02/17/2026
At first glimpse, Wok and Roll is just one of several restaurants in DC’s bustling Chinatown neighborhood. But behind the neon lights, the historic façade of this restaurant hides a sinister secret.
The building that houses Wok and Roll was once the home of Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the United States Government. Mary, a native of Maryland and a staunch Catholic, married John Surratt in 1840. She mothered three children while John purchased land in Maryland for a tavern and inn, as well as a townhouse on H Street NW, which they used as a rental property.
As the Civil War began in 1861, the Surratts were openly supportive of the Confederate cause, frequently hosting Confederate supporters and spies. John Surratt passed away suddenly in 1862, leaving Mary in financial crisis. She moved into her DC townhouse full-time, using it as a boarding house for income. She leased her tavern in Maryland to a known Confederate sympathizer. Her son, also named John, was a courier for the Confederate Secret Service, moving messages and money across enemy lines. His work brought various men to the boardinghouse, including John Wilkes Booth, who grew close to the Surratts.
Mary Surratt would later be accused of keeping “the nest that hatched the egg,” the egg being the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln (see ch. 34). Members of the conspiracy met in the boarding house repeatedly and hid supplies at the Surratt tavern. Mary was arrested just three days after Lincoln’s assassination due to the suspicious company she kept.
Mary Surratt faced a military tribunal, charged with aiding, abetting, concealing, counseling, and harboring the men who were charged with killing Abraham Lincoln and plotting against the Union Government. She was ultimately found guilty and executed on July 7, 1865. It’s a story you’ll be pondering over your egg rolls and sesame noodles.
