Scott Benton

Last Train from Richmond: the Plot to Assassinate Jefferson Davis, Csa Scott Benton

In the last two weeks of the Civil War chaos threatens the Confederate Capitol. Fanatics plan to assassinate Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. President Lincoln, amidst plans for a peaceful postwar reunion, authorizes a counter plot. Stop the killers and make sure no knowledge of their scheme leaks to the public. An unlikely group is hurriedly recruited to save Davis. The publisher of a Richmond newspaper, a manumitted slave and a one armed Mexican War veteran join together to save Davis et al. The action leads to the Richmond & Danville RR on the night the Confederate Government flees with the entire hard currency of the Confederacy. The chosen site for a planned train wreck is a trestle just outside Richmond. The climatic scene finds the plotters are divided against themselves. Some wish to kill Davis. Some want only the treasury currency. How they are both thwarted and Lincoln's wishes are realized is the result of quick witted and bold efforts by the counter plotters.