On this day in American history…..

On May 10, 1865, the conspirators for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln were arraigned before the Military Commission of the Johnson administration.

As the trial proceeded, the prosecution offered evidence to show that the conspiracy against Abraham Lincoln and other high government officials began sometime after the battle at Gettysburg–probably in the summer of 1864. A witness identified the goal of the conspiracy was to "leave the government entirely without a head" by killing not only Lincoln, but also Vice President Johnson, Secretary of War Stanton, Secretary of State Seward, and General Grant. 

After the trial, the military commission arrived at its verdicts. For their treason, four of the prisoners (Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold) were sentenced "to be hanged by the neck until dead." Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel Mudd and Michael O'Laughlen were sentenced to "hard labor for life." Edman Spangler received a six-year sentence.

"O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourished over us."

William Shakespeare