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 Hertz, Emanuel 
 
 Lincoln's Spells of Gloom 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Lincoln's Spells of 
 Gloom 
 
 By 
 
 EMANUEL HERTZ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/lincolnsspellsofOOhert 
 
What am I that thou shouldst ask this of me!" 
 
Lincoln's Spells of 
 Gloom 
 
 By 
 
 EMANUEL HERTZ 
 
9 7S.7U5 
 B3H444 
 
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 Lincoln's Spells of Gloom. 
 
 By Emanuel Hertz 
 
 From periods of depression and unhappiness brought on by 
 the utter hopelessness of his surroundings, to times when flight 
 and disappearance and the possibility of self-destruction and 
 suicide brought on by grief, caused by death of those close and 
 near to him, and later on by the overwhelming catastrophies 
 showered upon the armies of the Union — Lincoln's escape, un- 
 harmed and preserved, seemed nothing short of a miracle in 
 that chain of extraordinary events which, linked together, con- 
 stituted Lincoln's life. A series of tragic events and impres- 
 sions from his early youth to his last day on earth — a chain of 
 unfortunate occurrences extending practically throughout his 
 entire life, almost every link of which was a tragedy or defeat 
 or a rebuff or a disappointment, would have been more than 
 sufficient to snuff out the will-power and ambition of the 
 ordinary man. 
 
 His fifty-one years of life had but one momentary flash of 
 real success and important victory, and that, too, was darkened 
 by the gloomy prospect of early retirement — retirement because 
 of duty honestly lived up to, and of oblivion which the trend of 
 the times made almost certain. 
 
 The frequent lack of harmony and misunderstanding — to 
 put it mildly — under his own roof ; his retreats to his little 
 homely law office growing more frequent ; his successive keen 
 disappointments when he saw others pass him to places of pre- 
 ferment on the bench, in the governorship, in the House of 
 Representatives, in the United States Senate — all had a tendency 
 to deepen the gloom and the sadness with which he was beset 
 and drive him to solitude — to long periods of gloom. 
 
 He never marched to success and distinction like others. 
 There was ever a drawback, a disappointment, a heartache, 
 to say the least. Was ever man subjected to a greater ordeal 
 than Lincoln at Cooper Union Institute, when the aristocracy 
 
 787429 
 
LINCOLN S SPELLS OF GLOOM 
 
 and the culture of the East were taking the measure of the 
 crude frontier lawyer of the West? We of today like to dwell 
 upon his great achievement there, but how many of us think 
 of the torture which was his when his own crudeness in speech, 
 in manner, in dress, was so strongly brought home to him on 
 this, his first appearance by the side of William Cullen Bryant, 
 Henry Ward Beecher, David Dudley Field and Horace Greeley 
 — to mention but a few of the men who were there to take his 
 measure — and decide whether he was to become the anointed 
 leader of the last Crusade to be inaugurated in the 19th Century 
 —a crusader at heart — without the shining armor and splendid 
 caparisons of his competitors. We only know what he said 
 there, thanks to his own precautions in fighting off amendments 
 to that matchless text which became the creed of his followers. 
 But what he suffered there, until his divine mission overcame 
 his own nervousness and completely conquered and swept 
 away all hostile criticism, has never been recorded. He had 
 become immune to hostile criticism, most — if not all — of it 
 unjust, from the days of his earliest youth. His deep humility 
 was proof to all such shafts of fortune. We only know of his 
 triumphal tour from Springfield to Washington. How many 
 of us ponder the sadness of the parting — the evil portends 
 echoed in a hostile press as he slowly proceeded to the hopeless 
 task, as it then seemed to all with thousands of letters pouring 
 in from all sections of the South, full of abuse, of threats, of 
 imprecations, of assurances, that he would never occupy or hold 
 the seat of Washington. Had he not heard how determined, 
 how steeled, had become the leaders of the lost cause, then 
 looking most promising to those who were opposed to every- 
 thing Lincoln desired or hoped for? 
 
 Was ever a man in his place, who goes to his great adven- 
 ture, who is about to receive his reward at the hands of his 
 countrymen, ushered into his capital as was he? Washington 
 came into his own amid the plaudits of a united and loving- 
 country, over flower-strewn aisles and under triumphal arches, 
 like a conquering hero — and the prints and drawings of the 
 triumphal progress look more like fairy tales than reality. An 
 
LINCOLN S SPELLS OF GLOOM / 
 
 entire democracy saw Jefferson inaugurated. Untold thousands 
 marched behind the hero of New Orleans as he came into his 
 own, and they almost demolished the White House furniture in 
 their zeal to make their presence known and do honor to their 
 hero — thus enthroned. It is only now that the entire story of 
 Lincoln's entry into Washington has come to hand. 
 
