First Fallen by Meg Groeling

Author:Meg Groeling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Published: 2021-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Above and Below: While Nicolay and Hay served in the White House, Ellsworth served in the field. As this carte de visite, published after Ellsworth’s death, explains, the uniformed Ellsworth conjured images of “the Goddess of Liberty.” The inspiring figure Ellsworth cut demonstrates why, in life, Ellsworth proved so useful to Lincoln as a military figure. Library of Congress.

In answer to Lincoln’s shocked, disbelieving questions, Pinkerton suggested this plan: Lincoln would leave Philadelphia that night, go to the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore station, and from there take the 11:00 p.m. train to Washington.67 Lincoln thoughtfully considered Pinkerton’s suggestion, then responded that he could not alter his plans in so significant a way. He was scheduled to speak at Independence Hall the next morning, and raise a flag that, for the first time, would include the new, thirty-fourth star celebrating the statehood of Kansas. Then he was to go to Harrisburg to address the Pennsylvania Legislature. After leaving Harrisburg on the afternoon of the 22nd, however, he would be amenable to changing his schedule.68

Early on the morning of February 22, Washington’s Birthday and a public holiday, Lincoln made a rousing, highly emotional speech at Independence Hall, and raised the new version of the Star-Spangled Banner.69 By 9:30, he had left Philadelphia and was on the train to Harrisburg. While Ellsworth and Nicolay sat outside the door of Lincoln’s compartment, Norman Judd met with Lincoln in the private car, where he explained the plans for that evening.70 Judd told Lincoln that a one-car train would be waiting in Harrisburg to take him back to Philadelphia, where he would board another train for Washington at 11:00 p.m. Then the president-elect asked a question: how was he to get out of the Jones House in Harrisburg and onto a train to Washington without being recognized? Judd explained that Pinkerton wanted him to wear a disguise and walk in a bent-over manner to make himself appear shorter than he really was. It was agreed that Lincoln, wearing a soft felt hat and a “man’s shawl” of tartan plaid, stooping and appearing frail, would assume the part of the ailing brother of one of Pinkerton’s female operatives, the fabulous Mrs. Kate Warne, America’s first female detective and a valued employee of Pinkerton.71

As Judd and Lincoln leaned toward each other, their voices fell to whispers, and the plan began to take shape. From Pinkerton’s initial idea, Lincoln and Judd made it their own, workable and believable. Nicolay knocked, nervously entered the car, and sat down beside the two men, his concern palpable. His friend, soon to be the commander-in-chief of the nation, was in grave danger. He addressed Judd: “Something is in the wind—something serious. Is it proper that I should know what it is?” Within minutes Nicolay’s role was made clear. He and Ellsworth were to continue as they had been, giving their combined strength and confidence to Lincoln, and to the Lincoln family. If the public saw no change in the group of people surrounding the president-elect, then no suspicions would be raised that anything was amiss.

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