What If Lincoln Had Ben Assassinated Sooner?

[Neo-Confederate]

if Jefferson Davis and other members of the Confederate government had ordered Lincoln's assassination sooner before it was too late to make a difference what do you think would've happened? would the north's new president have been more willing to grant the South its independence? it would certainly have greatly lowered morale. i think this would've been a great strategy and i've always wondered why it wasn't done until it was too late to make a difference.

[blue_zouave]

On the other hand, why didn't Lincoln and other members of the Federal government order Davis's assassination?

Besides that fact that it was extremely bad form.

Zou

[Neo-Confederate]

Lincoln and Stanton did order the assassination of Davis and his cabinet. ever heard of the Dahlgren Raid? the only difference is that Lincoln's plan didn't work and Davis's did, although by April 1865 it was too late to make a difference. but it'd be interesting to see what would've happened if the plan had been implemented earlier. bad form or not, assasssinating Lincoln was a great strategy that the Confederacy did not take advantage of until late.

[blue_zouave]

OK, I'll give there, but I still wonder why you think Hannibal Hamlin would have been softer on the rebels than Lincoln was.

Zou

[unionblue]

Neoconfederate,

Could you please give some background on the idea, a source, book or web site that would confirm your theory that Lincoln and his cabinet ordered the assassination of Davis and his cabinet? This is a new one for me.

Unionblue

[8thvacav]

http://www.mdgorman.com/Written%20Ac...nel_351864.htm
maybe this what he is talking about.
Martin

[unionblue]

8thvacav,

I was aware of the discovery of such papers during the raid, but the part where Lincoln and the cabinet ordered the death of Davis and his cabinet are where?

I did do some checking on the inter net about the raid and found the following sites:

http://www.answers.com/topic/dahlgren-affair

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-.../1339177/posts

While there does seem to be some contention that perhaps Col. Dahlgren or Gen. Kilpatrick may have wanted to have burned Richmond and kill Davis and his cabinet, the issue is in some doubt. I did find it interesting that Sec. of War Stanton destroyed Dahlgren's papers thus forever destroying any hard evidence. But my contention is Lincoln and the Federal government do not seem to have had such a plan to kill Davis and company. Enjoy the articles.

As to the original question of this thread, I am pretty certain that without Lincoln, there is a good chance that the South would have established their own country. It seems only Lincoln, or perhaps Stanton, had the will to stay the course, as it were, and finish the war with a restored Union.

Unionblue

[Neo-Confederate]

i think the link 8thvacav provided says it as good as any. the papers found on Dahlgren's body prove that he was sent there to kill Davis and his cabinet, there is no way he'd have made that decision on his own. Stanton destroying the evidence just proves how deeply he himself was involved in the plan.

i agree with unionblue, if Lincoln had been killed sooner noone else would've been as determined as he was. but why do yall think that Davis waited so long to have Lincoln assassinated? he had been advised to do so as early as 1862 but never acted on the plan until it was too late, although i do believe that Davis, Judah Benjamin, and the Confederate Secret Service were behind Lincoln's assassination in 1865. the question is why did they wait so long to act on what was obviously a brilliant opportunity to win the war.

[unionblue]

Neoconfederate,

I think the link provided is just as speculative as the two I have provided. The one link I provided (the second one) makes the case the General 'the beast' Butler had already seen Lincoln and members of the cabinet with a plan to raid Richmond and capture Davis and the Confederate cabinet, but still held to the idea that killing Davis and company was despicable and not war, but murder. At least this is considered the general view of killing heads of state in the 19th century, it was just not to be done.

While I agree that perhaps, and I am really grasping here, Stanton may have been involved, and I won't totally buy into that without more proven evidence, I am of the same belief of General Meade, that Gen. Kilpatrick and Col. Dahlgren for certain had planned to kill Davis and members of his cabinet, if the raid had succeded in getting through the Richmond defenses.

I am also of the opinion that there was a plan, or series of plans, to try and kidnap President Lincoln, but whether Davis ordered it or knew of it, I cannot be sure of, mainly because there is still no real evidence. But as for the idea the Confederate government or Secret Service advocated the assassination of President Lincoln, I don't buy it. Southern honor, sense of fair play and 19th century morals seems to go against the whole thing and Davis being the man he was would never go along with such an idea.

Unionblue

[samgrant]

Maybe depends on how much sooner. If before he was inauguated? well the whole thing would have been completely different. After that? I think as the war went on, the ordinary soldiers became more and more fond of 'Old Abe' and would have avenged this to the death, tho the generals would may have been less determined.

As for Dahlgren and Kilpatrick, they both were notoriously self-acclaiming loose cannons, and it is most logical to accept that this 'plot to assasinate Davis' was a one-up on their account, and their orders to their own troops were not likely aproved from above.