 If there be any doubt, at this time, as to whether the con- 
 spiracy to assassinate Lincoln on his passage through Baltimore 
 was real, was arranged, and would have taken place — and of 
 course a hostile press at the time showered ridicule upon what 
 they termed the cowardly appearance in Washington "like a 
 thief in the night," — all such doubts must now disappear, in 
 view of the complete reports of the small army of secret service 
 men and detectives in the employ of Allan Pinkerton, together 
 with the full reports of all connected with the railroad company, 
 finally supplemented by the full report of the President of the 
 road, now for the first time about to be published in full, 
 together with the notes of a reliable historian who verified the 
 report in an interview with Lincoln himself.* Mrs. Lincoln's 
 ordeal on the day she passed through Baltimore must not be 
 forgotten ; the actual search of the train for Lincoln, on the 
 day when the train upon which he was expected to pass through 
 Baltimore, must not be overlooked. And what the assassins 
 and conspirators might and would have done, in league with 
 the treacherous Chief of Police, may easily be imagined when 
 it is known to be history that these conspirators attacked an 
 armed regiment which was passing through Baltimore. The 
 disclosure of the conspiracy, the preparation to avoid it, the 
 comments of the press, the atmosphere in the city of Washing- 
 ton, which had the appearance of an armed camp — but added 
 to the gloom which had definitely settled upon Lincoln. And 
 little, or nothing, happened for years, which tended to dissipate 
 the thick gloom which had settled upon the White House and 
 its distinguished occupant. 
 
 And once in Washington, he came into an atmosphere of 
 suspicion, treason, indecision, lack of faith and hope, and 
 despair on all sides — despair for the preservation of the Union. 
 
 ♦See part of report of S. M. Felton, page 15 infra. The complete 
 report and notebook to be published in the near future. 
 
8 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 Name one man who had a plan, who had the remotest notion 
 of what to do next. The hidden influences of treason and dis- 
 union and dissolution were all working at fever heat. Ordin- 
 ances of secession, convocations of a hostile convention, elections 
 of Southern leaders, coalescing of Southern forces, were pro- 
 ceeding apace led by men with a well defined objective, manned 
 and officered by men and by leaders, both civil and military, 
 who had thought long and thoroughly about this day and about 
 this event. The "day" was at last a reality — the "day" so long 
 deferred had dawned at last. Calhoun had sponsored the idea 
 and argued it out to the last point. Hayne and Stephens and 
 Yancey and Benjamin and Rhett had surrounded it with in- 
 tellectual bulwarks and with a halo of justice and right, and 
 patriotism and fighting for home and fireside — such as few 
 causes can boast. A loyal soldiery such as had never before 
 been garnered and collected, ready for any task, was on hand, 
 officered by men and officers who would easily fill the sagas 
 or epics of any land. 
 
 All of this Lincoln knew and appreciated, as he was about 
 to deliver his Inaugural in a city where every available soldier 
 and every bit of military engine were planted on almost every 
 roof and in every street and among the gloomy crowd, in order 
 that the inauguration might be made possible. 
 
 Anxiously was every military man scanning the horizon of 
 faces, to seek out the possible assassin who was to start the 
 administration with blood and murder. The gloom deepened. 
 The raw volunteer army seemed to shrink by constant and un- 
 ending desertions. The new regiments so readily promised 
 were so slow in arriving, that Lincoln, in his agony, exclaimed : 
 "There are no regiments." — "There is no North." — or "Why 
 don't they come?" And then when they did begin to appear, 
 they came through hostile territory which indicated in no un- 
 certain terms the magnitude and the duration of the great 
 storm. And then came the complaints, the heartless criticism 
 from all over the country^ which practically began the day after 
 his election — which even more saddened the overburdened 
 President. 
 
LINCOLN S SPELLS OF GLOOM ^ 
 
 But his measure of sorrow was by no means complete. He 
 could understand treason as it appeared in the South, but he 
 began to lose patience with treason in his own ranks. And 
 still it multiplied and grew apace. 
 
 And then Bull Run and McDowell, who was the victim of 
 the haste of the chorus of those who unreasonably called "on 
 to Richmond !" 
 
 And then the intolerable period of General McClellan at the 
 head of the army, with the disastrous battles of the Seven Days ; 
 and then Pope and Burnside and Hooker, that trinity of in- 
 competent blunderers who brought Lincoln as near to suicide 
 and self-destruction as he ever came. 
 
