Editing Clinton, Maryland (section)

== History ==
{{see also|Mary Surratt#Married life}}
Clinton was founded in the 1770s. The town, then named Surratt's Villa, was actually a simple crossroads with a few buildings. In the 1800s, it became known as Surrattsville. The main building served as the [[post office]], an inn and tavern, and a polling place. This main residence was one of two properties owned by the widowed [[Mary Surratt]]; the [[Mary E. Surratt Boarding House|second property]] was in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Diehl|first1=Daniel|last2=Donnelly|first2=Mark P.|title=Apparition Atlas: The Ghost Hunter's Travel Guide to Haunted America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ5aCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT167|date=1 September 2015|publisher=Gaia's Essence/Ravenswood Publishing|isbn=978-1-5152-6316-6|page=167}}</ref>

On 14 and 15 April 1865, [[John Wilkes Booth]], who had two hours earlier [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|assassinated]] President [[Abraham Lincoln]], stopped by the Surrattsville tavern to pick up weapons and supplies. The U.S. government alleged that Mary Surratt had gone there earlier with these supplies, and was in collusion with the conspirators, one of whom was her son, [[John Surratt]]. Because she was found guilty of complicity in the Lincoln assassination, Mary Surratt was [[hanging|hanged]] at the Capitol Prison in Washington D.C., on 7 July 1865. (Her house is now the [[Surratt House Museum]], with a focus on the assassination.) The U.S. Post Office renamed the town Robeystown, due to the notoriety of the Surratt name, and in keeping with naming towns after the postmaster. In 1879, Robeystown was renamed Clinton. The local high school, however, retains the name of Surrattsville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.surrattsville.org/history/surratthouse.shtml|title=Surratt House Archives|website=Surrattsville High School Foundation|accessdate=4 February 2025}}</ref>

The [[Wyoming (Clinton, Maryland)|Wyoming house]], a historic frame house built in three phases between the 18th and early 19th centuries, is also a part of Clinton's history. The house consists of a main block with [[Gambrel|gambrel roof]] (late 18th century), kitchen (c. 1800), and connecting block (c. 1850). The Wyoming house is listed in the Maryland Inventory of Historical Properties and the Historic American Buildings Survey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wyoming (Site Number PG:81B-4)|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/019000/019200/019233/pdf/msa_se5_19233.pdf|website=Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties|publisher=Maryland Historical Trust|access-date=21 January 2016}}</ref>

In 1913, Blossie Keubeth Miller founded a general store at the town's main intersection. The current commercial property, built in the 1950s, houses a liquor store and is still owned by the Miller family.<ref>{{cite web|title=B. K. Miller Super Liquors (Site Number PG:81A-21)|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/031200/031261/pdf/msa_se5_31261.pdf|website=Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties|publisher=Maryland Historical Trust|access-date=21 January 2016}}</ref>

[[Yuri Nosenko]], a KGB defector, was confined and interrogated at a safehouse in Clinton from April 4, 1964 to August 13, 1965.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001451843.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

Clinton is also associated with the [[Beltway sniper attacks|2002 Beltway sniper attacks]]. A survivor of the attacks was shot in Clinton,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dao|first1=James|title=Polite but Dogged, Sniper Suspect Offers Defense|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/us/polite-but-dogged-sniper-suspect-offers-defense.html|access-date=21 January 2016|work=The New York Times|date=October 22, 2003}}</ref> while Mildred Muhammad, ex-wife of sniper [[John Allen Muhammad]], was a Clinton resident.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kiehl|first1=Stephen|title=Muhammad's ex-wife recalls death threat|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/11/20/muhammads-ex-wife-recalls-death-threat/|access-date=21 January 2016|work=The Baltimore Sun|date=November 20, 2003}}</ref>