If history is a mighty river, this book is about one of the smaller eddies. Books of this type can be great fun and provide a view that you seldom see. We all know the story of Lincoln's murder, state funeral and the train to Springfield. What we do not know is the story of Lincoln's body, how Springfield tried to capitalize on it and how it came to a final resting place.
Along the way, the author treats us to a short history of the Secret Service, Counterfeiting, Lincoln's wife and son. This is included in a look at the underworld in Illinois, manners and morals. These little side trips place the main story in the larger picture providing a more complete story.
The main story is what happened to Lincoln's body from 1865 to 1901. The attempt to steal the body, while important, is only part of the story. Springfield's attempts to make a tourist attraction and Mary Lincoln's plans collide at once. Robert Lincoln is detached but involved making him a question mark for history. Lincoln's associates, Springfield's leading citizens, members of the underworld, fear, greed and respect all combine in history that reads like a novel.
This is an easy and fun read. The author has a very readable style that can move from subject to subject with few problems. He has the ability to produce word portraits of the people that make them understandable. This is well worth reading for Civil War buffs, Lincoln admirers and those that enjoy history.

You can tell by the title that this is going to be a weird book, especially since it's nonfiction. Thomas Craughwell does a great job of telling the story of the man who not once, but twice, tried to steal President Abraham Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom.

The book was a smooth read and interesting. However, I think Craughwell might have padded it a bit with history that wasn't directly related to the story. While I found the history of U.S. counterfeiting interesting, it distracted from the story.

It's an unusual story that you will enjoy reading, though. I hope Craughwell comes up with another story just as good.

Bungling thieves who fail in an attempted heist, and bungling cops who eventually catch them, might seem to be improbable subjects for a detailed book on the whole botched affair. There is no lack of interesting detail, however, in _Stealing Lincoln's Body_ (Belknap / Harvard). Thomas J. Craughwell has illuminated a bizarre crime, and has also cast light on many subjects that would seem unconnected to it but all of which are brought in to play their parts. The crime itself was a petty affair, not just a failure; it was hardly even begun before it was halted. Craughwell's spirited story, however, takes in the history of counterfeiting and embalming in America, grave robbing, the founding of the Secret Service, the rural cemetery movement, the Pullman strikes, and much more. It is a tribute to Craughwell's narrative skill that this story of a small, ghoulish, thwarted crime can hold all the digressions and show how the diverse themes are all connected.

Craughwell's story starts with Lincoln's death. Even if there had been no grave-robbing, Lincoln's was among the best travelled and most fussed-over of cadavers, so there is a description of the history of embalming here, and of the body's travels to Springfield, Illinois. Then Craughwell gives us the history of American counterfeiting, an activity that was busily pursued long before we had our own currency. The reason that this is a justifiable digression in the story is that it was counterfeiters that plotted the theft of Lincoln's corpse, and the Secret Service that took charge of bringing them in. A big crook hired minor crooks for the job of getting Lincoln's corpse for ransom, and they took on a small-time crook to help them in their effort, only he was a stool-pigeon for the Secret Service which had been put on alert after the first conspirators fled. Thus, on election day in 1876, the conspirators took the tour of the Lincoln mausoleum, with the custodian fully aware of who they were and why they were there. They returned that night, ill-equipped to saw through the one padlock that secured the place, and when they finally got in and broke into the sarcophagus, they found the lead and cedar coffin too heavy to carry. They were relieved from having to do so by the Secret Service which was lying in wait for them in stocking feet so that their footsteps didn't echo in the tomb chamber. Unfortunately, one of the detectives accidentally fired his pistol, alerting the would-be grave robbers who got away. This left the lawmen nothing to do but engage in a futile hunt within the cemetery, and along the way mistakenly shoot at each other, with aim fortunately as bad as the rest of their night's doings. No one was hurt.

