(This account of the Baltimore Plot was originally published in The Century Magazine in 1888 as part of an article by John Hay and John Nicolet, presidential secretaries to Abraham Lincoln.)
On the morning of February 23d the whole
country was surprised at the telegraphic announcement, coupled with diverse and
generally very foggy explanations, that the President-elect, after his long and
almost triumphal journey in the utmost publicity and with well-nigh universal
greetings of good-will, had suddenly abandoned his announced programme and made
a quick and secret night journey through Baltimore to the Federal capital.
Public opinion, and for years afterward, was puzzled by the event, and the
utmost contrariety of comment, ranging from the highest praise to the severest
detraction which caricature, ridicule, and denunciation could express, was long
current. In the course of time, the narratives of the principal actors in the
affair have been written down and published, and a sufficient statement of the
facts and motives involved may at length be made. The newspapers stated
(without any prompting or suggestion from Mr. Lincoln) that an extensive plot
to assassinate him on his expected trip through Baltimore about midday of
Saturday had been discovered, which plot the earlier and unknown passage on
Friday night disconcerted and prevented. This theory has neither been proved
nor disproved by the lapse of time; Mr. Lincoln did not entertain it in this
form nor base his course upon it. But subsequent events did clearly demonstrate
the possibility and probability of attempted personal violence from the
fanatical impulse of individuals, or the sudden anger of a mob, and justified
the propriety of his decision.
The
threats of secession, revolution, plots to seize Washington, to burn the public
buildings, to prevent the count of electoral votes and the inauguration of the
new President, which had for six weeks filled the newspapers of the country,
caused much uneasiness about the personal safety of Mr. Lincoln, particularly
among the railroad officials over whose lines he was making his journey; and to
no one of them so much as to Mr. S. M. Felton, the President of the
Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railway, whose line formed the
connecting link from the North to the South, from a free to a slave State, from
the region of absolute loyalty to the territory of quasi-rebellion.
Independently of politics, the city of Baltimore at that time bore a somewhat
unenviable reputation as containing a dangerous and disorderly element; her
“roughs” had a degree of newspaper notoriety by no means agreeable to quiet and
non-combative strangers.
But Baltimore and Maryland were also profoundly moved by the incipient rebellion. Governor Hicks had been plied with persuasion, protest, and even threats of personal violence, to induce him to convene the Maryland legislature, so that secession might begin under a legal pretext. The investigation of the Howard Congressional Committee, though it found no organized plot to seize the capital, gave abundant traces of secession conspiracy of various degrees—especially of half-formed military companies, organizing to prevent Northern troops from passing through Baltimore to Washington or the South. As part and parcel of this scheme, the railroads were to be destroyed, and the bridges burned. The events of April, as they actually occurred, had already been planned, informally at least, in January.
Aside
from patriotism, the duty of protecting the tracks and bridges of the railroad
of which he was president induced Mr. Felton to call to his aid Mr. Allan
Pinkerton, chief of a Chicago detective agency, whom he had before employed on
an important matter.
 |
| Abraham Lincoln |
“He was a man of great skill and resources,” writes Mr. Felton. “I furnished him a few hints and at once set him on the track with eight assistants. There were then drilling upon the line of the railroad some three military organizations, professedly for home defense, pretending to be Union men, and in one or two instances tendering their services to the railroad in case of trouble. Their propositions were duly considered; but the defense of the road was never intrusted to their tender mercies. The first thing done was to enlist a volunteer in each of these military companies. They pretended to come from New Orleans and Mobile, and did not appear to be wanting in sympathy for the South. They were furnished with uniforms at the expense of the road, and drilled as often as their associates in arms; became initiated into all the secrets of the organizations, and reported every day or two to their chief, who immediately reported to me the designs and plans of these military companies. One of these organizations was loyal; but the other two were disloyal and fully in the plot to destroy the bridges and march to Washington, to wrest it from the hands of the legally constituted authorities. Every nook and corner of the road and its vicinity was explored by the chief and his detectives, and the secret working of secession and treason laid bare and brought to light. Societies were joined in Baltimore, and various modes known to and practiced only by detectives were resorted to, to win the confidence of the conspirators and get into their secrets. The plan worked well; and the midnight plottings and daily consultations of the conspirators were treasured up as a guide to our future plans for thwarting them. … It was made as certain as strong circumstantial and positive evidence could make it, that there was a plot to burn the bridges and destroy the road, and murder Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington, if it turned out that he went there before troops were called. If troops were first called, then the bridges were to be destroyed, and Washington cut off and taken possession of by the South.
