Hands Off Slavery in The Border States

[Rick Smith]

It is interesting that Mr. Lincoln vowed to slave holders in the border states, which were being held within the Union by military occupation, that he would leave his hands off their slaves. This was due in part to the fact that many border planters / slave holders were Union men, and Lincoln supporters whom Mr. Lincoln did not want to alienate. One case in point was Zadock Jenkins, brother of Mary Surratt, who would change his political stance when slaves in Maryland were taken by force from their owners by federal soldiers. When Mr. Lincoln was presented with the situation, he simply ignored it. This would lead one group of Maryland planters to commission Patrick Martin to find them a man to act on their behalf in removing Mr. Lincoln from the scene.

Just something to think about.

Rick

[Laurie Verge]

I'm not sure that the average student of Civil War history really contemplates how important those four border states were to Mr. Lincoln, especially Maryland which surrounded the nation's capital on three sides. The fourth side (Virginia) had already left the Union. There is a good book by John and Charles Lockwood entitled The Siege of Washington that talks about the tense few weeks after the war began when Washington City was cut off from the outside and surrounded by potential enemy territory.

At the beginning of the war, Lincoln promised Marylanders that they could keep their slaves, hinted at compensation for emancipation later, that they would not have to fight against their Southern brethren, etc. Then came raids on family farms, the First and Second Confiscation Acts, the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam with enforcement the following January, the draft in Maryland which nullified the promise of not fighting against the South, allowing non-citizen soldiers to vote in Maryland elections in 1864, etc. Many Marylanders from Baltimore south and on the Eastern Shore had serious issues.

In hindsight, we might understand the political and military necessities for such actions and Mr. Lincoln's overriding determination to preserve the Union. To those who lived during that era, however, it meant something totally different. Another time for me to preach my adage of putting yourself back in the period of history under discussion. Think like your ancestors.

[Laurie Verge]

I need to make one clarification to the above statement: Maryland and the other border states were allowed to keep their slaves despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Slavery in Maryland was abolished by a new state constitution that went into effect on November 1, 1864 -- just about the time that John Wilkes Booth arrived in Charles County...

[Bill Richter]

There is much historical argument over how many, if any, slaves the Emancipation Proc freed (I think 20,000 is the accepted number). Technically it applied only to areas in rebellion on Jan 1, 1863. This exempted Md, Mo, Ky, and Del plus any areas occupied by the Union Army, like coastal Virginia, some areas of NC, Ark, La and Tenn. W. Va, Mo, Md, freed their slaves by state action during the war, and Lincoln supported free state movements in all border states during the war without freeing any slaves himself. He regarded the Emancipation Proc of dubious constitutionality as a mere military-diplomatic measure and had Sec of St Seward float the proposed 13th amend through Congress in early 1865, which became valid in late 1865 as a part of Andrew Johnson's requirements for readmission of the ex Confed states into the new Union.

[JMadonna]

I've found very little on Patrick Martin other than his meeting with Booth in Montreal.
Can anyone fill me in on his life before then? Was he a Maryland planter. Did he help recruit Booth?

[Bill Richter]

Jerry: He was a liquor merchant in Baltimore with an extensive traveling sales route the Southern counties in Maryland before the war, and a blockade runner during the war with many CSA contacts in Canada, See Last Confederate Heroes, I, 231. Try the sources listed in Last Confederate Heroes, II, 410, particularly David Rankin Barbee's ms., Lincoln and Booth, in the Barbee papers at Georgetown U.

[J. Beckert]

With both men being from the Baltimore area, I'm wondering if Booth knew Martin in his early days there and if Martin was his initial hook to the CSA leaders in Montreal.

[JMadonna]

Thanks Bill,
Do you know anything about Rick's comment that "This would lead one group of Maryland planters to commission Patrick Martin to find them a man to act on their behalf in removing Mr. Lincoln from the scene."
Is this common knowledge that I'm not aware of?