 Hear what Charles A. Dana, Stanton's assistant Secretary 
 and one of the most capable of Lincoln students, has to say ; 
 (quoting James R. Young) 
 
 "When he became closeted with me, on these visits, Mr. 
 Lincoln would unbosom himself, and talk of his cares and 
 woes. Several times he insisted that he ought to resign, 
 and thus give the country an opportunity to secure someone 
 better fitted to accomplish the great task expected of the 
 President. Or, if he did not resign, he thought he ought 
 to impress upon Congress the propriety of giving the ab- 
 solute control of the army to some purely military man. 
 It was during one of these moods that he conceived the 
 idea of placing Hooker in command of the Army of the 
 Potomac, and of vesting him with such power, that, in his 
 opinion, he could not fail of success. He had a great idea 
 of Hooker's ability as a soldier, and, in addition, he be- 
 lieved him to be an honest man and a sincere patriot. He 
 wanted him to fight what he intended should be, and he felt 
 would be, the closing battle of the war. Accordingly, when 
 Hooker got under way, and the news came that at Chan- 
 cellorsville he would make his fight, Mr. Lincoln was in 
 the greatest state of mental excitement. From the time 
 that Hooker's army began its march, until the smoke of 
 battle had cleared from the fatal field of Chancellorsville, 
 he scarcely knew what it was to sleep. 
 
10 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 "It will be remembered that the fight lasted three days. 
 During the first two days, it looked as if Hooker was about 
 to accomplish what so many generals before him had failed 
 to do ; but, early on the third day, the usual half-hour dis- 
 patches began to make matters look dark and ominous of 
 defeat. That whole day, Mr. Lincoln was miserable. He 
 ate nothing, and would see no one but me. As it grew 
 dark, the dispatches ceased coming at all. Mr. Lincoln 
 would walk from the White House to my department, and 
 anxiously inquire for news from Hooker. With the going- 
 down of the sun, a cold and drenching rain set in, which 
 lasted through the night. At about seven o'clock, Mr. 
 Lincoln ceased his visits to my department, and gave orders 
 at the Executive Mansion that he would see no one before 
 morning. An hour afterward, a dispatch of an indefinite 
 character was received from Hooker, and I hurried with 
 it to Mr. Lincoln's apartments. When I entered, I found 
 him walking the floor, and his agonized appearance so 
 terrified me that it was with difficulty that I could speak. 
 Mr. Lincoln approached me like a man wild with anxiety 
 and excitement, seized the dispatch from my hand, read 
 it, and, his face slightly brightening, remarked : 'Stanton, 
 there is hope yet!' At my solicitation, Mr. Lincoln accom- 
 panied me to the War Department, where he agreed to 
 spend the night, or until something definite was heard from 
 Hooker. For five hours, the longest and most wearisome 
 of my life, I waited, before a dispatch announcing the 
 retreat of Hooker was received. When Mr. Lincoln read 
 it, he threw up his hands and exclaimed : 'My God ! 
 Stanton, our cause is lost ! We are ruined — we are ruined ; 
 and such a fearful loss of life ! My God ! this is more than 
 I can endure!' He stood trembling visibly, his face of a 
 ghastly hue, the perspiration standing out in big spots on 
 his brow. He put on his hat and coat, and began to pace 
 the floor. For five or more minutes he was silent, and 
 then, turning to me, he said: Tf I am not about early 
 to-morrow, do not send for me, nor allow anvone to dis- 
 
Lincoln's spells of gloom 11 
 
 turb me. Defeated again, and so many of our noble 
 countrymen killed! What will the people say?' As he 
 finished, he started for the door. I was alarmed. There 
 was something- indescribable about the President's face 
 and manner, that made me feel that my chief should not 
 be left alone. How to approach him without creating 
 suspicion was the thought of a second. Going up to him 
 and laving my hand on his shoulder, I said: 'Mr. Pres- 
 ident, I too am feeling that I would rather be dead than 
 alive ; but is it manly — is it brave — that we should be the 
 first to succumb? I have an idea: You remain here with 
 me to-night. Lie down on yonder lounge, and, by the 
 time you have had a few hours' sleep, I will have a vessel 
 at the wharf, and we will go to the front, and see for 
 ourselves the condition of the army.' 
 
 "The idea of visiting the army in person acted like a 
 tonic. Mr. Lincoln instantly adopted the suggestion. The 
 next morning, we left Washington, on a gunboat, for 
 Hooker's command. On our return-trip, Mr. Lincoln told 
 me that when he started to leave the War Department, 
 on that evening, he had fully made up his mind to go 
 immediately to the Potomac River, and there end his life, 
 as many a poor creature — but none half so miserable as 
 he was at the time — had done before him." 
 
 Weakened by the intolerable strain of all that happened 
 around him, in the field, in the cabinet, in the War Office, in 
 the Foreign Office, in Congress, in the crucial spots like St. 
 Louis, New York, at Hampton Roads, and in a thousand other 
 places — of all of which Lincoln was aware — and it is little 
 wonder that the loss of his child came near undoing him phys- 
 ically and mentally. 
 
 And then, he had no one to rely on. All those whom he 
 thought strong and reliable and loyal were but broken reeds. 
 And then the light that beat upon the White House was so- 
 strong and fierce and blinding, that it required superhuman 
 endurance and effort to withstand the pressure. Lincoln and 
 
12 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 his wife were not exempt from suspicion. Slander fastened 
 upon his home — upon his wife. 
 
