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Military Telegrapher and Former Assistant Secretary of War Thomas T. Eckert Testifies in Impeachment Investigation of Andrew Johnson and Regarding Lincoln Assassination
Military Telegrapher and Former Assistant Secretary of War Thomas T. Eckert Testifies in Impeachment Investigation of Andrew Johnson and Regarding Lincoln Assassination
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Description:

Abraham Lincoln Assassination
Washington, DC, May 30, 1867
Military Telegrapher and Former Assistant Secretary of War Thomas T. Eckert Testifies in Impeachment Investigation of Andrew Johnson and Regarding Lincoln Assassination
MD
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSASSINATION.] Thomas T. Eckert, Manuscript Document, Testimony before Congressional Committee, May 30, 1867, Washington, D.C. 32 pp., 8" x 12.5". In sleeved album; edge tears, affecting text on four pages, with some minor loss.

This handwritten document records the testimony of Thomas T. Eckert before the Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment investigation of President Andrew Johnson. It includes several strike-outs and interlineations in pencil, likely made by Eckert in reviewing his testimony. The revisions are in the printed version of Eckert's testimony published later in 1867.

Excerpts
"Q Did you have any knowledge of the Diary said to have been taken from the body of J Wilkes Booth, after his death?
"I did." (p1)

"[The] body of Booth was brought to Washington. From my own recollection I do not remember the date. My impression is that it was the 26th of April 1865. It was brought to the Secy of War by either [Everton J.] Conger or [Lafayette C.] Baker. They reached the Secys house before I did and I do not know in whose hands the diary was up to that time. The diary was then turned over to me. I sealed it up and put it away in my safe, and there it remained until turned over to Judge Holt. Once I made an examination of the register at the National Hotel to see if I could get some trace of Booth's movements in this city. I found three or four entries of his name. I went to the court room at the Arsenal and gave Judge Holt the dates. Judge Bingham asked me if I had examined the diary to see if there was any entry there that would correspond. I told him I had not. I came back, opened the package but found nothing at all that would compare with these dates." (p2-3)

"Q State whether the diary is in the same condition it was when you recd it, and how otherwise, if not?
"I believe it is in the same condition it was when I rec'd it. I did not see any changes." (p4)

"Q Did he [Lewis Powell/Payne] make any statement with regard to what other persons were to be assassinated?
"No sir, nothing except as to the President and Mr. Seward. He knew in reference to the intention to assassinate the President because Booth tried to get him to shoot the President the night of the celebration after the fall of Richmond. The Prest made a speech that night from one of the windows of the White House, and he and Booth were in the grounds in front. Booth tried to persuade him to shoot the President while in the window, but he told Booth he would take no such risk, that he left then and walked round the square, and that Booth remarked ‘that is the last speech he will ever make.'" (p11-12)

"Q Did you have a knowledge of the cypher dispatch used at Richmond during the war?
"Yes sir.
"Q Was there a cypher dispatch found upon the body of Booth?
"I think not. I think a cypher key was found among his papers, but whether it was obtained at the time of his death or from his baggage which was shipped from Canada I do not remember.
"Q Do you know whether that was the same as that used at Richmond?
"It is my recollection that it was substantially the same." (p13-14)

"Q Do you know of any time when all the operators at the office in the War Department regarded the dispatches sent by Prest Johnson as a conspiracy against the loyal Gov't of Tennessee?
"I do not. If they had any such impressions they were not given to me. I did not permit my men to advance opinions in regard to telegrams sent and particularly to those outside. I never heard of any such opinions on the part of the operators myself." (p25-26)

"Q The same witness [Lafayette C. Baker] speaks of a statement that the President applied to Eckert to arrange a cypher that nobody but himself and one operator in Nashville had a key to. Was there any such cypher as that arranged by you?
"There was not." (p27)

"Q Who gave the order with reference to the burial of Booths body?
"the Secy of War.
"Q Did you?
"No sir, or if I gave any order it was an order given by the Secy of War; and such an order would of necessity be in writing.
"Q Did you give a verbal order to Baker to take the body and dispose of it, and how?
"I did not.
"Q Do you recollect to whom the charge of that matter was given [?]
"It is my impression the order was given to Col. Benton whatever order was given. I may, by direction of the Secy of War, have instructed Baker to take the body to Col Benton. I do not recollect that distinctly.
"Q Were you presen[t] at the burial of Booth?
"I was not present when the body was put into the grave.
"Q Did you see the grave?
"I did
"Q In what room was the burial to take place?
"In a large room in the Arsenal building.
"Q Please describe that room?
"The only description I can give of it is that it is the largest room in the building. It is a room perhaps 30 feet square, and possibly more. I never was in it but twice. It is in the old penitentiary building." (p28-30)

