Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April - Appendix I-VI



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APPENDIX I.

The following account of the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Abraham 
Lincoln on his journey to Baltimore is taken from the "Life of Abraham 
Lincoln," by Ward H. Lamon, pp. 511--526:

"Whilst Mr. Lincoln, in the midst of his suite and attendants, was being 
borne in triumph through the streets of Philadelphia, and a countless 
multitude of people were shouting themselves hoarse, and jostling and 
crushing each other around his carriage-wheels, Mr. Felton, the President 
of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railway, was engaged with a 
private detective discussing the details of an alleged conspiracy to 
murder him at Baltimore. Some months before Mr. Felton, apprehending 
danger to the bridges along his line, had taken this man into his pay and 
sent him to Baltimore to spy out and report any plot that might be found 
for their destruction. Taking with him a couple of other men and a woman, 
the detective went about his business with the zeal which necessarily 
marks his peculiar profession. He set up as a stock-broker, under an 
assumed name, opened an office, and became a vehement secessionist. His 
agents were instructed to act with the duplicity which such men generally 
use; to be rabid on the subject of 'Southern Rights'; to suggest all 
manner of crimes in vindication of them; and if, by these arts, 
corresponding sentiments should be elicited from their victims, the 'job' 
might be considered as prospering. Of course they readily

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found out what everybody else knew--that Maryland was in a state of great 
alarm; that her people were forming military associations, and that 
Governor Hicks was doing his utmost to furnish them with arms, on 
condition that the arms, in case of need, should be turned against the 
Federal Government. Whether they detected any plan to burn bridges or not, 
the chief detective does not relate; but it appears that he soon deserted 
that inquiry and got, or pretended to get, upon a scent that promised a 
heavier reward. Being intensely ambitious to shine in the professional 
way, and something of a politician besides, it struck him that it would be 
a particularly fine thing to discover a dreadful plot to assassinate the 
President-elect, and he discovered it accordingly. It was easy to get that 
far; to furnish tangible proofs of an imaginary conspiracy was a more 
difficult matter. But Baltimore was seething with political excitement; 
numerous strangers from the far South crowded its hotels and 
boardinghouses; great numbers of mechanics and laborers out of employment 
encumbered its streets; and everywhere politicians, merchants, mechanics, 
laborers and loafers were engaged in heated discussions about the 
anticipated war, and the probability of Northern troops being marched 
through Maryland to slaughter and pillage beyond the Potomac. It would 
seem like an easy thing to beguile a few individuals of this angry and 
excited multitude into the expression of some criminal desire; and the 
opportunity was not wholly lost, although the limited success of the 
detective under such favorable circumstances is absolutely wonderful. He 
put his 'shadows' upon several persons whom it suited his pleasure to 
suspect, and the 'shadows' pursued their work with the keen zest and the 
cool treachery of their kind. They reported daily to their chief in 
writing, as he reported in turn to his

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employer. These documents are neither edifying nor useful: they prove 
nothing but the baseness of the vocation which gave them existence. They 
were furnished to Mr. Herndon in full, under the impression that partisan 
feeling had extinguished in him the love of truth and the obligations of 
candor, as it had in many writers who preceded him on the same subject-
matter. They have been carefully and thoroughly read, analyzed, examined 
and compared, with an earnest and conscientious desire to discover the 
truth, if, perchance, any trace of truth might be in them. The process of 
investigation began with a strong bias in favor of the conclusion at which 
the detective had arrived. For ten years the author implicitly believed in 
the reality of the atrocious plot which these spies were supposed to have 
detected and thwarted; and for ten years he had pleased himself with the 
reflection that he also had done something to defeat the bloody purpose of 
the assassins. It was a conviction which could scarcely have been 
overthrown by evidence less powerful than the detective's weak and 
contradictory account of his own case. In that account there is literally 
nothing to sustain the accusation, and much to rebut it. It is perfectly 
manifest that there was no conspiracy--no conspiracy of a hundred, of 
fifty, of twenty, of three--no definite purpose in the heart of even one 
man to murder Mr. Lincoln at Baltimore.

"The reports are all in the form of personal narratives, and for the most 
relate when the spies went to bed, when they rose, where they ate, what 
saloons and brothels they visited, and what blackguards they met and 
'drinked' with. One of them shadowed a loud-mouthed drinking fellow named 
Luckett, and another, a poor scapegrace and braggart named Hilliard. These 
wretches 'drinked' and talked a great deal, hung about bars, haunted 
disreputable houses,

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were constantly half drunk, and easily excited to use big and threatening 
words by the faithless protestations and cunning management of the spies. 
Thus Hilliard was made to say that he thought a man who should act the 
part of Brutus in these times would deserve well of his country; and 
Luckett was induced to declare that he knew a man who would kill Lincoln. 
At length the great arch-conspirator--the Brutus, the Orsini of the New 
World, to whom Luckett and Hilliard, the 'national volunteers,' and all 
such, were as mere puppets --condescended to reveal himself in the most 
obliging and confiding manner. He made no mystery of his cruel and 
desperate scheme. He did not guard it as a dangerous secret, or choose his 
confidants with the circumspection which political criminals, and 
especially assassins, have generally thought proper to observe. Very many 
persons knew what he was about, and levied on their friends for small 
sums--five, ten and twenty dollars--to further the Captain's plan. Even 
Luckett was deep enough in the awful plot to raise money for it; and when 
he took one of the spies to a public bar-room and introduced him to the 
'Captain,' the latter sat down and talked it all over without the 
slightest reserve. When was there ever before such a loud-mouthed 
conspirator, such a trustful and innocent assassin! His name was 
Ferrandini, his occupation that of a barber, his place of business beneath 
Barnum's Hotel, where the sign of the bloodthirsty villain still invites 
the unsuspecting public to come in for a shave.

"'Mr. Luckett,' so the spy relates, 'said that he was not going home this 
evening; and if I would meet him at Barr's saloon, on South street, he 
would introduce me to Ferrandini. This was unexpected to me; but I 
determined to take the chances, and agreed to meet Mr. Luckett at the 
place named

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at 7 P.M. Mr. Luckett left about 2.30 P.M., and I went to dinner.

"'I was at the office in the afternoon in hopes that Mr. Felton might 
call, but he did not; and at 6.15 P.M. I went to supper. After supper I 
went to Barr's saloon, and found Mr. Luckett and several other gentlemen 
there. He asked me to drink, and introduced me to Captain Ferrandini and 
Captain Turner. He eulogized me very highly as a neighbor of his, and told 
Ferrandini that I was the gentleman who had given the twenty-five dollars 
he (Luckett) had given to Ferrandini.

"'The conversation at once got into politics; and Ferrandini, who is a 
fine-looking, intelligent-appearing person, became very excited. He shows 
the Italian in, I think, a very marked degree; and, although excited, yet 
was cooler than what I had believed was the general characteristic of 
Italians. He has lived South for many years, and is thoroughly imbued with 
the idea that the South must rule; that they (Southerners) have been 
outraged in their rights by the election of Lincoln, and freely justified 
resorting to any means to prevent Lincoln from taking his seat; and, as he 
spoke, his eyes fairly glared and glistened, and his whole frame quivered; 
but he was fully conscious of all he was doing. He is a man well 
calculated for controlling and directing the ardent-minded; he is an 
enthusiast, and believes that, to use his own words, "murder of any kind 
is justifiable and right to save the rights of the Southern people." In 
all his views he was ably seconded by Captain Turner.

"'Captain Turner is an American; but although very much of a gentleman, 
and possessing warm Southern feelings, he is not by any means so dangerous 
a man as Ferrandini, as his ability for exciting ethers is less powerful; 
hut that he is

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a bold and proud man there is no doubt, as also that he is entirely under 
the control of Ferrandini. In fact, he could not be otherwise, for even I 
myself felt the influence of this man's strange power; and, wrong though I 
knew him to be, I felt strangely unable to keep my mind balanced against 
him.

"'Ferrandini said, "Never, never, shall Lincoln be President!" His life 
(Ferrandini's) was of no consequence; he was willing to give it up for 
Lincoln's; he would sell it for that abolitionist's; and as Orsini had 
given his life for Italy, so was he (Ferrandini) ready to die for his 
country and the rights of the South; and said Ferrandini, turning to 
Captain Turner, "We shall all die together: we shall show the North that 
we fear them not. Every man, Captain," said he, "will on that day prove 
himself a hero. The first shot fired, the main traitor (Lincoln) dead, and 
all Maryland will be with us, and the South shall be free; and the North 
must then be ours. Mr. Hutchins," said Ferrandini, "if I alone must do it, 
I shall: Lincoln shall die in this city."

"'Whilst we were thus talking, we (Mr. Luckett, Turner, Ferrandini and 
myself) were alone in one corner of the bar-room, and, while talking, two 
strangers had got pretty near us. Mr. Luckett called Ferrandini's 
attention to this, and intimated that they were listening; and we went up 
to the bar, drinked again at my expense, and again retired to another part 
of the room, at Ferrandini's request, to see if the strangers would again 
follow us. Whether by accident or design, they again got near us; but of 
course we were not talking of any matter of consequence. Ferrandini said 
he suspected they were spies, and suggested that he had to attend a secret 
meeting, and was apprehensive that the two strangers might follow him; 
and, at Mr. Luckett's request,

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I remained with him (Luckett) to watch the movements of the strangers. I 
assured Ferrandini that if they would attempt to follow him, we would whip 
them.