The perpetrators were eventually caught and imprisoned in Joliet prison. The wild story of the attempted theft in the graveyard was buried beneath the bigger story of the attempted theft (by both Republicans and Democrats) of the Tilden / Hayes election. Also, the story of the tomb robbers was simply too incredible for the public to believe. Lincoln's body did not rest easily for some further decades. The custodians within the secret fraternal organization the Lincoln Guard of Honor decided to keep it safe by secretly burying it in the basement of the mausoleum, allowing tourists to continue to be moved by viewing an empty sarcophagus. (Rumors flew around Springfield that the tomb was empty.) Mary Todd Lincoln joined him there after her death in 1882. The custodians opened the coffin in 1887 to make sure it was really Lincoln in there and then reburied it. There was a final reburial in 1901, and the style of reburial was borrowed from that of George Pullman, who because of his relations with labor at his company was one of the most despised men in America and who fretted that his own grave would be robbed. The Lincolns, with the blessing of their son Robert, were encased in lead, then in a cage of steel, and then in tons of cement. It's a good bet that they will rest in peace now, but the story does not quite end there. The sarcophagus that had previously held the body was being held for history's sake when the tomb was repaired in 1930. The sarcophagus was left outside, and was smashed to bits by vandals, parts of it carried off, possibly for souvenirs. Perhaps it was as close to robbing the graves as the vandals could get. Craughwell's wide-ranging, brightly written history puts this and other bizarre incidents into context. The story of Lincoln postmortem is surprisingly full of lively incidents and hilarious, macabre folly.

[...]

I give the writer 4 stars for this historical account of an incident that I had never heard of before. His numerous footnotes added credence to the fact that this absurd attempt to kidnap our dead President's body was carefully planned, and would have been successful had it not been for the efforts of the Lincoln Memorial attendants, who hid the body until a permanant resting place could be completed.

A great tale to add to the sometimes unbelievable events that are part of our great American heritage.

Avoid this book, unless you are stranded on a desert island and you have nothing else to read. the basic story while interesting, could have been told in about 20 pages. the author was not able to engage me as a reader. his story rambles all over the place and is detailed to a fault. plus it is rarely colorful enough to make one care. even though the book is relatively short, it is still much too long.

I haven't read this yet, but am eager to do so. I gave as a give, and my Aunt continues to rave about how grand it is. She is an avid reader, and liked "Devil in the White City" also so I know we share some similar tastes. Wish I'd bought another one. Maybe she'll trade my "Thunderstruk" in spirit of sharing?

Apparently not a lot of interesting things happened. 90% of the book is nothing but filler. He writes page after page about things that really have no bearing on what should have been a terribly interesting subject. It is a interesting book, but Stealing Lincolns Body could have been summed up in about 10 pages tops.

What happened to lincoln's body after 1865 is quite interesting but the parts of this book worth reading could be covered in much less space. The author lost all credibility with me with his sweeping generalizations about Robert Todd Lincoln. Lincoln did not "fix" his mother's insanity trial and the author's own statements on this refute this generalization. Robert Todd Lincoln did what he thought was best for his mother and suffered greatly as a result. The author's discussion of him is shameful.

I was very surprised when reading this book. I have read alot about Lincoln and the assasiantion but there are many tidbits of information that I had no idea about.

If you are any fan of Lincoln, this is the book to read.

I don't often read non-fiction books but I saw this one on the editor's pick list and thought I'd give it a try. The beginning was a little slow but once I got into the book I really enjoyed it! This author certainly did his homework and portrayed the history of Lincoln's postmortem body in the most fascinating way! This is definitely a book I'd recommend to others to read if you like history!

This book covers one of the most interesting footnotes in American History - the attempted theft of Abraham Lincoln's body by counterfeiters seeking to free an associate. Extremely interesting information on how counterfeiting, in the post-Civil War era, was seriously undermining the American economy. Enjoyable reading.

Only one chapter of this book describes the actual attempt to steal Lincoln's body. The rest is background on the whys and the men who made the attempt. A book easy to read, its content would be more effectively presented in a novel or screenplay where more drama could be placed on the act itself. It is, after all, an interesting footnote to this nation's history.

"Stealing Lincoln's Body" is well researched and entertaininly written. One might think that there is little to be added to the thousands of books about Lincoln, but this book is one that all readers and civil war "buffs" should read.
After the fist chapter, which deals compactly with the assination, funeral and journey of the body to Springfield, IL (a saga in itself), the second chapter's scene shifts abruptly-to counterfieting! "What?", you think, but the author shows how this topic integrates into the Linclon epic and leads directly to the plot to steal Linclon's corpse and hold it for ransom. Were it fiction, you wouldn't believe it; but it is all true.
Then, the story is of the consequences of the attempted theft, both legally and for the security of the Linclon family remains. Tip: try counting the number of times Linclon's remains are moved.

IN sum: very much worth your time and money.

A must read before your next tour to Springfield, IL and I apologize to all my grade school teachers for rolling my eyes during those trips. This has got to be one of the most intriguing series of historical data I have ever read. Craughwell will place you squarely in the middle of it all.

The box was full of ants. They spilled out when I opened the box. It was really creepy.

