Good to remember the Dakota of Minnesota
Lincoln is an enigma for me. For example:
Lincoln’s Presidential Warrant to Arrest Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ‘A Great Crime’ or a Fabrication?
Frederick S. Calhoun, the Chief Historian for the United States Marshal’s Service, at the Department of Justice, recently wrote a 200 year history of Federal Marshals, entitled, The Lawmen: United States Marshals and their Deputies, 1789–1989 (Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. 1989). This historical study gives a detailed account of an arrest warrant, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, in the early days of his administration. The warrant was to arrest the Chief Justice of the United States, Roger B. Taney, following his opinion in the case of Ex parte Merryman (May, 1861). The account is found in the chapter entitled, “Arrest of Traitors and Suspension of Habeas Corpus.” It was taken from the private papers of the Federal Marshall, Ward Hill Laman, at the Huntington Library in Pasadena:
Taney’s opinion seriously embarrassed Lincoln and his advisers. Southern sympathizers and Northern opponents of the war praised Taney as a partisan of civil liberties standing alone against military tyranny. Taney’s opinion exacerbated the delicate situation in Maryland, a border state yet undecided in its commitment to the Union. According to Marshal Lamon, “After due consideration the administration determined upon the arrest of the Chief Justice.” Lincoln issued a presidential arrest warrant for Taney, but then arose the question of service. “Who should make the arrest and should Taney be imprisoned?”
It was finally determined to place the order of arrest in the hands of the United States Marshal for the District of Columbia. Laman then recalls that “Lincoln gave the warrant to him, instructing Lamon to “use his own discretion about making the arrest unless he should receive further orders.”
The account of the warrant to arrest the Chief Justice cannot be found in any of the innumerable Lincoln biographies or accounts of the early days of the Civil War. Since it only recently surfaced, Lincoln historians and biographers have never mentioned the story, probably because it has been outside the main stream of historical information, and hence has not been known. Once it surfaced, Lincoln apologists and Civil War gatekeepers, have been quick to attack the account as a fabrication, because Lincoln would never have done such a thing; and, it would have set off “a political firestorm,” so they say; and hence, it is just too preposterous to be true.
It does seem too preposterous to be true, probably because of all the grave errors and wrongs allegedly committed by Lincoln’s administration, this would rank at the top of the list. ...