But you will not abide the election of a Republican president! In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”

—Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Speech, 1860

Prior to the election of 1860, politicians in the Deep South warned that if Abraham Lincoln prevailed, they would take it as a declaration of war. His name is kept off the ballot in every Southern state but Virginia. And yet, due to a dysfunctional and divided Democratic Party, on November 6th, Lincoln is elected.

Seven states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—immediately secede and Jefferson Davis is named president of the Confederacy. This all happens so quickly that Davis’ inauguration precedes Lincoln’s by two weeks.

Lincoln’s route to the capital starts in Springfield and goes through Baltimore, where he’s expected to make a few remarks between trains. But Allan Pinkerton, charged with his security, hears of a plot to assassinate him there. Much of Pinkerton’s information comes from Kate Warne, a member of a new unit of female detectives, specially formed to gather intel through “methods unavailable to men.”

There is much disagreement on the way to handle this threat. Finally, Pinkerton persuades Lincoln to pass through Baltimore secretly on an earlier train and to do so in disguise. It’s a decision Lincoln will quickly regret. Caricatures and newspaper columns make a mockery of his costume and his cowardice—his enemies never forget how he sneaked into Washington. Evidence of the assassination plot seems suddenly thin. All this may partly explain why Lincoln was so often careless about the possibility of assassination later.

On April 12th, 1861, the South Carolina militia takes Fort Sumter and the war begins. The first battle is essentially bloodless. Following Lincoln’s call for volunteers, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee also secede.

The killing starts in Baltimore. Although Maryland does not secede, pro-secessionist sentiment is strong there. So is pro-Union sentiment. The city is a powder keg.

On April 19th soldiers from Massachusetts are on their way to Washington to answer Lincoln’s appeal. Like Lincoln before them, they must pass through and change trains in Baltimore. They are met by a well-heeled mob; not the Plug Uglies and Blood Tubs, these are men of property and standing. Four soldiers are killed—two of them shot, one beaten to death, and one hit by the storm of stones thrown his way. Twelve rioters also die.

The governor decides that the best way to keep the peace is to prevent Lincoln from routing more troops through Maryland. He orders the railroad bridges to the north and northeast burned, an aggressive move that cuts the capital off.