It was an incident that I had never heard of or read about anywhere. Indeed, when I asked about a dozen friends and relatives not one of them had ever heard about it either. On Election Night 1876 Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes attempted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from the sarcophagus inside the Lincoln Monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Il. It was all part of a bizarre plot concocted by a two-bit counterfeiter known as Big Jim Kennally. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" recalls this somewhat obscure tidbit of history. This is a fascinating tale that will go a long way to help the reader understand just what was going on in these United States back in 1876 and in the years that followed.
Perhaps the most important fact that you will come across in "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is that in 1876 nearly half of the money in circulation was counterfeit. I found this to be absolutely incredible! This was a serious problem that was wreaking havoc with the nation's economy as we attempted to bounce back from the Civil War. One of the most accomplished counterfeiters of that era was a man named Benjamin Boyd who hailed from Cincinnati, OH which at that time was recognized as the counterfeit capitol of the nation. It was his arrest and incarceration in October, 1875 that would eventually lead to the plot to steal the body of President Lincoln.
"Stealing Lincoln's Body" reveals the intimate details of how the plot to steal the President's body and hold it for ransom was hatched. You will be introduced to Elmer Washburn, chief of the Secret Service and to detective Patrick Tyrrell who were both instrumental in foiling the plot to steal Lincoln's body. And you will meet John Carroll Power, the custodian of the Lincoln Monument and the group of men who were part of a secret society that would come to be known as "The Lincoln Guard of Honor". In addition, you will discover the fascinating secret about the actual whereabouts of President Lincoln's body in the years following the attempt to steal it. You will also learn a bit about what was going on in the very sad life of Abraham Lincoln's widow Mary. She would never get over the assasination of her husband. In addition, you will gain some new insights into the life of the Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln. Robert would have to be classified as somewhat of an enigma and his life certainly would take any number of strange twists and turns along the way.
I found "Stealing Lincoln's Body" to be an extremely engrossing read. I also would be remiss if I failed to mention the 20 pages of photographs included here that really seemed to bring these events to life for me. Thomas Craughwell has done a fine job of bringing to light an important piece of American history. Recommended!

I had just finished American Brutus and was hungry for more on the subject when I came across this charming and extremely well told narrative of the plot to steal Lincoln's body. Mr. Craughwell has a pitch perfect ear, capturing both the tragedy of the assassination and the rollicking comedy of a young country where enterprise and illegality often overlapped. Counterfeit wampum, the tricks of the embalming trade, the excesses of tabloid journalism...this is the kind of book that gets you hooked on history for life and delights those of us who got hooked so many years ago.

It was an incident I had certainly never heard of. Indeed, when I asked about a dozen friends and relatives not one of them had ever heard about it either. In 1876 Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes attempted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from the sarcophagus inside the Lincoln Monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Il. It was all part of a bizarre plot concocted a a two-bit counterfeiter by the name of Big Jim Kennally. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" recalls this somewhat obscure tidbit of history. This is a fascinating tale that will go a long way to help the reader understand just what was going on in these United States back in 1876 and in the years that followed.
Perhaps the most important fact that you will come across in "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is that in 1876 nearly half of the money in circulation was counterfeit. I found that to be absolutely unbelievable! This was a serious problem that was wreaking havoc with the nation's economy as we attempted to bounce back from the Civil War. One of the most accomplished counterfeiters of that era was a man named Benjamin Boyd who hailed from Cincinnati, OH which at that time was recognized as the counterfeit capitol of the nation. It was his arrest and incarceration in October, 1875 that would eventually lead to the plot to steal the body of President Lincoln.
In "Stealing Lincoln's Body" you will learn all of the particulars on how the plot to steal the President's body and hold it for ransom came about.
You will be introduced to Elmer Washburn, chief of the Secret Service and to detective Patrick Tyrrell who were instrumental in foiling the plot to steal Lincoln's body. And you will meet John Carroll Power, the custodian of the Lincoln Monument and a group of men who were part of an almost secret society that would come to be known as "The Lincoln Guard of Honor". In addition, you will discover the fascinating secret about the actual whereabouts of President Lincoln's body in the years following the attempt to steal it. You will also learn quite a bit about what was going on in the very sad life of Lincoln's widow Mary. She would never get over the assasination of her husband. Finally, you will gain some new insights into the life of the Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln. It seems that his life took any number of strange twists and turns along the way.
I found "Stealing Lincoln's Body" to be an engrossing read. In addition, I appreciated the 20 pages of photographs that really seemed to bring this incident to life for me. It is always amazing to me how many incidents like this I have never heard of. Thomas Craughwell has certainly given us an important piece of history here. Recommended!