"'Ferrandini and Turner left to attend the meeting, and, anxious as I was 
to follow them myself, I was obliged to remain with Mr. Luckett to watch 
the strangers, which we did for about fifteen minutes, when Mr. Luckett 
said that he should go to a friend's to stay over night, and I left for my 
hotel, arriving there at about 9 P. M., and soon retired.'

"It is in a secret communication between hireling spies and paid informers 
that these ferocious sentiments are attributed to the poor knight of the 
soap-pot. No disinterested person would believe the story upon such 
evidence; and it will appear hereafter that even the detective felt that 
it was too weak to mention among his strong points, at that decisive 
moment when he revealed all he knew to the President and his friends. It 
is probably a mere fiction. If it had had any foundation in fact, we are 
inclined to believe that the sprightly and eloquent barber would have 
dangled at a rope's end long since. He would hardly have been left to 
shave and plot ia peace, while the members of the Legislature, the Police 
Marshal, and numerous private gentlemen, were locked up in Federal 
prisons. When Mr. Lincoln was actually slain, four years later, and the 
cupidity of the detectives was excited by enormous rewards, Ferrandini was 
totally unmolested. But even if Ferrandini really said all that is here 
imputed to him, he did no more than many others around him were doing at 
the same time. He drank and talked, and made swelling speeches; but he 
never took, nor seriously thought of taking, the first step toward the 
frightful tragedy he is said to have contemplated.

"The detectives are cautious not to include in the supposed

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plot to murder any person of eminence, power, or influence. Their game is 
all of the smaller sort, and, as they conceived, easily taken--witless 
vagabonds like Hilliard and Luckett, and a barber, whose calling indicates 
his character and associations.(1) They had no fault to find with the 
Governor of the State; he was rather a lively trimmer, to be sure, and 
very anxious to turn up at last on the winning side; but it was manifestly 
impossible that one in such an exalted station could meditate murder. Yet, 
if they had pushed their inquiries with an honest desire to get at the 
truth, they might have found much stronger evidence against the Governor 
than that which they pretend to have found against the barber. In the 
Governor's case the evidence is documentary, written, authentic--over his 
own hand, clear and conclusive as pen and ink could make it. As early as 
the previous November, Governor Hicks had written the following letter; 
and, notwithstanding its treasonable and murderous import, the writer 
became conspicuously loyal before spring, and lived to reap splendid 
rewards and high honors, under the auspices of the Federal Government, as 
the most patriotic and devoted Union man in Maryland. The person to whom 
the letter was addressed was equally fortunate; and, instead of drawing 
out his comrades in the field to 'kill Lincoln and his men,' he was sent 
to Congress by power exerted from Washington at a time when the 
administration selected the representatives of Maryland, and performed all 
his duties right loyally and acceptably. Shall one be taken and another 
left? Shall Hicks go to the Senate and Webster to Congress,

(1) Mr. Ferrandini, now in advanced years, still lives in Baltimore, and 
declares the charge of conspiracy to be wholly absurd and fictitious, and 
those who know him will, I think, believe that he is an unlikely person to 
be engaged ia such a plot.

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while the poor barber is held to the silly words which he is alleged to 
have sputtered out between drinks in a low groggery, under the 
blandishments and encouragements of an eager spy, itching for his reward?

"'State Of Maryland,
"'Executive Chamber,
"'Annapolis, November 9, 1860.

"'Hon. E. H. Webster.

"'My Dear Sir:--I have pleasure in acknowledging receipt of your favor 
introducing a very clever gentleman to my acquaintance (though a Demo'). I 
regret to say that we have, at this time, no arms on hand to distribute, 
but assure you at the earliest possible moment your company shall have 
arms; they have complied with all required on their part. We have some 
delay, in consequence of contracts with Georgia and Alabama ahead of us. 
We expect at an early day an additional supply, and of first received your 
people shall be furnished. Will they be good men to send out to kill 
Lincoln and his men? If not, suppose the arms would be better sent South.

"'How does late election sit with you? 'Tis too bad. Harford nothing to 
reproach herself for.

"'Your obedient servant,
"'Thos. H. Hicks.'

"With the Presidential party was Hon. Norman B. Judd; he was supposed to 
exercise unbounded influence over the new President; and with him, 
therefore, the detective opened communications. At various places along 
the route Mr. Judd was given vague hints of the impending danger, 
accompanied by the usual assurances of the skill and activity of the 
patriots who were perilling their lives in a rebel city to save that of 
the Chief Magistrate. When he reached New York, he was met by the woman 
who had originally gone with the other spies to Baltimore. She had urgent 
messages from her chief--messages that disturbed Mr. Judd exceedingly. The 
detective was anxious to meet Mr. Judd and the President, and a meeting 
was accordingly arranged to take place at Philadelphia.

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"Mr. Lincoln reached Philadelphia on the afternoon of the 21st. The 
detective had arrived in the morning, and improved the interval to impress 
and enlist Mr. Felton. In the evening he got Mr. Judd and Mr. Felton into 
his room at the St. Louis Hotel, and told them all he had learned. He 
dwelt at large on the fierce temper of the Baltimore secessionists; on the 
loose talk he had heard about 'fireballs or hand-grenades'; on a 
'privateer' said to be moored somewhere in the bay; on the organization 
called National Volunteers; on the fact that, eavesdropping at Barnum's 
Hotel, he had overheard Marshal Kane intimate that he would not supply a 
police force on some undefined occasion, but what the occasion was he did 
not know. He made much of his miserable victim, Hilliard, whom he held up 
as a perfect type of the class from which danger was to be apprehended; 
but concerning "Captain" Ferrandini and his threats, he said, according to 
his own account, not a single word. He had opened his case, his whole 
case, and stated it as strongly as he could. Mr. Judd was very much 
startled, and was sure that it would be extremely imprudent for Mr. 
Lincoln to pass through Baltimore in open daylight, according to the 
published programme. But he thought the detective ought to see the 
President himself; and, as it was wearing toward nine o'clock, there was 
no time to lose. It was agreed that the part taken by the detective and 
Mr. Felton should be kept secret from every one but the President. Mr. 
Sanford, President of the American Telegraph Company, had also been co-
operating in the business, and the same stipulation was made with regard 
to him.

"Mr. Judd went to his own room at the Continental, and the detective 
followed. The crowd in the hotel was very dense, and it took some time to 
get a message to Mr. Lincoln.

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But it finally reached him, and he responded in person. Mr. Judd 
introduced the detective, and the latter told his story over again, with a 
single variation: this time he mentioned the name of Ferrandini along with 
Hilliard's, but gave no more prominence to one than to the other.

"Mr. Judd and the detective wanted Lincoln to leave for Washington that 
night. This he flatly refused to do. He had engagements with the people, 
he said, to raise a flag over Independence Hall in the morning, and to 
exhibit himself at Harrisburg in the afternoon, and these engagements he 
would not break in any event. But he would raise the flag, go to 
Harrisburg, 'get away quietly' in the evening, and permit himself to be 
carried to Washington in the way they thought best. Even this, however, he 
conceded with great reluctance. He condescended to cross-examine the 
detective on some parts of his narrative, but at no time did he seem in 
the least degree alarmed. He was earnestly requested not to communicate 
the change of plan to any member of his party except Mr. Judd, nor permit 
even a suspicion of it to cross the mind of another. To this he replied 
that he would be compelled to tell Mrs. Lincoln, 'and he thought it likely 
that she would insist upon W. H. Lamon going with him; but, aside from 
that, no one should know.'

"In the meantime, Mr. Seward had also discovered the conspiracy. He 
dispatched his son to Philadelphia to warn the President-elect of the 
terrible plot into whose meshes he was about to run. Mr. Lincoln turned 
him over to Judd, and Judd told him they already knew all about it. He 
went away with just enough information to enable his father to anticipate 
the exact moment of Mr. Lincoln's surreptitious arrival in Washington.

