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===War Department conspiracy===

===War Department conspiracy===

[[Image:Edwin Stanton.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, cast as both hero and villain in the various conspiracy theories]]

[[Image:Edwin Stanton.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, cast as both hero and villain in the various conspiracy theories]]

Chemists are those who make improvements to the human standard of living, from medicine to agriculture to the mundane, but fame to a chemist is hard to come by, and it was for fame that Otto Eisenschiml changed his career to historian.  In 1937 he wrote and published ''Why Was Lincoln Murdered?'', giving the nation a new perspective on the assassination: that it was the work of a grand conspiracy in which the chief suspect was the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.  Eisenschiml, after amassing a small fortune in chemistry, set about traveling the country, becoming fascinated by the battlefields of the war, and Lincoln's murder in particular.  In the course of his research he discovered many odd happenings that needed explanation.  Among them were:

[[Chemist]]s are those who make improvements to the human standard of living, from medicine to [[agriculture]] to the mundane, but fame to a chemist is hard to come by, and it was for fame that [[Otto Eisenschiml]] changed his career to [[historian]].  In 1937 he wrote and published ''Why Was Lincoln Murdered?'', giving the nation a new perspective on the assassination: that it was the work of a grand conspiracy in which the chief suspect was the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.  Eisenschiml, after amassing a small fortune in chemistry, set about traveling the country, becoming fascinated by the battlefields of the war, and Lincoln's murder in particular.  In the course of his research he discovered many odd happenings that needed explanation.  Among them were:

*The only road not guarded by troops out of Washington following the assassination was the one Booth used in his escape.

*The only road not guarded by troops out of Washington following the assassination was the one Booth used in his escape.

*John F. Parker, the man assigned to guard Lincoln at Ford's Theater, was not even questioned or disciplined when he left his post.

*John F. Parker, the man assigned to guard Lincoln at Ford's Theater, was not even questioned or disciplined when he left his post.

*Eighteen pages of Booth's diary went missing while in Stanton's custody.

*Eighteen pages of Booth's diary went missing while in Stanton's custody.

*Telegraph lines from Washington were cut some two hours after the assassination.

*[[Telegraph]] lines from Washington were cut some two hours after the assassination.

*A photograph of Edwin Booth was circulated among government searchers as John Wilkes Booth.

*A photograph of Edwin Booth was circulated among government searchers as John Wilkes Booth.

*Grant declined the invitation to the play for mysterious reasons.

*Grant declined the invitation to the play for mysterious reasons.

It was these unexplainable facts that, according to Eisenschiml, led him to believe that Stanton himself had orchestrated the killing because he was opposed to Lincoln's terms for ending the war; that he was aligned with the Radical Republicans who wanted harsh terms for the South.  Stanton, apparently not wanting the killing to go awry, ordered Grant to New York; ordered Major Eckert to some other duty where he could use his services to protect the president; ordered a known drunkard and derelict to stand guard at the president's box, knowing he would abandon it.

It was these unexplainable facts that, according to Eisenschiml, led him to believe that Stanton himself had orchestrated the killing because he was opposed to Lincoln's terms for ending the war; that he was aligned with the Radical Republicans who wanted harsh terms for the South.  Stanton, apparently not wanting the killing to go awry, ordered Grant to New York; ordered Major Eckert to some other duty where he could use his services to protect the president; ordered a known drunkard and derelict to stand guard at the president's box, knowing he would abandon it.

According to this scenario, Stanton's plans did go awry: they had shot the wrong man at the Garrett Farm on April 26.  Booth somehow got away (according to some accounts, lived on until his 90's, dying in Enid, Oklahoma, only to have his body mummified and displayed in sideshows); in his place was a former Confederate soldier, James William Boyd, who bore somewhat of a resmblence to Booth.  In order to cover up that mistake, Stanton made it known that the body of Boyd on the ''Montawk'' was that of Booth.

According to this scenario, Stanton's plans did go awry: they had shot the wrong man at the Garrett Farm on April 26.  Booth somehow got away (according to some accounts, lived on until his 90's, dying in [[Enid, Oklahoma]], only to have his body mummified and displayed in sideshows); in his place was a former Confederate soldier, James William Boyd, who bore somewhat of a resmblence to Booth.  In order to cover up that mistake, Stanton made it known that the body of Boyd on the ''Montawk'' was that of Booth.

Eisenschiml's theory falls apart on closer examination.  Grant declined the invitation, not on Stanton's orders, but on advice from his wife, Julia.  Antipathy, not friendship, existed between Julia and Mary Lincoln, largely as a result of Mary's caustic temper; Julia for her part could not stand to be in the same room with her.  Parker's reason for leaving his post is not set; he was on record has having been reprimanded various times in his short service, but it was also entirely within Lincoln's character to tell the young man to go enjoy the play, assuming Lincoln did exactly that.  The only road used by Booth, the one across the Navy Yard Bridge, was open, as was every other road.  Passes were not needed as of April 9, by Lincoln's order.  As to Booth's double, the man known as Boyd was recorded to have died January 1, 1866, as attested by family members and a Tennessee newspaper.