 "An anecdote related to Gen. Thomas L. James at the time 
 he was Postmaster General in Garfield's Cabinet illustrates the 
 supreme solitude of Lincoln. A member of the Senate Com- 
 mittee on the Conduct of the War in Lincoln's first Administra- 
 tion said to General James that as time passed the world would 
 have clearer understanding of Lincoln's solitude, and the Sen- 
 ator went on to say, that his first understanding of Lincoln as 
 a man of solitude was upon an occasion when the Senator was 
 serving as a member of the Senate Committee on the Conduct 
 of the War. 
 
 " 'You remember, doubtless,' said the Senator to General 
 James, 'that during a crucial period of the war many malicious 
 stories were in circulation, based upon the suspicion that Mrs. 
 Lincoln was in sympathy with the Confederacy. These reports 
 were inspired by the fact that some of Mrs. Lincoln's relatives 
 were in the Confederate service. At last reports that were 
 more than vague gossip were brought to the attention of some 
 of my colleagues in the Senate. They made specific accusation 
 that Mrs. Lincoln was giving important information to secret 
 agents of the Confederacy. These reports were laid before my 
 committee and the committee thought it an imperative duty to 
 investigate them, although it was the most embarrassing and 
 painful task imposed upon us. 
 
 " T had of course often met President Lincoln at the White 
 House and been impressed by his command over himself and by 
 the sense of authority and strength which he imparted to all 
 who were in touch with him on matters of public business. I 
 never saw the patient, anxious and wearied expression which 
 some of my associates now and then noticed, but I did see and 
 hear some of the unconventional ways and speech, of which 
 the public heard so much. 
 
 ' 'One morning our committee purposed taking up the re- 
 ports that imputed disloyalty to Mrs. Lincoln. The sessions of 
 the committee were necessarily secret. We had just been called 
 
LINCOLN S SPELLS OF GLOOM 
 
 13 
 
 to order by the Chairman, when the officer stationed at the com- 
 mittee room door opened it and came in with a half-frightened, 
 half -embarrassed expression on his face. Before he had op- 
 portunity to make explanation, we understood the reason for 
 his excitement, and were ourselves almost overwhelmed by 
 astonishment. For at the foot of the table, standing solitary, 
 his hat in his hand, his tall form towering above the committee 
 members, Abraham Lincoln stood. Had he come by some 
 incantation, thus appearing of a sudden before us unannounced, 
 we could not have been more astounded. 
 
 " 'The pathos that was written upon Lincoln's face, the 
 almost unhuman sadness that was in his eyes as he looked upon 
 us, and above all an indescribable sense of his complete isola- 
 tion — the sad solitude which is inherent in all true grandeur of 
 character and intellect — all this revealed Lincoln to me and I 
 think to every member of the committee in the finer, subtler 
 light whose illumination faintly set forth the fundamental 
 nature of this man. No one spoke, for none knew what to say. 
 The President had not been asked to come before the com- 
 mittee, nor was it suspected that he had information that we 
 were to investigate the reports, which, if true, fastened treason 
 upon his family in the White House. 
 
 ' 'At last Lincoln spoke, slowly, with infinite sorrow in his 
 tone, and he said — 
 
 "I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
 appear of my own volition before this Committee of the Senate 
 to say that, I, of my own knowledge, know that it is untrue 
 that any of my family hold treasonable communication with 
 the enemy." 
 
 '' 'Having said that, Lincoln went away as silently and solitary 
 as he came. We sat for some moments speechless. Then by 
 tacit agreement, no word being spoken, the committee dropped 
 all consideration of the rumors that the wife of the President 
 was betraying the Union. We had seen Abraham Lincoln in 
 the solemn and isolated majesty of his real nature. We were 
 so greatly affected that the committe adjourned for the day.' ' 
 
14 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 Was ever public man, in whatever station, so deeply tried and 
 tortured? No other man would have survived it. and how near 
 it came destroying Lincoln himself we only begin to appreciate 
 now that things may be told. 
 
 One need but observe his appearance as he took the oath of 
 office, and his last picture, and we can see the havoc all of these 
 epoch-making events made upon his giant frame. Many an 
 event, many a problem, solved by Lincoln ; many a State paper 
 to illumine and make immortal anyone of a score of the prosaic 
 or uneventful administrations, which either preceded or suc- 
 ceeded him — all these took their ransom out of his life, out of 
 his strength, until he was compelled to flee from the sea of trou- 
 bles to his one solace — to the Book of books, and compare him- 
 self to Job and be comforted. 
 
 And though the gloom had been thick and dense through al- 
 most four years, a ray of light here and there pierced the dark- 
 ness about him. He maintained himself by punctuating his daily 
 tasks, fierce, stubborn, unrelenting, military tasks — by deeds of 
 mercy and kindness. He literally swam to the surface for air 
 in the stifling atmosphere of death and dissolution, of destruc- 
 tion and despair. 
 
