David Healey - Rebel Train

“I propose doing something of the same sort, Colonel Percy. And I need your help.”

Percy eyed Norris suspiciously. “What is this place?” he asked. “Who are you?”

Norris waved the cigar in his hand as he spoke. “Officially, this place is the Signal Bureau. In reality, it’s headquarters for the Confederate Secret Service. The war is fought in many ways, Colonel Percy. Not just on the battlefield. There are spies, of course. Subtle acts of allowing misleading information to fall into enemy hands.”

“And you’re the commander of this army of spies?” Percy asked. “I take it that you also arrange train raids?”

“Just this one, so far.”

Percy shook his head. “Well, I’m not interested.”

He stood, ready to take his leave. Norris did not appear the least bit perturbed. “Thank you for the cigar, sir. But you’ll have to steal this train without me.”

“At least hear me out, Colonel.”

“Sorry.” Percy stood up and turned to go.

Behind him, he heard Norris sigh. “I had really hoped you might agree to do this great service for our new nation and the Cause for which we all fight. If you walk out, Colonel, I’ll have Captain Fletcher arrest you. I’m sure it would give him a certain amount of pleasure.”

“Arrest me for what?” Percy glared down at the man behind the desk. Even as he said it, Percy had a nagging suspicion that Norris was capable of many things, hidden away in this old building like a spider in a web.

“Espionage, perhaps? Being a traitor to the Confederacy? Certain letters will be found in your possession…”

“I don’t have any letters!”

“But you will, Colonel.” Norris spoke cheerfully. “Don’t you see? Unfortunately, I’m afraid the penalty for spying is rather severe. It involves rope and scaffolding.”

Norris smiled, and for the first time, Percy realized what a cold and deliberate man sat before him. He also felt uneasy, because he sensed that the threat was within Norris’s power to carry out.

“I don’t think you’ll find much support if you are arrested,” Norris went on. “You do have an excellent war record, but I believe your recent affair with the general’s wife has won you more enemies than friends here in Richmond.”

Defeated, Percy sank back into his chair. He was no coward, but he felt helpless in the face of this kind of threat. He also knew that when a man had you on a leash like a dog, it was best to go along until you found the best time to bite him.

“Maybe I’d rather be hanged than go on some train raid,” he said.

“I doubt that, Colonel,” Norris said. “Besides, if you agree to help me — to help your country, really — I will fix things up for you with the general. He’s a proud man, but he’ll listen to reason in the matter of his wife. You will have your military career back.”

“If the Yankees don’t catch me first and hang me as a spy.”

“There’s always that possibility. But you’re better than that, Colonel. You have a particular talent for quick and daring operations like this. The Buckley Courthouse raid, for instance. You and your men captured eighty Yankees. Eighty! Not to mention ten wagons and sixty horses. And one slumbering general who even today remains at Libby Prison. That’s very impressive.”

“The fools should have posted a guard.”

“Don’t you see why we need you?”

“I’m still not convinced.” Percy took another step toward the door.

“Well, there are always your men to consider. Several of them are here in Richmond, aren’t they?”

Percy gripped the arms of the chair so hard his knuckles turned white. Norris had his full attention.

“What about them?”

“We can’t have deserters running about the capital.”

“They’re not deserters, damn you!” Percy jumped up, but Norris didn’t look concerned.

“They can be anything I want,” Norris said.

Percy returned to his chair and slumped into it. “What must I do?” he asked.

Knowing he had won, Norris smiled. The room seemed to grow colder. He stood and walked to a shelf, then took down a map and unrolled it on his desk. Percy joined him in studying it.

“Maryland?”

“It all starts here for you,” Norris said, placing his finger on the map beside a crossroads town a few miles miles west of Baltimore and twenty-five miles north of Washington.

“Ellicott Mills, Colonel. Let me tell you about it. You see, you’re going there to capture President Abraham Lincoln.”

“What?”

Norris laughed. “Listen, Colonel. Let me explain.”

At first, Percy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But as he heard Norris give details of the plan, he began to feel less beaten, mainly because the very idea of kidnapping Lincoln was so outrageous it just might work. By the time Norris finished, Percy was surprised that he was interested in spite of the circumstances. Capture Lincoln? His heart began to race with excitement.

“It’s really quite simple,” Norris said. “The Yankee president intends to avoid the northern train route from Baltimore, where rumor has it that loyal Maryland Confederates may be plotting an ambush. They plan on bypassing the Northern Central Railroad altogether.

“Instead, Lincoln plans to secretly switch trains in Baltimore. The president’s train will continue toward Gettysburg, but Lincoln won’t be on it. Instead, he will be aboard a westbound train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.”

“How do you know this?” Percy asked.

“We have our spies, Colonel,” Norris said. “This information comes from more than one source. I would say it’s highly reliable.”

The train would steam the length of the long, narrow border state of Maryland. At a town called Weverton, shortly before the train reached Harpers Ferry, Lincoln would veer north on the Washington County Railroad, a spur from the B&O line to the city of Hagerstown. From that western Maryland city, train tracks stretched north toward Gettysburg.

It was a more roundabout route from Baltimore to Gettysburg than a traveler would normally take because most would opt for the more direct and thus faster northern route. However, Lincoln would get there all the same via the western route without placing himself in any grave danger. The president had used a similar subterfuge to avoid assassins at least once before, when first arriving by train to take office in Washington. The subterfuge had earned him some ridicule at the time, but it had also kept him safe from harm.

The key to the success of Lincoln’s plan was secrecy. Norris’s network of spies had already breached that, although the Yankees apparently didn’t know yet. Because Lincoln would of necessity be traveling with few guards, it created an opportunity to capture him. Having the Yankee president as a prisoner would change the outcome of the war, Norris believed, and in any case it would be a highly embarrassing situation for the Union. It might even prompt England to finally recognize the Confederate States of America as a sovereign nation.

“You and your men will leave Richmond in two smaller groups and slip across the Potomac River into Maryland,” Norris continued. “From there, you must travel thirty more miles to Ellicott Mills. That town is the real starting point on the B&O’s westward route.”

Percy’s raiders would assemble there after slipping through enemy territory. Lincoln’s train had to stop in the same town, and Percy’s men, who would purchase tickets to various towns along the B&O line, would board the train.

“He’ll have too many guards,” Percy interrupted. “We’ll never get near that train.”

Norris shook his head. “He’ll be doing this secretly, remember? He’ll have one car and only a small number of guards. Lincoln has never shown much concern for his personal safety in the past.”