Lincoln's Personal Spy... William A. Lloyd

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I found this interesting book about an event in the Civil war that carries over into today. William A. Llyod went to Washington demanding that he worked for Lincoln as a spy and claim to collect monies owed to him. He claimed he was to personally report to President Lincoln of his finding. His claims would lead to a court case that changed the rules of espionage... Some claim he was a fraud... To this day few have ever heard of William A. Lloyd...


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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1493008102/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Book preview;

A month after Lincoln’s assassination, William Alvin Lloyd arrived in Washington, DC, to press a claim against the federal government for money due him for serving as the president’s spy in the Confederacy. Lloyd claimed that Lincoln personally had issued papers of transit for him to cross into the South, a salary of $200 a month, and a secret commission as Lincoln’s own top-secret spy. The claim convinced Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt—but was it true?

For many years Lloyd had been hawking his Southern Steamboat and Railroad Guide throughout Dixie, and it was this thorough familiarity with the South and its people—and their familiarity with him—that would have given him a good cover when the time came. In July, 1861, and now desperate for cash, Lloyd crossed enemy lines to collect debts owed by advertising clients in the South.
After just a few days in the Confederacy, officials jailed Lloyd for bigamy, not for being a Yankee spy as he later claimed. After bribing his way out, he crisscrossed the Southern states, trying to collect enough money to stay alive.

Between riding the rails he found time to marry plenty of unsuspecting young women only to ditch them a few days later. His behavior drew the attention of Confederate authorities, who nabbed him in Savannah and charged him as a suspected spy. But after nine months, they couldn’t find any incriminating evidence or anyone to testify against him, so they let him go. A free but broken man, Lloyd continued roaming the South, making money however he could. In May 1865, he went to Washington with an extraordinary claim and little else: a few coached witnesses, and a pass to cross the lines signed “A. Lincoln” (the most forged signature in American history), and his own testimony.

So was he really Lincoln’s secret agent or nothing more than a con man? And was Totten vs. United States—inspired by Lloyd's claim and which set precedent for espionage law based on a monumental fraud? Find out in this completely irresistible and wholly original work.

William A. Llyod sounds like one of those remarkable people during the war...
 
Here is a site favoring Lloyds claims...

http://www.civilwarhome.com/lloydbio.htm

Snippets...

One of the most secrets of the Civil War secret agents was in fact generally unknown until his case for non-payment of salary arrived at the United States Supreme Court. The defendant in the case was none other than the United States Government, in the person of Abraham Lincoln. It seems that even presidents in the time of the Civil War had their own secret service--and William Alvin Lloyd served that purpose for President Lincoln from July 1861 until the end of the war. His services in the Union cause were apparently unknown even to President Lincolns closest advisers!

Snippet...

With the signed contract in hand, Mr. Lloyd departed for the Confederacy on 13 July 1861. He remained in the Confederacy for four years, both on his own business and that of the President. During this entire time he was assisted in his spying endeavors by his employee, Mr. Boyd. The efforts of the two men to collect intelligence are impressive but their problem was getting the data to President Lincoln in a timely manner. By their contract the information had to go directly to President Lincoln and no one else. They even resorted to sending letters to Boyd's family and then his brother would take them personally to the White House for delivery to President Lincoln.
The information that Lloyd and his associate sent to Lincoln was not shared by the President with his military commanders. It appears he used it in a quality check on his commanders


Snippet...

After one of the deliveries made personally to the President by Boyd, Lincoln was so impressed with the information and his efforts to deliver it that he provided him with $100 a month salary.
Lloyds time in the Confederacy included four separate prison incarcerations. Once when taken in for questioning by the Confederacy, Mr. Lloyd destroyed the signed contract that he had with Lincoln. He had been carrying it in his hat and felt, rightly so, that it would be incriminating evidence. He saved his life but the destroying of the contract lead to a Supreme Court decision denying his case years after his death in 1868.
After the assassination of President Lincoln and the cessation of hostilities, Mr. Lloyd returned to Washington and presented his bill to the United States government. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton did in fact pay his expenses--a total of $2,380 (which could indicate that he was aware of Lloyds activities)--but he refused to pay any salary (a total of $9,753.32) as he had no evidence of the contract between President Lincoln and Mr. Lloyd. The assassination had taken away the only other person who knew of the contract. Hence a major dilemma existed for Mr. Lloyd. He had conscientiously performed his duties in good faith and felt that President Lincolns side of the contract should also be executed in good faith. The problem was the lack of evidence to prove his point.
After his death, the administrator of his estate, Enoch Totten, sued the United States government for non-payment of salary of $200 per month ($9,753.32) as promised by Mr. Lincoln in the signed contract that had been destroyed. The case was accepted for review by the Supreme Court, and the final decision was handed down in 1876.


