later letter to US Secretary of State William Seward, Hale wrote:

"No hint or objection was made to the arrest, detention, or delivery of Surrat at any time here... The surrender was accepted as a matter of course."

Hale even described how Zulfikar Pasha ذو الفقار باشا, the governor of Alexandria, provided every facility, and how Khedive Ismael الخديوي إسماعيل himself received US Navy Commander William N. Jeffers at Ghazereh Palace in Cairo, showing the utmost courtesy and cooperation.

This early Egyptian-American relationship was a model of international security cooperation, where no other party — neither the British nor others — intervened to obstruct the extradition process. Hale even notified the British authorities in Alexandria of the matter, in case Surrat claimed British protection.

Surrat did not remain long in Alexandria. On December 20, 1866, the US warship "Swatara," commanded by Commander Jeffers, arrived at the port. The next day, Consul Hale handed the prisoner over to the grasp of the US Army. Then the ship sailed from Alexandria on December 26, on a long voyage across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, ending in Washington on February 19, 1867.

During this voyage, Captain Jeffers was careful that Surrat would not escape again. The ship’s captain later declared: "Shackle his neck and he will not escape again... He is a wicked bird, and I do not lie, that vile Surrat."

Thus, in Egypt, a twenty-month manhunt ended. Surrat was placed on an American ship and transported to Washington for trial. News of his capture spread like wildfire, describing him as "Lincoln’s escaped conspirator," and predicting that his trial would be one of the most famous cases in the world.

On June 10, 1867, one of the largest trials of the 19th century began in Washington, D.C. But the great irony is that Surrat, unlike his mother and comrades, was not tried before a military court, but before a civilian court. This shift in the trial mechanism was a fateful turning point.

The trial lasted two full months, during which the jury heard testimony from 170 witnesses (80 for the prosecution and 90 for the defense). The evidence varied between those who saw Surrat in Washington on the night of the assassination and those who denied his presence there. Prosecutor Edwards Pierrepont presented damning evidence, including diaries and numerous testimonies proving Surrat’s involvement in the kidnapping plot and his espionage for the South.

But legally, the prosecution faced a major problem. A long time had passed since the crime, and Surrat was only arrested after the statute of limitations had expired on most of the charges against him. On August 10, 1867, the jury announced its inability to reach a unanimous verdict, as opinions were split: four members voted for conviction, and eight voted for acquittal. This was a devastating blow to the prosecution.

Unable to retry the case (due to legal procedures and the statute of limitations), Surrat was released on bail of $30,000. By the summer of 1868, the federal government dropped all remaining charges against him. Surrat had escaped the hangman’s noose that had claimed his mother and comrades.

After gaining his freedom, Surrat lived a modest life. He married Mary Victorine Hunter in 1872, and had seven children with her. He worked for the "Baltimore Steam Packet" shipping company, far from the spotlight. In 1870, he tried to launch a public lecture tour to defend himself and explain his "truth," but the first lecture in Rockville, Maryland, aroused such public anger that the remaining lectures were canceled.

Surrat died on April 21, 1916, at his home in Baltimore, at the age of seventy-two, from pneumonia. He was the last to live of all the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination plot.

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The End ..

I hope you like this post, my deep regards from Egypt 🌹🌹

---------------------------
I recommend you to read my following posts :

”The Anecdotes of Ex Confederate - Union officers in Egypt”

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1rv6ggz/the_anecdotes_of_ex_confederate_union_officers_in/

---------------------------

"The Anecdotes of Egypt and The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1rpb9q3/the_anecdotes_of_egypt_and_the_american_civil_war/

---------------------------

"A rare Egyptian book about The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/USHistory/comments/1rt8gwv/a_rare_egyptian_book_about_the_american_civil_war/
---------------------------

"The Anecdotes of Anwar Sadat with U.S Presidents"

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1rp1ry5/the_anecdotes_of_anwar_sadat_with_us_presidents/

[removed]

Hubbard went to Gallaudet University, which is a historic university for deaf and hard of hearing students. He became a valuable member of their football team.

More information about Paul Hubbard:

https://www.signingsavvy.com/blog/370/Living+Loud%3A+Paul+Hubbard+-+Inventor+of+the+Football+Huddle

More information about Gallaudet University:

https://gallaudet.edu/about/history-traditions/