'Lincoln: A President's First Dark Hour' A New Book Being Penned by Civil War Novelist, Emily Hill

Aug. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Originally I set out to write a second novel which would center on ‘The Baltimore Plot’, to follow my debut novel, ‘Jenkins: Confederate Blockade Runner’.  

Visit http://www.amazon.com/JENKINS-Confederate-Blockade-Emily-Hill/dp/0982971354/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312725839&sr=1-1 for details.  

It was my intention to solicit Civil War enthusiasts to review the novel providing me with feedback on my storyline.  About that time a young Maryland re-enactor, Ryan Brown, challenged me with a statement that went something like, There was no Baltimore Plot – there were only allegations and suspicions of a plot.  Indeed he was correct.  A jury of peers had found the charged ‘conspirators’ innocent of a plot against Lincoln on the eve of his presidency.  Not wanting to write a novel, the premise of which could so easily be refuted, I set out to discover for myself how close Baltimoreans had actually come to plotting an assassination of Abraham Lincoln prior to the loss of over 600,000 Americans during the Civil War.  What I discovered was ‘A President’s First Dark Hour’.

My intention is to explore the rumors, allegations, and facts surrounding a threat which captivated the Nation’s imagination in the period just preceding Lincoln’s inauguration.  The threat – and/or fear of a threat – caused a chain reaction of activity, resulted in newspaper coverage and Op-ed pieces that were scathing toward Lincoln and called into question his manhood.  This during the age of chivalry.  The specter of The Baltimore Plot resulted in a Pinkerton investigation, secret scuttling, and the imprisonment of a hysterical Mary Todd Lincoln who was locked in her bedroom at the time the 16th President embarked on his benign trip to the nation’s capital.  

Baltimore, and one of its Confederate citizens, indeed ultimately became Lincoln’s albatross.  But, was that a result of, or in reaction to, Lincoln’s unconstitutional acts against Baltimore – and Maryland – and the Nation?  

There is a prevailing notion during this Sesquicentennial of the Civil War that to be Anti-Lincoln (either a Confederate or a Peace Democrat) is to be a lynching, racist bigot.  If you truly possess ‘Malice Toward None’ you may want to hear me out on why that might not be the case.  To understand why there were more than two camps of thinking leading up to, and following, the electoral vote that overturned the popular mandate of keeping Lincoln out of the White House a broader perspective on the state of the nation in the days and weeks following the election of 1860 is necessary.  Yes, Lincoln was not voted into office by even close to a majority of Americans – but he validly garnered the votes of the Electoral College which met in the days following the race between himself, Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell.  

Amidst allegations of ballot box rigging and vote tampering Lincoln took office with 60% of the nation’s voting populous against him.  Why might that have been and how did the weeks which followed Lincoln’s sweep into office become his darkest hour?  Follow my blog and watch as I reconstruct the pieces of history that give perspective to – not racists and bigots, but Peace Democrats and Constitutional Loyalists.

Visit http://www.emilyhillwriter.com for details over the coming months and subscribe to this author's blog.

# # #

A.V. Harrison Publishing features ground-breaking topics from emerging authors. Its books are distributed by Ingram, available on Amazon.com and B&N Nook. Owner, Emily Hill, invites submissions and can be contacted at info@avharrison-publishing.com.