Whether the so-called Baltimore Plot was a product of the overzealous imagination of Allan Pinkerton, alias E. J. Allen, or a full-blown plan by Southern sympathizers to assassinate the president-elect as he traveled through Baltimore, may never be known. However, a majority of the citizens of Baltimore, including the mayor, were indisputably pro-South, and the city had a well-earned reputation for political violence. Lincoln was persuaded to cut short his train journey to Washington. He was shuttled across Baltimore incognito in the middle of the night. The incident was captured here by a satirical printmaker and Southern sympathizer.