The
Lincoln Conspiracy by
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch is a story about a little-known
plot to assassinate President Lincoln. Readers are used to
fast-paced fictional thriller plots written by Meltzer, but
in this case, the riveting plot is actually true to life.
“We wanted to show the context around the assassination
attempt. We actually try to flush out the people involved.
What I am most proud of is that the readers can meet Abraham
Lincoln as a person instead of what we knew about him from
the clichés. In this story, we show what he was doing
when he hears he won the Presidency, for example, playing
handball on the back of a building. Or before he leaves for
Washington going to see his beloved step-mother who said I
would never see him again, he will die. Suddenly Lincoln is
a human being who has fears and concerns.”
The story opens with the division between the Southern and
Northern states, Lincoln’s Republican primary election
on the third ballot, the debates, and the 1860 Presidential
election. It intertwines this with the plot by a Southern
group to kill the President-elect before he would be sworn
in. The authors discuss the historical significance, including
South Carolina seceding from the Union six-weeks after the
election, and Jefferson Davis being sworn in as the Confederate
President.
“For example, we put in how Lincoln said that the federal
government would not interfere with slavery in states where
it exists, and that he was willing to compromise by agreeing
that the Northern states fully comply with the Fugitive Slave
Laws. But he was insistent with regard to not spreading slavery
into the new territories. He came about the opinion that all
slaves should be freed by the influence of those like Frederick
Douglas, who pushed him along. We think our heroes are fully
formed, but greatness comes about when people are presented
with incredible problems and are judged on how they will rise
or fall.”
A White Supremacist society based in Maryland led by Cypriano
Ferrandini, Baltimore’s “most powerful barber,”
and 28-year-old socialite Otis K. Hillard, plotted to kill
Lincoln on his way to the Capital. They were members of pro-slavery
groups, the Knights of the Golden Circle, and National Volunteers.
The book details how they were thwarted by Alan Pinkerton,
who was asked to investigate the plot. Pinkerton was charged
with logistics. He studied the train route for Lincoln’s
inaugural journey, planning for every contingency, and eventually
masterminding a plan that involved smuggling Lincoln, in disguise,
onto a train days before he was expected. Two of his undercover
agents greatly helped in finding the conspirators, and guarding
Lincoln during his journey to the Capital.
Even though Ferrandini will remind readers of Snidley Whiplash
in his looks, according to Meltzer, he “is the ultimate
bad guy. His name to fame was Baltimore’s famous barber.
I think he was diabolical on every level. A racist who was
determined to have Lincoln killed because he wants slavery
to continue. He actually walked away scot-free, and what he
did was buried and ignored.”
Readers will understand that Presidents have their lives at
risk, especially before the Secret Service was formed. “We
wrote that in Buffalo we have an account, “The crowd,
in its crazed eagerness to get nearer to the distinguished
visitor… became an ungovernable mob.” The security
detail was overwhelmed, but there was a police escort, a military
escort, and a friendly crowd. The President-Elect was lucky
to escape serious injury. When Lincoln arrives in Baltimore,
there will be an unfriendly crowd, no police escort, and no
protection other than the Pinkerton agents. There is also
the stop in Philadelphia. He went there to honor his hero
George Washington. It was an incredible lost moment in history.
He was told someone was trying to kill him, and he should
change his schedule. But Lincoln refused, even though his
life was at risk because he insisted on honoring his hero.”
This story shows true heroes that could have possibly saved
the Union. Who knows what history would have been like if
Lincoln had never become President?
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