Convicted Lincoln conspirator and Alabama native, Lewis Thornton Powell enlisted in the Hamilton Blues Company, 2nd Florida Infantry in May, 1861. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, Union soldiers hospitalized Powell in Baltimore.

Escaping from there in early September, Powell found his way to Virginia where he joined up with Mosby's Raiders. In early 1865, Powell relocated to Baltimore where he met John Wilkes Booth. Powell's role in the Lincoln Conspiracy was significant.

He severely wounded Secretary of State William Seward in an assassination attempt on April 14, 1865. Arrested on April 17, Powell received a guilty sentence from the Military Commission and was hung on July 7,1865.

Originally buried near the gallows, Smithsonian Institution employees found Powell's skull in their collection in 1992. Family members interred the skull in the Geneva Cemetery in 1994 near the grave of his mother, Patience Caroline Powell.

Seventeen Civil War soldiers, one of whom served with the Union, are buried in the Geneva Cemetery. Powell's grave in the cemetery is on the right, approximately one-third of the way to the back.

www.usgennet.org/usa/fl/county/seminole/Geneva/Cemteries.htm

Information Provided by the Florida Department of State.