Lincoln's election in 1860 prompted a number of southern states to secede from the Union, and there was a real threat that conspirators with loyalty to the South would try to murder the president-elect before he could even be sworn in.
Was Lincoln Nearly Killed in Baltimore?
Abraham Lincoln, as we all know, did survive the trip to his own inauguration. But we also know that he received a number of death threats after he won the election of 1860, and Lincoln and his closest advisers certainly believed that his life was in danger.
During his railroad journey in February 1861 from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C. to take office, Lincoln was accompanied by Allan Pinkerton, a detective who had become known for solving notorious cases of railroad robberies in the Midwest.
Lincoln's journey to Washington would take him through several major cities, and Pinkerton's job was to assess the threat along the way and protect Lincoln. The city of Baltimore, Maryland appeared to be a particular danger spot as it was home to many who were sympathetic to the southern cause.
Presidents on their way to inaugurations would typically hold rallies or public events, and Allan Pinkerton decided that it was too dangerous for Lincoln to appear in public in Baltimore. Pinkerton's network of detectives had picked up rumors that assassins in the crowd would rush Lincoln and murder him.
To avoid giving the suspected plotters a perfect opportunity to strike, Pinkerton arranged for Lincoln to pass through Baltimore early and to quietly make the connection to proceed onward to Washington. And when people gathered at the train station on the afternoon of Feburary 23, 1861, they were informed that Lincoln had already passed through Baltimore.
Was Anyone Arrested for the Plot to Kill Lincoln in Baltimore?
A number of suspected conspirators were identified over the years, but no one was ever indicted or put on trial for the suspected "Baltimore plot" to kill Abraham Lincoln. So the question of whether the plot was real or a series of rumors was never definitively established in court.
As with all assassination plots, numerous conspiracy theories flourished over the years. Some even claimed that John Wilkes Booth, who would murder Abraham Lincoln more than four years later, was active in the plot to kill Lincoln before he became president.