I
at once organized and armed a force of about two hundred men, whom I
distributed along the line between the Susquehanna and Baltimore, principally
at the bridges. These men were drilled secretly and regularly by drill-masters,
and were apparently employed in whitewashing the bridges, putting on some six
or seven coats of whitewash, saturated with salt and alum, to make the outside
of the bridges as nearly fireproof as possible. This whitewashing, so extensive
in its application, became the nine-days’ wonder of the neighborhood. Thus, the
bridges were strongly guarded, and a train was arranged so as to concentrate
all the force at one point in case of trouble. The programme of Mr. Lincoln was
changed, and it was decided by him that he would go to Harrisburg from
Philadelphia, and thence over the Northern Central road by way to Baltimore,
and thence to Washington. We were then informed by our detective that the
attention of the conspirators was turned from our road to the Northern Central,
and that they would there await the coming of Mr. Lincoln.”
 |
| Allan Pinkerton |
It appeared from the reports of Pinkerton’s detectives that among the more suspicious indications were the very free and threatening expressions of a man named Ferrandini, an Italian, sometime a barber at Barnum’s Hotel in Baltimore, but who had become captain of one of the military companies organized in that city to promote secession. Ferrandini’s talk may not have been conclusive proof of a conspiracy, but it showed his own intent to commit assassination and conveyed the inference of a plot. Coupled with the fact that the Baltimore air was full of similar threats, it established the probability of a mob and a riot.
Add
to this Ferrandini’s testimony before the Howard Committee (February 5th,
1861), that he was then drilling a company (fifteen members) of “Constitutional
Guards” in Baltimore, formed for the express purpose “to prevent Northern
volunteer companies from passing through the State of Maryland . . . to come
here [Washington] to help the United States troops, or anybody else, to invade
the South in any shape whatever”; also that another corps, called the National
Volunteers, had formed, “to protect their State,” and began drilling the
previous Saturday; also that he had “heard that the Minute Men have fifteen
companies in Baltimore”—and we have the direct evidence of extensive
organization, and strong presumption of the uses to which it could be turned.
Then,
if we remember that riot, murder, and bridge-burning actually took place in
Baltimore two months later, in exact accordance with the plans and ideas
formulated, both in the loose talk and the solemn testimony by Ferrandini and
others, we are unavoidably driven to the conclusion that Mr. Felton, General
Scott, Governor Hicks, and others had abundant cause for the very serious
apprehensions under which they acted.
Hon.
N. B. Judd, a resident of Chicago, of peculiar prominence in Illinois politics
and the intimate personal friend of Lincoln, was perhaps the most active and
influential member of the suite of the President-elect. Pinkerton the detective
knew Judd personally, and as the presidential party approached, notified him by
letter at Buffalo and by special messenger at New York of the investigations he
was making in Baltimore. Judd as yet said nothing of the matter to anyone. When
the party arrived in Philadelphia, however, he was instantly called to a
conference with Mr. Felton and the detective. Pinkerton laid his reports before
the two, and, after an hour’s examination, both were convinced that the
allegation of a plot to assassinate the President-elect was as serious and
important as in the nature of things such evidence can ever be found. He
immediately took Pinkerton with him to Mr. Lincoln’s room at the Continental
Hotel, to whom the whole story was repeated, and where Judd advised that, in
the opinion both of Mr. Felton and himself, Mr. Lincoln’s safety required him
to proceed that same evening on the 11 o’clock train.
“If
you follow the course suggested,” continued Judd, “you will necessarily be
subjected to the scoffs and sneers of your enemies, and the disapproval of your
friends, who cannot be made to believe in the existence of so desperate a
plot.” Mr. Lincoln replied that he appreciated these suggestions, but that he
could stand anything that was necessary.
