The Baltimore plot: the first conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln

586 Pages·2008·8.06 MB·English

by  Michael J. Kline

THE BALTIMORE PLOT
The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln

MICHAEL J. KLINE

WESTHOLME
Yardley
Frontispiece: Suspected Baltimore plotter Cypriano Ferrandini urging his views while undercover agent
Allan Pinkerton (with beard) listens. (The Spy of the Rebellion)
First Westholme eBook 2013
© 2008 Michael J. Kline
Maps © 2008 Westholme Publishing, LLC
Maps by Tracy Dungan
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
brief passages in a review.
Westholme Publishing, LLC
904 Edgewood Road
Yardley, Pennsylvania 19067
Visit our Web site at www.westholmepublishing.com
ISBN: 978-1-59416-556-6
Also available in paperback and hardcover.
Produced in United States of America
Many years ago, my grandfather, Wesley Seitz Watson, gave me his most
cherished possession, Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, which
eventually started me on this journey. This book is in loving memory of him.
CONTENTS
Preface
1 MOTIVE, MEANS, AND OPPORTUNITY
2 ACE OF HEARTS
3 THE LINCOLN SPECIAL
4 THE STOCK BROKER
5 A MESSAGE OF IMPORTANCE
6 THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
7 CROSSING THE RIVER
8 HOTEL FOUNTAIN
9 ACTORS
10 THE VAST AND SILENT CROWD
11 FACTS AND PHANTOMS
12 THE BALTIMORE PLOT
13 PINKERTON'S PLAN
14 THE KOSSUTH HAT
15 NIGHT TRAIN
16 AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL
17 THE PEACE CONFERENCE
18 THE PALMETTO COCKADE
19 A SHIRT-TAIL PLOT
20 INAUGURATION DAY
21 DEFENSE AND PROSECUTION
22 THE ASSASSIN
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Maps and Chart
1. The Route of President Lincoln's Inaugural Train
2. Baltimore in 1861
3. The Conpirators Web
PREFACE
CONSPIRACY. A combination or confederacy between two or more persons formed for the
purpose of committing by their joint efforts, some unlawful or criminal act.
—Black's Law Dictionary
THIS IS THE STORY OF WHAT HAS BECOME popularly known as the “Baltimore Plot.”
It is a thrilling story, pieced together from literally thousands of bits of evidence,
informed by the letters, diaries, testimony, contemporary newspaper accounts,
and other records of eyewitnesses to the events described. These scattered clues,
never before tied together to tell the complete tale, have been sifted and
arranged, as a lawyer might do in presenting a case to the jury. In this instance,
the crime charged is that of conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln in
February 1861.
A word of caution: Those expecting to find a smoking gun in the hands of one
of the suspects will be disappointed; no such conclusive proof exists. There is no
written agreement among the alleged conspirators, no signed confession. With
the exception of the few shadowy characters identified and quoted in the reports
of Allan Pinkerton's operatives, none of the alleged conspirators is known to
have ever admitted their role in plotting to kill Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore in
February 1861. Indeed, no one was ever even charged with the crime.
Our proof, therefore, depends largely on circumstantial evidence, of gluing
together what we know with the logical inferences we might draw by examining
the alleged conspirators's own words, their habits, their known prejudices, their
relationships with other suspected conspirators, and other evidence of
wrongdoing tending to show a common scheme. If this book succeeds in
convincing the reader that the plot was more than a fanciful rumor, then I have
done my job.
Lawyers go to trial with the case they have. It is never as good as the case they
wish they had. The available evidence is nearly always incomplete. It is almost
never the best evidence. Evidence, other than forensic, comes in two primary
forms, both suspect: witnesses and documents. Our case depends on both of
these.
Witnesses forget. Memories fade. Being mere mortals, witnesses, like writers,
get it wrong, often innocently. Sometimes they lie, even under oath. Within the
veins of all people, whether lay witness, expert, or the accused, flow the serums
of anti-truth—self-interest, bias, and personal grudges.
The contents of documents are tempting to take as gospel. This is generally a
mistake, particularly for newspaper accounts, often sensational stories hurriedly
dashed off on the telegraph wires before facts are verified. Some documents, of
course, are lost forever or destroyed by those intent on eradicating whatever
evidence they contain. Some are illegible. Some are forged. Some, like the
witnesses who wrote them, simply record lies or shades of truth colored to the
writer's liking.
The same shortcomings are true of the evidence presented here. Worse, by
trial standards, it is ancient evidence—over 150 years old for documents
recorded at the time—or written years, even decades, after the fact. Because we
have no living witnesses, ours is evidence that can be neither tempered if true,
nor torched if false, in the fire of cross-examination.
And yet, ours is good evidence, insofar as there is a great volume of it, and
much of it is corroborated. Our best evidence was recorded contemporaneously
with the events described in the writings of well-informed persons and
seemingly credible eyewitnesses. It is evidence written at a time in history when,
for the most part, people took pride in what they wrote, wrote well, and verified
their facts. They tended, in this author's view, to sign their names to what they
wrote with solemnity, as though under oath, to a greater extent than exists today.
It is with this evidence that we hope to better inform, if not conclusively
answer, the question of whether or not there was a conspiracy to assassinate
President-elect Lincoln in February 1861—the “Baltimore Plot.”
The people present during the events described here are our witnesses. Their
writings are their testimony. The guiding light of historians serves as our rule of
law and voice of reason. You are the judge and the jury. Let the evidence speak
for itself, and be decided upon fairly.