Did William Coggeshall Save Lincoln's Life?

[John Fazio]

Roger, et al.:

You have heard me say before that we should not reject tradition, nor denigrate evidence, too quickly or easily. Both usually have their genesis in historical truth. Did Judas betray Jesus? We may be nearly certain he did, because reference to the betrayal is contained in the very earliest Christian writings and is never contradicted or altered.

As for Coggeshall's saving of Lincoln, we need to place it in its proper context. The President-Elect was on his journey to Washington from Springfield. His life was in danger from the moment he was nominated and especially after he was elected. Most if not all the food sent to him in Springfield was found to be poisoned. Before the train passed from Illinois into Indiana a condition was found in the track which might have resulted in derailment. The train was thereafter preceded by a pilot engine. Near Cincinnati, a small time bomb concealed in a carpetbag was found in Lincoln's car. And then, of course, there was the infamous Baltimore Plot, foiled by Pinkerton and his agents (among them, one of my favorites--Kate Warne), Frederick Seward and General Winfield Scott's agents in Baltimore. All of this, of course, was merely an outward manifestation of an inward torrent of vilification of Lincoln in the press and in the corridors of power. And I haven't even said anything about the dozen or so later plots and attempts on his life, one of which was successful. Should we then be surprised that there was an attempt on his life in Harrisburg on his way to his Inauguration and that it took the form that it did? Hand grenade? Time bomb? Let's settle on "explosive device". How much difference does that detail make?

The provenance of the story--a letter written by Coggeshall's widow to a daughter, Prockie, on February 25, 1908, reprinted in part in Freda Postle Koch's book, Colonel Coggeshall--the Man Who Saved Lincoln (1985)--is as good as many other sources that pass without criticism. What motivation did the widow have to fabricate a story in 1908 about something that allegedly happened 47 years earlier? And to her own daughter no less. How did either of them benefit from it? How many really cared about something that happened 47 years earlier? How does Freda Postle Koch benefit by publicizing the letter, except to sell a handful of books.

Everything else in the story is verifiable--Coggeshall's position (the governor's secretary and State Librarian), Lincoln's passage through Columbus on his way to Washington, etc. I like, too, the fact that the widow recorded Lincoln's saying to Coggeshall, after the President-Elect addressed the Ohio Legislature and the people: "Come with me to Washington and I shall go safely", which fits nicely with Lincoln's remark to Coggeshall, after the near-miss in Harrisburg: "Did I not tell I should go safely if you went with me".

Bottom line: I accept the story as historical.

John