One of the best history books I've read in a long time! Some fascinating and little known facts. Couldn't put it down!

The true story behind the several movements of Lincoln's body and the attempt to steal it is an interesting one. However, Craughwell falls far short of taking advantage of the material in this book. Overall the narrative is disjointed, disorganized and is anything but flowing. One gets the sense that Craughwell took a bunch of research on several topics, including the Secret Service, George Pullman, Irish Catholics in Chicago etc. and used it all to cut and paste into a book that came to purportedly focus on the foiled attempt to steal Lincoln's remains.
As far as history books go, this one is mediocre at best. It ranks even lower as a crime or mystery book.

American history is packed with oddball characters and bizarre storylines so strange that no one would ever believe them -- if it weren't for the documentary proof. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is another excellent example of this genre we might call "Stranger than Fictionistory."

If you enjoyed books like "The Devil in the White City" and "The Shakespeare Riots," you won't want to miss this little gem. On one level, it's about a gang of criminal misfits who tried to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield, Illinois, in order to set free an imprisoned comrade.

On a higher level, it's about the vast criminal underworld that circulated around America during the mid- to late-19th century. We're talking counterfeiters, murderers, con men, thieves, roughnecks, prostitutes and grave robbers. In some areas, like the immigrant neighborhoods of west Chicago, the boundary line between "respectable citizen" and conniving rogue was often non-existent. Tavern owners frequently collaborated with felons when they weren't collaborating with the cops or corrupt local politicians. You've heard of "The Wild West." This book could be subtitled "The Wild Midwest."

Along the way, we learn fascinating details about 19th century burial practices, the birth of the Secret Service and rapid advances in counterfeiting technology, not to mention the grizzly details of grave robbing for profit. If you have the patience to get through Craughwell's long "set up" (about 90 pages), the payoff is definitely worth it as the story progresses from the marbled halls of Washington to the dank hovels of working-class life in 1870s Illinois.

No, Craughwell isn't the greatest popular historian on Earth and he does sometimes stumble, but for the most part this is one incredibly fun read and it certainly would make a fantastic movie. I nominate Jack Nicholson for the lead role. Enjoy!

This book was wonderful. It gave a lot of historical value and a great insight on life around the time of Lincoln's death.

Lincoln is my favorite president and I have learned things that I did not know about his life--more accurately, his death and the years after he was shot. I am not much of a history buff for the most part, but this book has been intriguing and very much of a page turner! Well researched and reads like a thriller.

This is a fascinating story, and in the process of telling it the author explores lots of interesting stuff about the politics, sociology, and lifestyles of people of the periods discussed. The GOOD part is, lots of that is very, very interesting and unexpectedly amusing. The BAD part is, he shares EVERY detail with a kind of obsessive dot-every-eye-cross-every-tee density of facts that sometimes gets in the way of the narrative and makes this a slower, denser read than it could have been. But in a story that begins with Lincoln's last breath and ends with the death in modern times of the last person to see his face when he was re-buried for the last time after decades of turmoil in between, you kind of expect to be pummelled with detail a bit...and some of the side-trips, notably the telling of the story of the Pullman railroad coach company and its founder and the famous strike (told because Lincoln's son was Pullman's lawyer) are interesting, too. SO....if you can plod through some of the dense jungle of facts, you'll find this book intriguing and enlightening and very, very interesting...but a light summer read it is not.

This is an interesting and quick book about a little-known and fascinating story about a plot to steal Lincoln's corpse. Excellent factual story-telling and lots of great historical facts along the way.

I really enjoyed this book. I ordered it on impulse because I've liked a couple of other books by this author (check out the urban legends books). Mr. Craughwell's writing is fresh and engaging. He definitely has a knack for finding interesting, off-beat stories. The books I've read by him were all great reads, and in this case, I enjoyed learning some things along the way.

I agree with a previous reviewer on a couple of points. First, I shared his/her positive opinion of the book overall. Second, I think this is a book for readers who like crime stories, particularly those humorous accounts of inept crooks. There are probably a lot of history buffs buying this book, but it's appeal goes much wider.

This is the best book that I've read in quite a while. I set the book down when I saw it in the bookstore because I assumed it must be fiction. After reading the reviews here, I learned that it is a true story and ordered it. The book is a great read; the author writes with clarity and insight, and he seems to have chased down every entertaining detail of this bizarre event. Buy the book if you are interested in Lincoln or nonfiction crime stories.

