Stealing Lincoln's Body

Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas J. Craughwell
Adult Nonfiction-Upper Level – 973.709 C

During this year of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, books dealing with his life have flooded the bookshelves. Stealing Lincoln’s Body (published in 2007) deals not with his life, but his death, choice of final resting place, and ultimately the plot to steal his body by a group of counterfeiters in 1876. Their goal, it seems, was to hide the coffin and hold it for a $200,000 ransom as well as gain the release of a fellow counterfeiter named Ben Boyd from prison . The plot was foiled by the work of the Secret Service, but it led to the eventual moving of the entire deceased Lincoln family's remains into a new and impenetrable tomb in 1901. Along with relating the bizarre plot, Stealing Lincoln’s Body describes to readers the huge problem of counterfeiting in the early years of our country and the corruption of law enforcement in dealing with it. This fast-paced, slim volume includes contemporary photographs and is sure to fascinate Civil War buffs and admirers of Abraham Lincoln.