Then,
rising from his seat he said: “I cannot go to-night; I have promised to raise
the flag over Independence Hall to-morrow morning, and to visit the legislature
at Harrisburg. Beyond that, I have no engagements.”
Hitherto,
all Lincoln’s movements had been made under the invitation, arrangements,
direction, and responsibility of committees of legislatures, governors of
States, and municipal authorities of towns and cities. No such call or
greeting, however, had come from Maryland; no resolutions of welcome from her
legislature, no invitation from her governor, no municipal committee from
Baltimore.
The
sole proffers of friendship and hospitality out of the commonwealth came from
two citizens in their private capacity—Mr. Gittings, President of the Northern
Central Railroad, who tendered a dinner to Mr. Lincoln and his family; and Mr.
Coleman, of the Eutaw House, who extended a similar invitation to the
President-elect and his suite.
 |
| Ward Hill Lamon |
Appreciating fully these acts of personal courtesy, Mr. Lincoln yet felt that there was no evidence before him that the official and public authority of the city would be exercised to restrain the unruly elements which would on such an occasion densely pack the streets of Baltimore.
During
their ten-days’ experience on the journey thus far, both he and his suite had
had abundant evidence as to how completely exposed and perfectly helpless every
individual of the party, and especially Mr. Lincoln, was at times, even amid
the friendliest feeling and the kindest attention. He had been almost crushed
in the corridor of the State-house at Columbus; arriving after dark in the
Pittsburg depot, a stampede of the horses of a small cavalry escort had
seriously endangered his carriage and its occupants; at Buffalo, Major Hunter,
of his suite, had his arm broken by a sudden rush of the crowd. If with all the
good-will and precautions of police and military such perils were unavoidable
in friendly cities, what might happen where authorities were indifferent, where
municipal control and public order were lax, and where prejudice, hostility,
and smoldering insurrection animated the masses of people surging about the
carriages of an unprotected street procession? Yet, with all these considerations,
Mr. Lincoln could not entirely convince himself that a deliberate plot to
murder him was in existence.
“I
made arrangements, however, with Mr. Judd for my return to Philadelphia the
next night, if I should be convinced that there was danger in going through
Baltimore. I told him that if I should meet at Harrisburg, as I had at other
places, a delegation to go with me to Baltimore, I should feel safe and go on.”
Mr.
Judd devoted the remainder of the afternoon and nearly the whole of the night
of February 21st to the discussion and perfection of arrangements for a night
journey through Baltimore, as suggested by himself and Mr. Felton, and as
conditionally accepted by the President-elect. Only four persons joined in this
discussion,—Mr. Judd, Mr. Pinkerton, Mr. Franciscus, General Manager of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Mr. Henry Sanford, representing Colonel E. S.
Sanford, President of the American Telegraph Company.
At
4 o’clock A. M. the party separated, having agreed on the following plan: that
after the reception at Harrisburg, a special train consisting of a baggage car
and one passenger car, starting at 6 P. M., should convey Mr. Lincoln and one
companion back to Philadelphia, the track between the two cities to be kept
clear of everything; that Mr. Felton at Philadelphia should detain the 11
o’clock P. M. Baltimore train until the arrival of the special train from
Harrisburg; that Pinkerton should have a carriage ready in which to proceed
through Philadelphia from one depot to the other; that a Mrs. Warne, an
employee of his, should engage berths in the sleeping-car of the Baltimore
train; that Mr. Sanford should so disconnect the wires as to make any telegraphing
between the several points within certain hours impossible; and that Mr.
Lincoln should have for his single escort and companion Colonel Ward H. Lamon,
of his suite, a devoted personal friend from Illinois—young, active, and of
almost Herculean frame and strength.
At
6 o’clock on the morning of February 22d, the appointed flag-raising by the
President-elect, over Independence Hall in Philadelphia, was duly celebrated,
and on the trip to Harrisburg, which followed as soon as possible, Mr. Judd
communicated the details of his plan to Mr. Lincoln. Before this, however,
Lincoln had received at the Continental Hotel the visit of Mr. Frederick W.