"Early on the morning of the 22d, Mr. Lincoln raised the

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flag over Independence Hall, and departed for Harrisburg. On the way Mr. 
Judd 'gave him a full and precise detail of the arrangements that had been 
made' the previous night. After the conference with the detective, Mr. 
Sanford, Colonel Scott, Mr. Felton, railroad and telegraph officials, had 
been sent for, and came to Mr. Judd's room. They occupied nearly the whole 
of the night in perfecting the plan. It was finally understood that about 
six o'clock the next evening Mr. Lincoln should slip away from the Jones 
Hotel, at Harrisburg, in company with a single member of his party. A 
special car and engine would be provided for him on the track outside the 
depot. All other trains on the road would be 'side-tracked' until this one 
had passed. Mr. Sanford would forward skilled 'telegraph-climbers,' and 
see that all the wires leading out of Harrisburg were cut at six o'clock, 
and kept down until it was known that Mr. Lincoln had reached Washington 
in safety. The detective would meet Mr. Lincoln at the West Philadelphia 
Depot with a carriage, and conduct him by a circuitous route to the 
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Depot. Berths for four would be pre-
engaged in the sleeping-car attached to the regular midnight train for 
Baltimore. This train Mr. Felton would cause to be detained until the 
conductor should receive a package, containing important 'Government 
dispatches,' addressed to 'E. J. Allen, Willard's Hotel, Washington.' This 
package was made up of old newspapers, carefully wrapped and sealed, and 
delivered to the detective to be used as soon as Mr. Lincoln was lodged in 
the car. Mr. Lincoln approved of the plan, and signified his readiness to 
acquiesce. Then Mr. Judd, forgetting the secrecy which the spy had so 
impressively enjoined, told Mr. Lincoln that the step he was about to take 
was one of such transcendent importance that

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he thought 'it should be communicated to the other gentlemen of the 
party.' Mr. Lincoln said, 'You can do as you like about that.' Mr. Judd 
now changed his seat; and Mr. Nicolay, whose suspicions seem to have been 
aroused by this mysterious conference, sat down beside him and said: 
'Judd, there is something up. What is it, if it is proper that I should 
know?' 'George,' answered Judd, 'there is no necessity for your knowing 
it. One man can keep a matter better than two.'

"Arrived at Harrisburg, and the public ceremonies and speechmaking over, 
Mr. Lincoln retired to a private parlor in the Jones House, and Mr. Judd 
summoned to meet him Judge Davis, Colonel Lamon, Colonel Sumner, Major 
Hunter and Captain Pope. The three latter were officers of the regular 
army, and had joined the party after it had left Springfield. Judd began 
the conference by stating the alleged fact of the Baltimore conspiracy, 
how it was detected, and how it was proposed to thwart it by a midnight 
expedition to Washington by way of Philadelphia. It was a great surprise 
to most of those assembled. Colonel Sumner was the first to break silence. 
'That proceeding,' said he, 'will be a damned piece of cowardice.' Mr. 
Judd considered this a 'pointed hit,' but replied that 'that view of the 
case had already been presented to Mr. Lincoln.' Then there was a general 
interchange of opinions, which Sumner interrupted by saying, 'I'll get a 
squad of cavalry, sir, and cut our way to Washington, sir!' 'Probably 
before that clay comes,' said Mr. Judd, 'the inauguration-day will have 
passed. It is important that Mr. Lincoln should be in Washington that 
day.' Thus far Judge Davis had expressed no opinion, but 'had put various 
questions to test the truthfulness of the story.' He now turned to Mr. 
Lincoln and

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said, 'You personally heard the detective's story. You have heard this 
discussion. What is your judgment in the matter?' 'I have listened,' 
answered Mr. Lincoln, 'to this discussion with interest. I see no reason, 
no good reason, to change the programme, and I am for carrying it out as 
arranged by Judd.' There was no longer any dissent as to the plan itself; 
but one question still remained to be disposed of. Who should accompany 
the President on his perilous ride? Mr. Judd again took the lead, 
declaring that he and Mr. Lincoln had previously determined that but one 
man ought to go, and that Colonel Lamon had been selected as the proper 
person. To this Sumner violently demurred. 'I have undertaken,' he 
exclaimed, 'to see Mr. Lincoln to Washington.'

"Mr. Lincoln was hastily dining when a close carriage was brought to the 
side door of the hotel. He was called, hurried to his room, changed his 
coat and hat, and passed rapidly through the hall and out of the door. As 
he was stepping into the carriage, it became manifest that Sumner was 
determined to get in also. 'Hurry with him,' whispered Judd to Lamon, and 
at the same time, placing his hand on Sumner's shoulder, said aloud, 'One 
moment, Colonel!' Sumner turned around, and in that moment the carriage 
drove rapidly away. 'A madder man,' says Mr. Judd, 'you never saw.'

"Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lamon got on board the car without discovery or 
mishap. Besides themselves, there was no one in or about the car but Mr. 
Lewis, General Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, and 
Mr. Franciscus, superintendent of the division over which they were about 
to pass. As Mr. Lincoln's dress on this occasion has been much discussed, 
it may be as well to state that he

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wore a soft, light felt hat, drawn down over his face when it seemed 
necessary or convenient, and a shawl thrown over his shoulders, and pulled 
up to assist in disguising his features when passing to and from the 
carriage. This was all there was of the 'Scotch cap and cloak,' so widely 
celebrated in the political literature of the day.

"At ten o'clock they reached Philadelphia, and were met by the detective 
and one Mr. Kinney, an under official of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and 
Baltimore Railroad. Lewis and Franciscus bade Mr. Lincoln adieu. Mr. 
Lincoln, Colonel Lamon and the detective seated themselves in a carriage 
which stood in waiting, and Mr. Kinney got upon the box with the driver. 
It was a full hour and a half before the Baltimore train was to start, and 
Mr. Kinney found it necessary 'to consume the time by driving northward in 
search of some imaginary person.'

"On the way through Philadelphia, Mr. Lincoln told his companions about 
the message he had received from Mr. Seward. This new discovery was 
infinitely more appalling than the other. Mr. Seward had been informed 
'that about fifteen thousand men were organized to prevent his (Lincoln's) 
passage through Baltimore, and that arrangements were made by these 
parties to blow up the railroad track, fire the train,' etc. In view of 
these unpleasant circumstances, Mr. Seward recommended a change of route. 
Here was a plot big enough to swallow up the little one, which we are to 
regard as the peculiar property of Mr. Felton's detective. Hilliard, 
Ferrandini and Luckett disappear among the 'fifteen thousand,' and their 
maudlin and impotent twaddle about the 'abolition tyrant' looks very 
insignificant beside the bloody massacre, conflagration and explosion now 
foreshadowed.

"As the moment for the departure of the Baltimore train

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drew near, the carriage paused in the dark shadows of the depot building. 
It was not considered prudent to approach the entrance. The spy passed in 
first and was followed by Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lamon. An agent of the 
former directed them to the sleeping-car, which they entered by the rear 
door. Mr. Kinney ran forward and delivered to the conductor the important 
package prepared for the purpose; and in three minutes the train was in 
motion. The tickets for the whole party had been procured beforehand. 
Their berths were ready, but had only been preserved from invasion by the 
statement that they were retained for a sick man and his attendants. The 
business had been managed very adroitly by the female spy, who had 
accompanied her employer from Baltimore to Philadelphia to assist him in 
this, the most delicate and important affair of his life. Mr. Lincoln got 
into his bed immediately, and the curtains were drawn together. When the 
conductor came around, the detective handed him the 'sick man's' ticket, 
and the rest of the party lay down also. None of 'our party appeared to be 
sleepy,' says the detective, 'but we all lay quiet, and nothing of 
importance transpired.' . . . . During the night Mr. Lincoln indulged in a 
joke or two in an undertone; but, with that exception, the two sections 
occupied by them were perfectly silent. The detective said he had men 
stationed at various places along the road to let him know 'if all was 
right,' and he rose and went to the platform occasionally to observe their 
signals, but returned each time with a favorable report.

"At thirty minutes after three the train reached Baltimore. One of the 
spy's assistants came on board and informed him in a whisper that all was 
right. The woman [the female detective] got out of the car. Mr. Lincoln 
lay close in his

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berth, and in a few moments the car was being slowly drawn through the 
quiet streets of the city toward the Washington Depot. There again there 
was another pause, but no sound more alarming than the noise of shifting 
cars and engines. The passengers, tucked away on their narrow shelves, 
dozed on as peacefully as if Mr. Lincoln had never been born. . . .

"In due time the train sped out of the suburbs of Baltimore, and the 
apprehensions of the President and his friends diminished with each 
welcome revolution of the wheels. At six o'clock the dome of the Capitol 
came in sight, and a moment later they rolled into the long, unsightly 
building which forms the Washington Depot. They passed out of the car 
unobstructed, and pushed along with the living stream of men and women 
towards the outer door. One man alone in the great crowd seemed to watch 
Mr. Lincoln with special attention. Standing a little on one side, he 
'looked very sharp at him,' and, as he passed, seized hold of his hand and 
said in a loud tone of voice, 'Abe, you can't play that on me.' The 
detective and Col. Lamon were instantly alarmed. One of them raised his 
fist to strike the stranger; but Mr. Lincoln caught his arm and said, 
'Don't strike him! don't strike him! It is Washburne. Don't you know him?' 
Mr. Seward had given to Mr. Washburne a hint of the information received 
through his son, and Mr. Washburne knew its value as well as another. For 
the present the detective admonished him to keep quiet, and they passed on 
together. Taking a hack, they drove towards Willard's Hotel. Mr. Lincoln, 
Mr. Washburne and the detective got out into the street and approached the 
ladies' entrance, while Col. Lamon drove on to the main entrance, and sent 
the proprietor to meet his distinguished guest at the side door. A few 
minutes later Mr. Seward arrived, and was introduced to the

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company by Mr. Washburne. He spoke in very strong terms of the great 
danger which Mr. Lincoln had so narrowly escaped, and most heartily 
applauded the wisdom of the 'secret passage.' 'I informed Gov. Seward of 
the nature of the information I had,' says the detective, 'and that I had 
no information of any large organization in Baltimore; but the Governor 
reiterated that he had conclusive evidence of this.' . . . .

