7 US presidents who survived assassination attempts: From Andrew Jackson to Donald Trump
2. Abraham Lincoln — Feb. 23, 1861
A little over four years before he became the first president to be assassinated, Abraham Lincoln successfully avoided being killed by a group of conspirators shortly after he was elected.
Known as the “Baltimore Plot,” a splinter group of the pro-slavery Knights of the Golden Circle intended to kill Lincoln when his train arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on Feb. 23, 1861, as part of his 11-day journey to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration.
Allan Pinkerton, a notable spy, private detective and founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, learned of the plot and warned Lincoln days before the plan was to be carried out.
After giving a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lincoln altered his travel plans, taking an earlier train and traveling in disguise in order to arrive safely in Washington, according to historians Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch.
“Half the country called Lincoln a strategic genius for switching trains and saving his own life,” wrote Meltzer and Mensch in 2020. “The other half called him a coward, saying that U.S. Presidents should never run or cower in fear.”
“A little over a week later, at his first inauguration, plainclothes police officers and soldiers were planted in the crowd, searching for assassins. But there was no crack of a rifle that day.”
