Second Innaugural Assassination attempt

[JMadonna]

There was much speculation among the higher-ups in the Confederacy that Lincoln was supposed to be assassinated at his second inaugural.
Does anyone have any information on this plot?

[RJNorton]

Perhaps this is not what you are referring to, Jerry, but the only thing that comes to my mind is the letter (dated April 24, 1865) Benjamin French wrote to his son regarding what he says happened on Inauguration Day. French says he had an encounter with Booth. He wrote:

"I have little doubt that the intention was to assassinate the President on the 4th of March, & circumstances have been brought to my mind which almost convince me that, without knowing what I was doing, I was somewhat instrumental in preventing it. As the procession was passing through the Rotunda toward the Eastern portico, a man jumped from the crowd into it behind the President. I saw him, & told Westfall, one of my Policemen, to order him out. He took him by the arm & stopped him, when he began to wrangle & show fight. I went up to him face to face, & told him he must go back. He said he had a right there, & looked very fierce & angry that we would not let him go on, & asserted his right so strenuously, that I thought he was a new member of the House whom I did not know & I said to Westfall "let him go." While we were thus engaged endeavouring to get this person back in the crowd, the president passed on, & I presume had reached the stand before we left the man. Neither of us thought any more of the matter until since the assassination, when a gentleman told Westfall that Booth was in the crowd that day, & broke into the line & he saw a police man hold of him keeping him back. W. then came to me and asked me if I remembered the circumstance. I told him I did, & should know the man again were I to see him. A day or two afterward he brought me a photograph of Booth, and I recognized it at once as the face of the man with whom we had the trouble. He gave me such a fiendish stare as I was pushing him back, that I took particular notice of him & fixed his face in my mind, and I think I cannot be mistaken. My theory is that he meant to rush up behind the President & assassinate him, & in the confusion escape into the crowd again & get away. But, by stopping him as we did, the President got out of his reach. All this is mere surmise, but the man was in earnest, & had some errand, or he would not have so energetically sought to go forward. . . . "

In the past I have searched for independent confirmation of this incident from Westfall but drawn a blank. As far as I know, all we have to go on is French's account.

French's entire letter is here.

[Laurie Verge]

That is the only reference that I have seen except for someone "quoting" Booth as commenting on how close he was to Lincoln that day and could have killed him (words to that effect). That doesn't sound like a plot - just idle wishing.

[JMadonna]

I'm re-reading Come Retribution. I was referring to ( New York arsonist) Robert Martin's jailhouse comments in Oct 1865 as well as Martha Hunter mother of Major Robert W. Hunter, on the staff of General John B. Gordon, Army of Northern Virginia. In discussing rebel prospects, Mrs. Hunter said, "We will see after the 4th of March." Another time she told Wells, "Our prospects will look better after the 4th of March."

Combine these 2 incidents with the French letter and one could draw the conclusion that an attempt was going to be made, but Booth was not assigned to be the trigger-man.

Laurie, can I assume that Dr. Hall made an attempt to identify the would be assassin in the French letter but drew a blank? Otherwise, he would have included it in Come Retribution.

[Gene C]

We know there were some unreliable witnesses and con-men at the Lincoln Conspiracy trial, I wonder if the south was plagued by con men offering to kill or kidnap certain northern government officials - for a price? Any evidence that Booth actually received $$ from confederate authorities?

[Laurie Verge]

I really don't remember ever discussing the Westfall/French situation with him, but the files might have something. I'll have Sandra check when she has time.

I wish we could find a definite money trail between Booth and at least the Canadian Cabinet. The late-Mike Maione (NPS Historian at Ford's) and the late-James O. Hall spent a considerable amount of time following the money trails of John Wilkes Booth through his acting income, his oil investments, land speculation, etc. They compiled this into a small booklet that we sell for $5 plus postage at Surratt House. Entitled To Make A Fortune: John Wilkes Booth Following the Money Trail, the ultimate conclusion in the book still does not tie Booth to the Confederate government with any certainty.

However, they do leave a tantalizing clue based on two things that occurred within the Confederate Congress in early 1864. The first was an act entitled "An Act to organize bodies of men for the capture and destruction of enemy property on land or sea, and to provide compensation for the same." The second bill added "...$5 million to the appropriation for secret service."

As the authors state, this is the type of information that intelligence officers love to use to connect dots -- capture, destruction, secret service money, compensation. The only problem is, if the secret service is effective, it leaves no paper trail.

[J. Beckert]

I can't find my copy of that book right now, but I don't think they tied more than the $1500.00 Booth received in Montreal to the CSA, and they did conclude he was broke when he died. They stated he was borrowing from friends in early 1865.

[Gene C]

(04-12-2013 10:18 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  They stated he was borrowing from friends in early 1865.