"That same day Mr. Lincoln's family and suite passed through Baltimore on 
the special train intended for him. They saw no sign of any disposition to 
burn them alive, or to blow them up with gunpowder, but went their way 
unmolested and very happy.

"Mr. Lincoln soon learned to regret the midnight ride. His friends 
reproached him; his enemies taunted him. He was convinced that he had 
committed a grave mistake in yielding to the solicitations of a 
professional spy and of friends too easily alarmed. He saw that he had 
fled from a danger purely imaginary, and felt the shame and mortification 
natural to a brave man under such circumstances. But he was not disposed 
to take all the responsibility to himself, and frequently upbraided the 
writer for having aided and assisted him to demean himself at the very 
moment in all his life when his behavior should have exhibited the utmost 
dignity and composure.

"The news of his surreptitious entry into Washington occasioned much and 
varied comment throughout the country; but important events followed it in 
such rapid succession that its real significance was soon lost sight of; 
enough that Mr. Lincoln was safely at the Capital, and in a few days would 
in all probability assume the power confided to his hands."



Page 138

APPENDIX II.
EXTRACT FROM THE OPINION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
DELIVERED BY CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY IN THE CASE OF DEED SCOTT vs. SANDFORD, 
19 HOW. 407.

"It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in 
relation to that unfortunate race" (the African) "which prevailed in the 
civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the 
Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United 
States was framed and adopted.

"But the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner 
too plain to be mistaken.

"They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an 
inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, 
either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they 
had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro 
might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."



Page 139

APPENDIX III.
THE HABEAS CORPUS CASE EX PARTE JOHN MERRYMAN, CAMPBELL'S REPORTS, P. 
246.--OPINION OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Ex parte JOHN MERRYMAN.
Before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, at 
Chambers.

The application in this case for a writ of habeas corpus is made to me 
under the fourteenth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which renders 
effectual for the citizen the constitutional privilege of the writ of 
habeas corpus. That act gives to the courts of the United States, as well 
as to each justice of the Supreme Court and to every district judge, power 
to grant writs of habeas corpus for the purpose of an inquiry into the 
cause of commitment. The petition was presented to me at Washington, under 
the impression that I would order the prisoner to be brought before me 
there; but as he was confined in Fort McHenry, in the city of Baltimore, 
which is in my circuit, I resolved to hear it in the latter city, as 
obedience to the writ under Such circumstances would not withdraw General 
Cadwallader, who had him in charge, from the limits of his military 
command.

The petition presents the following case:

The petitioner resides in Maryland, in Baltimore County. While peaceably 
in his own house, with his family, it was, at two o'clock on the morning 
of the 25th of May, 1861, entered by an armed force professing to act 
under military orders.

Page 140 

He was then compelled to rise from his bed, taken into custody and 
conveyed to Fort McHenry, where he is imprisoned by the commanding 
officer, without warrant from any lawful authority.

The commander of the fort, General George Cadwallader, by whom he is 
detained in confinement, in his return to the writ, does not deny any of 
the facts alleged in the petition. He states that the prisoner was 
arrested by order of General Keim, of Pennsylvania, and conducted as 
aforesaid to Fort McHenry by his order, and placed in his (General 
Cadwallader's) custody, to be there detained by him as a prisoner.

A copy of the warrant or order under which the prisoner was arrested was 
demanded by his counsel and refused. And it is not alleged in the return 
that any specific act, constituting any offense against the laws of the 
United States, has been charged against him upon oath; but he appears to 
have been arrested upon general charges of treason and rebellion, without 
proof, and without giving the names of the witnesses, or specifying the 
acts which, in the judgment of the military officer, constituted these 
crimes. Having the prisoner thus in custody upon these vague and 
unsupported accusations, he refuses to obey the writ of habeas corpus, 
upon the ground that he is duly authorized by the President to suspend it.

The case, then, is simply this: A military officer, residing in 
Pennsylvania, issues an order to arrest a citizen of Maryland upon vague 
and indefinite charges, without any proof, so far as appears. Under this 
order his house is entered in the night, he is seized as a prisoner and 
conveyed to Fort McHenry, and there kept in close confinement. And when a 
habeas corpus is served on the commanding officer, requiring him to 
produce the prisoner before a justice of the Supreme Court, in order that 
he may examine into the

Page 141 

legality of the imprisonment, the answer of the officer is that he is 
authorized by the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus at his 
discretion, and, in the exercise of that discretion, suspends it in this 
case, and on that ground refuses obedience to the writ.

As the case comes before me, therefore, I understand that the President 
not only claims the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus himself at 
his discretion, but to delegate that discretionary power to a military 
officer, and to leave it to him to determine whether he will or will not 
obey judicial process that may be served upon him.

No official notice has been given to the courts of justice, or to the 
public, by proclamation or otherwise, that the President claimed this 
power, and had exercised it in the manner stated in the return. And I 
certainly listened to it with some surprise; for I had supposed it to be 
one of those points of constitutional law upon which there was no 
difference of opinion, and that it was admitted on all hands that the 
privilege of the writ could not be suspended except by act of Congress.

When the conspiracy of which Aaron Burr was the head became so formidable 
and was so extensively ramified as to justify, in Mr. Jefferson's opinion, 
the suspension of the writ, he claimed on his part no power to suspend it, 
but communicated his opinion to Congress, with all the proofs in his 
possession, in order that Congress might exercise its discretion upon the 
subject, and determine whether the public safety required it. And in the 
debate which took place upon the subject, no one suggested that Mr. 
Jefferson might exercise the power himself, if, in his opinion, the public 
safety demanded it.

Having therefore regarded the question as too plain and too

Page 142 

well settled to be open to dispute, if the commanding officer had stated 
that upon his own responsibility, and in the exercise of his own 
discretion, he refused obedience to the writ, I should have contented 
myself with referring to the clause in the Constitution, and to the 
construction it received from every jurist and statesman of that day, when 
the case of Burr was before them. But being thus officially notified that 
the privilege of the writ has been suspended under the orders and by the 
authority of the President, and believing, as I do, that the President has 
exercised a power which he does not possess under the Constitution, a 
proper respect for the high office he fills requires me to state plainly 
and fully the grounds of my opinion, in order to show that I have not 
ventured to question the legality of his act without a careful and 
deliberate examination of the whole subject.

The clause of the Constitution which authorizes the suspension of the 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is in the ninth section of the 
first article.

This article is devoted to the legislative department of the United 
States, and has not the slightest reference to the Executive Department. 
It begins by providing "that all legislative powers therein granted shall 
be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a 
Senate and House of Representatives"; and after prescribing the manner in 
which these two branches of the legislative department shall be chosen, it 
proceeds to enumerate specifically the legislative powers which it thereby 
grants, and at the conclusion of this specification a clause is inserted 
giving Congress "the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other 
powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, 
or in any department or office thereof."

Page 143 

The power of legislation granted by this latter clause is by its words 
carefully confined to the specific objects before enumerated. But as this 
limitation was unavoidably somewhat indefinite, it was deemed necessary to 
guard more effectually certain great cardinal principles essential to the 
liberty of the citizen, and to the rights and equality of the States, by 
denying to Congress, in express terms, any power of legislation over them. 
It was apprehended, it seems, that such legislation might be attempted 
under the pretext that it was necessary and proper to carry into execution 
the powers granted; and it was determined that there should be no room to 
doubt, where rights of such vital importance were concerned, and 
accordingly this clause is immediately followed by an enumeration of 
certain subjects to which the powers of legislation shall not extend. The 
great importance which the framers of the Constitution attached to the 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus to protect the liberty of the 
citizen, is proved by the fact that its suspension, except in cases of 
invasion or rebellion, is first in the list of prohibited powers--and even 
in these cases the power is denied and its exercise prohibited, unless the 
public safety shall require it. It is true that in the cases mentioned, 
Congress is of necessity the judge of whether the public safety does, or 
does not, require it; and its judgment is conclusive. But the introduction 
of these words is a standing admonition to the legislative body of the 
danger of suspending it, and of the extreme caution they should exercise 
before they give the Government of the United States such power over the 
liberty of a citizen.

It is the second article of the Constitution that provides for the 
organization of the Executive Department, and enumerates the powers 
conferred on it, and prescribes its duties. And if the high power over the 
liberty of the citizen

Page 144 

now claimed was intended to be conferred on the President, it would 
undoubtedly be found in plain words in this article. But there is not a 
word in it that can furnish the slightest ground to justify the exercise 
of the power.

