EFFECTS OF THE PRESIDENT'S DEATH. 567 row wherever civilization prevailed. The manner of his death sent a thrill of horror everywhere; the rebound of feeling decreed his earthly apotheosis. By the consent of the common conscience and judgment, the honored and beloved Emancipator became an adored Martyr; and Democrats in all lands instantly placed him by the side of Washington, in the calendar of their saints and sages. The solemn words of his last inaugural address were recalled in nearly all civilized languages; and forty thousand French Demo 1 in making known to him the facts which had come to our knowledge in reference to the conspiracy, and I most earnestly advised that Mr. Lincoln should go to Washington privately that night in our sleeping-car. Mr. Judd fully entered into the plan, and said he would urge Mr. Lincoln to adopt it. On his and Pinkerton's communicating with Mr. Lincoln after the services of the evening were over, he answered that he had engaged to go to Harrisburg and speak the next day, and he would not break his engagement, even in the face of such peril, but that after he had fulfilled the engagement he would follow such advice as we might give him in reference to his journey to Washington. It was then arranged by myself and Pinkerton that Mr. Lincoln should go to Harrisburg the next day, and make his address, after which he was apparently to retire to Governor Curtin's house for the night, but in reality to go to a point about two miles out of Harrisburg, on the Pennsylvania railroad, where an extra car and engine awaited to take him to Philadelphia. At the time of his retiring, the telegraph lines east, west, north and south from Harrisburg were cut, so that no message as to his movements could be sent off in any direction. Mr. Lincoln could not probably arrive in season for our regular train that left at 11 P. M., and I did not dare to send him by an extra, for fear of its being found out or suspected that he was on the road, and it became necessary for me to devise some excuse for the detention of the train. But three persons on the road besides myself knew the plan. One of these, Mr. Wm. Stearns, I sent by an earlier train to say to the people of the Washington branch road that I had an important package which I was getting ready for the 11 P. M. train; that it was necessary I should have this package delivered in Washington early the next morning, without fail; that I was straining every nerve to get it ready by 11 o'clock, but in case I did not succeed, I should delay the train until it was ready, probably not more than half an hour, and I wished, as a personal favor, that the Washington train should await the coming of ours from Philadelphia, before leaving. This request was willingly complied with by the managers of the Washington branch, and Mr. Stearns, whom I had sent to Baltimore, so informed me by telegraph in cipher. The second person in the secret, Mr. H. F. Kenney, I sent to West Philadelphia, in company with Pinkerton, in a carriage, to await the coming of Mr. Lincoln. I gave him a package of old railroad reports, done up with great care, with a great seal attached to it, and directed, in a fair round hand, to a person at Willard's ‘E. J. Allen' (the assumed name of Pinkerton). I marked it very important, to be delivered without fail by 11 o'clock train,' indorsing my own name upon the package. Mr. Lincoln arrived in West Philadelphia, and was immediately taken into the carriage with Mr. Kenney and Pinkerton, and driven to within a square of our station, where Mr. Kenney jumped off with the package and waited till he saw the carriage drive up to the door and Mr. Lincoln and the detective get out and go in. He then came up and gave the package to the conductor, who was waiting at the door to receive it, in company with a police officer. Tickets had been bought beforehand for Mr. Lincoln and party to Washington, including a tier of berths in the sleeping-car. He passed between the conductor and the police officer at the door, and neither suspected who he was. The conductor remarked as he passed, Well, old fellow, it is lucky for you that our President detained the train to send a package by it, or you would have been left. Mr. Lincoln and the detective being safely ensconced in the sleeping-car, and my package safely in the hands of the conductor, the train started for Baltimore, about fifteen minutes behind time. Our man number three, George Stearns, started on the train to go to Baltimore, and hand it over, with its contents, to man number one, William Stearns, who awaited its arrival in Baltimore. Before the train reached Gray's Ferry bridge, and before Mr. Lincoln had resigned himself to slumber, the conductor came to George Stearns, and accosting him, said: 'George, I thought you and I were friends. Why did you not tell me Old Abe was on board?" George, thinking the conductor had, in some way, become possessed of the secret, answered: John, we are friends, and, as you have found it out, Old Abe is on board, and we will still be friends, and see him safely through.' John answered, 'Yes, if it costs me my life, he shall have a safe passage,' and so George stuck to one end of the car, and the conductor to the other every moment that his duties to the other passengers would admit of it. And Mr. Lincoln did arrive safely. It turned out, however, that the conductor was mistaken in his man. A man strongly resembling Mr. Lincoln had come down to the train about half an hour before it left, and bought a ticket to Washington, with a ticket for the sleeping-car. The conductor had seen him, and concluded he was the veritable Old Abe.' George delivered the sleeping-car and train over to William, in Baltimore, and William, as had been previously arranged, took his place at the back and rode to Washington, where he arrived on the rear of the sleeping-car, at about six A. M. on time, and saw Mr. Lincoln in the hands of a friend, safely delivered at Willard's, when he secretly ejaculated, ‘God be praised!' He also saw my package of railroad reports marked highly important,' safely delivered into the hands for which it was intended. This being done, he performed his morning ablutions in peace and quiet, and enjoyed with unusual zest a breakfast at Willard's. At eight o'clock, the time ageeed upon, the telegraph wires were joined, and the first message flashed across the line was, 'Your package has arrived safely, and been delivered.—WILLIAM.' Then there went up from the writer of this a shout of joy, and a devout thanksgiving to Him from whom all blessings flow, and the few in the secret joined in a heartfelt amen. Thus began and ended a chapter in the history of the Rebellion that has never been before written, but about which there have been many hints entitled a Scotch cap and riding cloak, &c., neither of which had any foundation in truth. Mr. Lincoln was safely inaugurated, after which I discharged our detective force, and also the semi-military whitewashers, and all was quiet and serene again on the railroad." 1 The British Standard, a leading English journal, said of it: "It is the most remarkable thing of the sort ever pronounced by any President of the United States, from the first day until now, Its Alpha and its Omega TESTIMONIAL OF FRENCH DEMOCRATS. crats testified their appreciation of his character and services, and "their desire to express their sympathy for the American Union, in the person of 568 1 MEDAL FROM THE FRENCHI DEMOCRATS. one of its most illustrious and purest representatives," by causing a magnificent gold medal to be struck and presented to the President's widow.' is Almighty God, the God of Justice and the Father of Mercies, who is working out the purpose of his love. It is invested with a dignity and pathos which lift it high above every thing of the kind, whether in the Old World or the New. The whole thing puts us in mind of the best men of the English Commonwealth; there is, in fact, much of the old prophet in it." 1 The writer is indebted to the kindness of Robert Lincoln, son of the President, for a photograph of the medal, of which the engraving here given is a copy, in outline, about one-third less in size than the original, which is about four inches in diameter. On one side, in relief, is a profile of Mr. Lincoln, surrounded by the words, in French: "DEDICATED BY THE FRENCH DEMOCRACY. TWICE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." On the reverse is an altar, bearing the following inscription, also in French: "LINCOLN, HONEST MAN, ABOLISHED SLAVERY, RE-ESTABLISHED THE UNION, AND SAVED THE REPUBLIC, WITHOUT VEILING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. HE WAS ASSASSINATED THE 14TH OF APRIL, 1865." Below all are the words, "LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY." On one side of the altar stands winged Victory, with her right hand resting upon a sword, and her left holding a civic wreath. On the other side stand two emancipated slaves-the younger, a lad, offering a palm-branch, and the elder pointing him to the American eagle, bearing the shield, the olive-branch, and the lightning, with the motto of the Union. The elder freedman holds the musket of the militia-man, to which their citizenship entitles them. Near them are emblems of industry and progress. Back of Victory are seen an anchor, merchandize, and ships, emblematical of commerce. Over the altar is a triangle, emblematic of trinity-the trinity of man's inalienable rights-LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND FRATERNITY. The funds for the medal were obtained by very small subscriptions, to which forty thousand French citizens subscribed. The French Government tried to prevent this, but failed. The medal was struck, and sent to Mrs. Lincoln, with the following letter, signed by the committee having the matter in charge: MADAME: "PARIS, ce 13 Octobre, 1866. "Nous sommes chargés de vous offrir la médaille qu'ont fait frapper, en l'honneur du grand honnête homme dont vous portez le nom, plus de 40,000 citoyens Français, désireux de manifester leurs sympathies pour l'Union Américaine, dans la personne de l'un de ses plus illustres et de ses plus purs représentants. "Si la France possédait les libertés dont jouit l'Amérique républicaine, ce n'est pas par milliers, mais par millions, que se seraient comptés avec nous les admirateurs de Lincoln, et les partisans des opinions auxquelles il vouà sa vie, et que sa mort a consacrées. "Veuillez agréer, Madame, l'hommage de notre profond respect. "Les membres du Comité: Etienne Arago, Ch. L. Chassin. L. Greppo, Laurent "MADAM: TRANSLATION. "PARIS, October 18, 1866. "We have been charged with the duty of presenting to you the medal in honor of the great and honest man whose name you bear, and which 40,000 French citizens have caused to be struck, with a desire to express their sympathy for the American Union, in the person of one of its most illustrious and purest representatives. ATTEMPTED MURDER OF MR. SEWARD 569 The night of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln was one of horrors in the National Capital. According to a proclamation by his successor (Andrew Johnson), there was "evidence in the Bureau of Military Justice," that. there had been a conspiracy formed by "Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson, Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Saunders, William C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in