Booth conceived a plan to
kidnap Lincoln in order to
blackmail the Union into resuming prisoner exchanges, and he recruited
Samuel Arnold,
George Atzerodt,
David Herold,
Michael O'Laughlen,
Lewis Powell (also known as "Lewis Paine"), and
John Surratt to help him. Surratt's mother,
Mary Surratt, left her tavern in
Surrattsville, Maryland, and moved to a house in Washington, D.C., where Booth became a frequent visitor.