The article begins by declaring that the executive power shall be vested 
in a President of the United States of America, to hold his office during 
the term of four years, and then proceeds to prescribe the mode of 
election, and to specify in precise and plain words the powers delegated 
to him, and the duties imposed upon him. The short term for which he is 
elected, and the narrow limits to which his power is confined, show the 
jealousy and apprehensions of future danger which the framers of the 
Constitution felt in relation to that department of the Government, and 
how carefully they withheld from it many of the powers belonging to the 
Executive Branch of the English Government which were considered as 
dangerous to the liberty of the subject, and conferred (and that in clear 
and specific terms) those powers only which were deemed essential to 
secure the successful operation of the Government.

He is elected, as I have already said, for the brief term of four years, 
and is made personally responsible by impeachment for malfeasance in 
office. He is from necessity and the nature of his duties the Commander-in-
Chief of the Army and Navy, and of the militia when called into actual 
service. But no appropriation for the support of the Army can be made by 
Congress for a longer term than two years, so that it is in the power of 
the succeeding House of Representatives to withhold the appropriation for 
its support, and thus disband it, if, in their judgment, the President 
used or designed to use it for improper purposes. And although the 
militia, when in actual service, is under his

Page 145 

command, yet the appointment of the officers is reserved to the States, as 
a security against the use of the military power for purposes dangerous to 
the liberties of the people or the rights of the States.

So, too, his powers in relation to the civil duties and authority 
necessarily conferred on him are carefully restricted, as well as those 
belonging to his military character. He cannot appoint the ordinary 
officers of Government, nor make a treaty with a foreign nation or Indian 
tribe, without the advice and consent of the Senate, and cannot appoint 
even inferior officers unless he is authorized by an Act of Congress to do 
so. He is not empowered to arrest any one charged with an offense against 
the United States, and whom he may, from the evidence before him, believe 
to be guilty; nor can he authorize any officer, civil or military, to 
exercise this power; for the fifth article of the Amendments to the 
Constitution expressly provides that no person "shall be deprived of life, 
liberty or property without due process of law "--that is, judicial 
process. Even if the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus were suspended 
by Act of Congress, and a party not subject to the rules and articles of 
war were afterwards arrested and imprisoned by regular judicial process, 
he could not be detained in prison or brought to trial before a military 
tribunal; for the article in the Amendments to the Constitution 
immediately following the one above referred to--that is, the sixth 
article provides that "in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall 
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the 
State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which 
district shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be informed 
of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the 
witnesses against him; to have compulsory

Page 146 

process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance 
of counsel for his defense."

The only power, therefore, which the President possesses, where the "life, 
liberty, or property" of a private citizen is concerned, is the power and 
duty prescribed in the third section of the second article, which requires 
"that he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." He is not 
authorized to execute them himself, or through agents or officers, civil 
or military, appointed by himself, but he is to take care that they be 
faithfully carried into execution as they are expounded and adjudged by 
the co-ordinate branch of the Government to which that duty is assigned by 
the Constitution. It is thus made his duty to come in aid of the judicial 
authority, if it shall be resisted by a force too strong to be overcome 
without the assistance of the executive arm. But in exercising this power 
he acts in subordination to judicial authority, assisting it to execute 
its process and enforce its judgments.

With such provisions in the Constitution, expressed in language too clear 
to be misunderstood by any one, I can see no ground whatever for supposing 
that the President, in any emergency or in any state of things, can 
authorize the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or 
the arrest of a citizen, except in aid of the judicial power. He certainly 
does not faithfully execute the laws if he takes upon himself legislative 
power by suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and the judicial power 
also, by arresting and imprisoning a person without due process of law. 
Nor can any argument be drawn from the nature of sovereignty, or the 
necessity of Government for self-defense in times of tumult and danger. 
The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited 
powers. It derives its existence and authority

Page 147 

altogether from the Constitution, and neither of its branches, executive, 
legislative or judicial, can exercise any of the powers of Government 
beyond those specified and granted. For the tenth article of the 
Amendments to the Constitution in express terms provides that "the powers 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by 
it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the 
people."

Indeed, the security against imprisonment by executive authority, provided 
for in the fifth article of the Amendments to the Constitution, which I 
have before quoted, is nothing more than a copy of a like provision in the 
English Constitution, which had been firmly established before the 
Declaration of Independence.

Blackstone states it in the following words:

"To make imprisonment lawful, it must be either by process of law from the 
courts of judicature or by warrant from some legal officer having 
authority to commit to prison" (1 Bl. Com. 137).

The people of the United Colonies, who had themselves lived under its 
protection while they were British subjects, were well aware of the 
necessity of this safeguard for their personal liberty. And no one can 
believe that, in framing a government intended to guard still more 
efficiently the rights and liberties of the citizen against executive 
encroachments and oppression, they would have conferred on the President a 
power which the history of England had proved to be dangerous and 
oppressive in the hands of the Crown, and which the people of England had 
compelled it to surrender after a long and obstinate struggle on the part 
of the English Executive to usurp and retain it.

The right of the subject to the benefit of the writ of habeas

Page 148 

corpus, it must be recollected, was one of the great points in controversy 
during the long struggle in England between arbitrary government and free 
institutions, and must therefore have strongly attracted the attention of 
the statesmen engaged in framing a new, and, as they supposed, a freer 
government than the one which they had thrown off by the Revolution. From 
the earliest history of the common law, if a person were imprisoned, no 
matter by what authority, he had a right to the writ of habeas corpus to 
bring his case before the King's Bench; if no specific offense were 
charged against him in the warrant of commitment, he was entitled to be 
forthwith discharged; and if an offense were charged which was bailable in 
its character, the Court was bound to set him at liberty on bail. The most 
exciting contests between the Crown and the people of England from the 
time of Magna Charta were in relation to the privilege of this writ, and 
they continued until the passage of the statute of 31st Charles II, 
commonly known as the Great Habeas Corpus Act. This statute put an end to 
the struggle, and finally and firmly secured the liberty of the subject 
against the usurpation and oppression of the executive branch of the 
Government. It nevertheless conferred no new right upon the subject, but 
only secured a right already existing. For, although the right could not 
justly be denied, there was often no effectual remedy against its 
violation. Until the statute of 13 William III, the judges held their 
offices at the pleasure of the King, and the influence which he exercised 
over timid, time-serving and partisan judges often induced them, upon some 
pretext or other, to refuse to discharge the party, although entitled by 
law to his discharge, or delayed their decision from time to time, so as 
to prolong the imprisonment of persons who were obnoxious to the King for 
their

Page 149 

political opinions, or had incurred his resentment in any other way.

The great and inestimable value of the habeas corpus act of the 31st 
Charles II. is that it contains provisions which compel courts and judges, 
and all parties concerned, to perform their duties promptly in the manner 
specified in the statute.

A passage in Blackstone's Commentaries, showing the ancient state of the 
law on this subject, and the abuses which were practised through the power 
and influence of the Crown, and a short extract from Hallam's 
"Constitutional History," stating the circumstances which gave rise to the 
passage of this statute, explain briefly, but fully, all that is material 
to this subject.

Blackstone says: "To assert an absolute exemption from imprisonment in all 
eases is inconsistent with every idea of law and political society, and, 
in the end, would destroy all civil liberty by rendering its protection 
impossible.

"But the glory of the English law consists in clearly defining the times, 
the causes and the extent, when, wherefore and to what degree the 
imprisonment of the subject may be lawful. This it is which induces the 
absolute necessity of expressing upon every commitment the reason for 
which it is made, that the court upon a habeas corpus may examine into its 
validity, and, according to the circumstances of the case, may discharge, 
admit to bail, or remand the prisoner.

"And yet, early in the reign of Charles I, the Court of King's Bench, 
relying on some arbitrary precedents (and those, perhaps, misunderstood), 
determined that they would not, upon a habeas corpus, either bail or 
deliver a prisoner, though committed without any cause assigned, in case 
he was committed by the special command of the King, or by the Lords of 
the Privy Council. This drew on a Parliamentary inquiry

Page 150 

and produced the Petition of Right--3 Charles I.--which recites this 
illegal judgment, and enacts that no freeman hereafter shall be so 
imprisoned or detained. But when, in the following year, Mr. Selden and 
others were committed by the Lords of the Council, in pursuance of His 
Majesty's special command, under a general charge of 'notable contempts, 
and stirring up sedition against the King and the Government,' the judges 
delayed for two terms (including also the long vacation) to deliver an 
opinion how far such a charge was bailable. And when at length they agreed 
that it was, they, however, annexed a condition of finding sureties for 
their good behavior, which still protracted their imprisonment, the Chief 
Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde, at the same time declaring that 'if they were 
again remanded for that cause, perhaps the court would not afterwards 
grant a habeas corpus, being already made acquainted with the cause of the 
imprisonment.' But this was heard with indignation and astonishment by 
every lawyer present, according to Mr. Selden's own account of the matter, 
whose resentment was not cooled at the distance of four-and-twenty years" 
(3 Bl. Com. 133, 134).

