Summary: The Assassination Of Lafayette Baker

Lafayette Baker was a shady individual that could have possibly aided or prevented the death of President Lincoln. There was the possibility that if Lafayette had done a couple of things differently and did not look out for his own self-gain he could have prevented the assassination of President Lincoln. Lafayette was also involved in some different situations that could have played a role in facilitating the tragedy as well. Lafayette Baker’s greediness might have assisted the end to one of the greatest presidents in American History. Lafayette Baker’s connection to the murderer of President Lincoln and subsequent investigation show that he may have either been a part to the murder or could have prevented it.

Lafayette was more than likely

linked to John Wilkes Booth in some way and may have had a hand in the murder of President Lincoln. Lafayette was renounced as a Union spy with a strong loyalty towards only himself and his love of money (O'Reilly 119). He was linked to Booth through the mailing address at 178½ Water Street. This address was strangely referenced in several documents with mysterious payments and messages exchanged between the J.J Chaffey Company, Lafayette, and Booth. A telegram that was sent from the address went to a company in Chicago reading: “J.W. Booth will ship oysters until Saturday 15th.” This telegram has great suspicion considering Booth had no experience in the shipping or oyster business and yet was a part of such a project (O’Reilly 120). This involvement makes it possible that Lafayette was a part of the killer’s scheme. His selfish personality turned into him deciding if he could spin the death of the president for his own personal gain as Lafayette loves the money and attention. Lafayette wanted to become rich and famous for uncovering Lincoln’s killer. The information Lafayette had relating to Booth and Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, in all likelihood could have prevented the death of President Lincoln.
Lafayette Baker eventually confessed to tapping into Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s telegraph.

He had possession of a lot of information and would have known that if Lincoln were killed, the next in line for the presidency could be Stanton. After he was caught tapping into the government officials’ telegraph he was fired and sent away (O’Reilly 121). Later on when Stanton started to look for Lincoln’s killer he strangely recalled his old, untrustworthy spymaster, Baker to help search for Booth and his band of killers. Stanton’s telegram read: “Come here immediately and find the murderer of our president.” It is impossible to know if Lafayette is traveling to Washington as a bloodhound detective or if he is going there to kill Booth before the killer can detail Stanton’s role in the killing of Lincoln (O’Reilly 244). Once Lafayette arrived in Washington the entire detective forces from New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston already had traveled to there find the killers. Despite all of these important detective forces already working the case, Stanton decided to give Lafayette complete freedom to move in and take over the entire investigation (O’Reilly 245). Another mysterious occurrence was that Lafayette Baker had all the answers to the investigation within forty-eight hours, including the exact escape route John Wilkes Booth took (Bummer). This connection Lafayette had with the questionable secretary could have given Lafayette enough confidential information that

could have averted the assassination of Lincoln.
The obvious connections that Lafayette had with Booth and Stanton support the fact that he was involved with the assassination of Lincoln to some degree. Lafayette’s suspicious relationship with Booth and love for money might have played a role in the killing of Lincoln, On the other hand some of the information that he had could have also prevented the beloved president’s death. The elaborate assassination investigation involving Lafayette Baker, a spy that could have prevented or aided in the assassination of Lincoln, changed America forever.