Historical Background
On January 7, 1867, a majority of the members of the United States House of Representatives voted (108-39) to investigate the potential impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Republican Congressman James F. Wilson of Iowa, oversaw the investigation. The inquiry lasted for eleven months (running from the second session of the 39th Congress into the first session of the 40th Congress) and involved the interview of 89 witnesses, including Thomas T. Eckert. The committee compiled 1,200 pages of testimony. Other members of the committee in both the 39th and 40th Congresses were Republicans George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts, William Lawrence of Ohio, Thomas Williams of Pennsylvania, Frederick E. Woodbridge of Vermont, and Francis Thomas of Maryland. Other members in the 39th Congress included Republicans Burton C. Cook of Illinois and Daniel Morris of New York, and Democrat Sydenham Elnathan Ancona of Pennsylvania. Those in the 40th Congress were Republican John C. Churchill of New York, and Democrats Charles A. Eldredge of Wisconsin and Samuel S. Marshall of Illinois.

The questions posed to Thomas T. Eckert ranged widely, covering his role in the investigation of the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln; his conversations with conspirator Lewis Powell/Payne who had attempted to assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward; the items found on the body of John Wilkes Booth; Booth's diary; Booth's letter to Dr. Richard Stuart of King George, Virginia, who fed but refused to aid Booth further in his flight from Washington; the similarity of telegraphic ciphers found among Booth's papers and those found in Richmond; an allegation that President Johnson had a secret cipher that only he and a telegraph operator in Nashville knew; and the location of the burial of John Wilkes Booth's body; among other questions.

Among the most outlandish of witnesses was Lafayette C. Baker, famous for having tracked down John Wilkes Booth. Baker made a wide variety of unsubstantiated accusations against Johnson, accusing him of treason, being part of Booth's plot to kill Lincoln, and involvement with prostitution and bribery. Baker's testimony came under some cross-examination through questions posed to Eckert, who denied that Johnson or anyone else had removed damning pages from Booth's diary or had a cipher known only to him that he used to communicate with former Confederates.

The Judiciary Committee began its examination of witnesses in early February 1867 and continued them into the first session of the 40th Congress that began on March 4. On June 3, the committee, by a 5-4 vote, decided against sending an impeachment resolution to the full House. As the investigation of witnesses continued, however, Johnson increasingly antagonized Republicans with his actions, including suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and replacing him with General Ulysses S. Grant as interim Secretary of War in August and his firing of Generals Philip Sheridan and Daniel Sickles, who had overseen military districts in the South.

On November 25, 1867, the Committee on the Judiciary voted 5-4 in favor of recommending impeachment proceedings, after Moderate Republican John C. Churchill changed his mind. The committee submitted a majority report and two dissenting minority reports to the full House. The dissenting minority report signed by the two Republicans, while rejecting impeachment, believed that Congress should censure the President.

On December 7, the House voted against impeachment by a majority of 57 in favor to 108 opposed. In January and February 1868, Johnson's attempts to remove Secretary of War Stanton became the focus of a second impeachment inquiry, and on February 24, 1868, the House voted 126-47 to impeach Johnson. In his trial in the Senate, Johnson narrowly avoided conviction, when the vote was one short of the required two-thirds majority (35-19 in favor of conviction).

Thomas T. Eckert (1825-1910) was born in Ohio and became interested in telegraphy and Samuel F. B. Morse at an early age. In 1847, Eckert traveled to New York to see Morse's telegraph in operation and became an operator with the Morse Telegraph Company. He returned to Ohio and became an operator for the Wade Telegraph Company in Wooster, Ohio, where in 1849, he became the local postmaster. In 1852, Wade appointed Eckert to superintend the construction of a telegraph line from Pittsburg to Chicago through Fort Wayne. This line became part of the Union Telegraph Company, for which Eckert became a superintendent until 1859. In that year, he moved to North Carolina to manage a gold mine. In 1861, he was accused of being a northern spy, but a judge acquitted him for lack of evidence. Eckert escaped with his family to Ohio. He offered his services to the War Department, and he was assigned to General George B. McClellan's headquarters as a captain in charge of the military telegraph. In September 1862, Eckert was transferred to Washington to organize and manage the War Department's military telegraph with the rank of major, a position he held until 1866. He and fellow telegraphers developed ciphers to send secret messages and became confidential telegraphers for Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln. In 1864, he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel, and in 1865, to brevet colonel and brevet brigadier general of volunteers. In May 1865, Stanton appointed Eckert as Acting Assistant Secretary of War, and President Andrew Johnson nominated him as Assistant Secretary of War in July 1866. Although the Senate confirmed him on July 27, Eckert held the position for only a few days, resigning in early August 1866 to manage the eastern division of the Western Union Telegraph Company. In 1875, he became president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. In 1880, Eckert became president of the American Union Telegraph, the main competitor of Western Union. The two firms then merged in 1881, when Eckert became vice president and general manager. In 1893, he became president of Western Union, serving until he retired in 1900 and became chairman of the board of directors.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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