It is worthy of remark that the offenses charged against the prisoner in 
this case, and relied on as a justification for his arrest and 
imprisonment, in their nature and character, and in the loose and vague 
manner in which they are stated, bear a striking resemblance to those 
assigned in the warrant for the arrest of Mr. Selden. And yet, even at 
that day, the warrant was regarded as such a flagrant violation of the 
rights of the subject, that the delayer the time-serving judges to set him 
at liberty upon the habeas corpus issued in his behalf excited universal 
indignation of the bar. The extract from Hallam's "Constitutional History" 
is equally impressive and equally in point:

Page 151 

"It is a very common mistake, and that not only among foreigners, but many 
from whom some knowledge of our constitutional laws might be expected, to 
suppose that this statute of Charles II. enlarged in a great degree our 
liberties, and forms a sort of epoch in their history. But though a very 
beneficial enactment, and eminently remedial in many eases of illegal 
imprisonment, it introduced no new principle, nor conferred any right upon 
the subject. From the earliest records of the English law, no freeman 
could be detained in prison, except upon a criminal charge, or conviction, 
or for a civil debt. In the former case it was always in his power to 
demand of the Court of King's Bench a writ of habeas corpus ad 
subjiciendum, directed to the person detaining him in custody, by which he 
was enjoined to bring up the body of the prisoner with the warrant of 
commitment, that the court might judge of its sufficiency, and remand the 
party, admit him to bail, or discharge him, according to the nature of the 
charge. This writ issued of right and could not be refused by the court. 
It was not to bestow an immunity from arbitrary imprisonment--which is 
abundantly provided for in Magna Charta (if, indeed, it is not more 
ancient)--that the statute of Charles II. was enacted, but to cut off the 
abuses by which the Government's lust of power, and the servile subtlety 
of the Crown lawyers, had impaired so fundamental a privilege" (3 Hallam's 
"Const. Hist.," 19).

While the value set upon this writ in England has been so great that the 
removal of the abuses which embarrassed its employment has been looked 
upon as almost a new grant of liberty to the subject, it is not to be 
wondered at that the continuance of the writ thus made effective should 
have been the object of the most jealous care. Accordingly, no power

Page 152 

in England short of that of Parliament can suspend or authorize the 
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. I quote again from Blackstone (1 
Bl. Com. 136): "But the happiness of our Constitution is that it is not 
left to the executive power to determine when the danger of the State is 
so great as to render this measure expedient. It is the Parliament only, 
or legislative power, that, whenever it sees proper, can authorize the 
Crown, by suspending the habeas corpus for a short and limited time, to 
imprison suspected persons without giving any reason for so doing." If the 
President of the United States may suspend the writ, then the Constitution 
of the United States has conferred upon him more regal and absolute power 
over the liberty of the citizen than the people of England have thought it 
safe to entrust to the Crown--a power which the Queen of England cannot 
exercise at this day, and which could not have been lawfully exercised by 
the sovereign even in the reign of Charles I.

But I am not left to form my judgment upon this great question from 
analogies between the English Government and our own, or the commentaries 
of English jurists, or the decisions of English courts, although upon this 
subject they are entitled to the highest respect, and are justly regarded 
and received as authoritative by our courts of justice. To guide me to a 
right conclusion, I have the Commentaries on the Constitution of the 
United States of the late Mr. Justice Story, not only one of the most 
eminent jurists of the age, but for a long time one Of the brightest 
ornaments of the Supreme Court of the United States, and also the clear 
and authoritative decision of that court itself, given more than half a 
century since, and conclusively establishing the principles I have above 
stated.

Page 153 

Mr. Justice Story, speaking in his Commentaries of the habeas corpus 
clause in the Constitution, says: "It is obvious that cases of a peculiar 
emergency may arise which may justify, nay, even require, the temporary 
suspension of any right to the writ. But as it has frequently happened in 
foreign countries, and even in England, that the writ has, upon various 
pretexts and occasions, been suspended, whereby persons apprehended upon 
suspicion have suffered a long imprisonment, sometimes from design, and 
sometimes because they were forgotten, the right to suspend it is 
expressly confined to cases of rebellion or invasion, where the public 
safety may require it. A very just and wholesome restraint, which cuts 
down at a blow a fruitful means of oppression, capable of being abused in 
bad times to the worst of purposes. Hitherto no suspension of the writ has 
ever been authorized by Congress since the establishment of the 
Constitution. It would seem, as the power is given to Congress to suspend 
the writ of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion or invasion, that the 
right to judge whether the exigency had arisen must exclusively belong to 
that body" (3 Story's Com. on the Constitution, Section 1836).

And Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court 
in the case of ex parte Bollman and Swartwout, uses this decisive language 
in 4 Cranch 95: "It may be worthy of remark that this Act (speaking of the 
one under which I am proceeding) was passed by the first Congress of the 
United States, sitting under a Constitution which had declared 'that the 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should not be suspended unless 
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety might require 
it.' Acting under the immediate influence of this injunction, they must 
have felt with peculiar force the obligation of providing

Page 154 

efficient means by which this great constitutional privilege should 
receive life and activity; for if the means be not in existence, the 
privilege itself would be lost, although no law for its suspension should 
be enacted. Under the impression of this obligation, they give to all the 
courts the power of awarding writs of habeas corpus."

And again, on page 101: "If at any time the public safety should require 
the suspension of the powers vested by this Act in the courts of the 
United States, it is for the Legislature to say so. That question depends 
on political considerations, on which the Legislature is to decide. Until 
the legislative will be expressed, this court can only see its duty, and 
must obey the laws."

I can acid nothing to these clear and emphatic words of my great 
predecessor. But the documents before me show that the military authority 
in this case has gone far beyond the mere suspension of the privilege of 
the writ of habeas corpus. It has, by force of arms, thrust aside the 
judicial authorities and officers to whom the Constitution has confided 
the power and duty of interpreting and administering the laws, and 
substituted a military government in its place, to be administered and 
executed by military officers. For, at the time these proceedings were had 
against John Merryman, the district judge of Maryland, the commissioner 
appointed under the Act of Congress, the district attorney and the 
marshal, all resided in the city of Baltimore, a few miles only from the 
home of the prisoner. Up to that time there had never been the slightest 
resistance or obstruction to the process of any court or judicial officer 
of the United States in Maryland, except by the military authority. And if 
a military officer, or any other person, had reason to believe that the 
prisoner had committed any offense against the laws

Page 155 

of the United States, it was his duty to give information of the fact, and 
the evidence to support it, to the district attorney; it would then have 
become the duty of that officer to bring the matter before the district 
judge or commissioner, and if there was sufficient legal evidence to 
justify his arrest, the judge or commissioner would have issued his 
warrant to the marshal to arrest him, and upon the hearing of the case 
would have held him to bail, or committed him for trial, according to the 
character of the offense as it appeared in the testimony, or would have 
discharged him immediately, if there was not sufficient evidence to 
support the accusation. There was no danger of any obstruction or 
resistance to the action of the civil authorities, and therefore no reason 
whatever for the interposition of the military. Yet, under these 
circumstances, a military officer stationed in Pennsylvania, without 
giving any information to the district attorney, and without any 
application to the judicial authorities, assumes to himself the judicial 
power in the District of Maryland; undertakes to decide what constitutes 
the crime of treason or rebellion; what evidence (if, indeed, he required 
any) is sufficient to support the accusation and justify the commitment; 
and commits the party without a hearing, even before himself, to close 
custody in a strongly garrisoned fort, to be there held, it would seem, 
during the pleasure of those who committed him.

The Constitution provides, as I have before said, that "no person shall be 
deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." It 
declares that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures 
shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable 
cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly

Page 156 

describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
seized." It provides that the party accused shall be entitled to a speedy 
trial in a court of justice.

These great and fundamental laws, which Congress itself could not suspend, 
have been disregarded and suspended, like the writ of habeas corpus, by a 
military order, supported by force of arms. Such is the case now before 
me, and I can only say that if the authority which the Constitution has 
confided to the judiciary department and judicial officers may thus upon 
any pretext or under any circumstances be usurped by the military power at 
its discretion, the people of the United States are no longer living under 
a government of laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty and property 
at the will and pleasure of the army officer in whose military district he 
may happen to be found.

In such a case my duty was too plain to be mistaken. I have exercised all 
the power which the Constitution and laws confer upon me, but that power 
has been resisted by a force too strong for me to overcome. It is possible 
that the officer who has incurred this grave responsibility may have 
misunderstood his instructions and exceeded the authority intended to be 
given him. I shall therefore order all the proceedings in this case, with 
my opinion, to be filed and recorded in the Circuit Court of the United 
States for the District of Maryland, and direct the clerk to transmit a 
copy, under seal, to the President of the United States. It will then 
remain for that high officer, in fulfilment of his constitutional 
obligation, to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," to 
determine what measures he will take to cause the civil process of the 
United States to be respected and enforced.

R. B. Taney,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.



Page 157

APPENDIX IV.

On the 12th of July, 1861, I sent a message to the First and Second 
Branches of the City Council referring to the events of the 19th of April 
and those which followed. The first paragraph and the concluding 
paragraphs of this document are here inserted:

"The Mayor's Message.

