Samuel Bland Arnold, born on September 6, 1834, and passing away on September 21, 1906, played a role in the conspiracy to abduct President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He joined forces with fellow conspirators John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, Lewis Powell, Michael O’Laughlen, and John Surratt with the intention of kidnapping Lincoln and using him as leverage to secure the release of Confederate prisoners held in Washington D.C. Although they attempted the abduction twice, their plans were thwarted due to Lincoln’s unexpected whereabouts.

Arnold and O’Laughlen withdrew from the conspiracy when the prisoner-exchange program commenced. Following Booth’s assassination of Lincoln on April 14, 1865, Arnold was arrested under suspicion of complicity. Surprisingly, he felt a sense of relief upon his arrest. During the trial, one of the key witnesses was Louis J. Weichmann, a lodger at Mary Surratt’s residence (John Surratt’s mother).  During zthe 1865 Conspiracy Trial, prosecutors introduced Arnold’s March 27, 1865 letter to Booth. In his letter, Arnold wrote that “None, no, not one were more in favor of the enterprise than myself.” Arnold’s attorney, Walter Cox, argued that Arnold “backed out from this insane scheme of capture” and it was “abandoned somewhere about the middle of March.” Arnold, he argued, left Washington for Maryland about March 20 and that there “is no evidence that connects” Arnold with the “dreadful conspiracy” of assassination. Cox told the Commission that Arnold’s participation in the “mere unacted, still scheme” of abduction was “wholly different from the offense described in the charge.”

As a consequence of his involvement, Arnold received a life sentence at Fort Jefferson, along with Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, and Edmund Spangler. However, in 1869, Arnold, Mudd, and Spangler were pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and subsequently released (O’Laughlen had passed away in prison in 1867).

After returning home, Samuel Arnold lived a quiet life away from the public eye for over three decades. In 1898, he revisited Fort Jefferson and captured photographs of his former prison, although these images have since been lost. In 1902, Arnold penned a series of newspaper articles for the Baltimore American, detailing his experiences during his imprisonment at Fort Jefferson.

Samuel Arnold passed away four years later on September 21, 1906, and was laid to rest at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. Of all the conspirators involved, John Surratt was the only one who outlived him.