What If Lincoln Had Ben Assassinated Sooner?

[Neo-Confederate]

unionblue, i agree that in 1861 Davis was probably not willing to order Lincoln's assassination for the reasons that you stated. hovever, by late 1864 i think Davis would have done absolutely anything he thought necessary to win the war.

[blue_zouave]

Neo, I'm still interested to know why you think that Lincoln's vice-president (Hamlin or Johnson) would have been any more of a peacenick than Lincoln was. You're also dealing with a congress here... so why didn't Davis send a LOT of guys to kill all the congressmen? This was the same congress that impeached Johnson because they thought that Reconstruction was too easy on the South. Even better, why not send a WHOLE BUNCH of guys North with fake papers to vote in the 1864 election?

There was maybe one thing Davis might have done in late 1864 that MIGHT have prolonged the unwinnable war. Cleburne had been roundly trounced for suggesting this move. But the war was won or lost in '63, with an extremely long denoument.

But hey, what do Zouaves know except fighting and partying??

Zou

[unionblue]

Neoconfederate,

I still find it highly unlikely that Jefferson Davis would have ordered the murder of President Lincoln, even at the late date of 1864.

But I would very much like to know what you base this view on and what evidence you can direct me to. I admit, I am basing my own views on my reading the papers of Jefferson Davis and a very recent History Channel program and a new book that states Davis would not condone such an act because it was not honorable.

Please, if you would, tell me your reasoning for such an act to be possible for Davis.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
PS Zou, I tend to go along with your idea that if Lincoln had been killed earlier in the war and it could be traced back to Confederate sources, no power on earth could have deflected Hamlin, congress or the Northern people from continuing the war until the defeat of the Confederacy.

[ewc]

I'm sorry, I can't buy the contention that either president considered seriously or ordered an assassination attempt of his counterpart. As to secret societies and spy orgs on each side doing so is a bit different from an executive order, or even a plan extending to the highest official on either side. On their own, or within a small group of conspirators, it is possible that Dahlgren and Kilpatrick may have undertaken some such venture. But it reaching to Lincoln himself?? It beggars comprehension. If anything, Lincoln would want Davis and high functionaries captured, or better yet, as he told Sherman at City Point, that they would fly the coop. Likewise, remember that Booth's plan had been to kidnap Lincoln and get him South for purposes of bargaining a peace. His plan turned to assassination as the South's position deteriorated to the point of dissolution. Furthermore, i do not believe that President Davis ever contenanced any idea of assassination. His whole being was wrapped up in the ideal of the Confederacy as a full member of the family of nations of the world, and he acted or never failed in the effort to act at all times with the dignity of a leader worthy of such status. Anyway, that's how I see it.

[ewc]

As to whether Lincoln had been assassinated earlier in the war, it depends somewhat how early. Lincoln was the mover and driver of the Union's drive to win the war. Without him, the Union's effort is seriously compomised. That said, I do not think his loss would mean an end to the war nor an ultimate Union defeat. The firing on Ft Sumter galvanized the North at its beginning. I see the wanton killing of the north's leader as having a similar effect, and unifying the country in wanting to prosecute this war against such a villainous enemy all the harder. Hamlin was a hard core man, the Radical Republicans would then have been the men in the driver's seat. If anything, Lincoln was a brake on this section of the North. Without the brake, these men are likely to have pushed to the very last ounce of strength. (And the Union's strength was very great indeed.) Look at the havoc they wreaked in the post-war reconstruction of the nation once Lincoln's brake on them had been removed under these same circimstances.