"To the Honorable the Members of the First and Second Branches of the City 
Council.

"Gentlemen:--A great object of the reform movement was to separate 
municipal affairs entirely from national politics, and in accordance with 
this principle I have heretofore, in all my communications to the city 
council, carefully refrained from any allusion to national affairs. I 
shall not now depart from this rule further than is rendered absolutely 
necessary by the unprecedented condition of things at present existing in 
this city.....

"After the board of police had been superseded, and its members arrested 
by the order of General Banks, I proposed, in order to relieve the serious 
complication which had arisen, to proceed, as the only member left free to 
act, to exercise the power of the board as far as an individual member 
could do so. Marshal Kane, while he objected to the propriety of this 
course, was prepared to place his resignation in my hands whenever I 
should request it, and the majority of the board interposed no objection 
to my pursuing such course as I

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might deem it right and proper to adopt in view of the existing 
circumstances, and upon my own responsibility, until the board should be 
enabled to resume the exercise of its functions.

"If this arrangement could have been effected, it would have continued in 
the exercise of their duties the police force which is lawfully enrolled, 
and which has won the confidence and applause of all good citizens by its 
fidelity and impartiality at all times and under all circumstances. But 
the arrangement was not satisfactory to the Federal authorities.

"As the men of the police force, through no fault of theirs, are now 
prevented from discharging their duty, their pay constitutes a legal claim 
on the city from which, in my opinion, it cannot be relieved.

"The force which has been enrolled is in direct violation oft he law of 
the State, and no money can be appropriated by the city for its support 
without incurring the heavy penalties provided by the Act of Assembly.

"Officers in the Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph Department who are 
appointed by the mayor and city council, and not by the board of police, 
have been discharged and others have been substituted in their place.

"I mention these facts with profound sorrow, and with no purpose whatever 
of increasing the difficulties unfortunately existing in this city, but 
because it is your right to be acquainted with the true condition of 
affairs, and because I cannot help entertaining the hope that redress will 
yet be afforded by the authorities of the United States upon a proper 
representation made by you. I am entirely satisfied that the suspicion 
entertained of any meditated hostility on the part of the city authorities 
against the General Government is wholly unfounded, and with the best 
means of knowledge

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express the confident belief and conviction that there is no organization 
of any kind among the people for such a purpose. I have no doubt that the 
officers of the United States have acted on information which they deemed 
reliable, obtained from our own citizens, some of whom may be deluded by 
their fears, while others are actuated by baser motives; but suspicions 
thus derived can, in my judgment, form no sufficient justification for 
what I deem to be grave and alarming violations of the rights of 
individual citizens of the city of Baltimore and of the State of Maryland.

"Very respectfully,
"Geo. Wm. Brown, Mayor."



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APPENDIX V.

As a part of the history of the times, it may not be inappropriate to 
reproduce an account, taken from the Baltimore American of December 5, 
1860, of the reception of the Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, Connecticut, in 
the city of Baltimore. At this time it still seemed to most men of 
moderate views that the impending troubles might be averted through 
concessions and compromise. In the tone of the two speeches, both of which 
were, of course, meant to be friendly and conciliatory, there is a 
difference to be noted which was, I think, characteristic of the attitude 
of the two sections; in the one speech some prominence is given to the 
Constitution and constitutional rights; in the other, loyalty to the Union 
is the theme enforced:

"The Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, Connecticut, under the command of Major 
Horace Goodwin, yesterday afternoon reached here, at four o'clock, by the 
Philadelphia train, en route for a visit to the tomb of Washington. A 
detachment of the Eagle Artillery gave them a national salute.

"The Battalion Baltimore City Guards, consisting of four companies, under 
the command of Major Joseph P. Warner, were drawn up on Broadway, and 
after passing in salute, the column moved by way of Broadway and Baltimore 
and Calvert streets to the old Universalist church-building.

"As soon as the military entered the edifice and were seated, the 
galleries were thrown open to the public, and in a few minutes they were 
crowded to overflowing.

"Captain Parks introduced Major Goodwin to Mayor Brown, who was in turn 
introduced to the commissioned

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officers of the Phalanx. Major Goodwin then turned to his command and 
said: 'Gentlemen of the Phalanx, I have the honor of introducing you to 
the Mayor of the city of Baltimore.' Mayor Brown arose, and after bowing 
to the Battalion, addressed them as follows:

Mayor Brown's Speech.

"'Mr. Commander and Gentlemen:--In the name and on behalf of the people of 
Baltimore, I extend to the Putnam Phalanx a sincere and hearty welcome to 
the hospitalities of our city. The citizens of Baltimore are always glad 
to receive visits from the citizen-soldiers of sister States, because they 
come as friends, and more than friends--as the defenders of a common 
country.

"'These sister States, as we love to call them, live somewhat far apart, 
and gradually become more and more separated by distance, just as sisters 
will be as the children marry and one by one leave the parent homestead.

"'But, gentlemen, far or near, on the Connecticut or Potomac, on the Gulf 
of Mexico or the great lakes, on the Atlantic or Pacific, they are sisters 
still, united by blood and affection, and the holy tie should never be 
severed. (Applause.)

"'Let me carry the figure a step further, and add what I know will meet 
with a response from the Putnam Phalanx, with whose history and high 
character I am somewhat acquainted--that a sisterhood of States, like 
separate families of sisters living in the same neighborhood, can never 
dwell together in peace unless each is permitted to manage her own 
domestic affairs in her own way (applause); not only without active 
interference from the rest, but even without much fault-finding or advice, 
however well intended it may be.

Page 162 

"'Maryland has sometimes been called the Heart State, because she lies 
very close to the great heart of the Union; and she might also be called 
the Heart State because her heart beats with true and warm love for the 
Union. (Loud applause.) Nor, as I trust, does Connecticut fall short of 
her in this respect. And when the questions now before the country come to 
be fairly understood, and the people look into them with their own eyes, 
and take matters into their own hands, I believe that we shall see a sight 
of which politicians, North and South, little dream. (Applause.) We shall 
see whether there is a love for the Union or not.

"'But there are great national questions agitating the land which must now 
be finally settled. One is, Will the States of the North keep on their 
statute-books laws which violate a right of the States of the South, 
guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the United States? No 
individuals, no families, no States, can live in peace together when any 
right of a part is persistently and deliberately violated by the rest. 
Another question is, What shall be done with the national territory? Shall 
it belong exclusively to the North or the South, or shall it be shared by 
both, as it was gained by the blood and treasure of both? Are there not 
wisdom and patriotism enough in the land to settle these questions?

"'Gentlemen, your presence here to-day proves that you are animated by a 
higher and larger sentiment than that of State pride--the sentiment of 
American nationality. The most sacred spot in America is the tomb of 
Washington, and to that shrine you are about to make a pilgrimage. You 
come from a State celebrated above all others for the most extensive 
diffusion of the great blessing of education; which has a colonial and 
Revolutionary history abounding in honorable

Page 163 

memorials; which has heretofore done her full share in founding the 
institutions of this country--the land of Washington--and which can now do 
as much as any other in preserving that land one and undivided, as it was 
left by the Father of his Country. I will not permit myself to doubt that 
your State and our State, that Connecticut and Maryland, will both be on 
the same side, as they have often been in times past, and that they will 
both respect and obey and uphold the sacred Constitution of the country.' 
(Shouts of applause.)

"As soon as the Mayor concluded, Major Goodwin arose; but it was some time 
before he could be heard, such was the tremendous applause with which he 
was greeted. The Major is nearly ninety years of age, and is one of the 
most venerable-looking men in the country. Dressed in the old 
Revolutionary uniform, a fac-simile of that worn by General Putnam, and 
with his locks silvered with age, we may say that his appearance 
electrified the multitude, and shout after shout shook the very building. 
Major Goodwin expressed himself as follows:

"'Mr. Mayor and gentlemen of the Baltimore City Guards, permit me to 
introduce to you our Judge Advocate, Captain Stuart.'

"Captain Stuart arose and spoke as follows:

"Speech of Captain Stuart.

"'Your Honor, Mayor Brown: For your kind words of welcome, and for your 
patriotic sentiments in favor of the Union, the Putnam Phalanx returns you 
its most cordial thanks. I can assure you, sir, that when you spoke in 
such eloquent terms of the value and importance of a united country, you 
but echoed the sentiments of the whole of our

Page 164 

organization; and let me say, it is with great pleasure, upon a journey, 
as we are, to the tomb of the illustrious Washington, that we pause for a 
while within a city so famed for its intelligence, its industry, its 
general opulence and its courtesy, as is this your own beautiful Baltimore.

"'We opine, nay, we know from what you have yourself, in such fitting 
terms, just expressed, that you heartily appreciate the purpose which lies 
at the foundation of our organization, that purpose being the lofty one of 
commemorating, by our military attire and discipline, the imposing 
foundation-period of the American Republic, of attracting our own 
patriotic feeling, and that of all who may honor us with their 
observation, to the exalted virtues of those heroic men who laid the 
foundations of our present national prosperity and glory--men of whom your 
city and State furnished, as it pleasantly happens, a large and most 
honorable share.

