Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, Va.
To His Excellency, the President of the Confederate States of America:—
Dear Sir:—I have been thinking for some time that I would make this communication to you, but have been deterred from doing so on account of ill health. I now offer you my services, and if you will favor me in my designs, I will proceed, as soon as my health will permit, to rid my country of some of her deadliest enemies, by striking at the very heart's blood of those who seek to enchain her in slavery. I consider nothing dishonorable having such a tendency. All I ask of you is to favor me by granting me the necessary passes, etc., on which to travel while in the jurisdiction of the Confederate government. I am perfectly familiar with the North, and feel confident I can execute anything I undertake. I am just returned from within their lines. I am a lieutenant in General Duke's command, and I was on the raid last June in Kentucky under General John H. Morgan. I and all of my command excepting about three or four, and two commissioned officers, were taken prisoners; but finding a good opportunity, while being taken to prison, I made my escape from them. Dressing myself in the garb of a citizen, I attempted to pass through the mountains, but finding that impossible, narrowly escaping two or three times from being retaken, I shaped my course north, and went through to the Canadas, from where, by the assistance of Colonel Holcomb, I succeeded in making my way around and through the blockade; but having yellow fever, etc., at Bermuda, I have been rendered unfit for service since my arrival. I was reared up in the State of Alabama, and educated in its university. Both the Secretary of War and his assistant, Judge Campbell, are personally acquainted with my father, William J. Alston, of the fifth Congressional District of Alabama, having served in the time of the old Congress, in the years 1849-50 and 1851. If I do anything for you, I shall expect your full confidence in return. If you do this, I can render you and my country very important service. Let me hear from you soon. I am anxious to be doing something, and having no command at present, all, or nearly all, being in garrison, I desire that you favor me in this a short time. I would like to have a personal interview with you, in order to perfect the arrangements before starting.
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Lieutenant W. Alston.
This letter, it will be observed, is without date; but the box in which it was found was marked, "Adjutant and Inspector General's Office; letters received July to December, 1864." Lieutenant Alston was captured in Kentucky in June, 1864, and so, in making his escape through Canada, made the acquaintance of the rebel agents there, just at the time that they were full of the assassination scheme. It was probably from his intercourse with them that he became infatuated with this idea, although he does not give them the credit of it. He seems to have been an ambitious youth who desired to impress the rebel President with the idea that this was an original scheme of his own. Mark how unblushingly he opens his mind to Davis in presenting his plot! It is nothing less than "striking at the heart's blood of some of his country's deadliest foes," of whom everybody then knew that Abraham Lincoln was universally regarded in the South as chief. It is a plain offer to aid his country's cause by entering upon the policy of assassinating the loyal men of the country whose official duty required them to put down the rebellion. He considers nothing dishonorable that tends to accomplish this. He does not merely propose to strike at the heart's blood of Abraham Lincoln. No; like the Canada conspirators, he has a more comprehensive scheme. Did Jefferson Davis feel insulted by being thought capable of giving his sanction to such a foul and dishonorable proposition? Let us see.
The following is his endorsement put upon it:—
Indorsement.
A. 1. 390. Lieut. W. Alston, Montgomery, Sulphur Springs, Va. (no date). Is Lieutenant in General Duke's command. Accompanied raid into Kentucky and was captured, but escaped into Canada, from whence he found his way back. Been in bad health. Now offers his services to rid the country of some of its deadliest enemies. Asks for papers to permit him to travel within the jurisdiction of this government. Would like to have an interview and explain. Respectfully referred, by direction of the President, to the Honorable Secretary of War.
Burton N. Harrison,
Private Secretary.Received November 19th, 1864.
Recorded book A.A.G.O., December 16th, 1864.
A.G. for attention.
By order of J. A. Campbell, A.S.W.
The handwriting of the private secretary of Jefferson Davis, Burton N. Harrison, and of the Assistant Secretary of War, J. A. Campbell, in the endorsements, was verified before the Commission by Lewis W. Chamberlain, who had been a clerk in the war department at Richmond, and was well acquainted with the handwriting of both of these gentlemen.
From the consideration given by the rebel President, as shown by these careful and favorable endorsements, would it be unreasonable to conclude that Lieutenant Alston was granted the interview that he desired, and that, armed with the permission and authority of the rebel chief, he became one of the active participants in the closing scenes of the drama?
We have other evidence that at this very time the mind of Jefferson Davis was turned in this direction, and that he was inciting his agents in Canada to turn their attention to a grand political scheme of wholesale assassinations.
To show the moral obtundity of the political stay-at-home-and-fight rebels about this time, I will reproduce an advertisement of this proposition to assassinate President Lincoln and the other civil officers of the government, that was published in the Selma (Alabama) Dispatch, in December, 1864, under the caption—
"MILLION DOLLARS FOR ASSASSINATION
"One million dollars wanted to have peace by the 1st of March. If the citizens of the Southern Confederacy will furnish me with the cash, or good securities for the sum of one million dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward, and Andrew Johnson to be taken by the 1st of March next. This will give us peace, and satisfy the world that cruel tyrants cannot live in a land of liberty. If this is not accomplished, nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of fifty thousand dollars in advance, which is supposed to be necessary to reach and slaughter the three villains. I will give, myself, one thousand dollars towards this patriotic purpose. Every one wishing to contribute will address Box X, Cahawba, Alabama. December 1st, 1864."
This advertisement was proven by compositors in the Dispatch office to have been put in that paper by Mr. G. W. Gale, a lawyer of considerable reputation, and that the copy was in his handwriting, which was well known at that office. My impression is that several of the Richmond papers reproduced this advertisement, as also many other papers in the Confederacy. The treasonable purpose to overthrow the Constitution by the assassination of the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State shows that the plan had been maturely considered in the light of the conditions that would render it most effective in securing the object in view, and that it was a deep political scheme to give the rebellion a new lease of life, and put it on its feet again under more favorable conditions for success. I have already given incidentally, and in a fragmentary way, glimpses of the testimony on which the charges of the government were founded. I will now present in a connected form the testimony bearing on the question.