 At last the gloom is dispelled, amidst the groans of tens of 
 thousands of dying and wounded, amidst a hundred thousand 
 mourning households, which finally reached almost every other 
 home in the North, and practically every home in the South. 
 Still, the gloom was lifted for a brief spell — a few days — and 
 then he saw what he had hoped for and yearned for during an 
 entire lifetime. 
 
 And then the gloom settled once more upon an entire nation 
 which had at last come to see and understand what this sad, 
 silent, burden-bearer was striving for ; what he was. what he 
 wrought, what he accomplished, what he suffered, what he 
 .sacrificed in transforming this country into an instrument of 
 government which was to do justice and pursue justice, in order 
 that universal brotherhood may be brought nearer, and made 
 clear to all, that in freeing the bondsmen they themselves became 
 free. 
 
Lincoln's spells of gloom 15 
 
 Lincoln's epic is now complete. Had he lived, who knows — 
 is this not an unholy speculation? He Who sent him to free 
 a race and reunite a people in His wisdom took him hence in 
 His own appointed time, and all we can say — as Lincoln said : 
 "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 
 
 Portion of a Report of S. M. Felton, Superintendent of the 
 Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railway now for the 
 first time available, together with the notebook of Benson J. 
 Lossing written in 1864 . . . giving Lincoln's own account of 
 that eventful journey. 
 
 Immediately after this, the political horizon became overcast 
 and everything betokened a coming storm. Mr. Lincoln was 
 elected President of the United States and the 'South almost in 
 a body determined upon a rebellion, which for its deep-laid 
 treachery and gigantic proportions has never been equalled in 
 the history of the world. 
 
 There is evidence on record, that during- the whole war, as 
 well as before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, plots were formed, 
 from time to time, for his assassination, not only in this country, 
 
The Assassination ; German copy of an American original engraving 
 
LINCOLN S SPELLS OF GLOOM 
 
 17 
 
 but among the friends of the Conspirators in Europe. But, 
 having in his heart, "Charity toward all, and malice toward 
 none," he could not believe that anybody would be so wicked as 
 to deliberately murder him ; and he never took a precaution 
 against assassination, voluntarily. 
 
 In the first and second volumes of this work may be found 
 extended narratives of events connected with a plot to assassin- 
 ate Mr. Lincoln while on his way to Washington City, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1861. The following interesting account, not only of 
 those circumstances, but of early movements in the prepara- 
 tions for overturning the Government, have been kindly com- 
 municated to the author by S. M. Felton, the Superintendent of 
 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railway. Mr. 
 Pinkerton, mentioned in this narrative, has, in an interesting 
 pamphlet, given a history similar in the tenor of many facts. 
 Mr. Felton's communication, dated Nov. 15, 1867, is as follows, 
 after speaking of the determination of the Southern politicians 
 to rebel, after the election of Mr. Lincoln: 
 
 "My own business relations for the iast ten years, as manager 
 of a railroad connecting the North with the South, had brought 
 me into relations somewhat intimate with Southern men. I 
 saw trouble, and tried to avert it as far as I could by my per- 
 sonal influence. I advised on both sides a conservative policy, 
 and endeavored, so far as I could, to bring both parties together 
 by adjusting differences. The plot was, however, more deeply 
 laid than appeared on the surface, and soon broke out in open 
 rebellion. From this moment I did not hesitate to decide what 
 course I was to pursue, and this was to support the Government 
 with all the means at my disposal. I was importuned to remain 
 neutral, and also to decline to place the road at the disposal of 
 the Government for the transportation of troops and supplies ; 
 but I regarded such a course as no less treasonable than open 
 rebellion. It soon came to my knowledge, first from rumors, 
 and then from evidence which I could not doubt, that there was 
 a deep-laid conspiracy to capture Washington, destroy all the 
 avenues to it, from the north, east and west, and thus prevent 
 the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln in the Capitol of the country; 
 