Seward, who came as a special messenger from his father in Washington to place
the following correspondence in his hands:
[Seward
to Lincoln.]
Washington,
February 21st, 1861.
My
Dear Sir: My
son goes express to you. He will show you a report made by our detective to
General Scott, and by him communicated to me this morning. I deem it so
important as to dispatch my son to meet you wherever he may find you.
I
concur with General Scott in thinking it best for you to reconsider your
arrangement. No one here but General Scott, myself, and the bearer is aware of
this communication.
I
should have gone with it myself, but for the peculiar sensitiveness about my
attendance at the Senate at this crisis.
Very
truly yours,
William H. SEWARD
[General
Scott to Seward.]
February
21st, 1861.
My
Dear Sir: Please
receive my friend, Colonel Stone, chief of General Wrightman’s staff, and a
distinguished young officer with me in Mexico. He has an important
communication to make.
Yours
truly,
WINFIELD SCOTT
[Colonel
Stone’s Report.]
February
21st, 1861.
“A
New York detective officer who has been on duty in Baltimore for three weeks
past reports this morning that there is serious danger of violence to, and the
assassination of, Mr. Lincoln in his passage through that city, should the time
of that passage be known. He states that there are banded ruffians holding
secret meetings, and that he has heard threats of mobbing and violence, and has
himself heard men declare that if Mr. Lincoln was to be assassinated, they
would like to be the men. He states further that it is only within the past
five days that he has considered there was any danger, but now he deems it
imminent. He deems the danger one which the authorities and people in Baltimore
cannot guard against. All risk might be easily avoided by a change in the
traveling arrangements which would bring Mr. Lincoln and a portion of his party
through Baltimore by a night train without previous notice.”
Here
was a new and most serious additional warning. The investigation on which it
was based was altogether independent of that made by Pinkerton, and entirely
unknown to him. Colonel Stone, it will be remembered, was the officer to whom
General Scott intrusted the organization and command of the District Militia
for the defense of Washington and the general supervision and control of the
city. The detectives, three in number, were from New York and, at the request
of Colonel Stone, had been selected and placed on duty by Mr. Kennedy,
superintendent of police of New York City. In both cases, similar observations
had been made, and similar conclusions arrived at.
Warned
thus of danger by concurrent evidence too grave to be disregarded, and advised
to avoid it, not only by Judd and Felton in Philadelphia, but now also by Mr.
Seward, the chief of his new Cabinet, and by General Scott, the chief of the
army, Mr. Lincoln could no longer hesitate to adopt their suggestion. Whether
the evidence would prove ultimately true, or whether violence upon him would be
attempted, was not the question. The existence of the danger was pointed out
and certified by an authority he had no right to disregard; the trust he bore
was not merely the personal safety of an individual, but the fortune and
perhaps the fate of the Government of the nation. It was his imperative duty to
shun all possible and unnecessary peril.
A
man of less courage would have shrunk from what must inevitably appear to the
public like a sign of timidity; but Lincoln on this and other occasions
concerned himself only with the larger issues at stake, leaving minor and
especially personal consequences to take care of themselves. Mr. Frederick W.
Seward was therefore informed by Judd “that he could say to his father that all
had been arranged, and that, so far as human foresight could predict, Mr.
Lincoln would be in Washington at 6 o’clock the next morning.” With this message,
Mr. Seward returned to Washington, while Mr. Lincoln and his suite proceeded to
Harrisburg, where on that same Friday, the 22d of February, he was officially
received by the governor and the legislature of Pennsylvania.
No
other member of Mr. Lincoln’s suite had as yet been notified of anything
connected with the matter; but Mr. Judd had suggested to him that he felt
exceedingly the responsibility of the advice he had given and the steps he had
taken, and that he thought it due to the age and standing of the leading
gentlemen of the President-elect’s party that at least they should be informed
and consulted. “To the above suggestions,” writes Judd, “Mr. Lincoln assented,
adding: ‘I reckon they will laugh at us, Judd, but you had better get them
together.’ It was arranged that after the reception at the State-house, and
before dinner, the matter should be fully laid before the following gentlemen
of the party: Judge David Davis, Colonel E. V. Sumner, Major David Hunter, Captain
John Pope, and Ward H. Lamon.”
