Difference between revisions 110848100 and 110848101 on dewiki

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The '''Baltimore Plot''' was an alleged conspiracy in late February 1861  to assassinate [[President-elect]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] en route to his [[inauguration]]. The [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency|Pinkerton Agency]] helped foil the plot. A key role was played by [[Allan Pinkerton]] who accompanied and advised the president-elect throughout the journey. Though the truth of the matter remains in doubt, clearly Lincoln and his advisors believed that there was a threat and took actions to avoid it.

On [[November 6]], [[1860]], Lincoln was elected as the 16th [[President of the United States]], the first [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to hold that office.

Shortly after his election, the South made it clear that secession was inevitable, which greatly increased tension across the nation. President-elect Lincoln survived an alleged assassination attempt in [[Baltimore, Maryland]] and on [[February 23]] [[1861]] arrived secretly in disguise to Washington, D.C. The South ridiculed Lincoln for this seemingly cowardly act, but the efforts at security may have been prudent.

==Background==
[[Allan Pinkerton]], eponymous founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency was commissioned to provide security for the president-elect Lincoln on his journey from Philadelphia to Washington D.C., through Baltimore. 

Maryland, a [[slave state]] with strong Southern sympathies, was considered dangerous territory through which to travel for the controversial politician. 

[[User:DGHistory58|DGHistory58]] ([[User talk:DGHistory58|talk]]) 18:21, 23 November 2007 (UTC)==Lincoln's actions: appropriate, unnecessary, or cowardly==

On [[February 11]], [[1861]], President-elect Abraham Lincoln boarded an east-bound train in [[Springfield, Illinois]] at the start of a [[Whistle stop train tour|whistle stop tour]] in seventy towns and cities ending in Washington, DC. While en route to Washington, Lincoln was introduced to Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton's National Detective Agency of Chicago, who had been hired by the Baltimore, Wilmington and Baltimore Rai(contracted; show full)


Once Lincoln's rail carriage had safely passed through Baltimore, Pinkerton sent a one-line telegram to the president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad: "Plums delivered nuts safely."

On the afternoon of [[February 23]], Lincoln's schedule
d train arrived in Baltimore. The large crowd that gathered at the station to see the President-elect quickly learned that Lincoln had already passed by and had to be content with viewing [[Mary Todd Lincoln]], her sons, and John Hay, Lincoln's private secretary. . Even though the rest of the Lincoln party, including Mrs. Lincoln and the children, had been on this train as originally scheduled, they had already alighted from the train in an unscheduled stop several blocks north of the station. ⏎
⏎
The newspapers, however, harpooned Lincoln for slipping through Baltimore in the dead of night. [[Adalbert J. Volck]], a Baltimore dentist and caricaturist, was inspired to pen his famous satirical etching, "Passage Through Baltimore." Volck's image of a startled Lincoln in his nightshirt peering out of the side of his rail car as it passes through Baltimore has become part of the Lincoln iconography. 

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* J Hist Dent. 2001 Mar;49(1):17-23.


[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Causes of war|American Civil War, Origins of the]]
[[Category:History of Maryland]]
[[Category:Abraham Lincoln]]