18 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 and if this plot did not succeed, then to murder him on his way 
 to the Capital, and thus inaugurate a revolution which, they 
 hoped, would end in establishing a Southern Confederacy, unit- 
 ing all the slave States, while the North was to be divided into 
 separate cliques, each striving for the destruction of the other. 
 Early in the year 1861, Miss Dix, the philanthropist, came into 
 my office on a Saturday afternoon. I had known her for some 
 years, as one engaged in alleviating the suffering of the afflicted. 
 Her occupation in Southern hospitals had brought her in contact 
 with the prominent men South. She had become familiar with 
 the structure of Southern society, and also with the working of 
 its political machinery. She stated to me that she had an 
 important communication to make to me personally. I listened 
 attentively to what she had to say for more than an hour. She 
 put in a tangible and reliable shape, by the facts she related, 
 what before I had heard, in numerous and detached parcels. 
 The sum of it all was, that there was then an extensive and 
 organized conspiracy throughout the South, to seize upon Wash- 
 ington, with its archives and records, and then declare the South- 
 ern Conspirators, de facto, the Government of the United 
 vStates ; at the same time they were to cut off all modes of com- 
 munication between Washington and the North, East, and West, 
 and thus prevent the transportation of troops, to wrest the 
 Capital from the hands of the insurgents. Mr. Lincoln's in- 
 auguration was thus to be prevented, or his life was to fall a 
 sacrifice. In fact, she said troops were then drilling on the line 
 of our own new road, the Washington and Annapolis line, and 
 other lines of railroad. The men drilled were to obey the com- 
 mands of their leaders, and the leaders were banded together to 
 capture Washington. As soon as the interview was ended, I 
 called Mr. N. P. Trist, who was then, and is now, in confidential 
 relations with the railroad, into my office, and told him I wanted 
 him to go to Washington that night and communicate these 
 facts to General Scott. I also furnished him with some data 
 for General Scott, as to the other routes to Washington, that 
 might be adopted in case the direct route was cut off. One was 
 the Delaware railroad to Seaford, and then up the Chesapeake 
 
Lincoln's spells of gloom 19 
 
 and the Potomac to Washington, or to Annapolis, and thence to 
 Washington ; another to Perryville, and thence by water to 
 Annapolis, and thence to Washington. Mr. Trist left that 
 night, and arrived in Washington at six the next morning. He 
 immediately had an interview with General Scott, who, after lis- 
 tening to him, told him he had foreseen the trouble that was 
 coming, and in October previous, had made a communication 
 to President Buchanan predicting trouble at the South, and 
 urging strongly the garrisoning of all the Southern forts and 
 arsenals with forces sufficient to hold them, but that his advice 
 had been unheeded and nothing had been done, and he feared 
 nothing would be done ; that he was powerless, and that he 
 feared it would be necessary to inaugurate Mr. Lincoln at Phila- 
 delphia. He should, however, do all he could to bring troops to 
 Washington, sufficient to make it secure ; but he had no influence 
 with the administration, and feared the worst consequences. 
 Thus matters stood on Mr. Trist's visit to Washington, and thus 
 they stood for some time afterward. A few days subsequently, 
 a gentleman from Baltimore came out to Back River Bridge, on 
 the railroad, about five miles east of the city, and told the 
 bridge-keeper that he had come to give information, which had 
 come to his knowledge, of vital importance to the road, which he 
 wished communicated to me. The nature of this communica- 
 tion was, that a party was then organized in Baltimore for burn- 
 ing our bridges in case Mr. Lincoln came over the road, or in 
 case we attempted to carry troops for the defense of Washing- 
 ton. This party had combustible materials then prepared to 
 take out and pour over the bridges ; that they were to disguise 
 themselves as negroes, and be at the bridge just before the train, 
 bringing Mr. Lincoln, arrived. The bridge was then to be 
 burned, and the train attacked, and Mr. Lincoln to be put out of 
 the way. This man appeared to be a gentleman, and in earnest, 
 and honest in what he said ; but he would not give his name, 
 nor allow any inquiries to be made as to his name or exact 
 abode, as he said his life would be in peril were it known that 
 he had given this information. He said if we would not at- 
 tempt to find him out, he would continue to come and give us 
 
20 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 information. He came, subsequently, several times, and gave 
 items of information as to the movements of the Conspirators, 
 but I have never been able to ascertain who he was. Immedi- 
 ately after the development of these facts, I went to Washing- 
 ton, and there met a prominent and reliable man from Baltimore, 
 who was well acquainted with Marshal Kane, then the chief 
 of police. I was anxious to ascertain whether he was loyal 
 and reliable, and made particular inquiries upon both these 
 points. I was assured that he was perfectly reliable, whereupon 
 I made known some few of the reports that had come to my 
 knowledge in reference to the designs to burn the bridges, and 
 requested that they should be laid before Marshal Kane, with a 
 request that he should detail a police force to make the necessary 
 investigation. Marshal Kane was seen, and it was suggested 
 to him that there were reports of a conspiracy to burn the 
 bridges and cut off Washington, and his advice was asked, as 
 to the best way of ferreting out the Conspirators. He scouted 
 the idea that there was any such thing on foot, said he had 
 thoroughly investigated the whole matter, and there was not the 
 slightest foundation for such rumors. Kane's manner of treat- 
 ing the subject, satisfied me that he was not reliable. I then 
 determined to have nothing more to do with him, but to investi- 
 gate the matter in my own way, and at once sent for a celebrated 
 .detective, Allan Pinkerton, who resided in the West, and whom 
 I had before employed in an important matter. He was a man 
 of great skill and resources. I furnished him with a few hints 
 only, and at once set him on the track, with eight assistants. 
 There were then drilling on the line of the railroad, some three 
 military organizations, professedly for home defense, pretend- 
 ing to be Union, 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 them. The first thing done by Pinkerton 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 
 
