Voting dignity in the United States is not a novel issue despite recent controversy. Because of the large number of Union troops stationed in the field and away from their home state, it happened one hundred and sixty years earlier in the 1864 presidential election.
Some soldiers were not allowed to return to their home state to vote, despite the fact that some did. Soldaten were able to vote absent using mail-in vote as a remedy. People voted in their tents, and finally officials mailed in the votes. Since most Union troops had support Lincoln, Democrats were furious about the legal proceedings. As the system expanded, mail-in votes became contentious and forgery was suspected.
In reality, a state official from upstate New York, Orville Wood, identified one of American humankind’s most elaborate political theories. Wood monitored the mail-in vote and checked the votes of his state’s soldiers from upstate New York to Baltimore. While visiting one of America’s most divine places, the house of the” Star- Adorned Banner”, Fort McHenry, Wood’s” doubts were aroused”.
He observed men were” checker playing” with the vote. Wood insinuated that he was a Democrat and a McClellan admirer in order to gain access to the investigation and the respect of the crime officer. The officer, Mr. Ferry, finally brought Wood into the slide. ” McClellan received 400 votes and Lincoln received 11 .” Wood expressed shock at how few people chose Lincoln in the election. When Union votes were cast, Ferny claimed that they were in good standing when they left and that they were doing more than he had anticipated.
Wood physically altered thousands of ballots to get people to vote for McClellan, which was a part of the plot. Wood next brought information to authorities, exposing the whole activity. Astonishingly, Ferry provided a full statement of his illegal activity. The agency’s bomb results were revealed just before the election when General Abner Doubleday established a military commission to correct the situation.
The whole details of this and other Civil War election meddling stories are uncovered in my forthcoming book, The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations. The book explores the play of the unusual guerrilla war that shaped the lessons of the Civil War, including the narrative of Blazer’s Scout and Lincoln’s Special Forces ‘ pursuit of Mosby and his Confederate Rangers from 1863 until the war’s close at Appomattox, a story that was the inspiration for the establishment of modern specific operations in World War II. The Confederate Secret Service is also the subject of the book.
Voting tampering or mail-in ballot fraud was n’t the only form of electoral fraud during the 1864 presidential election. Confederate irregulars like John Singleton Mosby and others attempted to disrupt the election, but the majority of their attempts were unsuccessful. Seven out of ten Union soldiers would ultimately support Lincoln and the end of the war.
When Harry Gilmor’s Raiders, a Confederate partisan group and recon force posing as Blazer’s Scouts, suddenly found themselves confronted by four real Union Scouts, another instance of irregular forces engaging in ballot fraud occurred. As the group headed toward camp to cast their ballots in the presidential election, Gilmor persuaded the men that they were Union cavalry members by bringing a blue overcoat that matched theirs. Gilmor exchanged a few words. He asked,” I suppose you will vote for Lincoln”? Lincoln’s Special Forces replied in the affirmative and showed the Confederate irregulars their “tickets” to cast ballots. Gilmor motioned, and on his silent signal, the Scouts had pistols in their faces. Without a shot, the Blazer Scouts made their surrender. Wilson entered the Union camp, which was home to a contingent of thousands of soldiers, with the tickets in hand. ” We took their papers and tickets to Sheridan’s camp, and there voted for Lincoln! No one could object to us after casting a ballot for Lincoln, which gave us every opportunity to learn more.
So not only did Confederate Gilmor’s Raiders vote for Lincoln in arguably the most consequential election in history, but the irregular Union scouts who posed as Confederates, called Jessie Scouts, also did. Many of the men who had been battling the Confederacy for years were influenced by the election and the war. Each of us having two years ‘ experience as scouts, according to Arch Rowland, a fellow Scout, in a moving letter years later. And I may say we are both hard- shelled Republicans. I voted for Abe Lincoln in 64, at Martinsburg, when I was nineteen, and have never strayed from that path since”.
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling, critically- acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of thirteen books, including , his latest bestselling book on the Civil War: The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations, and is at the front of Barnes and Noble Stores nationwide. His other bestsellers include: The Indispensables,  , The Unknowns, and Washington’s Immortals.  , O’Donnell served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and often speaks on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks ‘ award- winning miniseries , Band of Brothers , and documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com , @combathistorian