At around 11 o'clock on the morning of July 6, 1865, 137 years ago today, the clock began ticking on one of the most dramatic events in the history of Washington. It began when Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock rode to the Old Arsenal Penitentiary, today Fort Leslie McNair, carrying four sealed envelopes from the War Department. They were addressed neatly in a clerk's hand to four prisoners who were in solitary confinement at the Arsenal.
Hancock handed the envelopes to Maj. Gen. John F. Hartranft, commandant of the prison. Hartranft accepted the mail grimly. He suspected, without even breaking the seals, what news the envelopes contained, and the unpleasant duty that awaited him once the contents were divulged. Together, Hartranft and Hancock marched to the prison building and, walking down a long corridor from cell to cell, delivered the envelopes to their recipients â?? Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt, David Herold and George Atzerodt.
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