Did William Coggeshall Save Lincoln's Life?

[RJNorton]

(09-16-2016 09:48 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  There most certainly was a Secret Service during Lincoln's term (do you suppose the Federal government could carry on a war without an intelligence service?), but it was not known as the Secret Service then, but the National Detective Police--Lafayette C. Baker's fiefdom, which became the U.S. Secret Service shortly after the war. Baker wrote about it at great length in his 1867 book [i]History of the United States Secret Service", which I found a fascinating read, if not always accurate or believable.

I checked Baker's "History of the United States Secret Service." There is not a single mention of Coggeshall in the book that I can find.

If Coggeshall were really Lincoln's first choice ("the best man") to head the National Detective Police then why would he not be mentioned in Baker's book?

I have two books on the inaugural train...one written by Victor Searcher and the other by Scott Trostel. Coggeshall is not mentioned in the text of either of these books.