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Edman Spangler
Edman Spangler, manacled,[1] after his arrest, 1865
Born    August 10, 1825
York, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died    February 7, 1875 (aged 49)
Waldorf, Maryland, U.S.
Resting place    Saint Peters Cemetery
Nationality    American
Other names    Ned Spangler
Edward Spangler
Edman Spangler
Occupation(s)    Carpenter, stagehand
Known for    Involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Criminal status    Pardoned in March 1869
Spouse    Mary Brasheare
​
​(m. 1858; died 1864)​
Conviction    Aiding and abetting the escape of John Wilkes Booth
Criminal penalty    6 years imprisonment with hard labor
Accomplice    John Wilkes Booth
Date apprehended    April 17, 1865
Imprisoned at    Fort Jefferson, Florida
Edman "Ned" Spangler (August 10, 1825 – February 7, 1875), baptized Edmund Spangler, was an American carpenter and stagehand who was employed at Ford's Theatre at the time of President Abraham Lincoln's murder on April 14, 1865. He and seven others were charged in conspiring to assassinate Lincoln and three other high level government officials. Spangler was the only one found not guilty of the conspiracy charge. Even so, he was found guilty of helping Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escape and sentenced to six years of hard labor.[2]
Background
Spangler was born in York, Pennsylvania, one of four sons of William Spangler, a county sheriff.[3] Spangler's mother died when he was an infant. He was baptized as "Edmund Spangler" at the First Reformed Church in York on August 10, 1825. Throughout his life, Spangler went by several names; as an adult, friends and co-workers knew him as "Ned", after his arrest, he signed his statement as "Edman Spangler" while family records name him "Edmund/Edward".[3]
While in his early 20s, Spangler trained as a carpenter. He eventually moved to Maryland and began working with another carpenter, James Johnson Gifford. In the early 1850s, Spangler and Gifford helped to construct Tudor Hall, the summer retreat for the Booth family. It was during this time that Spangler met future stage actor John Wilkes Booth who was then a child. In 1853, Spangler moved to Baltimore where he worked as an assistant to Gifford at the Front Street and Holliday Street Theaters. In 1858, Spangler married Mary Brasheare. In 1861, the couple relocated to Washington, D.C., where Spangler began working as a carpenter and scene shifter at Ford's Theatre. It was while working at Ford's Theatre that Spangler became reacquainted with John Wilkes Booth. By that time, Booth had become a renowned and popular stage actor. Spangler was dazzled by Booth's fame and charm and, despite the fact that Booth was thirteen years Spangler's junior, was always eager to complete whatever tasks Booth assigned him.[4] Like Booth, Spangler opposed the abolition of slavery and considered himself a Secessionist. He would often butt heads with co-worker Jake Rittersbach who was a veteran of the Union Army.[5]
After Spangler's wife died in 1864, he began drinking very heavily. Although he became disagreeable after drinking too much, friends described him as a generally congenial and endearing "drudge" when sober and noted his love for practical jokes, children, and animals.[6]
Assassination
On April 2, 1865 Richmond, the Confederate capital, fell to Union forces. On April 9 General Lee's Northern Virginia army surrendered to the Union Forces. These two events were evidence that after four long years the civil war was finally nearing its end even though there were still Confederate forces in the field throughout the South though clearly not enough to bring about a Confederate victory.
Five days later President Lincoln and his wife Mary attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater. During that afternoon Spangler was asked by his employer, Harry Clay Ford, to help prepare the State Box for the President's anticipated attendance that evening. He helped bring in furniture and remove the partition which converted the two boxes, numbers 7 and 8, into a single box. Later Booth showed up at the theater and invited Spangler and other stagehands of Ford's out for a drink. Booth indicated to the employees that he might come back for the evening's performance.
At about 9:30 pm, Booth again appeared at the theatre. He dismounted in the alley to the rear of Ford's and asked for Spangler. When Spangler came out, Booth asked him to hold the mare he was riding, which he had hired from the stables of James W. Pumphrey. Pumphrey had warned Booth that the horse was high spirited and she would break her halter if left unattended. Spangler explained he had work to do and asked Joseph Burroughs, another Ford's employee, to do so. Burroughs, whose nickname was "Peanut John" (or "Johnny Peanut"), agreed to hold the horse. At about 10:15 PM John Wilkes Booth entered the president's box and assassinated Lincoln and then quickly escaped from the theater.