Did Someone In Cincinnati Try To Assassinate Abraham Lincoln During His 1861 Visit?

Abraham Lincoln arrived in Cincinnati on his birthday, February 12, 1861. He was traveling to his inauguration as President of the United States. According to some accounts, Lincoln barely escaped death in the Queen City.The election of 1860 was the most contentious in United States history, conducted under the certainty that Civil War was inevitable. Although Lincoln won the election by carrying 18 of the 33 states, he earned less than 40 percent of the popular vote. It is no coincidence that those 18 states were the only non-slave states in the union. Lincoln did not carry a single one of the 15 states that allowed slavery.Lincoln’s victory was assured by platform debates that ripped the Democratic Party into two competing factions. The Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, who had defeated Lincoln in the race for Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat, while the Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge, the sitting Vice President. The remnants of the defunct Whig and Know…