The Verge of Discretion: Theodore Roosevelt, Jay Gould, and the Stifled Judicial Corruption Probe of 1882
During the late nineteenth century, the...
The Paymaster’s Secret: Charles A. Dana’s Clandestine Surveillance of Ulysses S. Grant
In the early spring of 1863,...
The Valley Pincers: Abraham Lincoln’s Campaign to Entrap Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah
On May 23, 1862, Confederate Major...
The Frederick Dragnet: Allan Pinkerton, the Union High Command, and the September 1861 Detention of Maryland’s Legislators
In the anxious months following the...
Snooping in Mobtown: David S. Bookstaver, Secret Cabals, and the Baltimore Assassination Plot of 1861
By February 1861, as President-elect Abraham...
Particular Feelings and Scruples: William Herndon, Zebina Eastman, and the Abolitionist Investigation of Abraham Lincoln
In the winter of 1854, the...
The Silent City: Abraham Lincoln, Elihu B. Washburne, and the December 1854 Mission to Probe Chicago’s Sentiments
In the late fall of 1854,...
Shadows over the Land Office: The Clandestine Suppression of Lincoln’s Endorsements and the Ewing Investigation
The battle for federal patronage during...
Shadows on the Prairie: The Illinois State Register’s Crusade Against the Secret Deliberations of the Whig Junto
During the early 1840s, the political...
Benjamin Harrison, the Billion-Dollar Congress, and the Activist Executive
In The Education of Henry Adams,...