George Atzerodt was sent to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, lost his nerve, and was hanged anyway.
George Atzerodt, born in 1835 in the Prussian province of Saxony (now part of Germany), was a carriage repairer in Port Tobacco, Maryland, who earned money rowing Confederates (people of the Southern side in the Civil War) across the Potomac River and was brought into the plot of John Wilkes Booth, the actor who shot President Abraham Lincoln [1].
Booth gave him the job of killing Vice President Andrew Johnson on 14 April 1865. He never attacked. A military court (a panel of officers of the Union Army, the army of the United States side in the Civil War, acting as judge and jury) found him guilty of conspiracy to murder, and he was hanged on 7 July 1865.
He took Room 126 at the Kirkwood House hotel in Washington, just above Johnson's rooms, then spent the night drinking at the hotel bar and wandering the streets. A bartender he had asked about Johnson's whereabouts tipped off police, who found a loaded revolver, a Bowie knife and Booth's bank book in his room; he was arrested at his cousin's house in Germantown, Maryland, on 20 April. His lawyer argued he was a coward who never meant harm.
He made several confessions hoping to testify for the government instead of being tried. One, lost until 1977 among his lawyer's papers, says Booth sent supplies to the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd about two weeks before the shooting. Mudd was the Maryland doctor who treated Booth's broken leg as he fled and was later convicted of helping him, so the confession bears on whether Mudd was guilty. There is no record that these confessions were made under oath.
[Report #200] WHO. 'George Andrew Atzerodt was born on 12 June 1835 in Dören in the Prussian province of Saxony (now Anrode, Thuringia, Germany).' (
history.army.mil) 'To make money, Atzerodt began working for the Confederates, rowing them back and forth across the Potomac River.' (
history.army.mil) 'In January 1865, Harbin introduced Atzerodt to John Surratt, who was working as a Confederate messenger.' (
history.army.mil)
14 APRIL 1865. 'He then chose Atzerodt to kill Vice President Johnson' (
history.army.mil). 'George Atzerodt booked Room 126 at the Kirkwood House in Washington, D.C., just above the two-room suite in which Johnson was staying.' (
history.army.mil) 'Atzerodt spent the night drinking at the Kirkwood House hotel bar and wandering the streets of the District instead.' (
history.army.mil) 'In the end, he was unable to bring himself to kill the vice president.' (
history.army.mil)
ARREST. 'George Atzerodt was arrested at his cousin Ernest Hartman Richter’s house in Germantown, Maryland, after police received a tip from the Kirkwood House bartender.' (
history.army.mil) Police 'searched Atzerodt’s room, where they found a loaded revolver under his pillow, a Bowie knife, and a bank book belonging to Booth.' (
history.army.mil)
THE TRIAL. 'In the end, only eight individuals would stand trial as apprehended conspirators, accused of conspiracy to murder Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant.' (
history.army.mil) 'The trial began 10 May 1865, three weeks after Lincoln’s assassination, and ended on 30 June.' (
history.army.mil) Under its rules 'only a majority vote was needed to gain a conviction, although a two-thirds vote was necessary to give the death penalty' (
history.army.mil). 'Brig. Gen. William E. Doster, defense counsel for George Atzerodt, claimed that his client, too, was a coward who never intended any harm to anyone, which is why he got drunk instead of trying to kill Vice President Johnson.' (
history.army.mil)
VERDICT AND SENTENCE. 'The commission found Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and Surratt guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced them to hang until dead.' (
history.army.mil) 'the four conspirators—Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and Surratt—were hanged at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary.' (
history.army.mil)
HIS CONFESSIONS. The Army guide cites a 'Statement of George Atzerodt, 25 Apr 1865, while on board the USS Montauk' (
history.army.mil) and describes 'George Atzerodt’s “Lost Confession,” which was discovered in 1977 among the papers of Atzerodt’s attorney.' (
history.army.mil) In it 'Atzerodt claimed that Booth had sent provisions to Mudd’s house about two weeks before the assassination to be used during the escape to Virginia' (
history.army.mil). 'It was one of several confessions Atzerodt gave hoping to become state’s witness (rather than defendant) at the conspiracy trial.' (
lincolnconspirators.com)
HELD. Whether any Atzerodt confession was sworn: not found (Oct 2026); would settle: the text of the 25 April 1865 Montauk statement and the Doster-papers confession. 'Uncertainties remain over the veracity of the evidence, the witness statements, and the degree of guilt of those who were tried by the commission.' (
history.army.mil)
THE OCTOBER 2026 RESEARCH REPORT SAID "sworn confessions from Atzerodt and Samuel Arnold"; its sources describe confessions given 'hoping to become state’s witness' (
lincolnconspirators.com) and do not call them sworn.