Professor Kenneth J. Zanca analyzes the responses of mid-nineteenth century Catholics in America to Mrs. Mary Surratt's trial and execution for her part in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. These reactions are placed within various contexts: the Catholic Church during America's Civil War; the wider secular and Protestant culture of the Victorian era; the post-assassination climate of 1865; and Vatican politics. Previous studies of Mrs. Surratt have explored the issues of her guilt or innocence. This work takes a line of inquiry not yet explored by historians, Catholic or otherwise, in that it investigates reactions to her execution through the eyes of contemporary Catholic and Protestant witnesses and commentators.

"Kenneth J. Zanca has made a welcome addition to one small but important aspect of what remains a seriously understudied topic: Catholics in the South....Important contribution to social and religious history." - American Catholic Studies, 2009, Vol 120 No 1

"Zanca's book contains some interesting information about the Surratt case." - The Catholic Historical Review, April 2010