Lincoln's spklls of gloom 21 
 
 as often as their associates in arms; became initiated into all the 
 secrets of the organization, and reported every day or two to 
 their chief, who immediately reported to me the designs and 
 plans of the 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 help wrest it from the 
 hands of the legally constituted authorities. Every nook and 
 corner on the road and its vicinity was explored by the chief 
 and his detectives, and the secret working of secession and 
 treason made bare, and brought to light. Societies were formed 
 in Baltimore, and various modes, known to and practiced only 
 by detectives, were resorted to to win the confidence of the Con- 
 spirators and get into their secrets. The plan worked to a 
 charm, and the midnight plottings and the daily consultations 
 of the Conspirators were treasured up as a guide to our future 
 plans for thwarting them. It turned out that all that had been 
 communicated by Miss Dix and the gentleman from Baltimore, 
 rested upon a foundation of fact, and that the half had not been 
 told. It was made certain by these investigations, 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 burned, 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 distri- 
 buted along the line, between the Susquehanna and Baltimore, 
 principally at the bridges. These men were drilled regularly by 
 drill-masters, and were apparently employed in whitewashing 
 the bridges, putting on some six or seven coats of wash, satu- 
 rated with salt and alum, to make the outside of the bridges as 
 nearly fire-proof as possible. This whitewashing, so extensive 
 in its application, became the nine days' wonder of the neigh- 
 borhood. Thus the bridges were strongly guarded and a train 
 was arranged so as to concentrate all the forces at one point in 
 case of trouble. The programme of Mr. Lincoln was changed, 
 and it was decided that he should go to Harrisburg from Phila- 
 
22 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 delphia, and thence over the Northern Central road by way of 
 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. This statement 
 was confirmed by our Baltimore gentleman, who came out again, 
 and said that their designs upon our road were postponed for 
 the present, and until we carried troops, would not be renewed. 
 Mr. Lincoln was to be waylaid on the line of the Northern Cen- 
 tral road, and prevented from reaching Washington, or his 
 life was to fall a sacrifice to the attempt. Thus matters stood 
 on the afternoon of his arrival in Philadelphia. I felt it my 
 duty to communicate to him the facts that had come to my 
 knowledge, and urge his going to Washington privately that 
 night in our sleeping-car, instead of publicly two days after, as 
 was proposed. I went to a hotel in Philadelphia, where I met 
 the detective, Pinkerton, who was registered under an assumed 
 name, and arranged with him to bring Mr. Judd, Mr. Lincoln's 
 intimate friend, to his room, in season to arrange for the jour- 
 ney to Washington that night. One of our sub-detectives made 
 three efforts to communicate with Mr. Judd while passing- 
 through the streets in the procession, and was three times ar- 
 rested and carried out of the crowd by the police. The fourth 
 time he succeeded, and brought Mr. Judd to the room at the 
 hotel, where he met the detective-in-chief and myself. We lost 
 no time in making known to him the facts which had come to 
 our knowledge in reference to the conspiracy, and I most earn- 
 estly advised that Mr. Lincoln should go to Washington pri- 
 vately that night in our sleeping-car. Mr. Judd fully entered 
 into the plan, and said he would urge Mr. Lincoln to adopt it. 
 On his and Pinkerton's communicating with Mr. Lincoln after 
 the services of the evening were over, he answered that he had 
 engaged to go to Harrisburg and speak the next day, and he 
 would not break his engagement, even in the face of such peril, 
 but that after he had fulfilled the engagement he would follow 
 such advice as we might give him in reference to his journey to 
 Washington. It was then arranged by myself and Pinkerton 
 
The arrival of Lincoln and Ward H. Lamon in Washington- 
 after a secret trip from Harrisburg. 
 