"'We come, sir, from that portion of the United States in which the 
momentous struggle for American freedom took its rise, and where the blood 
of its earliest martyrs was shed; from the region where odious writs of 
assistance, infamous Courts of Admiralty, intolerable taxation, immolated 
charters of government and prohibited commerce were once fast paving the 
way for the slavery of our institutions; from the region of a happy and 
God-fearing people--from the region, sir, of Lexington and Concord and 
Bunker Hill and Croton Heights, of ravaged New London and fired Fairfield 
and Norwalk and devastated Danbury and sacked New Haven. And we come, Mr. 
Mayor, to a city and State, we are proudly aware, which to all these 
trials and perils of assaulted New England, and to the trials and perils 
of our whole common country, during "the times that tried men's souls," 
gave ever the meed of its heartfelt sympathy, and the

Page 165 

unstinted tribute of its patriotic blood and treasure; which, with a full 
and clear comprehension of all the great principles of American freedom, 
and a devotion to those principles that was ever ardent and exalted, 
signalized themselves by their wisdom in council and their prowess on the 
field.

"'When the devoted metropolis of New England began to feel the awful 
scourge of the Writ Bill, Maryland it was that then contributed most 
liberal supplies for its suffering people, and with these supplies those 
cheering, ever-to-be-remembered, talismanic words: "The Supreme Director 
of all events will terminate this severe trial of your patriotism in the 
happy confirmation of American freedom."

"'When this same metropolis soon after became the seat of war, Maryland it 
was that at once sent to the camp around Boston her own companies of 
"dauntless riflemen," under her brave Michael Cresap and the gallant 
Price, to mingle in the defense of New England firesides and New England 
homes. She saw and felt, and bravely uttered at the time, the fact that in 
the then existing state of public affairs there was no alternative left 
for her, or for the country at large, but "base submission or manly 
resistance"; and, Mr. Mayor, at the memorable battle of Long Island she 
made this manly resistance, for there she poured out the life-blood of no 
less than two hundred and fifty-nine of her gallant sons, who fought in 
her own Smallwood's immortal regiment; and elsewhere, from the St. 
Lawrence to the banks of the Savannah, through Pennsylvania, Virginia and 
both the Carolinas--devoted the best blood within her borders, and the 
flower of her soldiery, to the battlefields of the Union.

"'Sir, we of this Phalanx recall these and other Revolutionary memories 
belonging to your city and State with pride and satisfaction. They unite 
Connecticut and Maryland in

Page 166 

strong and pleasant bonds. And we are highly gratified to be here in the 
midst of them, and to receive at your hands so grateful a welcome as that 
which you have extended.

"'Be assured, Mr. Mayor, that in the sentiments of devotion to our common 
country which you so eloquently express, this Phalanx sympathizes heart 
and soul. You may plant the flag of the Union anywhere and we shall warm 
to it. And now, renewedly thanking you for the present manifestation of 
courtesy, we shall leave to enjoy the hospitality which awaits us in 
pleasant quarters at our hotel.'

"Captain Stuart was frequently interrupted by applause."



Page 167

APPENDIX VI.

On the 19th of April, 1880, a portion of the members of the Sixth 
Massachusetts Regiment again visited Baltimore, and an account of its 
reception, taken from the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore American, seems 
to be a fitting close to this paper:

"Thirty-nine members of the Association of Survivors of the Sixth 
Massachusetts Union Regiment came to Baltimore yesterday afternoon, to 
celebrate the nineteenth anniversary of their march through Baltimore, 
April 19, 1861, which gave rise to the riot of that day. The visitors were 
met, on landing from the cars at President-street Depot, by Wilson, 
Dushane and Harry Howard Posts, Grand Army of the Republic, in full 
uniform, with hand and drum corps. The line was up Broadway to Baltimore 
street, to Barnum's Hotel. A the of policemen, with Marshals Gray and 
Frey, kept the street open for the parade. The streets were crowded with 
people. The Massachusetts men wore citizen's dress and badges."

Wilson Post No. 1, of the Grand Army of the Republic, received the 
visitors in their hall, Rialto Building, at two o'clock. Commander 
Dukehart, of Wilson Post, welcomed the guests in a brief speech, and then 
introduced Comrade Crowley, of the old Sixth, who said:

"'Nineteen years ago I was but a boy. A few days before the 19th of April, 
the militia of Middlesex County were summoned for the defense of the 
National Capital. We left workshops, desk and family, to come to the 
defense of the capital. We thought we were coming to a picnic; that the

Page 168 

people of South Carolina were a little off their balance, and would be all 
right on sober second thought. A few miles out from Baltimore the 
Quartermaster gave us each ten rounds of ammunition. We had been singing 
songs. The Colonel told us he expected trouble in Baltimore, and impressed 
on each man not to fire until he was compelled to. The singing ceased, and 
we then thought we had serious business before us, and that others besides 
South Carolina had lost their balance. When we reached the Baltimore Depot 
some of the ears had gone ahead, and four companies--young men--were in 
the ears unconscious of what was going on outside. We thought the people 
of Baltimore and Maryland were of the same Government, and if not they 
ought to be. (Cheers and applause.) That they had the same interest in the 
Government, the best ever devised; that Maryland at least was loyal. A man 
knocked on the cardoor and told us they were tearing up the track. Our 
Captain said, "Men, file out!" The order was given and we marched out. The 
Captain said, "March as close as you possibly can. Fire on no man unless 
compelled." We marched through railroad iron, bricks and other missiles. 
We proved ourselves brave soldiers--proved that we could wait, at least, 
for the word of command. We were pelted in Baltimore nineteen years ago. 
We lost some of our comrades, and others were disabled for life. But we 
went to Washington. We don't claim to be the saviors of the capital; we 
take no great credit for what we did; but we did the best we could, and 
the result is shown. The success of our march through Baltimore to-day is 
as indelibly fixed and will ever be as fresh as that of nineteen years 
ago, and our reception will remain in our hearts and minds as long as life 
lasts. My father had six sons, and five were at the front at the same

Page 169 

time. I had learned to think that if Maryland, South Carolina or Virginia 
was to declare independence the Government would be broken up, and that we 
would have no country, no home, no flag. We were not fighting for 
Massachusetts, for Maryland or for Virginia, but for our country--the 
United States (cheers and applause)--remembering the declaration of the 
great statesman, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable." This country went through four years of carnage and blood. 
Few families, North or South, but have mourning at their firesides; but it 
was not in vain, for it has established the fact that we are one people, 
and are an all-powerful people. (Prolonged cheers.) Our reception to-day 
has convinced us that the war has ended, and that there are Union men in 
Maryland as in Massachusetts; that we are brothers, and will be so to the 
end of time; that this is one great country; and that the people are 
marching on in amity and power, second to none on the face of the globe.' 
(Cheers.)

"In the evening there was a banquet at the Eutaw House, and Judge Geo. 
William Brown, who was Mayor of Baltimore in 1861, presided. Nearly two 
hundred persons were at table. After the dinner was over, Judge Brown said:

"'This is the 19th of April, a day memorable in the annals of this city, 
and in the annals of the country. It is filled in my mind with the most 
painful recollections of my life, and I doubt not that many who are here 
present share with me those feelings. I shall make but brief allusions to 
the events of that day. The city authorities of Baltimore of that time 
have mostly passed away, and I believe I am the only one here present to-
night. Injustice to the living and the dead I have to say that the 
authorities of Baltimore faithfully endeavored to do their duty. It is not 
necessary for me, perhaps, to say so in this presence. (Applause.)

Page 170 

It was not their fault that the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment met a bloody 
reception in the streets of Baltimore. The visit of that regiment on both 
occasions has a great and important significance. What did it mean in 
1861? It meant civil war; that the irrepressible conflict which Mr. Seward 
predicted had broken out at last, and that, as Mr. Lincoln said, a house 
divided against itself cannot stand. A great question then presented 
itself to the country. When war virtually began in Baltimore, by bloodshed 
on both sides, it meant that the question must be settled by force whether 
or not the house should stand. It took four years of war, waged with 
indomitable perseverance, to decide it, because the combatants on both 
sides were sustained by deep and honest convictions. It is not surprising, 
looking back coolly and calmly on the feelings of that day, that they 
found vent as they did. I am not here to excuse or to apologize, but to 
acknowledge facts. That was the significance of the first visit of the 
Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, in response to the call of the President of 
the United States. After the war there was peace. But enforced peace is 
not sufficient in a family of States any more than in a household. There 
must be among brothers respect, confidence, mutual help and forbearance, 
and, above everything, justice and right. After nineteen years the visit 
of survivors of the Sixth Massachusetts is, I hope, significant of more 
than peace. It is, I hope, significant of the fact that there is a true 
bond of union between the North and the South (applause), and that we are 
a family of States, all equal, all friends; and if it be, there is no one 
in the country who can more fervently thank God than myself that the old 
house still stands.' (Applause.)

"Judge Brown offered as a toast: 'The Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts: 
Baltimore extends to her fraternal greeting.'"