Apparently for many years after Lincoln's death he was still a divisive figure whose remains were the obsession of nut cases and get rich quick schemers. This book tells the tale of plots to steal Lincoln's body.

Caveat: The book consists of lots of "filler" and is sometimes lacing in transitions. Right after reading about the original interment of Lincoln, for example, there is an abrupt shift to 19th century counterfeiters. The reader is not told why this is at all relevant to the book's title or topic. For a while, I wondered if a chapter from an unrelated volume had found its way in. After many, MANY pages, though, you learn how the counterfeiters morphed into would-be grave robbers.

The book could have told its story in, say, 60 pages. But then, it would not have been a book!

I am very disappointed with this book. The subject matter, as specified by the title, is only dealt with in several pages. The many pages before and after are filler, consisting of the history of counterfeiting and other areas of discussion (such as the creation of Irish ghettos) that have absolutely nothing to do with Lincoln or his body. The best thing about this book is its prologue and the discussion at the end of the book regarding the movement of Lincoln's body to its final resting place in September, 1901. All of the pertinent information could have been written as a chapter in someone else's book. If you are truly interested in Lincoln's adventures as a dead man, this is not the book for you. It is a rip-off.

I thought this was an interesting history of counterfeiting in Civil War era Chicago than about stealing Lincoln's body. Being a history buff, I liked it.

Easy reading and a facinating topic .I found the book engaging from the very start . With little exposure to American history a wonderful introduction to a raft of topics and will add this author to my watch list.

For someone who likes Lincoln History it is very good. Unless you have an interest in his life and times it might be hard to get into.

I really enjoyed the book as a follow-up to my visit as a kid in 1970 to the tomb. The plot was mentioned there, but none of the details.

Much is made of the fact that the conspirators were not charged with robbing a grave, nor vandalizing a tomb. The author does a good job discrediting Historians who said the statutes did not exist in Illinois at the time. He also states that they should have been charged, and that they were not remains a mystery.

The answer, though, is right there in Mr. Craughwell's book: 1) They were not charged with grave robbing because the "nervous and overeager" Pinkerton detective assisting the Secret Service accidentally discharged his pistol (pg. 107) alerting the conspirators who ran from the tomb before they could rob it, and 2) They were not charged with vandalizing the tomb because just as the conspirator was about to commit the crime, by swinging the axe onto the marble sarcophagus lid, the Secret Service informant (Swegles) stopped him and used a crowbar to break-in through the lid, instead (pg. 106).

Therefore, Mullen and Hughes neither robbed the tomb nor vandalized the tomb, not at least to the extent that the Secret Service was responsible for, anyway, tainting a possible conviction on that charge. Therefore, the charge of "Conspiracy" was brought- for it made the best case.

Many people do not know the historical story of the burial of Abraham Lincoln. The body itself was moved numerous times. In 1876 the body was almost abducted to be held for ransom. As fascinating as the assassination of Lincoln, the body and its whereabouts is an even more amazing story.

I learned a lot from this book and the tragic retelling of these events.

(Ultimately the body was buried in a cage and covered with thousands of pounds of cement--23 people viewed the corpse's head to ensure it was Lincoln)

Its said that a million visitors go to see the Lincoln burial site.

This is a must read!!!

A nice slice of Abraham Lincoln's story not covered by most of the vast number of books devoted to the great president. What became of Mr. Lincoln's body after April 15, 1865 is the domain of this interesting book. Along the way, a reader picks up arresting bits of information on such subjects as counterfeiting money, the U.S. Secret Service, and embalming the dead.

I recall from when I was young my reading a Life magazine article (1963) on the last man alive who saw Abraham Lincoln's face. It struck me then as highly interesting, and I am glad to have now read Mr. Craughwell's book--the tale remains odd, slightly macabre, but a significant one for those who enjoy American history.

(I rate as excellent the book's clean but evocative jacket as designed by Annamarie Why.)

A nice slice of Abraham Lincoln's story not covered by most of the vast number of books devoted to the great president. What became of Mr. Lincoln's body after April 15, 1865 is the domain of this interesting book. Along the way, a reader picks up arresting bits of information on such subjects as counterfeiting money, the U.S. Secret Service, and embalming the dead.

I recall from when I was young my reading a Life magazine article (1963) on the last man alive who saw Abraham Lincoln's face. It struck me then as highly interesting, and I am glad to have now read Mr. Craughwell's book--the tale remains odd, slightly macabre, but a significant one for those who enjoy American history.

(I rate as excellent the book's clean but evocative jacket as designed by Annamarie Why.)