24 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 that Mr. Lincoln should go to Harrisburg the next day, and 
 make his address, after which he was apparently to retire to 
 Governor Curtin's house for the night, but in reality to go to 
 a point about two miles out of Harrisburg, on the Pennsyl- 
 vania railroad, where an extra car and engine awaited to take 
 him to Philadelphia. At the time of his retiring, the telegraph 
 lines east, west, north and south from Harrisburg were cut, so 
 that no message as to his movements could be sent off in any 
 direction. Mr. Lincoln could not probably arrive in season for 
 our regular train that left at 11 p. m., and I did not dare to send 
 him by an extra, for fear of its being found out or suspected 
 that he was on the road, and it became necessary for me to de- 
 vise some excuse for the detention of the train. But three per- 
 sons on the road besides myself knew the plan. One of these, 
 Mr. Wm. Stearns, I sent by an earlier train to say to the people 
 of the Washington branch road that I had an important package 
 which I was getting ready for the 11 p. m. train ; that it was 
 necessary I should have this package delivered in Washington 
 early the next morning, without fail ; that I was straining every 
 nerve to get it ready by 11 o'clock, but in case I did not suc- 
 ceed, I should delay the train until it was ready, probably not 
 more than half an hour, and I wished, as a personal favor, 
 that the Washington train should await the coming of ours from 
 Philadelphia, before leaving. This request was willingly com- 
 plied with by the managers of the Washington branch, and Mr. 
 Stearns, whom I had sent to Baltimore, so informed me by tele- 
 graph in cipher. The second person in the secret, Mr. H. F. 
 Kenney, I sent to West Philadelphia, in company with Pinker- 
 ton, in a carriage, to await the coming of Mr. Lincoln. I gave 
 him a package of old railroad reports, done up with great care 
 with a great seal attached to it, and directed, in a fair round 
 hand, to a person at Willard's 'E. J. Allen' (the assumed name 
 of Pinkerton). I marked it 'very important, to be delivered 
 without fail by 11 o'clock train,' indorsing my own name upon 
 the package. Mr. Lincoln arrived in West Philadelphia, and 
 was immediately taken into the carriage with Mr. Kenney and 
 Pinkerton, and driven to within a square of our station, where 
 
> 
 
 ft 
 
 r 
 
 GO 
 
26 Lincoln's spells of gloom 
 
 Mr. Kenney jumped off with the package and waited till he saw 
 the carriage drive up to the door and Mr. Lincoln and the de- 
 tective get out and go in. He then came up and gave the pack- 
 age to the conductor, who was waiting at the door to receive it, 
 in company with a police officer. Tickets had been bought 
 beforehand for Mr. Lincoln and party to Washington, including 
 a tier of berths in the sleeping-car. He passed between the 
 conductor and the police officer at the door, and neither sus- 
 pected who he was. The conductor remarked as he passed, 
 'Well, old fellow, it is lucky for you that our President detained 
 the train to send a package by it, or you would have been left.' 
 Mr. Lincoln and the detective being safely ensconced in the 
 sleeping-car, and my package safely in the hands of the con- 
 ductor, the train started for Baltimore, about fifteen minutes 
 behind time. Our man number three, George Stearns, started 
 on the train to go to Baltimore, and hand it over, with its con- 
 tents, to man number one, William Stearns, who awaited its 
 arrival in Baltimore. Before the train reached Gray's Ferry 
 bridge, and before Mr. Lincoln had resigned himself to slumber, 
 the conductor came to George Stearns, and accosting him, said : 
 'George, I thought you and I were friends. Why did you 
 not tell me Old Abe was on board ?' George, thinking the con- 
 ductor had, in some way, become possessed of the secret, an- 
 swered : 'John, we are friends, and, as you have found it out, 
 Old Abe is on board, and we will still be friends, and see him 
 safely through/ John answered, 'Yes, if it costs me my life, 
 he shall have a safe passage,' and so George stuck to one end 
 of the car, and the conductor to the other every moment that 
 his duties to the other passengers would admit of it. And Mr. 
 Lincoln did arrive safely. It turned out, however, that the 
 conductor was mistaken in his man. A man strongly resemb- 
 ling Mr. Lincoln had come down to the train about half an 
 hour before it left, and bought a ticket to Washington, with a 
 ticket for the sleeping-car. The conductor had seen him, and 
 concluded he was the venerable 'Old Abe.' George delivered the 
 sleeping-car and train over to William, in Baltimore, and Will- 
 iam, as had been previously arranged, took his place at the back 
 
Lincoln's spklls of gloom 27 
 
 and rode to Washington, where he arrived on the rear of the 
 sleeping-car, at about six a. m. on time, and saw Mr. Lincoln 
 in the hands of a friend, safely delivered at Willard's, when he 
 secretly ejaculated, 'God be praised !' He also saw my package 
 of railroad reports marked 'highly important,' safely delivered 
 into the hands for which it was intended. This being done, he 
 performed his morning ablutions in peace and quiet, and enjoyed 
 with unusual zest a breakfast at Willard's. At eight o'clock, 
 the time agreed upon, the telegraph wires were joined, and the 
 first message flashed across the line was, 'Your package has ar- 
 rived safely, and been delivered. — William/ Then there went 
 up from the writer of this a shout of joy, and a devout thanks- 
 giving to Him from whom all blessings flow, and the few in the 
 secret joined in a heartfelt amen. Thus began and ended a 
 chapter in the history of the Rebellion that has never been be- 
 fore written, but about which there have been many hints en- 
 titled a Scotch cap and riding cloak, &c, neither of which had 
 any foundation in truth. Mr. Lincoln was safely inaugurated, 
 after which I discharged our detective force, and also the semi- 
 military whitewashers, and all was quiet and. serene again on the 
 railroad.'' 
 
 New York, February 12, 1930. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA 
 
 973.7L63B3H44L C001 
 
 LINCOLN'S SPELL OF GLOOM 
 
 0112 031796862