Canada," to assassinate the President, and the Secretary of State,. Mr. Seward;' and circumstances seemed to warrant the charge that they had intended the same fate for other members of the Cabinet, General Grant, and several leading Republicans, their object evidently being to put out of the way men in high places, opposed to the Conspirators, who, on the death of the President, might administer the Government, hoping thereby to pro-duce anarchy, which, in some way, might lead to the accession to power of the leaders of the rebellion. Accordingly, on the night, and at the same hour, when Mr. Lincoln was murdered, a man named Lewis Payne Powell, of Florida, who had been a Confederate soldier, attempted to slay Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, who was seriously ill at his house, in consequence of having been thrown from his carriage a few days before. Powell, or "Payne," as his associates called him, went to the Secretary's house with the pretense that he was a messenger of the Minister's physician. When the porter refused him admittance, he rushed by him and up two flights. of stairs to Mr. Seward's chamber, at the door of which he was met and resisted by the Secretary's son, Frederick William. Payne struck the younger Seward to the floor with the handle of his pistol, fracturing his skull and making him insensible. The Secretary's daughter was attracted to the room-door by the noise, when Payne rushed by her, sprang like a furious tiger upon the bed, and inflicted three severe wounds upon the neck and face of Mr. Seward, with a dagger, when an invalid soldier, named Robinson, who was in attendance as nurse, seized the assassin from behind. The feeble resistance offered by the Secretary barely saved his life. While Payne was struggling with Robinson, Miss Seward shouted "Murder!" from the open window, and the porter ran into the street, crying for help. Payne, perceiving his peril, did not stop to finish his murderous work; but, with a great effort, he escaped from Robinson, rushed down the stairs to the street, mounted a horse that he had in readiness, and fled into the open country beyond the Anacosta, in search of Booth, the principal executor of the assassination plot. At the time of the murder, the Secretary of War (Mr. Stanton) was absent from his own house. He had left Mr. Seward half an hour before the attack upon him. He was now called to action. Measures were immedi ately adopted for the discovery and arrest of the assassin, then unknown. "If France possessed the liberty enjoyed by republican America, we would number with us not merely thousands, but millions of the admirers of Lincoln, and of the partisans of those opinions to which he devoted his life, and which are consecrated by his death. "Please to accept, Madam, the homage of our profound respect. "The members of the Committee." 1 See President Johnson's Proclamation, May 2, 1865. In that proclamation, signed by him and by W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State, a reward of one hundred thousand dollars was offered for the arrest of Jefferson Davis; twenty-five thousand dollars apiece for the arrest of Jacob Thompson, C. C. Clay, George N. Saunders, and Beverly Tucker; and ten thousand dollars for the arrest of William C. Cleary, late clerk of C. C. Clay. 570 INAUGURATION OF A NEW PRESIDENT. Suspicion pointed toward Booth as the murderer of the President. 'Cavalry and a heavy police force speedily shot out from the capital in radiating lines, in search of the offenders, but without success, when, at the end of three days, Colonel Lafayette C. Baker, the Chief Detective of the War Department, who had been at the head of the secret service from the beginning of the struggle, returned to Washington, and skillfully formed a plan for the service. of justice in the matter. Men were designated as the accomplices of Booth, now known to have been the assassin of the President, and cavalry and police were sent in pursuit of them. Booth was overtaken in Virginia, below Fredericksburg, concealed in a barn. He refused to surrender. The barn was fired, and the assassin was shot by a sergeant named Boston Corbett. Payne, who had attempted to kill Mr. Seward, was soon arrested, with other accomplices of Booth, and some of them, with a woman named Surratt, whose house, in Washington City, appears to have been a place of rendezvous for Booth and his accomplices, were tried, by a military commission, for murder, and hung. Others were imprisoned.' "April 21, 1865. July 7. h The President's body was taken to the Executive Mansion, and embalmed; and in the "East Room" of that mansion, funeral services were held on Wednesday, the 19th of April. Then the body was taken, in solemn procession, by way of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Albany, and thence westward, to his private home, in Springfield, Illinois, and buried. It everywhere received tokens of the people's love and grief. Funeral honors were displayed in many cities of the land, and the nation was really in mourning and tears. But the Republic survived the shock which might have toppled down, in other lands, an empire or a dynasty. By a seeming oversight in the managers of the assassin scheme, Andrew Johnson, the VicePresident, was not included in their list of victims. He, who must legally succeed the dead President, seems not to have been put in jeopardy by the Conspirators; and six hours after Mr. Lincoln expired, Chief-Justice Chase administered to him the oath of office as President of the Republic. Thoughtful people, who regarded private virtue as the basis of public integrity, and who sadly remembered the conduct of the Vice-President only a few weeks before, which shoeked the moral sense of right-minded citizens, were filled with gloomy forebodings concerning the future of the Republic-for the most profound wisdom and exalted virtue in the Chief Magistrate were needed at that critical time. He took the chair of Washington, assumed the reins of Government as Chief Magistrate, and invited the members of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet to retain their offices under his administration.3 With the surrender of Lee, the war was virtually ended. Although he 1 The persons hung were David E. Herrold, George A. Atzerott, Lewis Payne Powell, and Mary E. Surratt. Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel A. Mudd, and Samuel Arnold were sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor, for life. Edward Spangler was sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for six years. 2 See page 425, volume I. At that time they consisted of William H. Seward, Secretary of State; Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy; John P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior; James Speed, Attorney-General; and William Dennison, Postmaster-General. Mr. Chase, the former Secretary of the Treasury, had been elevated to the seat of Chief-Justice of the United States, on the death of Judge Taney. Mr. Stanton had succeeded Mr. Cameron in the War Department, early in 1962; and President Lincoln, satisfied that the public good required the removal of Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster-General, asked him to resign. The request was granted, and Mr. Dennison was put in his place. Caleb Smith had died, and Mr. Usher had taken his place. SHERMAN MOVES ON RALEIGH. 571 was general-in-chief, he included in the capitulation only the Army of Northern Virginia. That of Johnston, in North Carolina, and smaller bodies. elsewhere, were yet in arms; but in the space of about a month after Lee's surrender, the last gun of the Rebellion was fired. Let us see what these hostile forces were about. We left Sherman's army around Goldsboro', resting and refitting for a further prosecution of the campaign.' Sherman intended to push northward, feign an attack on Raleigh, and make a lodgment at Burkesville, at the junction of the South Side and Danville railways, between the armies of Lee and Johnston. The auspicious events in the vicinity of the Appomattox, recorded in this chapter, made that movement unnecessary; and when, on the 6th of April, Sherman was informed of the victory at the Five Forks, and the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, he put his whole army in motion as quickly as possible, and moved on Johnston, who was yet at Smithfield, on the Neuse, with full thirty thousand men. a • 1865. It was on the 10th of April that Sherman's army moved, starting at daybreak. Slocum's column marched along the two most direct roads to Smithfield. Howard's moved more to the right, feigning the Weldon road; and Terry and Kilpatrick pushed up the west side of the Neuse, for the purpose of striking the rear of Johnston's army between Smithfield and Raleigh, if he should retreat. Johnston knew that resistance would be in vain, and did retreat through Raleigh, and along the lines of the railway westward, toward Greensboro'. Jefferson Davis and his "cabinet" were then at Danville, where they had been playing "Government" for four or five days, making that village the new "capital of the Confederacy": But on that day, they heard of the surrender of Lee, and fled, by railway to Greensboro', with anxious thoughts for the safety of themselves and the treasures which they had carried off from Richmond. They had proposed to Johnston a plan for that salvation, which that leader spurned. They proposed that he should disperse his army, excepting two or three batteries of artillery, the cavalry, and as many infantry as he could mount, with which he should form a guard for the "Government," and strike for the Mississippi and beyond, with Mexico as their final objective. Johnston, deprecating the bad example of Lee, in continuing what he knew to be a hopeless war, and governed by the nicest sense of honor, 2 At Danville, on the 5th of April, Davis issued a Proclamation. After mentioning the causes which compelled the abandonment of Richmond, he said: "We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail, far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free. Animated by that confidence in spirit and fortitude, which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any one of the States of the Confederacy." He declared his purpose to defend Virginia, and that no peace should "ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory." He added: "If, by the stress of numbers, we should ever be compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border State, again and again will we return, until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon, in despair, his endless and impossible task, of making slaves of a people resolved to be free." It is worthy of note, that, while the Chief of the Confederacy was thus indulging in boastful language to deceive the people, he was ready to desert the cause, when necessity should compel him to do so, for the preservation of himself. One of Davis's staff officers, who went with the "Government" in its flight, speaking of Davis's proclamation, said, it was "to reassure the public, and to persuade them that it was for the special accommodation of Lee's new tactics-field tactics as opposed to intrenched positions-that Richmond was abandoned. The proclamation was very spirited, and breathed defiance to the last."—History of the Last Days and Final Fall of the Rebellion, by a Rebel Staff Officer (Lieutenant C. E. L. Stuart). |