Lincoln's Big What-If

I thought I knew most everything about Abraham Lincoln, but I was wrong.

Most of us view Lincoln — our 16th president — as one of the greatest — if not THE greatest — president of America.

Apologies to our OTHER greatest president, George Washington, as the military leader of the Revolutionary War that gave us our nation and who became the first president thereof.

If the U.S. were to vote, the result would likely be something near a tie for which president we all would like to see in the White House today.

But I saw a movie the other night called “The Tall Target,” about president-elect Lincoln’s train ride to Washington, D.C. in February 1861. He was set to be sworn in a few weeks later, and a few weeks after that the Civil War erupted with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.

(Check out the movie on YouTube: Made in 1951, it featured a fictional policeman named John Kennedy who was on the train trying to protect the new president -- kind of weird and very IRONIC.

Lincoln’s train was scheduled to arrive in Baltimore, Maryland for an address to a waiting crowd of supporters — his last stop before arriving in Washington, D.C.

But intense hatred of Lincoln by the South and especially in Baltimore caused his security attachment — led by Alan Pinkerton (later of Pinkerton Detective Agency fame) — to have Lincoln secretly get off the train and into a nondescript horse-drawn carriage before the Baltimore stop and get back onto the train after it departed.

The historical record is a bit hazy as to how or even if this actually happened. But the South and Lincoln’s Northern opponents seized on the account and accused him of cowardice. — a charge that reportedly bothered Lincoln for the remainder of his life.

Lincoln, although a man of profoundly peaceful impulses, was no coward. His inner strength kept this nation from falling apart during the Civil War and resulted in the freeing of the slaves in 1863 — an action bitterly opposed by the South and even by many in the North.

His final act of bravery was in going to Ford’s Theatre in April 1865 — shortly after the war ended when Southern hate for Lincoln was likely highest — and being assassinated by Maryland-born Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Boothe.

That action resulted in Vice President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee — who at one time owned 14 slaves — to take over as president and clumsily attempt to bring the nation back together. Johnson opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment and was defeated when he ran for president in 1869.

But Lincoln’s alleged Baltimore evasion on his way to the White House raises several huge questions: What if he HAD been assassinated on the way to being sworn in? Could the Civil War have been avoided? Would the slaves have been freed when they were? And would we be living in TWO un-united nations today?

I guess it’s all just speculation at this point.

Because Lincoln DID survive his journey to D.C., and the Not-So-Civil War had to be fought to finally settle the question of slavery, which Lincoln did with the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. And the nation was not forever ripped apart but slowly became stronger and more united as the years unfolded after Abe’s murder.

There are so many potential “What-Ifs” we could toy with when it comes to history going a different way. “What if Columbus’s ship went down in a storm before reaching the Western Hemisphere?” “What if the Germans turned back the D-Day invasion?” “What if JFK had not been assassinated?” Etc., etc.

All I can say is, while some of the above might be interesting movie ideas, we must stick to reality — harsh as it can often be. And when it comes to Abe Lincoln being a little extra cautious on his way to his — and our —destiny, I’m just glad he was.