Lincoln Kidnap Tries

[John Fazio]

(08-04-2015 10:36 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Maj. Joseph Walker Taylor is one of the very obscure persons in the story of alleged kidnap plots. I first learned of him from Come Retribution, and then Ed Steers gave a longer entry to him in Blood on the Moon. Both sources, however, had only one citation to go by - a published account in the April 1903 issue of Confederate Veteran.

The section that you cite is from Steers's book, I believe. I turned to Come Retribution and found that the authors "read between the lines" of that 1903 article and state that they "surmise" that Davis did not object to the kidnap, but rather to the fear that Lincoln would be injured or killed and cause further damage with public opinion in the North and in foreign countries.

Pages 233-239 of Come Retribution are a good read in order to see that the kidnap plots were coming from all sides, including Marylander Bradley Johnson as of June in 1864. That one is outlined in Goldsborough's The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army as well as in an article written by Johnson himself. A lieutenant from the 1st Maryland Calvary confirmed the account before a congressional committee as late as 1877.

Question for anyone: What are your thoughts on Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon? Wasn't he the one who sanctioned Thomas Hines to try and stir up the Copperheads? Could he have been behind any plots?

Laurie:

My feeling is that Seddon could not have been left out of major decision making after Wistar-Dahlgren-Kilpatrick and before his replacement by Breckenridge on Feb. 5, 1865. After that date, the opposite is probably true. Yes, my understanding is that he played a role in the Northwest Confederacy conspiracy, headed by Hines, Castleman and Sanders, as well as other acts of terror during 1864 and that he hand in kidnapping plots, which may have been assassination plots in disguise. There is also a reference of threats of assassination of Lincoln being referred to him by Davis.

John