THE SOLDIER’S LETTERS OFFER AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE TRIAL THAT RIVETED A NATION
By Sandra Palomino
For an intimate window into the past, there’s perhaps no source more enlightening than historical letters. Unlike official documents or books, private correspondences often capture unfiltered expressions, revealing the complexities of human nature, personal relationships and societal conditions. In the case of Christian Rath, the provost marshal who oversaw the incarceration, trial and execution of the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his letters home detail his thoughts and emotions before, during and after the 1865 trial. The letters, which are part of a larger Rath archive available in Heritage’s March 28 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction, capture the human side of history.
Among the personal correspondences in the Christian Rath Archive is this letter Rath wrote to his wife on May 10, 1865.
One of Rath’s 19th-century cartes de visites
Rath, who immigrated to the United States after participating in a failed revolution in his native country of Germany, settled in Jackson, Michigan, and became a shoemaker. By the time the Civil War started in 1861, he was married with children and did not join the Union Army until August 1862, when he enlisted as a second lieutenant in the 17th Michigan Infantry. His letters home begin as soon as he moves into the Detroit Barracks and continue until he returns home in late July 1865. When he sat down to write to his wife, his main purpose was to convey to her that he was well and to share his private thoughts about what he was witnessing – first as a Union officer leading his men into heated battle, then as provost marshal watching the fighting from a short distance, and finally as the man tasked with jailing and executing the Lincoln Conspirators.
The Rath Archive also includes a section of rope and handcuffs. After the hanging of the Lincoln Conspirators, Rath is said to have ‘cut down the ropes and divided them into pieces as souvenirs of the day.’
Although history books have carefully recorded the unfolding of the Lincoln assassination from the moment John Wilkes Booth fired his pistol, Rath’s letters are one man’s uncensored thoughts. He writes that Lincoln’s death was profoundly felt by his fellow soldiers as the president had been “very kind to the Soldier.” He shares that every man felt it “his special Duty to avenge his Death.” At this point, he had no idea he would be chosen for that very task. His letters reveal his mixed emotions. While at first he wishes all of the accused conspirators should meet their doom, as the days pass, only his loyalty to his adopted nation compels him to complete his duty. He especially feels compassion for Mary Surratt, who he does not believe looks like a killer. Rath was interviewed many times in his later years about his experiences, and he was consistent in his statements that he did not believe Surratt would or should be hanged. Nevertheless, on July 7, 1865, Surratt was hanged alongside Lewis Powell (Payne), David Herold and George Atzerodt.
The diaries in the Rath Archive cover the years 1863 and 1864.
Rath writes home two days later to relay the events, and his letter is filled with the conflicted emotions of a man who has followed orders: “I was ill prepared for the execution. but as a soldier and in the time of my duty I was oblidge to perform the part assigned to me.” Immediately after the execution, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel specifically for his “special efficient services during the confinement, trial and execution of the conspirators,” but he makes no mention of that in his letter home.
Rath’s letters, diaries, cartes de visites and other relics were carefully stored by his family and passed from one generation to the next. What were originally hastily written messages meant for an audience of one have been transformed by the passing years into a rich source of information that brings us the immediacy of one of the most profoundly tragic moments in American history. Which is what makes intact archives like this so appealing to collectors. That so few such bodies of material remain outside of institutions only raises the stakes.
SANDRA PALOMINO is Director of Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions. She can be reached at SandraP@HA.com or 212.486.3662.