You can read the ending when you click on the link;;;;
 
If it was a con it seemed to work.... from wiki...

At the end of the war, in May 1865, Lloyd and his wife and child, returned to Washington. Following the assassination of Lincoln, Lloyd submitted bills for his expenses to the government. President Grant, per his papers, on May 27, 1865, endorsed reimbursement to Mr. W. Alvin Loyd and forwarded the action to the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, who in turn handed it to Judge Advocate Joseph Holt's office for examination. Lloyd and Enoch Totten, his attorney and now the architect of the claim, created bogus evidence including the wording of the contract Lloyd made with Lincoln and summoned witnesses to falsely depose in the case.[6] Despite the dubious evidence, Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton issued a reimbursement for his expenses totaling $2,380. However, Stanton refused to pay Lloyd his $200 a month stipend, which would have totaled $9,753.32 at the end of the war.[1] The payment was refused because there was no remaining copy of Lloyd's contract with President Lincoln. In spite of what might be considered unreliable information and little proof, Lloyd ultimately received $3,427.20 in gold and walked away, to pursue a variety of careers before dying on March 17, 1869.[1]

From Wiki... He did meet with President Lincoln...

On July 13, 1861, William Alvin Lloyd, in desperate need of money, came to President Abraham Lincoln to request a passport to allow him travel into the Confederate States of America.[2] The passport would allow Lloyd to do research for his guide books on railroad and steam boat transportation; it allowed him to visit the South so that he could collect advertising revenues that were owed him by Southern businessmen. According to Lloyd, Lincoln agreed to issue him the passport as part of a deal that only the two of them would ever know about, on the condition that he would act as Lincoln's personal secret agent. Lloyd claimed that Lincoln promised him a salary of $200 a month for his services. Lincoln issued passports for Lloyd, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Bonfanti, Mrs. Boyd, and her maid in July 1861.[1] When receiving his passport, Lloyd stated that he signed a contract with Lincoln stipulating:

  • He would report on the number of troops at specific points.[3]
  • He would procure the plans of the Confederacy forts and other battle structures.[3]
  • He would receive no codes or ciphers to use in his messages.[3]
  • He was to report to President Lincoln only.[4]
  • He would be paid a $200 monthly stipend, and be compensated for expenses.[3]
 
Here is a radio interview with Jane Singer about the book...

https://www.spreaker.com/user/historyauthor/jane-singer-lincolns-secret-spy_1

- "What is worse? A confederate con man claiming he was Lincoln's spy throughout the Civil War, or the Union veteran who pursed his claim all the way to the Supreme Court?" That's the central question of Jane Singer's book, Lincoln's Secret Spy: The Civil War Case that Changed the Future of Espionage. In it, she introduces us to William Alvin Lloyd. Con man, bigamist, charlatan, Lloyd hobbled out of the defeated Confederacy and into the capital of the newly re-United States with a claim that made people listen: The government owed him money for serving as Abraham Lincoln's covert operative.
 
Lloyd's lawyer, Enoch Totten had a heck of a fighting record during the war...

https://www.the-daily-record.com/article/20080627/NEWS/306279566

WOOSTER, Ohio-- Among the city’s most celebrated combatants in the Civil War was Maj. Enoch Totten, who was born in Wooster in 1836.

Totten was educated at Franklin College in Harrison County, after which he moved to Wisconsin and began studying law with Judge Joseph Hawkins of Waukesha. After the conclusion of his elementary legal studies, he began the practice of law in Milwaukee, continuing until the outbreak of the war.