No wonder he had such problems in trying to recruit friends to his kidnap/assassination plan and then in his effort to escape. His friends wanted their money back. Are you going to help someone committ a major crime and flee the country if they owe you money?

[JMadonna]

(04-12-2013 10:18 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  I can't find my copy of that book right now, but I don't think they tied more than the $1500.00 Booth received in Montreal to the CSA, and they did conclude he was broke when he died. They stated he was borrowing from friends in early 1865.

By early 1865 the CSA was closing up shop & sending their funds overseas to England. Thompson even refused to give his successor Edward Lee the $30K that Benjamin ordered him to do.

[Gene C]

(04-12-2013 10:12 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I wish we could find a definite money trail between Booth and at least the Canadian Cabinet.

I think John Stanton may have looked into this a while back. Or it may have had to do with what the Confederate Canadians did with their money after the war.

[Laurie Verge]

John Surratt was under the command of Gen. Edwin Lee during this time, and it appears that he was part of the plans for getting the last of the Confederate treasury into Canada for shipment overseas. The so-called assignment to spy on the POW camp at Elmira, NY,was probably part of his cover - or prison breaks could accompany the money into Canada and safety.

John Stanton has taken up where the late Msrs Hall and Tidwell stopped in tracking Secret Line activities. The little booklet that I mentioned is the best road map you can find as to Booth's money trail. As Joe said, Booth was nearly broke and borrowing money as the kidnap plot began. Here are some of the details.

Hall and Maione made a best guesstimate of Booth's wealth during his peak performance period from December 1, 1862, through his last time on stage on May 28, 1864, as $38,000. Taking account for personal expenses and travel, that would still leave him with a good amount. However, we have to take into account known things he did with that money: $800 went to his mother; $8192 purchased the lot in Boston; $4000 in bonds were bought and stored in his brother-in-law's safe for his mother; he lost $6000 in his failed oil ventures; $1155 was deposited in the Ontario Bank; and $1500 was deposited in the Cooke Bank in D.C.

During the summer of 1864, Booth was doing a lot of traveling to New York and Boston, divesting himself of the oil interests, and even recovering from the dangerous staph infection that affected his right arm and kept him bedridden. On October 18, 1864, he was back in Montreal for a ten-day visit which included a lot of time with Patrick Charles Martin.

On November 9, Booth was back in Washington, and two days later on his way to Bryantown, Maryland to meet with Drs. Queen and Mudd at church on November 13. He was back in D.C. on the 14th and went to the Cooke Bank on November 16 with a deposit of $1500. Did that money come from Canadian connections or from Maryland planters? Could there have been New York connections involved also?

[JMadonna]

According to Ward Hill Lamon in his book Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was the man who rushed the platform on inauguration day. Lamon claimed there were many affidavits that attested to that fact and offered this one to his readers:

District of Columbia, } County of Washington, }
ss: Robert Strong, a citizen of said County and District,

being duly sworn, says that he was a policeman at the Capitol on the day of the second inauguration of President Lincoln, and was stationed at the east door of the rotunda, with Commissioner B. B. French, at the time the President, accompanied by the judges and others, passed out to the platform where the ceremonies of inauguration were about to begin, when a man in a very determined and excited manner broke through the line of policemen which had been formed to keep the crowd out.

Lieutenant Westfall immediately seized the stranger, and a considerable scuffle ensued. The stranger seemed determined to get to the platform where the President and his party were, but Lieutenant Westfall called for assistance. The Commissioner closed the door, or had it closed, and the intruder was finally thrust from the passage leading to the platform which was reserved for the President's party.

After the President was assassinated, the singular conduct of this stranger on that day was frequently talked of by the policemen who observed it. Lieutenant Westfall procured a photograph of the assassin Booth soon after the death of the President, and showed it to Commissioner French in my presence and in the presence of several other policemen, and asked him if he had ever met that man.

The commissioner examined it attentively and said: "Yes, I would know that face among ten thousand. That is the man you had a scuffle with on inauguration day. That is the same man." Affiant also recognized the photograph. Lieutenant Westfall then said: "This is the picture of J. Wilkes Booth." Major French exclaimed: "My God! what a fearful risk we ran that day!"

Robert Strong. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of March, 1876. James A. Tait, Notary Public. [ SEAL ]

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Just for fun I checked the photo of Lincoln's 2nd inaugural and noted that the distance from the platform to the crowd below was not that high.

Shoot Lincoln, jump into the crowd and lose yourself in the confusion there. Not a good plan but feasible.

[RJNorton]

A police officer, William J. Belshaw, wrote a brief account of this event. His affidavit is on this web page. In the past I have searched for Westfall's version of what happened, but I have never found one.