Mr.
Judd’s narrative then further recites what occurred:
“The
meeting thus arranged took place in the parlor of the hotel, Mr. Lincoln being
present. The facts were laid before them by me, together with the details of
the proposed plan of action. There was a diversity of opinion, and some warm
discussion, and I was subjected to a very rigid cross-examination. Judge Davis,
who had expressed no opinion, but contented himself with asking rather pointed
questions, turned to Mr. Lincoln, who had been listening to the whole
discussion, and said: ‘Well, Mr. Lincoln, what is your own judgment upon this
matter?’ Mr. Lincoln replied: ‘I have thought over this matter considerably
since I went over the ground with Pinkerton last night. The appearance of Mr.
Frederick Seward, with warning from another source, confirms Mr. Pinkerton’s
belief. Unless there are some other reasons besides fear of ridicule, I am
disposed to carry out Judd’s plan.’ Judge Davis then said: ‘That settles the
matter, gentlemen.’ Colonel Sumner said: ‘So be it, gentlemen; it is against my
judgment, but I have undertaken to go to Washington with Mr. Lincoln, and I
shall do it.’ I tried to convince him that any additional person added to the
risk; but the spirit of the gallant old soldier was up, and debate was useless.
“The
party separated about 4 P.M., the others to go to the dinner table, and myself
to go to the railroad station and the telegraph office. At a quarter to 6 I was
back at the hotel, and Mr. Lincoln was still at the table. In a few moments the
carriage drove up to the side door of the hotel. Either Mr. Nicolay or Mr.
Lamon called Mr. Lincoln from the table. He went to his room, changed his
dinner dress for a traveling suit, and came down with a soft hat sticking in
his pocket and his shawl on his arm.‡ As the party passed through the hall, I said
in a low tone, ‘Lamon, go ahead. As soon as Mr. Lincoln is in the carriage,
drive off; the crowd must be allowed to identify him.’ Mr. Lamon went first to
the carriage; Colonel Sumner was following close after Mr. Lincoln; I put my
hand gently on his shoulder; he turned to see what was wanted, and before I
could explain, the carriage was off. The situation was a little awkward, to use
no strong terms, for a few moments, until I said to the Colonel: ‘When we get
to Washington, Mr. Lincoln shall determine what apology is due to you.’”
It
is needless to describe the various stages of Mr. Lincoln’s journey. The plan
arranged a very long military cloak, so that he was entirely unrecognizable.”
This description was the pure invention of a newspaper correspondent understood
to be Joseph Howard, Jr., who later in the war was imprisoned in Fort Lafayette
for publishing a forged proclamation about the draft in the New York
newspapers.
The
plan arranged by the railroad and telegraph officials was carried out to the
smallest detail, without delay or special incident, and without coming to the
knowledge of any person on the train or elsewhere, except those to whom the
secret was confided. The President-elect and his single companion were safely
and comfortably carried from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, and at midnight took
their berths in the sleeping-car of the regular train from New York, passing
through Baltimore unrecognized and undisturbed, and arriving in Washington at 6
o’clock on the morning of February 23d. Here they were met by Mr. Seward and
Mr. Washburne, a member of Congress from Illinois, and conducted to Willard’s
Hotel.
The
family and the suite made the journey direct from Harrisburg to Baltimore,
according to the previously published programme, arriving in Washington late
that evening. They encountered in Baltimore no incivility, nor any unusual
disorder, though, as elsewhere, dense crowds, very inadequately controlled by
the police, surrounded the railroad depots and filled the streets through which
their carriages passed. All temptation, however, to commit an assault was now
past, since it was everywhere known that Mr. Lincoln was not with the party,
but had already arrived at his destination.
Mr.
Lincoln, long afterward, declared: “I did not then, nor do I now, believe I
should have been assassinated, had I gone through Baltimore as first
contemplated; but I thought it wise to run no risk, where no risk was
necessary.”
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