Archive for February 10th, 2010

Allan Pinkerton with his detectives (Seated on right)

So now Pinkerton, armed with the information his operatives developed, could piece together the plan of the subversive group to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore on 23 February 1861.  It revealed itself something like this:

First they would excite the citizens of Baltimore to a fever pitch against Lincoln, which wouldn’t take much doing.  By the time Pinkerton heard the details of the plot, this part of the plan was already a success.

The conspirators had to decide if they would attack at Calvert Street Station when Lincoln arrived, during the trip from Calvert Street to the Washington Station where he would board the train for Washington, or at the Washington Station itself.  The decision was to assassinate Lincoln upon his arrival in Baltimore.

Crowd waiting for Lincoln at Calvert Street Station, Baltimore

They would salt the crowd waiting for the President Elect at Calvert Street Station with a large number of unruly secessionists.  It was reported that Colonel Kane, the Chief of Police of Baltimore, was either in on the plot or tacitly approved of it.  In any event, he was to assign only a small detachment of police to escort Lincoln, and make a path for him through the crowd.

The conspirators would create a diversion on the fringe of the crowd.  The police would respond to the diversion, leaving Lincoln at the mercy of the angry crowd.  Within the crowd would be the assassin, who would then kill Lincoln.  The weapon was to be left to the assassin to choose – knife or gun.

The assassin would be selected by a secret drawing of ballots.  The conspirator who drew a “red ballot” would do the deed, but his identity would only be known to himself, because the drawing would take place in a darkened room.

Apparently, however, there were concerns over this plan among the leadership of the conspirators.  What if the would-be assassin had second thoughts?  They would lose their chance to kill Lincoln.  In the event, eight red ballots were included, rather than one.  The thought being, one must presume, that with eight conspirators drawing a red ballot, each thinking he was the only one, at least one of them would succeed in the assassination.

There was to be a ship anchored in Chesapeake Bay waiting to whisk the assassin, or assassins, away.  It was not a bad plan, and might well have succeeded, had it been executed.

Pinkerton acted quickly once he had confirmed the threat.  He sent Kate Warne to arrange a meeting with Lincoln through Norman Judd, a Lincoln confidant, who was travelling with him.  Pinkerton, Judd, Lincoln and Warne met in Philadelphia on 21 February 1865.  Pinkerton and Judd presented the evidence to Lincoln, who was initially unconvinced.  He declined to alter his schedule.

However, independent of the investigation of Pinkerton, William H. Seward, the Secretary of State, had developed information about a plot to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore, which seemed to corroborate Pinkerton’s evidence.  He sent his son, Frederick, to report this evidence to Lincoln.

With this corroborating evidence, Lincoln agreed to alter his schedule, but insisted that he meet his commitments in Harrisburg before he would place himself in Pinkerton’s hands.  On 22 February 1865, Lincoln left a dinner in Harrisburg early and boarded a special train to Washington by way of Baltimore.  This would allow Lincoln to pass through Baltimore at night, the day before Lincoln’s scheduled arrival.

To further disguise Lincoln, Pinkerton had him wear a soft cap and carry a shawl over his arm as though he were an invalid.  In addition, Kate Warne acted publically as though she was Lincoln’s sister.  Pinkerton had his men at stations along the train route.  As the train approached they would signal with a lantern that all was well.

Pinkerton pulled it off.  The conspirators slept as Lincoln journeyed through Baltimore without incident, arriving in Washington safe and sound.

On the other hand, when the story came out, especially in Harper’s Weekly, Lincoln was roundly criticized for “slinking” into Washington for his inauguration, wearing a disguise.

Lincoln allegedly "slinking" into Washington

Cartoon version of Lincoln's soft cap and shawl