[Bill Richter]

It is in the Rankin Mss, Lincoln and Booth under the chapter The Maryland Planters Hand Over a Conspiracy

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FYI, everyone, I do not know who holds the copyright on Barbee's Lincoln and Booth, and some of the research is outdated or controversial, but I often thought that it ought to be edited and brought out as a book. Georgetown, btw, is very nice in working with scholars. Look up the Rankin papers on line and get an idea of what you want, write them, make an appointment, and they will have everything ready when you show up. The staff on all levels was very friendly and helpful. The book mss is in several boxes alone, so it is a big project.

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One more thing, I am currently reading David Keehn's book on the Knights of the Golden Circle just out from LSU Press. It is an excellent volume, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to lean about the KGC, an organization the has as members Booth, Arnold and the O'Laughlen brothers and was instrumental in promoting secession all over the South and Old Northwest. It rates right along Charles B. Dew's earlier Apostles of Secession, as A-1.

[Thomas Thorne]

Is Mr Keehn the same person who lectured at the 2012 Surratt conference about the Knights of the Golden Circle?

I thought the lecture was extremely disappointing as it piled on suppositions upon conjectures and conjectures upon suppositions. The style that X and Y did Z because of their membership in the Knights without offering any evidence they were is gossip and not history.

I hope this book is better than that.
Tom

[Bill Richter]

I think as usual you are way too critical, Tom. Having done some work on the KGC in Texas myself, I assure you that his work is of a higher quality than you assert.

[Rsmyth]

Was Martin's body ever found after the shipwreck?

[L Verge]

Tom - I have to agree with Bill on David's research on the KGC. He spent a great deal of time at our James O. Hall Research Center, and I had the opportunity to sneak peeks at some of his writings. He has done a very good job of tracking down a group that most historians give very little credit to having even existed. Read the book, and I think you will agree.

I also recommend a study of the Barbee Papers at Georgetown's Lauinger Library. While Mr James O. Hall did not agree with some of Barbee's conclusions, he was very impressed with his manuscript and felt that it should be published. In the 1970s or 80s, he approached Barbee's daughter about publishing her father's work. She was not interested. I believe that his heirs have let the copyright go unrenewed. I once asked the collections manager at the library what the chances were of getting it published - very little at that time due to funding. I don't think Georgetown has its own university press, but I bet an institution that had one would be interested if it were part of their collection.

Rich, I don't believe that Martin's body was retrieved. I would also like someone to do some genealogy and tie Patrick Martin to the Martin clan that was prevalent in Southern Maryland during most of the 19th century. Nothing makes better links for espionage service than family. I'm even more interested in the Martins because they married into my Huntt family.

[Jim Garrett]

I'm not sure that the average student of Civil War history really contemplates how important those four border states were to Mr. Lincoln, especially Maryland which surrounded the nation's capital on three sides. The fourth side (Virginia) had already left the Union. There is a good book by John and Charles Lockwood entitled The Siege of Washington that talks about the tense few weeks after the war began when Washington City was cut off from the outside and surrounded by potential enemy territory.

At the beginning of the war, Lincoln promised Marylanders that they could keep their slaves, hinted at compensation for emancipation later, that they would not have to fight against their Southern brethren, etc. Then came raids on family farms, the First and Second Confiscation Acts, the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam with enforcement the following January, the draft in Maryland which nullified the promise of not fighting against the South, allowing non-citizen soldiers to vote in Maryland elections in 1864, etc. Many Marylanders from Baltimore south and on the Eastern Shore had serious issues.

In hindsight, we might understand the political and military necessities for such actions and Mr. Lincoln's overriding determination to preserve the Union. To those who lived during that era, however, it meant something totally different. Another time for me to preach my adage of putting yourself back in the period of history under discussion. Think like your ancestors.

Many Marylanders were certain that the state would follow Virginia into the Confederacy. One such person who was absolutely certain that Maryland would secede was non other than Capt. Franklin Buchannan, USN. He was the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard when Virginia seceded. He tendered his resignation to the Secretary of the Navy. When it became obvious that there was no way Maryland could secede, he asked to withdraw his resignation. No such luck. Capt. Buchannan would become the captain of the CSS Virginia. He carried the reputation as the most aggressive officer in the pre-war navy.

[Rick Smith]

I thought that Mr. Keehn's presentation at last year's Conference was exceptional. Plenty of interesting information as regards the KGC. Also, his very humble approach was incredibly refreshing. The book is excellent, by the way.

Rick