Eisenschiml's theory falls apart on closer examination.  Grant declined the invitation, not on Stanton's orders, but on advice from his wife, Julia.  Antipathy, not friendship, existed between Julia and Mary Lincoln, largely as a result of Mary's caustic temper; Julia for her part could not stand to be in the same room with her.  Parker's reason for leaving his post is not set; he was on record has having been reprimanded various times in his short service, but it was also entirely within Lincoln's character to tell the young man to go enjoy the play, assuming Lincoln did exactly that.  The only road used by Booth, the one across the Navy Yard Bridge, was open, as was every other road.  Passes were not needed as of April 9, by Lincoln's order.  As to Booth's double, the man known as Boyd was recorded to have died January 1, 1866, as attested by family members and a [[Tennessee]] newspaper.

Belief in Eisenschiml’s theory naturally caused others to create their own explanations as to how the War Department conspiracy was carried out.  More often than not, each thesis would hinge upon assumption, based either on evidence overlooked, evidence implied, or both.  In one spectacular case it not only involved both, but a reckless self-aggrandizement and promotion.

Belief in Eisenschiml’s theory naturally caused others to create their own explanations as to how the War Department conspiracy was carried out.  More often than not, each thesis would hinge upon assumption, based either on evidence overlooked, evidence implied, or both.  In one spectacular case it not only involved both, but a reckless self-aggrandizement and promotion.

“We have advanced the Lincoln Assassination study more in one year then it has been advanced in the previous 112 years” wrote authors David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr. in the preface of their 1977 book ''The Lincoln Conspiracy''.  Both authors claimed to have exposed a “massive cover-up by government officials from ever learning the real truth about the assassination,” similar, they stated, to government actions in [[John F. Kennedy]]’s assassination in 1963.  Balsiger and Sellier were able to discover the “truth” due to a reliance on primary-source documents and material overlooked or ignored by historians, one of which was the eighteen missing pages from Booth’s diary, which they said was found in the home of one of Stanton’s descendants.  

“We have advanced the Lincoln Assassination study more in one year then it has been advanced in the previous 112 years” wrote authors David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr. in the preface of their 1977 book ''The Lincoln Conspiracy''.  Both authors claimed to have exposed a “massive cover-up by government officials from ever learning the real truth about the assassination,” similar, they stated, to government actions in [[John F. Kennedy]]’s assassination in 1963.  Balsiger and Sellier were able to discover the “truth” due to a reliance on primary-source documents and material overlooked or ignored by historians, one of which was the eighteen missing pages from Booth’s diary, which they said was found in the home of one of Stanton’s descendants.  

The questions they had raised in ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' were a repeat of the same questions posed by Eisenschiml some forty years before.  Readers were promised, as well as audiences for a simultaneously-released theatrical documentary film, that new evidence would be shown that would settle those questions once and for all.  But after all was said and done, after a media blitz for both the book and film, after the authors received honorary doctorates and the film a prestigious prize, the impact of ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' was less than expected.  Further complicating matters was the fact that no new evidence was ever presented by Balsiger and Sellier at all.  The most damning evidence against the claims presented in ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' was the revelation that few, if any, primary sources were used in their work; what they actually used were either copies or transcripts.  The missing Booth pages, which by the end of the 1970’s had been established that they were never in the possession of Stanton’s descendents, much less known of by them, turned out to have been a 3,000 word transcript for which they had paid the “owner” some $6,500.  In the end, after being exposed for what it was by leading historians from both the ''Civil War Times'' Magazine and the Lincoln Historical Association, all Balsiger and Sellier succeeded in doing was to bury Eisenschiml’s thesis once and for all. (Hanchett, pp. 226-233)

The questions they had raised in ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' were a repeat of the same questions posed by Eisenschiml some forty years before.  Readers were promised, as well as audiences for a simultaneously-released theatrical documentary film, that new evidence would be shown that would settle those questions once and for all.  But after all was said and done, after a media blitz for both the book and film, after the authors received honorary doctorates and the film a prestigious prize, the impact of ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' was less than expected.  Further complicating matters was the fact that no new evidence was ever presented by Balsiger and Sellier at all.  The most damning evidence against the claims presented in ''The Lincoln Conspiracy'' was the revelation that few, if any, primary sources were used in their work; what they actually used were either copies or transcripts.  The missing Booth pages, which by the end of the 1970s had been established that they were never in the possession of Stanton’s descendents, much less known of by them, turned out to have been a 3,000 word transcript for which they had paid the “owner” some $6,500.  In the end, after being exposed for what it was by leading historians from both the ''Civil War Times'' Magazine and the [[Lincoln Historical Association]], all Balsiger and Sellier succeeded in doing was to bury Eisenschiml’s thesis once and for all. (Hanchett, pp. 226-233)

===Roman Catholic conspiracy===

===Roman Catholic conspiracy===