Enlisting in the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment of Infantry on April 23, 1861, he was commissioned a lieutenant the following month. He entered the Peninsular Campaign as a captain and fought in the battles of Williamsburg, Garnet Hill, Malvern Hill, the “Seven Days Battle,” second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Rappahannock, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and others.

In the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, Totten was wounded in the foot and his horse was shot. Nevertheless, Totten fought on and his regiment went on to capture a stand of colors and 266 Confederate prisoners -- more than the strength of the actual Fifth Wisconsin.

At Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864, he was shot four times, including having a minie-ball pass through his right hand.

Totten was at the head of a regiment, and while waving his sword to lead a charge on Confederate earthworks in the darkness, a bullet struck the sword and wrenched it from his grasp, the ricochet sending the projectile through his hand. Being a very painful wound and making it impossible for him to continue as a soldier, Totten retired from the field and returned to Wooster to convalesce at his parents’ home.

Maj. General Upton of the U.S. Army urged the promotion of Totten to a brigadiership, assuring Gen. Schofield of his cool courage and gallantry and calling attention to the fact that Totten’s services had not been properly rewarded.

After his health returned, Totten moved permanently to Washington, D.C., to resume his legal practice. On Oct. 4, 1867, he married Mary E. Howe, the daughter of a U.S. senator from Wisconsin.

Source: Douglass History of Wayne County.

Here some info on his wife. He married well... https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Totten-457

Enoch Totten was born in Ohio, but moved to Wisconsin early in his career. He served with the 5th Wisconsin Regiment of Infantry in the Civil War, rising from Lieutenant to Colonel, and lost a hand in the 1st Manassas Battle of Bull Run. He married Mary Eliza Howe on 4 Oct 1867, daughter of Senator Timothy Otis Howe and heir to the fortune of sewing machine inventor Elias Howe. He moved to Washington, DC, and argued cases before the Supreme Court and testified in Congress. [1][2] They built a house in Boyds, Maryland name "Winderbourne," with unique architecture. The inheritance from Elias Howe helped finance the building, and the name referred to the winder (bobbin) that Elias Howe invented for the sewing machine.[3]
 
Enoch Totten house is now abandoned and run down... It's Haunted...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...a5aed7958dc_story.html?utm_term=.1c894e8223b7

http://definition.org/strange-fascinating-history-abandoned-mansion-gave-goosebumps/

The house sits on a 9.3-acre property surrounded by the sparkling waters of Lake Seneca in Boyds, Maryland. The house is known to the community as the famous Winderbourne Mansion — which has a fascinating history of wealth, parties, and a few horror stories.
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It was built in 1884 by a couple named Enoch and Mary Totten. Mr. Totten was a well-known, successful lawyer who was also a Civil War veteran. The couple wanted a second home away from the hustle and bustle of Washington and Lake Seneca was their chosen spot to build. Its name came from an invention of Mary’s cousin for which he was quite famous: the bobbin winder. Thus, Winder-bourne.

It was said that the house was painted pink with a deep red color for the trim. It was staffed all year long, though the family didn’t live there all the time. Several exotic, unusual plants decorated the lawn surrounding the home. Large, formal parties were held there often.
The horror at Winderbourne s
tarted with all three of the Tottens’ children getting typhoid fever, supposedly from drinking contaminated water at the mansion. Sadly, one child passed away. As the years passed, Edith Totten, one of the surviving children, grew up and adopted a daughter of her own. It was said that the little girl slid down a long banister at the home, flew off, and was killed. Shortly after, Edith herself passed away.


The price tag???

The really frightening thing about this run-down Boyd, Md. estate is the price tag, a whopping $1.25M. The 12-room Victorian mansion on this 9.3-acre property has a sagging porch, dusty attic, missing shutters, and 5,000-square-feet in need of restoration. Back in its heyday, Winderbourne was the home of a Civil War colonel and his sewing machine heiress wife, but today this potential money pit is banking on convenient access to Washington, D.C. thanks to a nearby train station.

https://www.curbed.com/2011/10/28/10429598/americas-spookiest-old-houses
 
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