In April 1865, John Wilkes Booth shocked the fragile Union when he leaped onto the stage at Ford's Theatre and shot Abraham Lincoln. Less well known is the plot to assassinate Lincoln even before his inauguration as president, which Daniel Stashower recounts in The Hour of Peril. In February 1861, as Lincoln traveled from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, D.C., on a special train, a group of Baltimore secessionists devised an elaborate scheme to murder him as he passed through their city.
Allan Pinkerton, founder of the detective agency that bore his name, was originally hired to help protect the railroads during Lincoln's inaugural tour. When Pinkerton and his agents (including Kate Warne, the first female American private eye) arrived in Baltimore, they heard rumors of a murder conspiracy. For two tense weeks, the agents used any means necessary--including bribery, alcohol and coded telegraph messages--to ensure the president-elect's safe passage to Washington.
Stashower (The Beautiful Cigar Girl) builds his tale slowly, beginning with Pinkerton's origins in Scotland and his early career as a cooper. He emphasizes the volatile political climate in a nation on the brink of fracture, and showcases the bravery of Pinkerton's undercover agents and the growing strain on Lincoln's inner circle of advisers and bodyguards. Extracts from contemporary letters, memoirs and newspapers provide fascinating context.
Although readers know the end of this story (and its sad coda four years later), Stashower's expertly plotted recounting of Lincoln's journey will keep readers spellbound to the last page. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams